Resources for Practicing English Alone or In Class I. READING COMPREHENSION: News Reports: 1. CNN: http://www.cnn.com/ 2. USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/ 3. Newsweek: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ 4. BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk 5. Newsweek International: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3037881/site/newsweek/ 6. Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/ II. LISTENING COMPREHENSION: News Broadcasts: 1. VOA America Radio: http://www.voanews.com/english/index.cfm – news reports are read at a slower speed with limited vocabulary. 2. National Public Radio (USA) –http://www.npr.org/ 3. BBC Radio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/ 4. Story telling: http://www.storyteller.net/stories/audio 5. Listening Lab: http://www.englishlistening.com/startListeningNow.do Speeches: These are famous speeches, movie clips and radio broadcasts. Some are written out as well. www.americanrhetoric.com Music Lyrics: If students want to practice English by listening to American music, the lyrics can be VERY helpful. 1. www.azlyrics.com, 2. www.lyricspedia.com Dictation 1. Stories and excerpts: http://www.fonetiks.org/dictations/ or (alternate link) http://www.dictationsonline.com/ 2. Real-life situations (medium level): http://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictations-medium.htm 3. Real-life situations (high level): http://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictations-long.htm 4. News dictations: http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio IV. WRITING: 1. Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl 2. Chicago Style Manual http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html V. GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY and TOEFL practice: Grammar: 1. http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_toefl1.htm - 33 questions, gives answers after you answer the question. Questions in structure format 2. http://esl.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=esl&cdn=education&tm=5&gps=294_499_1276_6 21&f=11&su=p897.3.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.testmagic.com/Knowledge_Base/TOEFL /Structure/index.htm - in written expression format. Different levels. Pick the bottom 3. 3. http://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_structure_1.htm Reading: http://www.eduers.com/toeflibt/Sample-TOEFL-Reading-Questions.htm Vocabulary: 1. http://www.freerice.com/ 2. http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_toefl2.htm 3. http://www.examenglish.com/TOEFL/toefl_vocabulary.htm 4. http://freetoefl.net/ - do this one with a partner. Race to see who finishes first and has the best score. VI. BUSINESS ENGLISH 1. http://www.englishclub.com/business-english/index.htm 2. http://www.business-english.com/ 3. http://www.better-english.com/grammar.htm
Helpful Sites for Planning Classes and Discussions in English Clubs GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Dave’s ESL Café - http://www.eslcafe.com/ DISCUSSION STARTERS AND IDEAS 1. www.esldiscussions.com 2. Short interesting videos to discuss: www.ted.com 3. American Stories (culture, listening and reading) www.storycorps.com ENGLISH CLUBS 1. Excellent site for starting and maintaining a club: http://www.englishclub.com/index.htm 2. Example of club site in Tajikistan http://www.english.tj/main_en.html COMPLETE LESSON PLANS 1. Lower Level with complete lesson plans: www.breakingnewsenglish.com FORUMS AND DISCUSSIONS 1. http://www.speakoz.com/english-directory/english-learning-groups.html AMERICAN CORNER WEBSITES: try looking at for ideas of what other ACs are doing 1. Albania: http://tirana.usembassy.gov/ac.html 2. Cyprus Greece: www.americanembassy.org.cy/americancorners/ 3. Russia: http://amcorners.ru/ 4. Hungary: http://www.americancorner.hu/htmls/americancorner.html LIST OF MORE RESOURCES 4. List of EFL/ESL resource websites http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslplans.html