The English Blog

How To Learn and Practice Languages Using Social Media

Mashable has an excellent post on using social media for language learning. I've featured many of the sites on The English Blog in the past, but it's useful to have them all in one place.

English Addicts: Daily English News Lessons

English Addicts is a web service from EduLang offering daily English lessons based on Voice of America news reports. Here's what they say.

English Addicts is originally based on the works by Michel Perrin from the University of Bordeaux II. He compares the way a language is being learnt to the way a child can learn how to speak: when learning a language, listening comes before speaking.

To become proficient in a language, thousands of listening hours are required which is very much difficult either at school or college. However, the repetitive aspect of such a training is unavoidable. But to make it more interesting, Mr. Perrin suggested that the use of news items on a daily basis could foster linguistic improvements.

This is what has been developed through the implementation of English Addicts. Indeed, every day, and each time based on a different theme, an audio news item related to current events is being offered by experienced native teachers. The prime objective is to entice people to become "active" while listening.

Each lesson of English Addicts comes at one of four levels of difficulty and is divided into nine main activity sections plus a glossary. Last Friday's lesson is available for free on the site and can be downloaded as an mp3 file or podcast. Full membership (120 euros) gives you access to the archive of over 1000 lessons, but you can also register for free and keep your scores on a personal account. For more information download this PDF brochure.

WHAT I THINK
English Addicts is one of the best ways of improving listening (and vocabulary) skills I've seen in a while. If I were an English learner, I would sign up for a free account right away and check out the new lesson every Friday.

ESL Basics: Vocabulary Videos

I got an e-mail from Andrea Michael telling me about her ESL Basics website. Here's what she says:

ESLbasics.com brings English to life through hundreds of ESL/EFL/TESOL videos. We have hundreds of ESL/EFL/TESOL videos, including:

• Vocabulary
• TOEFL Preparation
• Idioms
• Phrasal Verbs
• Business English
• Teacher Tips and Activities

At ESL Basics, we believe that real-life context is a student's best friend, not a list of terms to memorize. This is why our vocabulary is surrounded by a conversation. ESL Basics fosters an environment where students aren't just learning one word, they are acquiring language. ESL Basics is structured around a philosophy of student-centered lessons, videos, and usability. We also know that everyone learns better together, so we have created the ability for students to share what they find with their peers through social networks around the globe.

WHAT I THINK
Andrea has assembled an impressive collection of videos. Most are short (30 seconds or less) and provide a definition and sample sentence for the word in question. However, despite what Andrea says, I'm not sure how useful or motivating learners will find it to study individual words like this. Their time might be better spent watching CNN Student News and noting unfamiliar words as they come across them in context. Or just reading a book or newspaper with the help of a dictionary. It would also be interesting to know on what basis the words are chosen. The Avanced/TOEFL vocabulary starts with the following: abroad, accurate, advent, amaze, ancient, which seems quite a random selection. The site also has a section with Teacher Resources, where you will be able to see helpful TESOL/TEFL videos and job postings. 

Word Ahead: Vocabulary Videos

I got an e-mail from Faiza Khan asking me to check out her WordAhead vocabulary learning site. This is how she describes it:

This website has a collection of short, simple and fun multimedia clips and an audio narration to correctly pronounce, define, and provide examples of difficult English words. The videos are entirely appropriate for middle and high school students. Visitors can subscribe to receive a Word of the Day video from WordAhead. A WordAhead widget is also available on the website. 

WHAT I THINK

I'm impressed. There are over 500 videos and flashcards, each illustrating a word. The videos are professionally done and include a drawing, and a spoken definition followed by an example. My one reservation from an EFL standpoint concerns the choice of words, which seem to be aimed at SAT test takers. Even I didn't know some of them (acclivity, descry, zoophagous!). For advanced learners, then.

Does it help to correct mistakes in language learning ?

As teachers, we spend a lot of time correcting students' English. Does all that correction serve any useful purpose, however? Steve Kaufmann has some interesting thoughts on the subject on his excellent Linguist On Language blog.

Krashen feels that correcting language mistakes is a waste of time. He has done research to show that it does not lead to improvement. He is apparently also concerned that too much correction will create what he calls affective filters, in other words, emotions, that prevent us from learning. He may be right. I do not know. 

