English Central - Pronunciation Tutor

Hi guys,

Here is the link to the pronunciation training website I was showing you a few days ago: http://www.englishcentral.com

There are plenty of videos, at several levels of difficulty, that you can watch and read along, with subtitles and a voice recording option. The tutor then highlights the faulty bits in your pronunciation and let´s you compare it to the native model (full words, or even sound by sound, if you click on any particular word).

Also, there are other working modes like quizzes and so on, that you should explore. In all, This is a very useful kind of work that unfortunately we cannot really do at class.

My suggestion is that you spend some 20-30 minutes a week with this. And, of course, to keep on listening to at least 2 hours of other materials like movies, news, podcasts...

Happy talking!

TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

Hi guys,

This is the website I told you about the other day: www.ted.com. A great resource for video in English with subtitles, on a range of very interesting topics. As they say "riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world".

It usually takes them a few weeks to make the subtitles available after they first publish the talk. So, if you really want them, go for talks which are at least a few months old --they are just as good.

Notice that the full transcript is also accessible at once (top right link). It's a great exercise to work on it after watching the video for a first time. It's also great to read along with the speaker, the second time you watch.

Find the short talk by Stacey Kramer that we watched the other day bellow, or on this link.

CNN Student News

Hi guys,

Are you putting in your hours? Of English language listening and reading, what else?... nope? uhh, I figured.

This website http://edition.cnn.com/studentnews/ is a great resource for real American English. Just 10 minutes of American and world news everyday, and they even provide the transcript so you can read it afterwards. Another great exercise that takes just 5 minutes.

I am not saying you should watch it everyday, but every other day for sure! 15 minutes twice a week can go a long way. It's a healthy habit!

The one we saw on Friday class and its transcript are here.

Learning on the web: Vocabulary. WordChamp !

Hi guys,

Just a reminder of that terrific website we saw in class to help you learn massive amounts of new vocabulary www.wordchamp.com (word lists with pronunciation and fun drills, without that much effort!).

Check it out carefully if you haven't yet. It's worth it!
------------------------------------------

Language Activities: WordChamp offers several ways to learn and practice any of more than 130 languages, no matter what your native language happens to be.

•	Language Drills — From the Flashcard tab, you can browse and use existing flashcards with our language drills, copy and edit flashcards for your own use, or simply create your own flashcards from scratch.
•	Web Reader — The Web Reader helps develop your ability to read foreign language websites or texts. With the point and click of a mouse, you can get translations for difficult words you encounter, including audio, and save these words to practice in language drills later.
•	Find a Language Partner — With thousands of members from all over the world speaking 130 languages, you can use WordChamp to find a language partner online to practice your language skills with.