Two Great Apps for Your Phone - Podcasts and Vocopedia!

Learning any new language is a difficult process, and many people consider English to be one of the hardest languages to learn. Not only is English proficiency important for strictly English majors today, but it is also important in many fields of work ranging from information technology to medical transcription.

But technology is a wonderful tool that can help you learn English more quickly and effectively. With most mobile phones allowing development of apps, and popular internet browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome doing the same, there are now more tools than ever available to help you learn English. Here are some of the best ones out there. As a bonus, all the apps listed are free - just download and get started!


LearnEnglish Elementary Podcasts

The British Council's Learn English division has numerous apps for mobile phones and Facebook targeted at English language learners. The free Elementary Podcasts app is designed for elementary English learners, and helps increase spoken and written English proficiency.

Each podcast is 20 minutes long and features two speakers who ask the listener questions about English. The listener can answer the questions as the podcast progresses. A written transcript is also provided in real time alongside the audio, allowing the listener to read alone with what is being spoken. If the learner is confused, there is an option to contact the podcasters via Facebook directly from the app so their questions can be answered.

Download LearnEnglish Elementary for iPhone and iPad

Download LearnEnglish Elementary for Android

Download LearnEnglish Elementary for Nokia

Download LearnEnglish Elementary for Blackberry


Vocopedia

For English language learners of all proficiencies, from those who are just starting out to advanced speakers, the free Vocopedia Android app is a great vocabulary builder with many interactive features that will add an element of fun into your language learning.

Over 3900 English words of varying difficulties are presented on flashcards, alongside their synonyms, their part of speech, and examples of their usage in real sentences. You can bookmark flashcards and save specific flashcard sessions to go over later. Also included is a hangman game that features words from the flashcards. This app is useful not just for English learners, but also for those studying for tests such as the SAT, the GRE, or the TOEFL.

Download Vocopedia for Android

These apps aren't designed to completely replace all the other elements of your learning process (classes, books, and one-on-one lessons), but when used alongside them, they are great ways to start enjoying the process of learning English. The days of learning without technology are long gone now. These days, your phone and computer are some of the most important tools you have to make your goal of learning English a reality.

This is a guest post by Marina Salsbury. Marina planned on becoming a teacher since high school, but found her way instead into online writing after college. She currently writes on a variety of topics, but always seems to veer back to education-related articles.

10 minutes English - Podcasts

Do you have enough time during the day to make the things that you like? Would you like to learn English but don’t know where to get the time? Your problem is very typical; lack of time is experienced by many. You know, time is money, but in my opinion it’s more valuable than money, since how and where do we buy time? Leaving apart philosophical questions, in this post we describe some handy tips to make the most of your time and improve your English level by listening to podcasts.

To be honest, the idea of this post came to me the other day while reading an article about “10 Minutes Gym” and I thought that there could be many people that would like to learn English but who have very little time during the day. The idea is simple: try to learn English while you carry out other tasks. Two things at the same time, is that possible? Yes it is, and with podcasts it works out very easily.

A podcast is nothing more than an audio file (normally in mp3 format) that you can download from the Internet and copy to your mobile phone (if it reproduces mp3) or an mp3 player like the iPod or any other from brands like Creative, Sony or SanDisk. Once you’ve copied the podcasts you’re interested in, next thing to do is to start listening and enjoying them.

The value of this is that you can do many other activities while listening to the podcasts. Some examples are:

• While commuting: if you walk, travel by car or any other transport.
• While doing exercise: we tend to prefer music, but while we run or are at the gym, it’s also possible to listen to podcasts about topics we’re passionate about.
• While doing the housework: cooking, ironing or general cleaning.
• When connected to the Internet: while browsing, on Facebook, checking your emails and so on, it’s also possible to listen to podcasts or even some digital radio like for example the BBC one.
• Even while studying or working: only if you’re allowed to! :)

Why do podcasts help you to improve your level of English? Well, there are several reasons but mainly they can improve “your ear” and your comprehensive skill or listening. You can only improve your ear by practicing and listening once, listening twice and listening once more. Try to download podcasts in different accents: American English, British English, and Irish English... so that you ear gets used to these. Moreover, there are podcasts that contain grammar or vocabulary lessons so you’ll be able to improve your listening, along with other aspects of your English.

Where can I get podcasts? We could list hundreds of websites, but it’s better if you visit our podcast category and decide for yourself. Furthermore, if you have iPod and iTunes then you can subscribe to the podcasts and get updates automatically, it’s very handy.

Would you like to share another activity that you do while you listen to podcasts? Please let us know in a comment.

