Test Prep New England: January 2013

Please feel free to share in comments your favorite websites for teaching or learning ESOL.

1. http://www.rachelsenglish.com/

This is a website for individual study/practice of American English pronunciation, with video to watch and imitate-everything from individual sounds through sentences from TV shows.

2. www.eslcafe.com/

This is a valuable website for both ESL teachers and students. For ESL students, there are a lot of information available such as idioms, phrasal verbs, slang, pronunciation and others.

3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

Merriam-Webster Dictionary online with pronunciation

4. www.real-english.com

This website contains lots of educational videos with English speakers.

5. http://eleaston.com/materials.html

This website includes a variety of English teaching materials organized by target skill and content categories, as well as tests

and quizzes. It is a great site for both learners and teachers.

6. www.englishlistening.com/

This website helps learners to Learn English by listening. It offers the learners to study any time, any place. You can listen to real people speaking real English .

7. www.esl-lab.com/

This website includes many practice exercises and quizzes for listening comprehension.

8. http://www.manythings.org/el/

Learners will be asked to fill in the blanks while listening to the songs. This is another way to practice for listening learning.

9. www.english-4u.de/

This site helps learners to improve their reading comprehension. It offers many games, crossword puzzles, grammar explanations, etc.

10. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

This website offers help with the writing process including research and citations. It also helps learners with grammar, professional and technical writing.

11. http://www.ohio.edu/linguistics/esl/

Ohio University has provided this great site for ESL students and teachers. It offers interactive activities for writing, as well as a list of writing topics for students at all different levels.

12. a4esl.org/

ESL students can learn vocabulary and grammar through quizzes and crossword puzzles. This site also provides some bilingual quizzes such as Chinese-English, Japanese-English etc.

13 www.manythings.org/

This is a fun study site for ESL students with different levels, which provides word games, puzzles, slang and others. It is not only focus on students' reading comprehension but also on students' listening ability.

14. www.englishclub.com/learn-english.htm

This English Learning Center provides English Language Skills and Special Interest ESL (Business English, English for Work...). It is a useful website for students who are interested in learning English.

15. http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html

A variety of podcasts for learning English.

16. http://www.elllo.org/

Listening samples of English speakers from around the world with transcripts and interactive quizzes.

17 http://www.talkenglish.com/

Lessons on various topics for people living in the US or planning on moving to the US.

18 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

BBC Learning English

19. http://privateenglishportal.com/

Free lessons, including for TOEFL preparation

20. http://www.rong-chang.com/

A great starting point for ESL/EFL learners who want to study English through the Web. The site is updated constantly.

21. http://www.sozoexchange.com/

A fabulous website for Adult ESOL learners.

22. http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/

Free audio books.

23. http://www.usalearns.org

U.S.A. Learns is a free web-based multimedia system for adults learning English as a second language.

24. http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/

Use the radio transcripts and audio files on this site to improve your American English

25. http://www.speakingyourbest.com/freevideolessons.html

Accent Reduction

26. http://oyc.yale.edu/

Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials

for all who wish to learn.

27. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

Free Course Materials of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

28. http://www.engvid.com/

Free English video lessons

29. http://www.china232.com/

Advanced fantastic audio English lessons!

30. http://testyourvocab.com/

Test your English vocabulary size, and measure how many words you know. For children, adults and EFL/ESL learners.

31. http://quizlet.com/

Quizlet is a lightning fast way to memorize vocabulary lists. It's like flashcards, but much more fun and interactive.Create your own flash cards or use the given ones, play games, and have fun while studying.

32. http://esl-voices.com/students/listening/

The listening activities are divided into two categories. The Basic Listening Practice part has various news stories from National Public Radio (NPR), and Voices of America (VOA). There are questions with levels for easy, medium, and advanced for each listening section.

33. http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=3 National Public Radio: audios and transcripts

NPR: audios and transcripts

34. http://pulseplanet.com

Pulse of the Planet
This site has short audio recordings which are accompanied by the complete text with pictures on one page. These programs are created by Jim Metzner For PULSE OF THE PLANET and include customs and traditions from around the world.

35. http://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/index.html

Lost and Found Sounds: The Stories
This is a wonderful collection of sound documentaries which provide fascinating cultural history collected by the Kitchen Sisters. These programs are presented on All Things Considered on NPR (National Public Radio). Each recording is connected to a page which includes pictures and a detailed summary of the recording.

