Mobile ESL

 
anywhere, anytime

Are you on the go? Do you have a mobile device? Have you used it to study English? Mobile learning, also called m-learning, is growing. Here are a few links to help you get started.

English: Learn Languages for Free | Open Culture

Learn English for free online. Download free audio lessons to your computer or mp3 player ~ and start learning English instantly

• 6 Minute English iTunes Free Downloads Web Site
  • Learn and practice useful English with the BBC.
• Better @ English iTunes Free – Feed – Web Site
  • Focuses on conversational English, with an emphasis on idioms and slang.
• Business English iTunes Free Web Site
  • Learn the English you will need to function effectively in an American business environment.

Using social media as a language learning tool | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional

Here is an interesting (intermediate to advance level) article about using social media for language learning. What social media do you use? Do you use them for language learning? What social media would you like to see the study group use?

Children now turn to social media by default. This makes it a great but currently underused tool for language teaching.

Way back in 2000, Ros Taylor wrote for the Guardian about the web's potential for language learning. At the time, internet users represented less than 6% of the world's population, and Taylor's article pioneered the use of online resources as a viable alternative to textbooks for GCSE students. As the internet became more popular, websites have become a pivotal resource for school pupils across all subjects. 

Earlier this year France launched a national campaign to improve foreign language skills amongst its schoolchildren, centred round a website called englishbyyourself.fr which uses self-study materials accessible on mobile and tablets to immerse children in a spoken English environment. While the internet has surpassed Taylor's expectations and embraced full-scale language courses such as this, there is still one area that remains virtually untouched by teachers – social media.

Read the rest of Using social media as a language learning tool | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional

Good Read: How To Speak Like A Native

Can’t roll your R’s when speaking Spanish? Don't sound like a native English speaker? Maybe you don’t need to:

“Pronunciation can be learned—but it should be learned with the goal of communicating easily with others, not with achieving a textbook-perfect accent. Adult students of language should be guided by the ‘intelligibility principle,’ not the old ‘nativeness principle.’” 

Source: Time Can an adult … Continue reading →

Good Read: How To Speak Like A Native

Video: Learn How to Write a Resume for English Learners

ESL About.com is adding videos for English learning to their site. The latest  is a video on how to write a resume especially for English language learners.

There's also a video on the differences between British and American English, and a video on how to ask questions in English.

Video: Learn How to Write a Resume for English Learners

Coping with Reading Comprehension & Taking Tests

A slide presentation by Nellie Deutsch at WizIQ, "ESL/EFL Students Lack the Skills to Cope with Reading Comprehension"

Uploaded by Dr. Nellie on WizIQ Tutorials

Description of ESL/EFL Students Lack the Skills to Cope with Reading Comprehension Tests
English is a very important school subject. Knowledge of English paves the way to academic studies and higher earning jobs. Getting high marks in English as a second and foreign language reading comprehension tests means success in the core subject. Students are anxious to get high scores.

Testing is not dangerous. Yet, many students cannot perform well under testing conditions. ESL/EFL students feel anxious when taking reading comprehension tests. The problem is that students in grade nine lack the skills to cope with reading comprehension tests. They do not have the tools to perform well in taking reading tests.

This action research project studied the reasons for the anxiety students feel and ways of helping them deal with it so that they can succeed in raising their academic performance in ESL/EFL reading comprehension tests. Students learned to apply test taking and reading techniques to prepare them for reading comprehension tests. Reading and test taking skills provided ESL/EFL students with the tools to cope with reading comprehension tests. 

After applying reading strategies and relaxation exercises, students scored higher on their reading comprehension tests. 

Grammaropolis: Personified Parts of Speech

Grammaropolis: Personified Parts of Speech

What it is: Grammaropolis is a site I have long been a fan of. I’ve written about it in the past in these posts. Grammaropolis recently got a significant upgrade with TONS of new, great features. The site now includes character descriptions for nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. In addition to the great descriptions, each character includes a song, videos, book, games and, soon, quizzes. Not all of this content is free, but there is enough free content to be useful in every classroom no matter the budget. All of the content associated with the Noun character is free. Every other character includes the character description and book for free. The music, videos, quizzes and games are “extras” that are available by subscription.