Learn the names of these cleaning supplies, and listen to the pronunciation…
Read more about these on Learn English Have Fun.
Category Archives: Websites
80 Free English Class Videos
There is a YouTube channel called English For You. They have recorded 80 classes of about one hour each. They categorize them as:
- Beginner (30 videos)
- Elementary (30 videos – a little more difficult than beginner)
- Intermediate (20 videos – more difficult than elementary)
The videos are a mix of American and British English. Here’s an example – the first lesson from their elementary videos…
ESL Blues – Test Your English Grammar and Then Improve It
The ESL Blues website has a set of “progress tests“. When you take a progress test, it will ask you questions about different grammar points, or vocabulary. For each question you get incorrect, it will show you the grammar point you got wrong – and a practice exercise to help you understand.
For example, one of the progress test questions is:
This is your book, not ____. That is my book over there.
a) my
b) of my
c) mine
d) to me
If your answer is not correct, you will see this:
My, mine, her, hers, etc. (It links to a practice exercise about “mine”, which was the correct answer)
The website also has a set of tests for beginners, and short lessons to help explain common English mistakes, such as Do vs. Make and Say vs. Tell.
Hangman
Like many word games, Hangman is fun to play and can help you improve your vocabulary. You try to find the secret word by choosing letters of the alphabet that you think might be in the word. If you can figure out the word before you try too many letters, you win.
Here are websites and apps where you can play this game for free…
- Many Things is a website for English learners. They have many good hangman games – but unfortunately most do not work on iPhone/iPad.
- Fun With Words is a site for anyone interested in English words. They have a hangman games that works on most all devices – including iPhones and iPads.
Ultimate Hangman is good free app for iPhone/iPad (99 cents for Android and other platforms).
- 4 Themes (you can see a snowman melting instead of a hanging man)
- You can choose from many vocabulary lists (such as verbs, animals, or foods)
- You can choose word lists from other languages (Spanish, Portuguese, German, French)
- You can even make your own vocabulary lists, to help you study
- Plus – you can play alone, or as a game against someone else
- Here’s a lesson on how to use this app
Listen a Minute
Listen a Minute is a free website with hundreds of short listening lessons. Each recording is less than one minute.
- Listen to the recording while you read the words
- If you have time, you can try one or two exercises
- This website is in England, so the accent and a few words are a little different, but it’s still good practice and will work well on your smartphone
Here’s an example about Eggs:
Eggs are great. Where would we be without them? They are so useful. I can’t imagine life or cooking without them. There are many ways of cooking eggs for breakfast – fried eggs, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, etc. There are even many ways of “cooking” these. You can have a runny or hard fried egg or even have it sunny side up. You can have soft or hard-boiled eggs and fluffy scrambled eggs. There are also many things to put on top of eggs – mayonnaise, ketchup, salt, soy sauce. Each country has something different. I like cooking with eggs. I particularly like breaking them. I can now do it with one hand, without breaking the yolk. Sometimes it gets messy and the egg white starts dripping down your arm.
Listening Exercises
Seminole State College in Florida has a web page with many helpful listening exercises. There are three levels of difficulty.
Each activity has 10 questions. For questions 1-5, listen to the audio and choose the sentence you hear.
Here’s an example:
- That blue house was great!
- That new house is great!
- That new house isn’t great.
For questions 6-10, listen to the audio and choose the best answer that you see.
Here’s an example:
- She pays every month.
- He pays every month.
- They pay every month.
To begin, try this exercise. If you like it, here are many more.
Video Dictionary
To explain a word you don’t understand, there are good dictionaries especially for English learners – such as the Learner’s Dictionary. There are picture dictionaries – such as on the website English for Beginners. There is another website – called the Video Dictionary, or “Vidtionary” – that describes English words for you by using very short videos.
Here’s a sample video describing “vending machine” …
Newsela
Newsela is a website and app that helps you improve your reading, with interesting articles in many subjects – science, politics, famous people, sports, etc.
There are five different versions of article, with different levels of reading difficulty. Newsela is not just for people learning English, so you should start at the easiest levels of a story and go higher if you are able. You can also take a short quiz about the story. There are hundreds of good articles – all free – but you must create an account and Sign in. Here’s one about emojis.
For Spanish speakers, there are many articles written in Spanish, also with 5 different levels of reading difficulty, so you can read the same story in Spanish and English.