TED.com

It is bank holiday weekend in the UK. This means that the weather is awful and we huddle inside our houses looking out at the rain saying things like “Typical! Just look at the weather!” The worst of it is (there’s a good phrase for you ‘the worst of it is’) that there are no more breaks until Christmas,which is a long way off!

I’ve been spending time with TED. By that I mean TED.com the website which I mentioned briefly in my last post. There are some great things to watch there and I am going to suggest one talk in particular. Funnily enough, the other day I was watching one of my favourite TV programmes – Dragon’s Den – and I recognised the final presenter trying to get some cash out of the dragons. I was scratching my head, wondering where I knew him from, when it finally clicked – I had seen the same presenter on TED.com. This man’s name is Michael Pritchard and I had particularly liked his TED.com presentation and that is the one that I suggest you take a look at. He is talking about his invention which makes dirty water safe to drink. The great thing is that you can see the transcript of his presentation (yes, the words) as you listen if you want. Better still, listen first and then look at the transcript afterwards just at the bits that you couldn’t follow.  This talk is here.

Inspiring talks from TED!

When I overheard some people talking about TED.com I thought ‘With such a short catchy name it has to be a great website!’ And guess what? It is!

This is a quick post (OK, it’s late and I’m tired) but I really wanted to get this site out there, especially for my summer school students who need to be thinking about their presentations. The short presentations on the TED website are very inspiring and great language practice. Check out fantastic presentations at TED.com right here.

When you’ve done that, tell us which ones you think are the best.

A report or an essay?

The news from the UK is that England have won the cricket competition against Australia (the Ashes)!  This doesn’t happen very often and it is made more enjoyable by the fact that the Australians just hate losing to England. If you are studying English in Australia please ask your teacher about the Ashes and watch his/her face fall. Please let us know what excuses they come up with!

My students have to write a report. If I had £1 every time a student asked me the difference between an essay and a report I would have retired by now! The difference is not as great as many students think. The most obvious difference is that an essay looks different from a report because an essay is just writing from the start to the finish without any subtitles, headings, underlinings, bullet points, or visual information like graphs or tables. Essay writing is where you can show off your English skills more – one reason is that because you can’t use subtitles you have to use lots of linking words and phrases to guide your reader through your essay. If you study subjects like English, History and Geography you can expect to write lots of essays but other subjects, especially Business related subjects, require students to write reports. Even though you may be a Business student your English language teacher will probably get you to write a lot of essays! Why? Because most English language teachers come from backgrounds in subjects such as English/Languages/History etc and that’s what they know about!

The most important thing, whether you are writing a report or an essay, is that you answer the question you are given. Today’s link is to the best resource I have been able to find about report writing from Learn Higher. Yes, you could spend all your time over at the Learn Higher site, but then you would miss out on the cricket news!

20 Free Resources to Practice and Learn English

Back to work! If you are thinking ‘Patrick hasn’t posted anything for ages!’ you would be right! But probably you have been enjoying some time off and you haven’t noticed that there haven’t been any posts! Anyway, here in Plymouth it is time for me to get back in the classroom and meet the students on our summer course.

Now I am going to pass the post over to Karen Schweitzer who has written a guest post for English for University. Com

20 Free Resources to Practice and Learn English

Anyone can learn English, but it is often much easier and much more fun to practice and learn online. The web offers many different resources for people who want to study vocabulary, learn from a native speaker, or obtain practice through word games and discussions. Here are 20 free resources for English learners to explore:

VerbaLearn – Designed specifically for people who want to practice and learn English vocabulary, VerbaLearn allows students to customize their study experience so that they don’t waste any time working on words they already know.

Cramberry – Cramberry is a free online flashcard site that can be used to create or study pre-made English vocabulary flashcards. The site tracks your progress and helps you study more effectively.

Popling – This unique web app displays a “pop-up” question on your computer as often as you choose so that you can study English while you work on other things. You can create your own questions using Popling or select pre-made pop-ups.

WordAhead – This site’s free vocabulary videos makes it easy to learn a new English word every day. WordAhead also provides a study room, word lists, and other learning resources.

Merriam-Webster – Although most people use this site as an online dictionary, Merriam-Webster has much more to offer. The site provides spelling practice, word games, a word of the day and other features that would be useful to English students.

VisuWords – VisuWords is a wonderful place to get definitions to English words. The site defines words and displays other words that are associated with the original word.

Google Translate – Google’s free translator can translate text, web pages, and documents into English–perfect for students who are trying to expand their English vocabulary.

FreeRice – FreeRice is a United Nations World Food Program site that is the ultimate solution for people who want to do a good dead while practicing and learning English vocabulary. The site donates 10 grains of rice to hungry people every time you get a vocabulary question correct.

LingoPass – LingoPass is a free language exchange system that allows you to share your knowledge of a language and receive free language lessons in return.

iTalki – This language learning social network is an excellent place to practice and learn English online. Users can find a teacher, practice with language partners, discuss English learning with other students, get answers to vocabulary and grammar questions, and find other free resources around the web.

Livemocha – Similar to iTalki, Livemocha is a social language learning site for students of any language. Livemocha provides language partners and language lessons to anyone who signs up for a free account.

Busuu – Busuu provides students with the opportunity to learn English from native speakers around the world. The site also provides free interactive English learning materials.

Babbel – Babbel is an online portal for learning English and other languages. Site offerings include interactive online courses, free vocabulary and phrase packages, and a community forum to practice with real partners.

English as a 2nd Language – This About.com site provides free articles, lesson plans, email courses, a blog, community forums, and other resources to help students practice and learn English online.

EnglishForums.com – EnglishForums.com is one of the world’s largest online EFL/TEFL communities. The site provides a place to chat, ask questions, take practice tests, and view educational videos.

Activities for ESL Students – This site provides more than 1,000 materials and activities that can be used for self-study.

LanguageGuide.org – LanguageGuide.org is a great website for beginning English students. The site offers audio pronunciations and a text guide for hundreds of common words.

ESL Robots Project – This site’s robotic online tutors provide interactive practice for English language learners. The robots are capable of learning and are able to read your writing and point out grammar problems and mistakes.

Talk a Lot Spoken English Course – This 168-page PDF for teachers is designed for use in an English classroom. The course focuses on spoken English and provides quizzes as well as worksheets so that students can assess their progress.

EnglishPage.com – EnglishPage.com provides advanced English lessons, interactive exercises, and other activities for adult ESL students.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineCollege.org.