BBC- 6 Minute English

There are so many great sites out there that sometimes it can be overwhelming! How can we know what is interesting and what is not? To help you, I'll make some suggestions of sites that can be interesting and useful.

One site that I really like and use quite often with my private students is BBC Learning English. The site is very complete, offering learning material for all levels and ages. Today, I wanted to highlight one of my favorite sessions: 6 Minute English.

Every week, they produce a podcast about a hot topic in current news, but specially tailored for English learners. The vocabulary is well explained and the hosts pay close attention to their pronunciation. What more, you can listen to the program and also read the transcript.

I normally recommend the following "routine":

1) Read the short introduction and try to guess the correct answer to the question

2) Listen to the podcast and try to understand the general idea. Do not worry about details at this point!

3) Open the pdf file and listen again. This time follow the dialogue while reading, so you can recognize the written form of the words.

4) Read the text, paying attention on the details and vocabulary.You can even print or save the vocabulary page.

5) If you can, discuss the topic with another person: your teacher, a colleague or a friend so that you can practice the vocabulary learned. You can also learn more about the topic discussing by acessing the "related BBC links" which will redirect you to authentic news from BBC.

6) You can also download the podcast to watch when and where you can. 

Apps- British Council

I always tell my students that they should use all the tools they can to practice the target language. The more contact you have with a language, the better it will be. Nowadays, there are many opportunities for that! One of those tools are apps. An "app" is an application, a software that can be installed in smartphones, tablets, and other devices.

Today, I wanted to present some apps by the British Council. The apps are presented in their site https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/apps. All of them are available for Apple devices, a majority for Android ones, and few others for Windows.

One of the problems my students have is listening, for that, there are 3 different apps, depending on your level and interest. "Big city small world" is a type of soap opera in which you can follow the characters stories, while the Podcasts and Audio and video have varied topics.

The learning tools can help you organize what you have learned ( My word Book), solidify your grammar ( in both British and US variations) and practice pronunciation ( Sounds Right) 

For sports enthusiasts the Sports World and Premier Skills are the way to go. "Johnny" on the other hand does not have a specific topic, but focus on developing grammar skills. 

For young learners, or the young at heart, there are some apps as well to help them "enter" in the language. A fun way to introduce the smaller ones. 

The Free Dictionary

My students constantly ask me if it is okay to use google translator. Sure it is! We can't leave in a bubble! Google Translator is here to stay, but it can also be problematic. First because we don't always get the right word for the context and second because you can just get lazy! Seriously! You just get the answer immediately, no effort, no thinking process, and...as a result...no learning! How many times have you checked a word and then just forgot five minutes later?

With that in mind, I would suggest a good old dictionary, but, this time, in a new style! I personally really like The Free Dictionary. It is a monolingual dictionary ( offering many different languages) but also a great place to practice your vocabulary.

As any dictionary , you get definitions,  the word class ( noun, adjective, verb, etc), and examples. But if you click on the symbols, you also get the British and American pronunciation.

And more  ( I'm sounding like an infomercial here!) you also have synonyms, opposites and related words. Great when you want some variety in your text!

Apart from that the site offers some other activities, such as word of the day, spelling bee, hangman, article of the day, etc.

You can register to the site, this way, everyday those info by email or like them on facebook and G+

Learning styles

Every person learns differently. Some people have to see an information, others like to listen, others to read, etc, etc....How do you like to learn? Identifying your learning style is very important to improve your learning, as you can develop special strategies. In this site http://www.vark-learn.com/ you can answer a questionnaire which will indicate your style.

You can answer in English and many other languages (including Portuguese), you just have to change the language:

You just have to click the answer that you best identify with:

In the end, you will have a small profile showing the total of your answer according to each category. The categories are: Visual ( you learn by seeing), Aural ( listening), Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic ( through movement, touching, doing). When you click on them, you will open another window with information, strategies, and ideas to learn according to your style. Here is an example of the Visual style: