Good websites for learning english
Here are some other good websites and resources for learning English.
All free. To go to a website, just click on the logo or picture or any text that is underlined.
websites for listening practice
BBC 6 Minute English is an excellent listening resource. Every week, two people talk about an interesting topic and teach you some new words. Audio scripts are available, too.
News in levels has news stories to listen to or read in three different levels of difficulty. Try level 1, then 2, then 3 of the same news story.
Lyrics Training is a fun site to practise listening. It’s like a game in which you listen to songs and fill in the missing words while you listen.
Elllo is a great resource for listening. It has short conversations, questions, voabulary and audio scripts. It’s especially good for lower level students as you can choose your level.
TED has short talks about interesting topics. Here are their 25 most popular talks. Brene Brown is one of my favorites. ESL Video has comprehension questions for some of the videos.
Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab has short listening activities with comprehension questions. It has everyday conversations and academic topics. You can choose your level and change the speed of the listening.
IELTS Websites
IELTS Liz is a good place to start. The site has lots of information about the test, practice materials and YouTube videos, and it’s easy to use.
IELTS Advantage is popular website that has free lessons, courses and YouTube videos, as well as a (not free) writing feedback service.
E2 IELTS is YouTube Channel that has nice, clear videos about all aspects of IELTS. Lots of tips and techniques and a full mock test with help.
Keith Speaking Academy has tips and information about the speaking test, really good speaking videos on YouTube, and a Facebook group.
Other IELTS websites.
IELTS Charlie is a popular website.
IELTS Buddy has nice writing lessons for task 2.
IELTS Podcast has good information to listen to.
Daily Dictation – listen and write down short excerpts from IELTS tests.
IELTS Test Practice
British Council has two full practice tests.
The websites below have many practice tests. I haven’t checked them carefully, so I can’t guarantee that they are authentic tests.
Mini IELTS
IELTS Simulation
IELTS Online Tests
Websites for Academic English
The Academic Word List is a list of 570 words that are very common in academic texts. You can download a PDF of the full list here, and this website has exercises to practise.
The University of Manchester has a very good academic phrasebank with useful language for many different academic writing functions.
The Royal Institution has lectures on scientific topics. You can see full lectures and shorts on YouTube, and their past Christmas lectures on their website.
Grammar and Vocabulary Websites
BBC and British Council
Here are some good webpages from the BBC and British Council for intermediate level learners: 6 Minute Grammar and 6 Minute Vocabulary from the BBC, and grammar lessons and grammar videos from the British Council.
The BBC also has 6 Minute Grammar videos for lower level learners.
Dictionaries
Here are some links for good learner dictionaries:
Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary.
Your Dictionary allows you to see a word in lots of example sentences.
Other Vocabulary Resources
YouGlish is useful for pronunciation. Type in a word, and it will show you different people saying the word in Youtube clips.
The Online Collocation Dictionary will help you to understand which words go together.
Thesaurus.com tells you synonyms of words and Power Thesaurus has synonyms of phrases.