FYI, the preparation for this post took more than 10 minutes.

Spoken Word - Find the Best Podcasts

Would you like to listen to those conference sessions, lectures or debates that don’t have such a big public presence but whose topic is extremely attractive?

Many of these talks are very inspiring, but, where can these podcasts be found? There is already a solution to this problem, SpokeWord stores and makes them available for everyone.

On the main website of SpokenWord you have the possibility to see the daily recommended podcasts which are organized into different categories: Arts, Business, Comedy, Education, Games & Hobbies, Government & Organizations, Health, Kids & Family, Music, News & Politics, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Medicine, Society & Culture, Sports & Recreation, TV & Film and Technology.

It’s also possible to search for specific podcasts, see the highest rated ones and even submit a podcast. Moreover, if you register (it’s free) you’ll have available a collection where you can save all the podcasts that you like for future references.

SpokenWord is the place where you’ll find the best podcasts collections and you’ll be able to create your own one.

Visit SpokenWord.org

Grammar Girl - Learn Grammar and More

Would you like to improve your knowledge of English grammar? You might think that studying grammar is boring but it’s very necessary because it establishes the rules of the language. Therefore we are looking for a positive answer to the previous question! :)

Today we would like to introduce you to a teacher that teaches English grammar on the Internet; she’s known as “Grammar Girl” but her real name is Mignon Fogarty.

In Grammar Girl’s website you’ll find more than 100 episodes that cover many aspects of English grammar: Proofreading Tips, Subjunctive Verbs, Between Versus Among, and many other truly interesting episodes. All are easy to understand and have a clear structure.

Every episode contains the complete transcription as well as the podcast that you can listen to online or download to your computer. They are also organized into different categories so you can have a look at the ones that most interest you: General Grammar, Word Choice, Style, Punctuation and Humor.

There is no doubt that Grammar Girl is a must-visit Web page if you want to increase your comprehension of English Grammar.

Link | Grammar Girl

IdiotVox - Podcast Directory

Are you interested in podcasts about African music, the environment or wine? Don’t know where to find them? What if you were to look into a podcast directory?

Today we want to introduce you to a podcast directory that offers thousands of podcasts and videocasts, as well as rankings and reviews about them.

In IdiotVox you’ll be able to find podcasts in English about practically any topic that you can imagine. Apart from the ones already mentioned in the introduction of the post, you’ll also find podcasts about agriculture, animals, anime /manga, art, Asia and more than 50 other subjects that are sorted alphabetically.

If you don’t have time to dig into every category, you can visit the lists that contain the best podcasts (by user votes) and then listen to those with better quality content.

The truth is that the amount of categories is impressive and you’ll surely find some podcast that you like and that you’ll be able to listen to several times and by doing this improve your comprehension, as well as your pronunciation in English.

Visit IdiotVox

VerbaLearn - Study Vocabulary Easily

Would you like to learn new vocabulary in English with a simple and easy method? In this post we present you a Webpage that will help you in the learning of words in a quickly and funny way.

The name of this Webpage is VerbaLearn and its learning method is based on the creation of study lists made of a collection of words. These study lists are based on four different English vocabulary tests: SAT, ACT, GRE and general vocabulary.

After selecting the type of study list and the size that you want, you should begin completing it with the new vocabulary in English. When you are creating your study list you choose the correct meaning from four different possibilities of a given word. If you miss when selecting the option or you are not sure about its meaning, the word will form part of your study list. Once you learn the word in English it will automatically disappear from your list.

A feature that we like about VerbaLearn is that for each word cited you are given the pronunciation, its definition and an example of use in context (very important in order to facilitate the learning of new vocabulary).

Oops! I failed in the meaning of the word “augur”:



Once your study list is completed, you can review it online or offline. The way of reviewing it online is by doing a series of activities (sentences) where you have to pick the correct word to complete the sentence. If you decide to review your list offline, you can do it either by subscribing to the podcasts or by directly downloading to your computer a file in .mp3 format with all the sentences from your study list. This is an original idea and pretty handy since you can save the file in your player and then listen to the new vocabulary in English when you are travelling, commuting, doing sport, etc.

Visit VerbaLearn

If you are interested in learning new English vocabulary in an easy way, we recommend you visiting the following online resources that we have mentioned in the blog as well:

FreeRice – learn new vocabulary in English while you donate rice that will help to palliate the hunger in the world.

Babbel – learn new words using the method of linking an image with the word in English (very entertaining!)

Mr Duncan – superb videos in YouTube from an English teacher that teaches you new words and expressions.

Looking for more? There are many other places to learn new vocabulary: social networks, dictionaries, pages with podcasts … have a look at our collection of free resources to learn vocabulary and you’ll probably find some that fit your needs.

