A Little Winter Break Homework

Hey, students! Your winter break homework is to visit all of these sites and use them to practice your English! See you January 3!

LISTENING

1.   English Listening Lesson Library Online (ELLO)

Listening exercises on a variety of topics, with transcripts and quizzes.

2.   StoryCorps

Real-life stories told by real people, accompanied by great animation that aids comprehension.

3.   Educational Opportunity Center Student Stories

Audio and transcripts of immigrants’ own stories.

4.   Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Numerous listening exercises on a variety of topics with accompanying quizzes.

5. The Learning Edge

Online articles that you can read and listen to at the same time, as well as vocabulary and comprehension exercises.

6.  ESOL Listening Practice Tests

A few good listening practice tests, from beginning to advanced, from Seminole State College of Florida.

PRONUNCIATION

1. ABC Fast Phonics

Simple, basic English pronunciation.

2. Rachel’s English

More advanced pronunciation practice.

3. Pronunciation Symbol Chart with Audio and Animation 

Good guide to symbols and sounds of pronunciation

GRAMMAR

1.   OWL Grammar Exercises

Online grammar exercises.

2.   Self-Study Grammar Quizzes

An assortment of many quizzes that you can take to test your grammar skills.

3.   English Club

Good grammar lessons and quizzes.

4.   Handbook for Writers

A companion site to Pearson’s Handbook for Writers composition textbook. Some very useful grammar exercises and links.

5. Summary of Best Grammar Sites for ESL

Good summary of beginner, intermediate and advanced grammar websites.

6. Verb tense timelines

Visual guide to help you understand different verb tenses.

MISCELLANEOUS

1.   Rong-chang.com

Reading, listening, and grammar exercises, plus some good dialogs and links.

 

2.   GCF Learn Free

Interactive lessons on everything from applying for jobs to computer skills to reading.

3.   Manythings.org

Grammar exercises, games, read-alongs, and videos.

4.   We Are New York

Great videos about people in New York, plus study guides and reading material.

5.   Healthy Roads Media

Excellent videos and readings on a variety of health-related topics in a variety of languages.

6.   REEPworld

Videos, listening exercises, and life skills activities for beginning and intermediate students focusing on health, family, and work.

7. Multi-Cultural Educational Services

A website with listening, reading, grammar exercises, and many other things.

8. Real English

Great videos and grammar exercises.

9. Easy World of English

Simple grammar, pronunciation, and reading activities.

10. CDLP Adult Learning Activities

Intermediate to advanced reading and vocabulary exercises about jobs, health, government, and other subjects.

11. ESOL Help Games

A bunch of online grammar and vocabulary games. Fun!

12.   Study Zone

A few interactive grammar, reading, and vocabulary lessons from the University of Victoria.

13.   Language Guide

A site that lets you listen to vocabulary words and look at pictures at the same time – a great way to learn new words!

14.  Step Forward

A very nice series of interactive listening, reading, vocabulary, and grammar activities from Oxford University Press, from levels 1 to 4.

15. Vocabulary Spelling City

A great website to help you practice and remember new words. It also has games and videos.

16.  ESL Fast

365 short stories and vocabulary and comprehension exercises for intermediate learners.

17.  Ventures Arcade

A great collection of interactive lessons and games that supplement the Ventures textbook series.

18.  My English Pages

A website that has just about everything: reading, vocabulary, listening, idioms, and more.

NEWS

1.   Voice of America

Articles, audio, and comprehension activities from Voice of America.

2.   Breaking News English

Advanced-level current events stories with accompanying comprehension and vocab activities.

3.   BBC Learning English

A smorgasbord of online lessons, videos, and games from the BBC.

4.   NY1

A 24-hour news source for New York City.

5. The Times in Plain English

A great online newspaper with news articles and a special New York section.

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Study for the Test!

If you’re interested in taking the U.S. Naturalization Test – or if you’re interested in U.S. history and government – check out this handy website fromU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It has everything you need to pass the test: flashcards, practice tests, example questions, vocabulary lists, study guides, and more! Just click here or on the image below to visit the site:

USCIS

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The New York Times in Chinese

nyt

The New York Times is considered to be one of the best newspapers in the United States. It has great stories about New York City, of course, but it also has excellent articles about world news. And now it has many of its stories in Chinese. If you’re studying English with us, you should of course first try reading the articles in English – but then if you need to you can check the Chinese versions. Click the picture above or click here to read the New York Times in Chinese.

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