This is the last part in our mini-series covering resources for learning English. And this week we’re looking at websites that are dedicated to learning and improving all your English skills.
The websites detailed below contain lots of useful information for specific tasks such as learning vocabulary and improving listening skills. But, they also contain lots other useful information. For example, The British Council website contains lots of other useful resources, in addition to the ones I’ve mentioned, including games and grammar exercises. The same applies to the David Appleyard website. So, once you are on the webpage make sure you have a look around to see what else is available.
To start with, here are some dictionary websites that you can refer to when you need to know what a word means. They are all good – just choose the one you prefer:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hello?q=hello
http://dictionary.reference.com/
www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/
Once you’ve found out what a word means you may want to find an alternative to use in its place. To find alternatives you need a thesaurus:
www.collinsdictionary.com/english-thesaurus/
These are some examples of websites that’ll help you improve your vocabulary:
http://cdextras.cambridge.org/VocabTrainer/english365/start.swf – general English
www.learn-english-today.com/vocabulary/a_vocabulary-contents.htm – general English
http://cdextras.cambridge.org/VocabTrainer/bbav/index.htm – business English
www.learn-english-today.com/business-english/A-business-english-contents.html – business English
Podcasts, videos and listening exercises are a great way to improve your vocabulary, listening comprehension and pronunciation too. Try these:
www.listen-to-english.com/index.php?cat=podcasts
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/
www.davidappleyard.com/english/pronunciation.htm
These websites look at the language we actually speak. This can be somewhat different to what is detailed in books you might use to learn English. So you’ll find slang words and commonly used expressions. There are also videos that put them into real life situations so you can see how they are used:
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theenglishwespeak/index.shtml
www.speakenglish.co.uk/phrases/
Puzzles and games are a great way to improve your English skills and have fun at the same time. Have a go at some of these:
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/crossword/120127_crossword_dragons.shtml
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/quiznet/quiznet_archive.shtml
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/fun-and-games
www.learn-english-today.com/wordgames.html
These are just a selection of the thousands of websites available to learners of English. If you find others that you like or feel are useful, make sure you let us know in the comments here, on facebook, in the student forum or by email studentservices@businesstraining.co.uk so I can let other learners know.