Happy learning!

Audio Books and Stories in English for Free

"Voices in the Dark" is a website that allows you to listen for free to audio books and stories in English read aloud by real people who care about the language.

If you are a lover of the classics from the Grimm Brothers (or Brothers Grimm, as they are often called), Charles Dickens or Oscar Wilde, to name just a few, you'll like this Web page because you'll find transcriptions and audio files (in mp3 format) for some of their most important works.

Currently, the number of audio books and stories is greater than 100 (and keeps growing), so you'll find some that you like and with which to practise your English. The transcriptions can be visualized in the Web page. The audio files (in mp3 format) can be downloaded or listened to directly from the Web browser.

"Voices in the Dark" is looking for more collaborators: authors, storytellers or people who like reading aloud, so go on and take part in this attractive project.

Visit Voices in the Dark

Note: You can have a look at our sections dedicated to reading and audio files (podcasts) for more free resources of this type. You can also avail yourself of the learning guide on how to improve your level of English by reading books and texts in the language.

Podictionary - Podcasts about the Origin and History of Words

Tired of listening to the same old podcasts? What if the podcasts were about the origin and history of English words?

That is what Podictionary offers: a very valuable Web page in blog format for word lovers.

In Podictionary you’ll find a new podcast every day with the origin and history (etymology) of an English word. Every podcast is in English and is read in a clear accent so it’s not very difficult to understand. Moreover, you have access to the complete transcription for each podcast. They can be listened to online or downloaded for later listening on your favourite player.

The average length of the podcasts is between three and five minutes. If you prefer, you can listen to or download a weekly podcast (of longer average length) with the compilation of five words that are discussed during the week.

You can also look up the archive that contains every word mentioned in the blog.

Visit Podictionary.com

Note: Don’t hesitate to visit our podcast section in order to see other websites and online resources where you can listen to and download your favourite podcasts.

List of US Online Newspapers - Read them for Free

Do you want to practice your English reading comprehension and don’t know what to read?

The following list can help you. It contains free online newspapers from the US. Every newspaper is written in English and apart from the news about different categories (business, national, sport, entertainment …) in some of them you’ll find videos, podcasts, comics and games (like crosswords) that will help you in different aspects of your English.

If you don’t know the meaning of some words, you can look them up in any of the available online dictionaries.

ajc.com
News about Atlanta
Video archive
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azcentral.com
News about Arizona
Video archive
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boston.com
News about Boston
Video archive
Podcast archive
Game archive
Puzzle archive
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chicagotribune.com
News about Chicago
Video archive
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chron.com
News about Houston
Game archive
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cleveland.com
News about Cleveland
Video archive
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dailynews.com
News about Los Angeles
Game archive
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dallasnews.com
News about Dallas
Video archive
Comic and game archive
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detnews.com
News about Detroit
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freep.com
News about Detroit
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latimes.com
News about Los Angeles
Video archive
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miamiherald.com
News about Miami
Podcast archive
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nydailynews.com
News about New York
Video archive
Game archive
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nypost.com
News about New York
Video archive
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nytimes.com
News about New York
Video archive
Podcast archive
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online.wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal: Business News, Finance News, World, ...
Video archive
Podcast archive
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orlandosentinel.com
News about Orlando
Video archive
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philly.com
News about Philadelphia
Video archive
Comic and game archive
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seattlepi.nwsource.com
News about Seattle
Video archive
Comic and game archive
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seattletimes.nwsource.com
News about Seattle
Comic and game archive
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sfgate.com
News about San Francisco
Video archive
Game archive
Podcast archive
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signonsandiego.com
News about San Diego
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startribune.com
News from Minneapolis, St. Paul and around Minnesota
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stltoday.com
News about the US
Video archive
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suntimes.com
News about Chicago
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sun-sentinel.com
News about the South or Florida
Video archive
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thestate.com
News about South-Carolina
Comic and game archive
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theunionleader.com
News about New Hampshire
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timesunion.com
News about New York
Video archive
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usatoday.com
News about the US and the World
Video archive
Game archive
Podcast archive
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usnews.com
News about the US
Video archive
Podcast archive
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washingtonpost.com
News about Washington
Audio and video podcast archive
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washtimes.com
News about the US and the World
Video archive
Podcast archive
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A total of 33 free online newspapers with interesting material from which you’ll be able to practice your reading, listening and have fun with the comics, games and quizzes.

