Useful Resources And Tools You Need To Effectively Study English
Chen Lim
Useful Resources and Tools You Need To Effectively Study English
By Chen Lim
https://skypeinenglish.com/
COPYRIGHTS
Text Copyrights 2016 by Chen Lim
Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material herein is prohibited.
This ebook is made available free of charge in digital format. This ebook may not be resold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to https://skypeinenglish.com/. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The ebook edition of the work may be shared for personal, non-commercial use only. DO NOT sell, alter, print, perform, make audio recordings, make derivative works, or other works based on the book's contents. Please always give credit to Chen Lim of Skypeinenglish when sharing the ebook.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or displayed in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Introduction
Hello. A big thank you for downloading this ebook. In this book, I’ll be pointing out some helpful resources and tools to help you study English easily.
Today, we have lots of resources, tools, apps, softwares and other information on the internet at our disposal. So, it is quite confusing on which kind of resources, tools, apps, etc. to go for.
So I took the liberty of handing you valuable resources and tools to make English learning more efficiently. As a language learner myself ( I am studying Chinese by the way ), I understand the importance of quality resources and tools to help me study easily. I personally use some of these apps and softwares that I am about to tell you in the later part of this book, and I find them really awesome.
By the way, if you haven’t signed up for my email lessons, please do so by clicking here.
I send out emails to students who are subscribed to my email list, giving each and everyone English tips, vocabulary of the day, idioms, collocations, slangs, and news articles in a form of either videos, podcasts, articles, or just plain email text. ( I send them out every Friday at 12pm GMT+8 or later )
So click here and sign up now.
Also, you have the option to join my social media sites where I also share valuable resources on a daily basis ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 ) akin to the email lessons. You have the option on which social media you want to go for. Pick the ones you are most active on.
( Please click on the link to subscribe )
Skypeinenglish YouTube Lessons ( 2-3 videos a week, schedule may vary )
Skypeinenglish Facebook Lessons ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 )
Skypeinenglish Google Plus Lessons ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 )
Skypeinenglish Google community Lessons ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 )
Skypeinenglish email Lessons ( once a week every Friday )
Tools and Resources for Vocabularies
Remembering new vocabularies can be tough for English learners. Not only that, it is also pretty challenging to spit them right back out in a sentence. However, studies found that repetition is the key to embed new words in your long term memory. Experts suggest that flashcards are one of the best tools in helping learners remember new words.
Here are some sites that you can use:
1.https://ankiweb.net/
I personally use this website for learning Chinese. You can definitely use this to list down new words that you’ve encountered and go over them every day. They have an app that you can download onto your smartphone so you can study anytime, anywhere. This supports images and audios, so it’s cool.
2. https://www.memrise.com/
I used memrise before and it’s a great way to review vocabularies. If you’re the type who loves the reward system to motivate you to learn faster, then this is for you. It has this neat “plant” and “grow” reward concept and it also supports audio and images.
They also have an app that you can download onto your smartphone. They have it available on their website or you can directly download them on google play.
3. https://quizlet.com/
I have never used this before. But, one of my student recommended that this is a great way for him to jot-down new vocabularies that he encountered. Students can quiz themselves using this tool.
Learning Tip:
When you’re reading an article, watching a movie, or reading a book, have either one of them on reach so you can easily jot-down the new words you’ve met. Also, don’t forget to have your dictionary ready.
Plus :)
If you want me to give a demonstration on how to use this, I’ll gladly make a video on YouTube. So, please subscribe to my channel. :)
Skypeinenglish YouTube Lessons ( 2-3 videos a week, schedule may vary )
Tools and Resources for Listening and reading
Reading is a great way to learn new words and familiarizing yourself with word orders and punctuation rules. This is something that speaking and listening cannot simply do. Here are some sites that you can bookmark.
1.https://learningenglish.voanews.com/
I believe you may have heard of VOA ( Voice of America ) since it’s quite a popular website for English learners because you can listen and read at the same time. Not only that, new vocabularies are in bold so you can see them easily. At the end of the article, the vocabularies are listed with their corresponding definitions and examples. You can also download the audios in an MP3 format and listen to it whenever.