36. http://www.npr.org/about/programs/talk.html

Talk Programs (NPR)
This site includes programs like Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered. Another good choice is Fresh Air which has wonderful interviews of famous people!

37. http://www.esl-lab.com/

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
At this site, you can choose from a list of listening assignments that vary in length and difficulty. The conversations are created for second language learners to test their listening and you can read the transcripts and get help with vocabulary at Randall's place too.

38. http://www.voanews.com/index.cfm

Voice of America News
You can hear the news from around the world and read the transcripts while you listen. Choose the current affairs topic you want to learn more about.

39. http://www.englishelearning.com/en/index.html

English Learning
For an introduction to the pronunciation software, ENGLISH POWER 1 and 2, go to this website. In the end, however, this is primarily an advertising site...

40. http://www.eflclub.com/2songs/songs.html

EFL Club Songs
Listen to the Beatles and other popular singers and improve your vocabulary. For a little more of a challenge, some of the words are missing from the lyrics for you to guess! This website is lots of fun!

41.http://eleaston.com/listening.html

E.L. Easton-English Online
There are all kinds of listening activities listed at this site and links to other languages as well.

42. http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/listening.html#Other

Ohio ESL
Ohio University offers an excellent reference list of listening practice sites. The list is well organized and descriptions include degree of difficulty.

43. http://www.elllo.org

Ello
Todd Beuckens designed this excellent site for beginner and intermediate learners of English. The audio clips are one to two minutes in length, use natural and informal English, and come with quizzes and dictionary links. Todd features interviews with speakers from all over the world.

44. http://broadcast-live.com/

Live Radio and television from Around the World
No matter what you are looking for, whether it's music or international news, this is a great resource!

45.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/default.stm

BBC News from our own correspondent
Personal reflections by BBC correspondents around the world. This is a very nice news and information site. You can research countries around the world in addition to getting the latest news.

46. http://www.fancast.com/

Fancast
Watch full TV shows and movies at this site.

47. http://www.history.com/media.do

History Made Every Day
Watch full TV shows and movies at this site.

48. This I Believe
You can listen to and read people's philosophy of life statements on this National Public Radio site.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

The Power of Hello
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93536198
Making It Up as I Go Along
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16357141
Living What You Do Every Day by Yolanda O'Bannon
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6431548
Telling Kids the Whole Truth
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88241635
The America I Believe In
http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=27

49. http://www.manythings.org/
Interesting Things for ESL Students
There are many useful links to improve your listening skill and pronunciation ability on this Charles Kelly website. You can listen and repeat all those irregular past tense verbs too!

50. http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/
Learn English - Feel Good
Among other things, you can improve your ability to understand popular movies and improve your listening skills on this site.

51. News Websites
On these sites you can watch video clips from ABC, MSNBC or CBS news.
http://abcnews.go.com/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8004316
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/?tag=main_home_Navigation

52. http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/
National Geographic
This website has a lot of educational videos about nature, animals, cultures, science, and more.

53. http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/
Discovery channel
This website is similar to National Geographic and includes full TV episodes of popular shows from the Discovery channel.

54. http://www.eslnotes.com
The English Learner Movie Guides
Movie summaries, vocabulary and cultural references, and other resources to support language learners going to the movies.

55. http://www.englishbaby.com
English, baby
There are some good audio and video clips here that replicate authentic speech and provide a good focus on vocabulary. You are also encouraged to pay for the more advanced features of the website and there are way too many ads to navigate.

56. http://www.englishcentral.com/en/videos
English Central
Learn English while watching videos. You can record your voice and get feedback on this site. One of my students recommended it, so it's definitely worth exploring if you want to improve your speaking. You have to join the site but it's free.

57. www.gcflearnfree.org
Goodwill Free Computer Training
This website provides free online courses that teach Word, Excel, Power Point, math, reading, vocabulary, everyday life skills, etc.

59. www. freerice.com
Learn English vocabulary and grammar, literature, sciences, math, geography, etc. For your correct answers you will receive points that will be transferred into grains of rice to be donated throughout the world.

60. http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/index.html#
Pronunciation resources from Iowa State University

Test Prep New England

Pages

Websites to Prepare for the U.S Citizenship Test

Other Free Websites for ESOL Students

Websites for Advanced ESOL Students with College Aspirations