I agree that language learning is a process which relies a great deal on our attitudes and emotions. I have also observed that correcting people while they speak has little effect, since the speaker is usually focused on speaking and cannot take in the correction. The learner usually repeats the mistake almost immediately, even after repeated correction. Apparently correction is similarly ineffective even in the long term according to Krashen.

Steve goes on to give his rules for correction:

1) Never correct unless asked by the speaker to do so. The idea of perfect strangers correcting my use of language, on youtube or anywhere else, strikes me as just rude, and certainly not helpful.
2) Even if asked to correct, keep it to a minimum, or the learner might become discouraged.
3) Correct writing much more strictly than spoken language. People often make mistakes while speaking that they may not normally make. In other words it is hard to always perform at one's best while speaking.
4) If possible, provide a few comments after a conversation, (and that is what we do at LingQ) and not during the conversation.
5) The objective of correction is not to bring about an immediate improvement, but to help the learner notice what is happening in the language, and where his or her gaps are. This provides an incentive to notice the language more, while listening and reading.

You can read the complete post here. 

COMMENT
I have to admit that it irritates me whenever anyone (usually my wife!) corrects my French. I agree with Steve when he says such correction is ineffective. Often the mistake is quite trivial anyway. On the other hand, some students seem to think that you're not doing your job as a teacher if you don't correct their mistakes. I guess you have to try and achieve a balance.

Chinese Learn English the Disney Way

From the Wall Street Journal:

Mickey Mouse has a new job in China: teaching kids how to speak English at new schools owned by Walt Disney Co. popping up in this bustling city.

The company says the initiative is primarily about teaching language skills to children, not extending its brand in the world's most populous nation. But from the oversize Mickey Mouse sculpture in the foyer to diction lessons starring Lilo and Stitch, the company's flagship school here is filled with Disney references.

Classroom names recall Disney movies, such as "Andy's Bedroom," the setting of the "Toy Story" films. To hold the attention of children as young as two years old, there is the Disney Magic Theater, which combines functions of a computer, television and chalkboard and is the main teaching tool.

Disney's foray into English-language instruction in China comes as the niche industry is booming. McKinsey & Co. estimates that China's foreign-language business is worth $2.1 billion annually. More than 300 million Chinese are studying English, according to a speech delivered in January by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Last week Pearson PLC announced it would buy the Wall Street Institute chain of 39 English schools in seven Chinese cities from Carlyle Group for $145 million. Pearson predicted the operation, which focuses on adult education, would generate about $70 million in revenue this year and said it "expects English language teaching in China to remain a good growth market." Full story >>

COMMENT

Cue jokes about Mickey Mouse English.

The English Learning Video Project

The Learning English Video Project is a first of its kind 7-part series of documentary films about people learning English on 5 continents. Each film features people in 7 countries who have their own methods and reasons for learning English. The series provides a glimpse into the global ESL (English as a Second Language) community. Filmed in Morocco, Romania, USA, Spain, China, Brazil and the UK, the series will be released free online (with and without English subtitles), together with free supplementary resource materials for learners and teachers, so that it can be viewed as pure documentary or learning tool as well. The first film of the series, "Stories from Morocco", will be launched on April 21st, 2009, with the remaining six films following monthly. Each film is about 15 minutes in length, with a total series length of 2 hours. Full story >>  

Macmillan Interactive Webinars

Macmillan is organising a series of webinars—live video talks—from some of the biggest names in ELT. You can watch these directly in your web browser, and all webinars are free to view. You'll be able to put questions directly to the presenter during the session. Registration for the webinars will start from Monday 23rd March.

The first webinar is on 8th April, when Pete Sharma will be talking about "New technology—new pedagogies". You can see the rest of the programme here. 

COMMENT
A good opportunity to try out the technology and learn something new at the same time.

Alibela: Language Courses for Free

Alibela is a place where you can take part in language courses as both student and teacher. Like everyone, you are an expert in at least one language, typically your native tongue, and you qualify to give a conversation course. In return, you can take courses in any language you like. Getting a course is based on a basic point system: A course costs 10 points, a course given earns 10 points. For more details you can read the FAQ.

Comments
Sounds like a great idea for any English-speaker who wants to learn a rare language. Nearly 100 languages are listed from Albanian to Zulu. The website is pretty basic, however, and could do with a few more suggestions as to how the lessons should be organised.

Macmillan Dictionary

Macmillan has just launched a new free online dictionary. New features include audio pronunciation and a thesaurus. Coming soon: search widgets, toolbars and RSS feeds for the popular word of the day.

