Sunday, 28 October 2012

Listening to English


One of the best ways of learning foreign language is listening to it and watching videos. There are numerous websites where you can do it.

Your assignment for this class will be to make a "media library entry" of resources on the particular topic (the one that you subscribe to here 141a 141b 142a 142b).

You can use the resources you find. There should be at least 10 resources in your "media library entry"
Only one link from each website is allowed!

Add your resources to the "Media library" wiki page here .

You might find these helpful:
Audio resources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/newsaboutbritain/2009/02/090127_soaps.shtml (and don’t forget about bbc.co.uk where you can listen to the live radio)
http://www.manythings.org/ (go to “Listening and Reading” and “Singing” parts)
http://www.podcastsinenglish.com (only listening – the other features are paid)

Video resources
http://www.sidereel.com/_home (TV shows, movies, TV programs in English)

Monday, 15 October 2012

Class 7: EFL/ESL Websites


Your next assignment is to find and analyze a website that can be used for learning English.
You need to post the link to your website in the comments to this post and then present it during our class.

Here you can find a short example of how to do that and 4 questions you have to answer while analyzing your website (all the questions in bold).

Website
What features (services) does the website provide?
You can read the news from all over the world on this website. It is updated every day, so it helps you to keep track of what is going on in the world. Also you can listen to some of the news (ths developing your listening skills) and learn new vocabulary from the material you are reading or listening to. As well as listening online you can download the article, exercises and the mp3 file so that to work with it in an offline mode.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
There are different categories. For example, you can choose between GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY and PRONUNCIATION, or GENERAL and BUSINESS English. So you can choose and work with the area you need to develop.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/index.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/index.shtml
Also you can find cultural references from which you can get to know a lot about different cultures (not only about British). For example, there are 2 categories: COSTUMES AND CELEBRATIONS and RECIPES where you can learn a lot about different holidays and national cuisine of the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/specials/
To addition there one can also find crosswords, quizzes, blogs and numerous discussions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/crossword/101119_crossword_school.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/index.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/community/index.shtml

What do you like about it?
You can work with it for free (including the download of the files). It is extremely useful both for my English and the general development - I am always aware of what is going on in the world. I enjoy reading and istening to the news and stories as well as doing crosswords and quizzes.

What don’t you like about it?
You can forget about time if you get to the website, because it really makes one interested in what’s going on there.
Sometimes the news are rater short, so one need to reasearch te topic on other addditional websites, but that is not such a big problem.

How many points would you give this website (out of 10)? And why?
10 points, because it is possible for everyone to use it: for people from every part of the world (with Internet), and with all levels of knowledge.It is user-friendly and easy to use.