Lecturefox.com - Free Online Lectures

Free lectures in English from the top universities all over the world, it sounds good, doesn’t it? That’s exactly what “Lecturefox” offers. It consists of a web page with links to more than 500 free lectures from prestigious universities such as: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Clatech, MIT, UC Berkeley, Edinburgh, Boise State, Princeton, Rice and a large etcetera.

These lectures in English are in a variety of formats (video, audio and text) and are organized mainly in 5 categories:

• Physics: with lectures as attractive as, "Fundamentals of Physics", "Introduction to General Astronomy", "Exploring Black Holes", "The Atom Chip", "Einstein's General Relativity", "The Sounds of Music", and hundreds more.

• Chemistry: it contains 12 very interesting lectures (to present); "Principles of Chemical Science", "Teaching the Second Law", "Thermodynamics and Kinetics", and so on.

• Computer Science: more than two hundred lectures about the very latest topics such as, "Understanding Computers and the Internet", "Practical Aspects of Modern Cryptography", "Software Breakthroughs (Bill Gates)", "The Semantic Web (Tim Berners-Lee)", and more. Moreover, for those interested in learning about programming and coding, there are lectures about: "Introduction to Algorithms", "Programming Languages", "Data Structures and Advanced Programming", "Introduction to Computer Science (Java)", "Introduction to Symbolic Programming", "HTML, CSS, Javascript (Screencasts)" and much more.

• Mathematics: hundreds of lectures about many fields in maths, "Linear Algebra", "Introduction to Statistics", "Differential Equations", "Solving Cubic Equations", " Mathematical Methods for Engineers I", "Calculus I", "Fourier Analysis", etc.

• Faculty Mix: many lectures from a mix of faculties, Psychology ("Positive Psychology", "Introduction to Psychology" ...), Religion ("Introduction to the Old Testament", "Death” ...), Sports ("Tennis", "Scuba Diving" ...) and much more besides that you’ll surely find interesting.

Remember that every lecture is in English, so you’ll learn while improving your level of English.

Long live free education! visit Lecturefox.com

Learn English Reading News - CNN Student News

Does “CNN” sound familiar? … “Cabel News Network”, better known as CNN, is a television channel from the US founded in 1980. At present, CNN is the most viewed news channel in the United States. And what has this got to do with learning English?

Well, CNN offers a free service called Student News with very attractive material for practising English online. On this web site you’ll find:

• Videos (in an American English accent) accompanied by a quick guide and a complete transcript. The content of the videos is very diverse, updated regularly and includes interesting news: the Democratic National Convention, severe weather warnings, America the Beautiful, etc. An example of a video is:

• Ten Questions and Newsquiz to test our comprehension of the news.

• Other activities and material for learning.

Moreover, CNN has a huge collection of audio and video podcasts about a big variety of topics: News and Politics, Business, CNN TV, Sports, Technology, Health, Entertainment, Comedy, Education and Specials. You’ll be able to listen to the podcasts of the legendary Larry King.

It is also possible to listen to the online radio which is updated News 24 hours a day.

Visit CNN Student News

Find Great Podcasts on Listen to English

Are you looking for interesting podcasts to practice your English with? There is a huge variety of podcasts on the Internet: about football (languagecaster.com) , from the BBC, from VOA news, from ESL podcasts and more.

Today we present you with a new web page, listen-to-english.com , in blog format that contains very interesting podcasts about different topics: Music, Phrasal Verbs, Better, Stonehenge, How much does the Queen cost?... and much more.

In every blog entry you’ll find a podcast with the complete transcription (the text in the entry) plus exercises with the related vocabulary, grammar explanations or games.

The podcasts, whose average length is between 3 and 5 minutes, are written and produced by Peter Carter, an English gentleman from Birmingham, who speaks clearly in British English.

An online resource highly recommended for learning English, improving your vocabulary, pronunciation and listening skills.

Visit listen-to-english.com

Palabea.net - The Speaking World

Are you looking for people who you can practice your English with? That language partner with whom you can speak or write to in English? Palabea is the social network that will help you find them.

In this web page you’ll be able to chat and talk with people whose native language is English and who are interested in learning your mother tongue. Moreover, palabea offers very interesting material for learning English, such as:

• Documents, podcasts and videos. Along with the possibility of uploading your own resources.
• Joining a virtual classroom or creating a new one.

Not only does Palabea exist for learning English, but in this social network it is possible to learn other languages: Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Portuguese, etc.

Palabea is a very intuitive, easy-to-use and well organized web site. Summing up, 100 x 100 recommended. Do you palabease?

Visit Palabea.net

Languagecaster.com - English and Football

Do you like football? Do you want to learn English? In that case we present you with the perfect combination: languagecaster.com. This is a Web page with many football related news reports/articles/items that will allow you to improve your English, while finding out about your favourite sport. The web page is in blog format with weekly posts written in English.

