Free Online German Class

Berlin, Germany... Pretty much exactly like Berlín de San Ramón, right?

The other day I posted quite a few links that my German students can check out (click here for that post). I was also chatting online with Sharon, and she pointed out a great, free online German class. It's got explanations in Spanish, so it could be a great resource for my students here in Costa Rica. It has some videos and some sound, too (you may have to wait a few seconds after clicking, just so you know). In any case, check out the course here. If you have any comments, please feel free to share them. Thanks, and Viel Glück!

Two Recommended Websites For General English Practice

As I mentioned a while ago, I often have my students complete practice logs. It's a good way to encourage them to practice, and it's also a good way for me to find new language-learning resources that I can pass on to other students. 

This week my student Henry included two good websites in his practice log, and I wanted to mention them here. 

The first is apparently called Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (although the URL is simply "esl-lab.com," which seems much easier). As the name indicates, it's got a lot of listening exercises with audio, partial scripts, quizzes, and vocabulary highlights. It's even got cultural tips in some of the sections, so the site is pretty great. The topics are very diverse, from pizza delivery to how to behave in a Japanese public bath. There seem to be between 200 and 300 different pages with different topics, and they're conveniently arranged according to difficulty. Check it out!

The second link my student visited was engvid.com. It's also got a self-explanatory name, as it's mainly focused on videos. If you scroll down on the home page, you'll see different topics like business English, grammar, pronunciation, and even my favorite, idioms. The grammar section alone has 105 videos, so there's plenty of material to keep you busy for a while! Check it out, and enjoy!

Thanks for reading, and if you have any additional suggestions for online practice, please leave a comment. Have a great day!

Some Sites for English Listening Practice

This weekend, "get a grip" on your English!

Over the last week or so I've come across a few sites that I thought would be helpful for my readers learning English. One is TOEIC-related, and the other two are more about current news.

The first, English-Test.net, has some good practice exercises and tests to prepare for the TOEIC or other similar, standardized tests, like the TOEFL. It seems to have a lot of information, so it's probably good to spend some time exploring it.

Next, I also came across the PBS site called NOW. PBS is the public broadcasting network in the US, and this site has longer reports and videos about current events (for example, here's one about natural gas drilling in the USA). 

Finally, here's another one from the VOA (Voice of America), which has podcasts that you can listen to. Some of them even have scripts that you can read while you listen, like this report about exercising.

So, check them out, and if you have any other links you've found lately, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Excellent Link for TOEIC Practice

 

(Picture from TOETAL website)

TOEIC Practice

I got this link from my friend Lucy. The site is named "TOETAL," and it seems to be pretty good. For my students who are going to be taking the TOEIC soon, or for anyone else who's interested in the test, it's a great resource. The exercises on the site are very similar to the actual TOEIC's format.

I'll try to provide some more TOEIC links soon. Until then, happy studying!