I haven't been around for a long time. You may wonder: Why?
Because I've been involved in another project. It's called English in Guía and we're working in 3 different blogs, one for each level:
English for students of Nivel Básico
English for students of Nivel Intermedio
English for students of Nivel Avanzado
Please feel free to drop by and leave us some comments. Welcome to our new sites!
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Speaking. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Speaking. Mostrar todas las entradas
1/6/08
Summer ideas
Hi dear all!
The summer is near, and that's great, isn't it? However, "4 months without English" is not such a great idea...
I'd like to give you some tips so that you can practice a little bit of English these months. Don't start the next course feeling lost!
I firstly recommend you to read this post: "Cómo aprender inglés sin dinero para cursos". The teacher here suggests interesting things for a linguistic immersion. For example, she talks about language exchanges. Why not start one now? We can do that on the Internet, without having to travel! She and her readers suggest the following (I know this is not the first time we talk about this):
- Shared Talk
- My Language Exchange
- Language Exchanges
There you can practice your the 4 skills!
I do agree with her opinion on Listening everyday. If you try and listen at least 5 minutes, you'll get used to the sounds of English and it'll become easier and easier. My recommendation here is for you to download i-Tunes (it's free!) and subscribe to podcasts (that you can later transfer to your MP3 player!). All you have to do is (once you get the program) click on i-Tunes Store, later on Podcasts and then browse according to your interests: you can select the language, the channel or the topic you are interested in. Then you subscribe to the podcasts that you like: their updates will be downloaded immediately everytime you connect to i-Tunes again. Isn't it wonderful?
More ideas on Writing: apart from checking the websites checklisted in this blog, you could also start a journal in English or even a blog yourself! (Try blogger) If you write on a regular basis, you'll need to use a dictionary and thus will learn new things everyday.
Finally, what about Reading? Are you thinking of taking some English book to the beach with you? Good idea. Why not visit the library downstairs? You can borrow books for the whole summer now. Otherwise, you can buy them online; Amazon is quite fast with deliveries and they also offer you the possibility of buying second-hand books for really reasonable prices!
Short of ideas? Here you are some suggestions (light and fun reads, I think):
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
- Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
- Completely Unexpected Tales by Roald Dahl
- Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
- Changing Places by David Lodge
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Have fun, then. See you around this week.
The summer is near, and that's great, isn't it? However, "4 months without English" is not such a great idea...
I'd like to give you some tips so that you can practice a little bit of English these months. Don't start the next course feeling lost!
I firstly recommend you to read this post: "Cómo aprender inglés sin dinero para cursos". The teacher here suggests interesting things for a linguistic immersion. For example, she talks about language exchanges. Why not start one now? We can do that on the Internet, without having to travel! She and her readers suggest the following (I know this is not the first time we talk about this):
- Shared Talk
- My Language Exchange
- Language Exchanges
There you can practice your the 4 skills!
I do agree with her opinion on Listening everyday. If you try and listen at least 5 minutes, you'll get used to the sounds of English and it'll become easier and easier. My recommendation here is for you to download i-Tunes (it's free!) and subscribe to podcasts (that you can later transfer to your MP3 player!). All you have to do is (once you get the program) click on i-Tunes Store, later on Podcasts and then browse according to your interests: you can select the language, the channel or the topic you are interested in. Then you subscribe to the podcasts that you like: their updates will be downloaded immediately everytime you connect to i-Tunes again. Isn't it wonderful?
More ideas on Writing: apart from checking the websites checklisted in this blog, you could also start a journal in English or even a blog yourself! (Try blogger) If you write on a regular basis, you'll need to use a dictionary and thus will learn new things everyday.
Finally, what about Reading? Are you thinking of taking some English book to the beach with you? Good idea. Why not visit the library downstairs? You can borrow books for the whole summer now. Otherwise, you can buy them online; Amazon is quite fast with deliveries and they also offer you the possibility of buying second-hand books for really reasonable prices!
Short of ideas? Here you are some suggestions (light and fun reads, I think):
- White Teeth by Zadie Smith
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend
- Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
- Completely Unexpected Tales by Roald Dahl
- Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson
- Changing Places by David Lodge
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Have fun, then. See you around this week.
27/4/08
Learn English with videos and improve your pronunciation
Hi there!
Are you having a nice weekend? Me too, thank you very much. Just a couple of suggestions to keep you busy for a few minutes:
- Do you enjoy watching videos in English but miss the transcription (AND the translation, why not?) of the words in them? Then this is your site: yappr, a great source of videos made just for you. You can browse them either by categories or levels. There is a huge variety of videos (TV ads, music, movie extracts, sports...) and they're updated daily.
- Tired of trying to pronounce English correctly? Why don't you go and visit YAKIToMe?
It's a great site to improve your pronunciation. An explanation of how it works here. Hope you try it and tell me if it worked for you. Don't get disappointed by the fact that you need to register, because it's worth it!
Are you having a nice weekend? Me too, thank you very much. Just a couple of suggestions to keep you busy for a few minutes:
- Do you enjoy watching videos in English but miss the transcription (AND the translation, why not?) of the words in them? Then this is your site: yappr, a great source of videos made just for you. You can browse them either by categories or levels. There is a huge variety of videos (TV ads, music, movie extracts, sports...) and they're updated daily.
- Tired of trying to pronounce English correctly? Why don't you go and visit YAKIToMe?
It's a great site to improve your pronunciation. An explanation of how it works here. Hope you try it and tell me if it worked for you. Don't get disappointed by the fact that you need to register, because it's worth it!
27/3/08
Preparing your monologues
Hi everyone!I just found this wonderful site to help you with your monologues: it's called Splendid Speaking and it "supports advanced learners of English who want to develop their top-level speaking skills and communication strategies."
Each week, they tackle a specific issue on how to talk better English. Take, for example, this lesson about "how to captivate your audience with memorable introductions".
They also offer you the possibility of subscribing here! "For immediate access to transcripts for current and previous Splendid Speaking podcasts, and to be alerted to new materials on the website, sign up now for our weekly newsletter."
You can also access their blog from here.
Enjoy!
2/3/08
THE WRITING WEEK
Hello everyone! I know you can't wait for "the Writing Week". This week we'll be looking at:
- Brainstorming and drafting techniques
- Basic paragraph writing techniques and exercises (select "Start Writing now")
- Revision and error analysis strategies
- Punctuation basics
- Vocabulary improvement
Finally, I do believe that one of the best ways to improve your writing is WRITING. Especially writing to English-speaking people. So a very good idea is to find a penpal that's learning your language, and collaborate to unite efforts in your learning process. Therefore we'll also have a look at:
- Social Networks to learn English, namely:
Language Exchange Community
Italki
place4langs
Friends Abroad
TalkConmigo
Huitalk
xLingo
WeLang
Never before has it been so easy to practice a language! Hope you make the most of it.
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