Boost your English Skills.
Better Grammar
There are so many wonderful and informative websites out there with heaps of exercises for you to do, it can actually be a little overwhelming. What’s more we can waste huge amounts of our precious time choosing which ones to use. So, what I’ve done is selected for you some of my favourites. They are all free for you to use and they give you immediate feedback and correction.
Exam English ✓
IELTS / TOEFL® / TOEIC® / Cambridge Exams (KET/PET/FCE/CAE/CPE) / Business English BEC / The Pearson Tests / Michigan
This is a brilliant web site and it is for people studying for any English language exam. It contains free online practice tests for the most important international ESL (English as a Second Language) exams. They even have a free level test if you are unsure which exam you’d like to take.
It is very easy to navigate – Just select your exam from the toolbar and away you go!
English Revealed
Cambridge Exams (KET/PET/FCE/CAE/CPE)
This site is specifically for the Cambridge exams. There are lots of exercises for the different parts of the test. What I like is that they give an explanation for the answers so it is a great site to help you learn.
One other brilliant thing about this website is that there are grammar and vocabulary sections for each level. This enables you to focus on specific areas of weakness. It’s jam packed with extra resources, you’ll be on here a while!
Note: they haven’t updated the page for the new PET exam yet but go ahead anyway, it is still excellent practice!
EngExam Info
IELTS / CAE
This website takes on more of a blog style. It gives learners plenty of explanation as well as practice. In the grammar and vocabulary section, they discuss specific areas of language where learners have difficulties. Whilst it is designed for the IELTS and CAE exams, I think the grammar section would be useful to FCE students too.
ESL Lounge
FCE / CAE / CPE / IELTS / TOEFL
This one isn’t the easiest page to navigate but it does have some good exercises and useful tips. Scroll down to the test prep section and select your exam. You may also need to scroll past a few adverts to find what you are looking for.
Better Listening
Ororo – for films and TV series
If you enjoy watching TV series or Films then I would recommend ororo.tv. Way cheaper and more choice than Netflix!!! Ororo.TV is free for up to an hour a day but for a small subscription fee it is unlimited. What is great about this site is that you cabn select the language for your subtitles. If you’re reading them in English and you come across a work you don’t know, click on it to pause the programme and it will show the translation in Spanish. You can even create your own dictionary of new words. What’s more you can comntrol the speed. If you are struggling to follow the series or film you can slow it down a little bit! www.ororo.tv.
Hello Talk
Hello English is brilliant or students of English! It is full of self study material on a range of themes for different levels. From what I have seen these lessons are based on short dialogues. After listening you can review the language and the key vocabulary is explained. There are even some grammar notes relating to the audio. This is a part of the Hello Talk App.
Hello Talk is a free app witch matches learners of a language with native speakers from across the globe! It is very simple to use and there is a basic introduction tutorial. It offers some translation functions and a tool which makes it easy for language partners to correct each other quickly. You can use the Hello Words section to study topic related vocabulary. Visit hellotalk here
The British Council
The British Coincil have created a series of self-study lessons to help you to practise your listening skills. They are designed to improve your understanding of the language as well as your pronunciation. There are a range of activities for different levels. Give them a go! Visit The British Council here
The BBC
The BBC has got a fabulous website full of interesting articles on just about every topic you can think of. I would suggest starting with the learning English site which has a lot of content and is regularly updated.
Check out the News review section where you can listen and read simultaneously.
What’s more they have hundreds of podcasts which can provide excellent opportunities to practice listening to English and can be easily downloaded onto your smart phone so that you can hear them anytime anywhere!
Search for your area of interest from the different categories. There really is something for everyone. Personally, I like listening to ‘witness’ which are short 10-15 minute articles about different events in modern history from around the world. ‘The English we speak’ is another great option. It explains the background and use of many colloquial expressions.
Better Writing
It is hard to practice and improve your writing skills at home, but Cambridge have come up with a fantastic solution. They have developed a system called Write and Improve which comments on your text and lets you know what needs to be improved.There is a short video about this tool on the Cambridge website which may be of interest to you.
It really is a excellent tool for learners so have a go. Let me know how you get on!
Another useful page with some practice exercises for writing can be found on the British Council Learn English website.
They also offer a version for teenagers too. British Council Learn English Teens – Writing
Some other pages where you can find activities to improve your writing are
Youtube lessons and writing tutorials.
There are also some useful videos on Youtube which explain different ways to improve your writing. You may want to check out Learn English with Emma [engVid]. She has a section on writing as well as many other things.
Other videos to check out
Other Writing Tools and Resources
Online Self-Study Writing Courses
There are several online self-study courses to choose from and most of them are free. Check out some of the options listed below.Business English
Coursera – You can enrole for free on Coursera’s English for Effective Business Writing course.
Better Speaking
There are so many ways to practice your English from the comfort of your own home. This is also true for English conversation. Below are just a few ideas to help you improve your English Speaking – Have a go and see what works best for you!
Hello Talk
Hello Talk es una aplicación gratuita que combina estudiantes de un idioma con hablantes nativos de todo el mundo. Es muy sencillo de usar y hay un tutorial básico de introducción. www.hellotalk.com
Italki o Verbling
Clases online con profesores de idiomas independientes.
Hay muchas aplicaciones y sitios web diferentes que te permiten encontrar un profesor. www.verbling.com www.italki.com
Cambly
Aprendes a hablar con gente amable y dinámica, hablantes nativos, originarios de Estados Unidos, Canadá, Reino Unido y Australia. www.cambly.com
Speaking at home
Esta empresa ofreces clases a través de Skype. Hay diferentes tarifas según las horas que contrates. www.speakingathome.es