There is a wide variety of material for every post:

• A podcast that relates the news: the podcasts are in m4a format so if you want to listen to them you need to install compatible software. For instance Quicktime (it’s free); download it here.
• Worksheets and complete transcriptions: the worksheets contain questions related to the podcast (true or false, vocabulary and so on) as well as the answers, so you can check your responses for accuracy.
• Interesting vocabulary appears in the podcast.

Note also that the Web page offers online games and puzzles with which you can have fun and learn from, or you can proofread the new vocabulary.

Furthermore, the posts (with the podcast) are created weekly. However, there may be a gap between the creation of the posts and that of the worksheets, i.e., the last post might be out of synch with its corresponding worksheet. So be patient; you can always work with previous posts or hold on until the new material is uploaded.

Will Ronaldo leave Manchester United?

Visit languagecaster.com

LingQ - Improve Your Vocabulary with Podcasts

“The number of words that you know is the best indicator of your command of the language”. This is what LingQ proposes and personally I pretty much agree with it. This online resource provides the necessary tools for increasing our English language vocabulary.

The method of working is easy. Firstly, select a text from the extensive library from which you can choose articles, audiobooks, conversations, interviews (there are about different categories.) After selecting the text, start working on it: reading it, listening to the associated podcast and registering the number of times you have read and listened to it, as well.

Another very interesting feature is that you can choose words whose meaning is unknown to you. Press the “LingQ!” button and you’ll see its meaning in your own language. If you opt to save that word, it will appear highlighted in the text (very useful!) and will be inserted in your own vocabulary list.

The words that you’ve saved will appear in the Vocabulary tab and from there you’ll be able to proofread them, mark them as known, and change their state, etc.

Finally, note also that LingQ allows you to create flashcards with the new words; and what’s more, there’s a handy graphic that displays your goals and progress.

Let’s increase our vocabulary!

Visit LingQ

Find Great Podcasts on ESL Podcast

Are you looking for podcasts? We are pleased to present a web page with thousands of them in English, organised into different categories: Dalily Life, English Café, Transportation, Health/Medicine, Business, Relationships, Travel and Entertainment.

The podcasts are complete and structured in the following way:

1. Short description about the podcast itself (title and number) and the web page where it is taken
2. Dialogue read at a slower pace.
3. Descriptions and examples of how to use the vocabulary and grammar employed in the dialogue.
4. Same dialogue read at a standard pace.

Every podcast can be listened to online or downloaded so that it can be listened to on our ipod, or any other compatible device.

Notice that listening to podcasts online, or downloading them, is free. However, this web page offers a Learning Guide for each podcast and the guides contain complete transcripts, definitions, additional explanations and etc., but they are not free of charge.

The podcasts, whose average length is between 10 and 15 minutes, are really good, so go on, try them!

Visit ESL Podcast

VOA News - Special English

Voice of America is an excellent web page that offers very valuable material for learning American English and much more besides. If with "BBC Learning English" we can practice British English, with "VOA Special English" we can listen to very interesting podcasts spoken with an American accent.

From my experience, I would say that the American accent is much easier that the British, the Irish or the Australian one. That’s why it’s a good idea to listen to different accents, including American ones, to help improve our aural skills.

Why is this resource so attractive?

1. The podcasts (and complete transcripts associated) have a main vocabulary of about 1500 words, resulting in language that is easier to understand.
2. The editors use short and simple sentences that contain one main idea. They use active voice and no idioms.
3. The podcasts are read at a slower pace. In this way each word is pronounced more clearly and is easier to understand.

What else can we find?

• Podcasts with complete transcripts sorted by a topic or a program. The podcasts can be downloaded, or listen online.
• Dictionary containing the 1500 words most frequently used.
• Games and videos.

What else can I tell you? I hope that you find this resource as attractive as I do.

Visit VOA News - Special English

BBC Learning English

Free resource from the BBC for the practising and learning of English where there are a great number of different materials.

Something that you will find is:

• News English: English news with bold words, whose meaning is explained at the end of the article.
• Business English: with tips for getting a new job, working abroad, work skills …
• Watch & Listen: many videos and podcasts.
• Grammar & Vocabulary: questions about the English language, grammar lessons, pronunciation tips, … and a lot of vocabulary for different situations.
• Quizzes: to test your level and see how much you have learnt.
• For teachers: test, ideas, etcetera.
  

Another recommended web site that is updated weekly with new material so you will never be tired and you will be able to learn continuously.

Visit BBC Learning English