15 ESL and EFL Forums for Students

Today’s post is a guest post written by Karen Schweitzer.

Participating in an online forum is a great way to learn more about the English language and culture. Forums also provide the opportunity to practice the reading and writing skills you will need for school. Here are 15 English language forums to explore:

Dave’s ESL Cafe Forum – More than 80,000 people are registered members of Dave’s ESL Cafe Forum for students. Forum topics include English learning, culture, news, literature, and exams. The forum also offers a help center where students can get their questions answered by ESL/EFL teachers 24 hours a day.

EnglishClub Forum – The ESL Forum at EnglishClub.com offers resources to help students learn the English language and study English culture. Space is also provided for students who want to discuss general interest topics like books, travel, news, sports, entertainment, and hobbies.

English as a 2nd Language Forum – About.com’s English as a 2nd Language Forum is hosted by Kenneth Beare, an ESL teacher, trainer, and content developer. The forum includes conversations and topics for English learners and teachers. Threads cover everything from grammar and word meanings to language learning tips.

UsingEnglish.com Forum – The UsingEnglish.com Forum is an active community of students and language learners who like to discuss pronunciation and phonetics, English sayings and slang, and learning techniques. The forum also offers a special section for students who want to test their knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, grammar, spelling, phrasal verbs, and sentence structures.

English-Test.net Forum – This popular forum has more than 100,000 active members. Discussion topics include English vocabulary and grammar, standardized test preparation, accent training, translations, and language learning methods.

ESL Pundit Forum – The ESL Pundit Forum is a small forum with lots of discussion topics. Threads cover everything from ESL books and activities to TOEFL preparation.

EnglishForums.com – This site hosts the world’s largest ESL/EFL social network. Site features include forums, live chat, free learning resources, and a help center.

Aardvark’s English Forum – Aardvark’s English Forum offers a place for students to find English language resources and interactive exercises. Students can also ask questions and post messages to each other on the site’s message boards.

eslHQ Forum – The forums at eslHQ are devoted to discussions on all things relating to teaching and studying English as a second language. Forum members can download free flashcards and post on topics ranging from English grammar and usage to studying and traveling abroad.

English, Baby! Forum – This forum is designed to help students learn English grammar and slang. Students are also encouraged to ask questions and discuss various topics to improve their writing skills.

WordReference.com Forum – WordReference.com offers forums for a wide range of languages, including English. Members can discuss pronunciation, word usage, and other aspects of the English language.

The Free Dictionary English Language Forum – The English Language Forum at TheFreeDictionary.com provides a space to discuss English vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. Members can also view a word of the day and play educational word games.

Zozanga English Forum – The Zozanga English Forum is relatively new, but it offers a lot of discussion topics that would be of interest to students, including English grammar, reading, writing, vocabulary, and word games. A space is also provided for members who are looking for a pen pal or need help with English.

WiZiQ English Language Community – This small community of English language learners helps each other through discussions, tutorials, and member-made courses. Members also post Quizzes to test each other’s English skills.

Parapal – Parapal is more of a chat room than an actual forum, but it is still a great place for students to discuss language learning and practice speaking and writing skills.

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

Free video documentaries on the Internet

I hope that everyone is enjoying the World Cup! The timing works out well for viewers in the UK as South Africa time is the the same as here so we get the matches at the perfect time of day. As is usual for the UK, we have an over optimistic view of our own chances in the competition – as was proved during England’s disappointing draw with USA after the English goalkeeper made a terrible mistake. The headlines in the UK were “Green’s howler!” so there’s a non-academic word to learn – howler, meaning big mistake!

I have again been looking at the FRONTLINE website. Frontline is a website packed with good television documentaries about a variety of subjects such as: the digital world, the world’s aviation service, Haiti’s earthquake, the banking crisis, Obama’s policies…the list goes on. Some of these have transcripts of the whole programme and they all have introductions, accompanying debates and extra articles and materials to exploit. This is fantastic stuff for students of advanced English. Frontline is here.

The Reith lectures with transcripts

In 1948 the BBC started a series of lectures called the Reith lectures, named after the first director-general  of the BBC. Now every year the BBC asks a prominent scholar to deliver four lectures on behalf of the BBC. The lectures are usually prepared to be of interest to every day educated people and often exploit themes such as  politics, the economy, science, religion, and climate change. These lectures give listeners a rare opportunity to sit back and listen to a clever person presenting stimulating ideas and opinions about topics and issues that shape our world. It is Reith time again! I was lucky enough to catch one today.  These are broadcast on BBC radio 4 where you can listen to them any time and – da da da daa! – read the transcript. The introduction for last week’s lecture is:

“Lecture 1: ”The Scientific Citizen’In the first of this year’s Reith Lectures, entitled Scientific Horizons, Martin Rees……………………………….explores the challenges facing science in the 21st century. We are increasingly turning to government and the media to explain the risks we face. But in the wake of public confusion over issues like climate change, the swine ‘flu vaccine and, more recently, Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud, Martin Rees calls on scientists to come forward and play a greater role in helping us understand the science that affects us all.”

Follow the lecture and see the transcript (afterwards!) here.

Welcome back to English for University. Com!

If you have signed up for posts by e mail in the last few weeks you are probably thinking ‘well, that was a waste of time!’ because you haven’t received any posts. But the posts are back and now you will be receiving regular posts once or twice a week about Academic English and pointing out good resources for you to use on the Internet. In this post I’m going to remind you about the great resources that you can find right here on my site.

One of the most popular pages on English for University. Com is the STUDY GUIDES page. At the moment there are four study guides for students to make use of: Writing an introduction,  Presentation phrasebook, Citing authors in the body of your work and Writing a bibliography. The last two are designed to be printed out and stuck on your wall because everything fits nicely onto one piece of paper.

These videos (with transcripts) of students talking about what it’s like to study at university in England are very popular too. And for more formal listening practice the links on this page to lectures to watch and listen to are excellent.

The last reminder is the page of links to academic vocabulary exercises. These are high quality resources and you don’t have to spend a penny to improve your Academic English.

Thank you for students and teachers who write to me – I am always happy to receive e mails and I ususally manage to reply to them. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with suggestions for the site.  More soon!