1. Study Online English Materials for ESL Students
“Self-studying” English seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it? Isn’t language supposed to be used with others? Well… yes and no.
It’s best to work with other people when you practice English writing and speaking. Writing and speaking are known as “productive” skills because you are producing language. But the “receptive” English skills—listening and reading—can be self-studied easily and conveniently online.
Below is a list of some top websites and web services that allow you to learn English reading and listening on your own time, free of charge.
Websites for free English listening practice
Free websites for English listening practice usually fall under one of three categories:
- Sites for conversational English listening. Elllo.org is a typical website for conversational English listening. The site contains conversations in every kind of English accent, including non-native accents.
- Sites for practical “daily life” English listening. Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab is a good example of the second type of English listening website. It’s full of listening exercises related to shopping, travel, school and other daily situations.
- Sites where people can listen to academic/educational talks in English. TED Talks just might be the most famous source of English listening practice. It’s a collection of educational monologues (presentations with one speaker). TED is so popular among English learners that there’s a TED site just for ESL students: TEDxESL.
Websites for free English reading practice
Good things come in threes (or so I’ve heard). There are three major types of English reading websites, too:
- Self-study courses. Some websites offer very organized courses in English reading that you can complete by yourself, free of charge. ReadTheory, which includes diagnostic tests, daily lessons and ways to track your learning progress, is a typical “guided English reading” web service.
- Graded readings. Other sites offer “graded readings,” which are English articles that have been edited and simplified for English learners. English Online and Breaking News English are two good places to start looking for simpler texts like these.
- English learner newspapers. These are sites with regular news reporting, but which are written with ESL students in mind. The Bangkok-based S Weekly (an abbreviation of “Student Weekly”) is a good example of this kind of newspaper.
2. Practice English Anytime with Mobile Apps
While we’re looking at self-study resources on the internet, let’s not forget “the internet of things.” What’s the internet of things? It’s the special parts of the web that you can access through your mobile devices—the apps that you can use on your phone and tablet.
The scene for free mobile apps that teach you English has absolutely exploded in the last ten years.
Some English lesson apps, such as Duolingo, are completely free. Duolingo offers well-organized self-study courses. The courses focus primarily on reading, writing and listening skills.
Plenty of other apps out there offer free English practice of one kind or another. Check your own phone’s app store and you should be able to find free English instruction that works for you.
FluentU has its very own app for learning English.
Unlike traditional language learning sites, FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the English language and culture over time. You’ll learn English as it’s spoken in real life.
FluentU has a variety of engaging content from popular talk shows, nature documentaries and funny commercials, as you can see here:
fluentu.com/blog/english/practice-english-online-2/
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