Links and Resources for Increasing English Language Proficiency

Speaking/Pronunciation

Manythings.org provides pronunciation of commonly mispronounced words. Students work in pairs and quiz each other on their proficiency.

http://www.manythings.org/pp/

This Web site is a guide to help students pronounce English vowels and consonants. This site provides audio clips, video clips and descriptions of how to make proper English sounds.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

Merriam Webster provides this helpful resource that provides explanations and handy quizzes to help students with pronunciation and vowel and word stresses.

http://www.learners-dictionary.com/pronex/pronex.htm

More Resources after the jump!

Word Doc version
Research Tips sheet

Listening 

Randall’s ESL lab includes quizzes and listening for beginning to advanced levels.

http://www.esl-lab.com/

This blog offers listenings with transcriptions to help students follow video taped discussions. This is designed for ESL students.

http://www.listeningesl.com/

Daily ESL has some practical recordings with transcriptions to help students with everyday language.

http://www.dailyesl.com/

ESL Lounge quizzes students various topics and discussions.

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening.php

Reading

ESL Reading engages readers with strange and interesting stories and quizzes students’ comprehension.

http://www.eslreading.org/strange/strange/lightning.html

This Web site revised stories to be ESL-reader friendly and offers helpful tools for learning new vocabulary and more about the story. The stories are also organized in topics to help students find topics that interest them.

http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html

Fiction Channel boasts short, engaging stories with accessible plots to help students get more practice with their English reading.

http://fictionchannel.tripod.com/ipx/mis.htm

Composition/Writing Grammar

ESL Bee provides guides to writing common essay types, and it also provides example essays for students to read.

http://www.eslbee.com/

THE guide to English academic writing. Provides grammar, essay guides and source citation and formatting.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Junket Studies explains 11 common English mistakes in writing and shows how to correct them with examples and thorough explanations.

http://junketstudies.com/joomla/11-rules-of-writing/the-rules

Grammar Studies

English Club includes grammar rules and quizzes

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/


ESL Gold boasts a thorough grammar guide, examples and exercises.

http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/explanations.html

ESL Lounge divides its grammar guide at various learning levels and provides a thorough guide with examples.

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/

SECTION 2: 

These resources are designed to help you immerse yourself in English. Don’t limit yourself to studying English only in your classes. Read, Write, Speak and Listen to English when ever and where ever you can.

National Public Radio provides news and human-interest stories in an engaging, well designed package without the commercial interests of the mainstream media. Also, check out the SmartPhone application for on-the-go English immersion – the app includes stories and audio clips for easy language study.

http://npr.org

Ted Talks offers listeners interesting lectures on a wide variety of topics. It also provides transcriptions and, if you must, translations in many languages, including Spanish, Arabic and Chinese.  Like the NPR app, check out the SmartPhone application.

http://ted.com/

Any English dictionary is good, but Dictionary.com provides the BBC-style pronunciation that is easy to read and understand.

http://dictionary.reference.com/

The Westword is a local Denver newspaper that has its ear to the pulse of local culture. If you want to learn about life in Denver, this is an essential resource.

http://www.westword.com/

Slang: Native speakers speak two versions of their language: standard English and slang English. This can be confusing at times, but these two sites can help. Be careful, though, these sites do feature and explain vulgar language.

http://onlineslangdictionary.com/

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Other Sources

QuickVoice is another SmartPhone application. This is very handy for improving speaking skills because you can record a message, email it to yourself or others, and it provides a transcript of what you said. So if you’re speaking isn’t recognizable, the transcription will be incorrect.

Youtube Channels: Finding anything on Youtube can help, but these Channels explain how you can improve your speaking and English Fluency.

Let’s Talk: Fluent English With Natural Accent http://www.youtube.com/user/learnexmumbai?feature=watch


English with Jennifer

http://www.youtube.com/user/jenniferesl?feature=results_main