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Here's a useful site for lower-level learners which features vocabulary flashcards in various categories with the pronunciation too.
Here's a useful site for lower-level learners which features vocabulary flashcards in various categories with the pronunciation too.
Christopher Salmon, who works at the University of Toulouse, has an created an excellent page of online resources.
You can take a free TOEIC diagnostic test at the MBA Center. You'll have to register first, however. The complete test takes up to two hours so make sure you won't be interrupted!
Debatepedia defines itself as "the Wikipedia of debate and deliberation". Among other things, it's a very useful source of arguments for classroom debates on everything from Advertising to Zoos.
For comic fans, Archie comics
has a short comic strip designed for learning English. A new episode is
added every three days. It comes with a podcast, which explains the
story, and a learning guide with the podcast script, vocabulary
explanations and comprehension questions and answers. On the main site there are also other comic strips and fun stuff to explore.
Podcast aimed
at intermediate to advanced students of Business English done by two Canadian brothers.
They explain a lot of useful words and phrases in a fun talk show style. Free
study guides are available on the website.
Heads Up English is a website devoted to providing materials for upper-level EFL learners. It's run by Chris Cotter, who teaches in Japan. Each week, he provides two original lessons based on world events - one
for advanced students, and the other for upper-intermediate students.
The lessons may be quickly previewed online, or they may be downloaded
and printed out for classroom use and homework.
Click to take the library survey.
English Gateway is a new site which proposes online vocabulary topics designed for
intermediate and advanced ESL learners. The vocabulary topics are based on contemporary readings
written by Canadian authors and naturally expose the learners to the idiomatic
language in a variety of contexts. Carefully selected exercises further
reinforce the new language and develop reading and listening skills. Cultural
notes are integrated into each topic. The site also features free exercises and
online community. You have to pay for the topics ($15) but there is one free sample topic available.
WordChamp is a free online vocabulary building and reading tool. You can use WordChamp to:
One of the great features about WordChamp is that it's completely online, meaning you can use it from any computer. There is no software to download or install. Anybody can use it for the basic features, but to save vocabulary lists, hear pronunciations, or access assignments your instructor has set up, you'll need to create a free account.
The WordLearner website offers a range of facilities for learners and teachers, including interactive online games and exercises, mobile phone
software and customisable printable materials, all of which is designed
to help users expand their vocabulary in almost any language of their
choice. This is one of the best resources I've come across in a while.
The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus
with an innovative display that encourages exploration and learning. To understand the power of the Visual Thesaurus, you really need to see it in action. Type in a word and give it a try!
There are lots of sites on the Internet which allow you to create your own crosswords. Two of the best are Discovery School's Puzzlemaker and EclipseCrossword, a downloadable program which can make interactive web pages.
The
Teacher's Pet Text Tool is a free add-on for Microsoft Word that can
help you transform any text into a fun classroom activity. Developed by
a teacher, here are just some of the things the tool can do: Crosswords, Flashcards, Bingo Cards, Jumbles, Gap Fill/Cloze Tests, and lots more.
Al Gore's film about global warming is an excellent teaching resource. There is plenty of additional material relating to the film on the web but two of the most useful resources are a transcript of the whole film and a 26-page PDF study guide.
Chuala is a free, on-line, user-created pronunciation dictionary where you can listen to a model (word or sentence), record your own version and then compare the two.
An original method!(seen on YouTube)
Swivel lets you explore data and share your insights with others.
Swivel has data about politics, economics, weather, sports, business
and more. Useful source of visual material for student presentations.
This latest edition of the Marketing Blog Project is now finished. 34 students created their own marketing blog using Wordpress. The project home page has links to all the student blogs.
For a limited period the BBC News website is experimenting with using Flash video embedded like this into story pages. The audio and video quality is far superior to the usual video clips available via the BBC News Player which are frankly unwatchable (for decent quality clips visit CNN). You can see the story which goes with this video on the BBC site and I've done a transcript which you can download by clicking on the following link: Download cube_house.doc
If I come across any more interesting Flash video clips from the BBC, I'll add them to The English Blog