Archive for the ‘English’ Category
Essential Apps for English Learners: Grammar
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010Having previously looked at Dictionary and News apps, I’m now going to cover apps for learning or practising grammar.
As far as free/cheap apps go (the type we prefer!), the choice is disappointing. Or rather, there are plenty of apps, but very few worth the trouble of downloading. Here are a few which are.
• 10 Minute English teaches intermediate-level learners of English using realistic audio dialogues between native speakers of English (British English and American English). The dialogues are structured around grammar points which intermediate learners usually have difficulty with. The grammar used in the dialogues is fully explained in simple and clear terms. The free ‘Lite’ version has three lessons, while the ‘full’ version costing $4.99 has ten.
• Grammar Girl Podcast App ($1.99). One of the very best ELL podcasts delivered right to your iPhone along with a weekly bonus audio file that covers an additional grammar or writing topic. Bonus tips are only available through the app. You’ll also occasionally receive free book excerpts. Of course, you could subscribe to the podcast on iTunes for free, and transfer it to your iPhone, but $1.99 is a small price to pay to avoid all that hassle and get direct access to over 200 podcasts.
• Mobi Bac Terminale Anglais (free). Excellent grammar reference app for French speakers. Covers all the main grammar points and gives tips on preparing for the Baccalauréat oral and written exams. No exercises, however.
To get a grammar app with a full range of practice activities and exercises, you’re going to have to pay a bit more.
• English Grammar in Use Activities ($9.99) Based on the best-selling grammar book by Raymond Murphy. Designed for intermediate level learners of English. Over 2,800 questions, divided into 16 grammar sections. Features a variety of activity types. Audio recordings of all the exercises. Record and play back function.
• English Grammar in Use Tests ($4.99) This app preceded the ‘Activities’ one and has fewer questions (1,700) and no audio. For a more detailed comparison see here.
Thanks to Jeffrey Hill from The English Blog for this very interesting post.
Essential Apps for English Learners: News
Thursday, March 25th, 2010This post is part of a series looking at useful iPhone/iPod Touch apps for learners of English. The previous article was about dictionaries. This one deals with online news sites.
Of course, you can access online news sites using the Safari browser on your iPhone, but the iTunes app store contains a number of dedicated news apps, some free and some paid, which make for a much better browsing experience. Another advantage is that some of them allow you to read articles offline. Here is a selection.
• New York Times (free): Access the latest articles and photos of the day
• The Telegraph (free): Britain’s best-selling quality paper
• The Independent (free): Impressive app offering over 150 stories per day for offline browsing
• TIME Mobile (free): the popular American news magazine
• The Guardian ($3.99): Offline browsing and some impressive features
• Mashable (free): Get the latest tech news
• Business Addict ($0.99): Provides quick access to 17 top business sites
The following news apps provide video and audio content:
• CBS News (free): Get the latest news, videos from CBS News
• BBC World News (free): Watch BBC World News live
• CNN Mobile ($1.99): Paid app but Mashable gives it a glowing review
• NPR News (free): Listen to hundreds of news stations—watch YouTube video
Thank you to Jeffrey Hill at The English Blog for this great post.
Build your Vocabulary Visually!
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Weboword is a visual vocabulary site that aims to help you to build your vocabulary through hand-drawn, situation specific cartoons, drawings and sketches. Here’s an example:
Other resources on the site include a weekly crossword puzzle and Weboword Connect, an online community for vocabulary lovers. If you like the Weboword approach, you might like to subscribe to Weboword Express, a monthly PDF pack which combines Weboword’s daily visual vocabulary and weekly crossword with premium content to aid vocabulary development and English language learning. You can view a sample here.
Thanks to Jeffrey Hill at the English Blog for this great finding.
Words and Their Stories: Where Did ‘OK’ Come From?
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
Millions of people all over the world use the word OK. In fact, some people say the word is used more often than any other word in the world. OK means all right or acceptable. It expresses agreement or approval. You might ask your brother, “Is it okay if I borrow your car?” Or if someone asks you to do something, you might say, “Okay, I will.” Still, language experts do not agree about where the word came from. Continue reading here
Listen to the story here
Somewhere a Language Dies Every Two Weeks
Friday, February 26th, 2010Over half of the world’s 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing.
Continue reading here
Listen to the story here
Source : VOA News
Defenders of World’s Mother Tongues (and Signs) Compare Tactics at UCLA read here
EC Learn English
Thursday, February 25th, 2010The English Blog, one of the best blogs for Language Lovers, suggested us today the EC’s Learn English site. EC’Learn English has some interesting resources for those who want to learn and improve their English skills. To begin with, there’s the free daily lesson, which you can receive by email. There’s a nice mix of idioms, vocabulary and articles at different levels, which should appeal to a wide range of learners. You can also find over 600 past lessons in the archive, organized into categories. Find the site here
Learn and Improve English at EnglishCafe
Friday, February 19th, 2010English Café is a great new web site that is dedicated to providing a community atmosphere for English teachers and learners. Not only does it provide a place for learners and teachers to connect and share lessons, photos, audios, and classes, but it also provides each and every user with some amazing e-learning tools including:
• Your very own blog for both teachers and learners. Teachers can blog about any topic of their choosing and can even turn it into a lesson for their students. Students also have the chance to write their own blogs to practice their English, or as an assignment from a teacher.
• EC Toolbox – Patent-Pending Suggestion Tool allows teachers to correct and comment on learners’ written work they post to English Café. It also allows you to translate and hear sections of text.
• Multimedia Library including photos, audio, files, videos, etc. English Café allows users to upload their own materials to include in their lessons, blogs, quizzes, or just to share with other users.
• EC Recorder – this online software that is available to all users allows you to record either audio or video directly to the English Café site using your microphone or webcam.
• Lesson Builder – You can create your own lessons to share with other English Café users directly on the web site. The lessons can include any of the materials from your multimedia library, and are automatically archived for both your own convenience as well as the users.
• Quiz Creator – Each lesson is followed by a quiz to help students test their newfound knowledge, and English Café provides a great online tool to help you create that quiz in to time at all. It even includes automatic scoring, multiple choice answers, and you can even imbed audio, video, and photos.
• Groups – Join a group that suits your interests to be able to interact with like-minded people. This can be a great way for learners to practice their English on a topic that’s interesting to them. Alternatively, it is a great way for teachers to choose a topic that will keep the learners’ interest without having to rack your brain for ideas.
• Calendar – Schedule one on one session with students or an online class with multiple students. English Café even integrates with Skype and Dimdim to effectively communicate with your students.
These are only some of the amazing features English Café provides to its users, but there are many more.
English Café was featured in the first edition of ESL International’s newsletter.
Comment :
This site is a great and complementary resource for students seeking to gain English knowledge and join a world-wide conversation about words and culture.
We highly encourage you to use it in addition to attending English Language programs.
Need Help With Your Writing? Try This Web Site
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010Many colleges and universities in the United States have writing centers to help students improve their skills. Some materials are available free at Web sites like the Purdue Online Writing Lab, or OWL. The site is connected to the Writing Lab at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Listen to the story here
Read the story here