Comments 

First impressions are good. The minimalist interface is clean and easy to use. The audio pronunciation feature is really useful for learners, and there are even sound effects (check out the entry for "wind"). Best of all is the fully integrated Thesaurus—just click the T button in an entry to review related words/synonyms. One of these days I'll get around to comparing the various online dictionaries, but it's safe to say that the Macmillan Dictionary is one of the best. You can find a collection of online dictionary and translation resources on my links site www.emnenglish.com.

Postscript
Jochen Lüders sent me this PDF comparing 3 online dictionaries. 

Englishspeak.com: Learn Spoken English for Free

Englishspeak.com is a free and award winning new system for learning to speak English. The program contains lessons that give special attention to English pronunciation and everyday language. With over 100 lessons, Englishspeak.com provides a large amount of audio content. Users have access to two different speeds of playback for each item.

Each English lesson simulates a conversation between the user and a native speaker. Users are put in a variety of real world situations and take part in conversations using the most frequently used English words and English grammar.

There is a tremendous emphasis put on pronunciation. Users have access to normal and slow playback speeds for each conversation, sentence, and word. Place your cursor over any word in the program and it will be pronounced slowly by our instructor, not by a computer generated voice.

Verdict
The home page is not much to look at, so my expectations were not high, but this is a really useful site for improving listening and pronunciation skills. There's already a tremendous amount of material—100 dialogues at 3 levels of difficulty—and the mouse-over pronunciation feature is particularly impressive. There's even a version for Spanish-speakers with translations of all the English phrases. One slight quibble—the 'normal speed' still sounds pretty slow to me.

 

Myngle gets a million euros

TechCruch reports that Myngle, the Amsterdam-bassed online language learning platform, has secured 1m euros in funding.

Myngle, founded by ex-eBay employees, is essentially a “marketplace for languages” where teachers and students can virtually connect and determine if there’s a match for an online course to start between the parties (from both sides). The e-learning platform advocates the use of Skype for video-conference tutoring and accepts online payment transactions via PayPal, so most of the operation is automated and doesn’t involve Myngle staff.

Here’s how they pitch the service on their site:

Myngle is free for students and teachers to sign up and provides an online environment for live individual and group lessons for basically any language and level from any type of teacher. You can choose your own teacher or student depending on your specific needs, availability and price! If you are a student, you can try out a demo lesson with your selected teacher before you have to pay anything.

Myngle claims to have attracted almost 50.000 members in 125 countries since its inception in 2007, and boasts providing language courses in 52 languages. VoxSwap, LiveMocha and Babbel offer a similar proposition. Read full article >>

Comments
Is this the future of language learning/teaching? It certainly beats an 8h30 Thursday morning class with 20+ French students who've been partying late into the night—and you can drink your coffee as you teach! I should imagine that Milagros is quite in demand.

Blogs Exchange Language Learning Community

Blogs-Exchange (BE) is the first community of blogs dedicated to the learning and interchange of languages (Spanish and English so far). It takes just a minute to create your blog, and soon you will be learning Spanish or English. Request a learning buddy (intercambio) if you prefer to learn in tandem. Reflect, write, give and receive feedback. If you are a teacher, sign your students up and ask for a free assessment. Find out more on the About page.

Comments
This looks like an interesting initiative. It's a pity the website isn't more user-friendly—it's easy to get lost in all that English/Spanish text.

BBC Learning English Relaunched

BBC Learning English has relaunched its website with a new design and new features. There is a new look and they have also reorganised some of the content and added extra functions. For example, you can now download the audio from Words in the News. As well as all the regular programmes, there is a new series of the Teacher and also a brand new game—Beat the Keeper. You can see a complete list of contents on the site map. Here's a look at the new front page.

Comments
The new site has an improved graphic design and is more user-friendly (the old one was getting a bit messy). There's more than enough material here to satisfy even the most assiduous English learner—and new resources are being added all the time. Easily the best all-round English learning site.

BBC Learning English Site Redesign

BBC Learning English is relaunching its website in February with a new design and new features.

There is a new look and they have also reorganised some of the content and added extra functions. For example, you can now download the audio from Words in the News.

As well as all the regular programmes, there is a new series of the Teacher and also a brand new game - Beat the Keeper. Look out for more details and information in the coming days.

Here is a quick look at the new front page.

Comments

It looks like the best English learning website is about to get even better. Watch this space for news of when it happens.