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A language learning website that uses gaming to keep learners motivated. Easy to navigate lessons are personalized, immediate feedback is provided, "rewards" are handed out as levels are mastered. Can be used for independent practice, or in a lab setting. The learning program is based on language-acquisition research and makes the claim: "34 hours of Duolingo are equal to 1 university semester of language courses".
This site may also be of interest to teachers interested in acquiring another language. There are 33 languages to choose from, including Klingon - not kidding!
ELSA is an award-winning app that that uses artificial intelligence to discern pronunciation mistakes made by English language learners. It consists of dialogues and games that allow for practicing all English phonemes, and provides immediate feedback. (I am a native speaker of English, and I tried the activities and was rated as 'native-speaker like' with scores ranging from 86-100%). The designers have created an information page within their site containing resources and ideas on using ELSA in the ESL classroom . There is a free downloadable app on Google Play and the App Store, but monthly/quarterly/annual rates provide upgrades that include a considerable number of additional features.
English Central is a self-directed English learning platform intended for adults who wish to improve their spoken English. The platform has 20,000 captioned videos, organized into Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels. The platform provides different ways for learners to interact with the same video to reinforce their learning, such as clicking on a word in the caption to read a definition or filling in the blanks. There is also a live tutor option, but it is part of the subscription that must be purchased to access all the content. Signing up for a free trial will give learners access to a variety of videos on a diverse number of subjects.
Last reviewed June 2023
Produced by Immigrate Manitoba, this set of videos and resources can be used in the classroom or independently to encourage effective learning strategies outside the classroom.
The Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization that provides free lessons, courses and practice for students on a variety of topics. Additional resources are available for educators. Their "A Brief Introduction to Grammar" course teaches parts of speech, punctuation, syntax and style through videos (with transcripts) and knowledge assessment challenges. This course would be a useful supplement to in-class teaching, and could be recommended to students for independent learning.
This listening activity playlist compiled by the University of Oregon's Centre for Applied Second Language Studies is ideal for independent learning for students both outside and inside the classroom. The YouTube videos consist of the following nine topics:
- Summarize What You Heard with A Friend;
- Research a Topic Before Listening ;
- During Listening: Document What You Understand ;
- After Listening: Listen Again and Again ;
- Familiarize Yourself with Sounds - Listen While Reading a Transcript ;
- Pay Attention to What you Know and Need to Know ;
- Slowing Down Online Videos ; Listening Strategy: Predict What You Will Hear ; and
- Connecting Sounds to Written Language .
While geared toward the language learner, the content of these videos is also a helpful refresher for teachers planning listening activity lessons.
These HTML-only "self-study" quizzes should work on any computer that is able to access the Web. These quizzes DO NOT require JavaScript, Java or a special plugin such as Flash.
There are about 1,000 of these "HTML-only quizzes" on our Activities for ESL Students website. All of these quizzes are also linked from our "grammar" and "vocabulary" menus.
Talk English is a website intended for students wanting to build skills independently outside the formal classroom. The target skills are expressive language specifically speaking: vocabulary, pronunciation and writing; grammar, sentence structure; as well as receptive language- specifically listening exercises, note-taking and reading comprehension. The strength is that the lessons are in different format options: 1)written content on screen, 2) video lessons and 3) three-part lessons where the student listens to the dialogue, takes a quiz and then reads the dialogue transcript. There is also content related to business English and conversational English, referencing socio-cultural competency. The gap in this tool is that there is not any specific resources for teachers with regards to professional development as the content is video based and has built in assessment.
Using English provides Online English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for students, teachers, learners and academics, covering the full spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and EAP subject areas.