2. https://dreamreader.net/
For Skypeinenglish students, we used some articles here on dreamreader.net. This site is owned by Neil Millington ( We are friends on facebook ;) and Brad Smith. This site has hundreds of lesson materials suitable for English learners in the lower intermediate to intermediate level. Each article has a reading comprehension quiz in the end and downloadable pdfs and mp3s at your disposal. Kudos to these guys!
Other sites you might want to check out:
# https://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
# https://englishcurrent.com ( May not be accessible to other countries )
# https://www.newsinlevels.com/
Tools and Resources for Speaking and Writing
1.https://lang-8.com/
I love this site very much. Unfortunately, I am not that active on this website anymore because of the mountains of work that I do every day. But, this website is amazing if you want to practice your writing skills in your target language ( English, of course ). Basically, you have native speakers on this website who will help correct your writing entry. But, don’t forget to help others with their writing entries as well. Also, you can meet friends there and you can exchange contact information to meet on Skype or google hangouts to practice speaking.
2. https://www.govoluble.com/
This website is quite new. I am impressed to whoever built this website, because according to grapevine sources, the developer of this website built this in 18 months time with nothing but codes and $0.00 in startup costs and well.. he did this ALONE. Impressive. This website is free to use. You can create an account and meet new friends. You can use the website’s platform to have your language exchange with a partner by enabling your computer to allow the audio and camera usage or you can exchange contact information and meet on Skype or Google hangouts. Personally, this is my favorite website because I don’t have to
give out my Skype ID to anyone ( I have about 300 contacts on Skype and growing )
You can also publish a writing entry and have native speakers or non-native speakers of your target language correct your notebook entry.
3. www.Italki.com
Italki is akin with Govoluable because you can search for language partners and write notebook entries of your target language. You can also add a discussion and answer questions. Plus, they have a lot of learning articles in your target language written by natives themselves.
The downside of this is that you have to exchange contact information. So, be sure to choose your language partners very carefully.
It is a great way to find language partners and practice speaking.
To get started, sign up here.
Other sites you might want to check out to find language partners:
1.https://www.conversationexchange.com/
2.https://www.language-exchanges.org/
Tools and Resources for Learning Grammar and Grammar Exercises
1.https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/
This website is perfect to review grammar rules. It is owned by Seonaid and she did an amazing job in making the contents of the website. The grammar rules are explained very well and there are worksheets that you can answer to evaluate yourself.
2. https://www.talkenglish.com/grammar/grammar.aspx
My students love this site. Whenever they ask for homework on grammar exercises, I send them grammar exercises from this site.
GRAMMAR BOOKS
Most of my students use these books to study grammar. I use this book as a reference to teach my students. The rules are easily laid out and easy to understand. Not only that, it also has grammar exercises after every chapter to evaluate what you’ve learned. You can choose which book to study based on your English level.
1.English Grammar In Use by Raymond Murphy for Intermediate Learners
Click Here
2. English Grammar In Use by Raymond Murphy for Elementary Learners
CLICK HERE
3. English Grammar In Use by Raymond Murphy for Advanced Learners
CLICK HERE
Plus :)
You can also subscribe to our Youtube channel where we cover grammar lessons.
Skypeinenglish YouTube Lessons ( 2-3 videos a week, schedule may vary )
Tools and Resources for Reading News Articles or Other Niche Articles
Reading is very important. Have your flashcards and dictionary on hand when you read news articles.
1.https://www.theguardian.com/international
2. https://www.bbc.com/
3. https://edition.cnn.com/
Other Sites That You Might Want To Check Out:
1.https://www.entrepreneur.com/
2.https://www.investopedia.com/
3.https://www.medicaldaily.com/
4.https://ezinearticles.com/
Tools and Resources for Idioms and Phrasal Verbs…….
Like I always say to my students, don’t memorize lists after lists of phrasal verbs. Rather, I want you to familiarize yourself on how these words are being used by native speakers when speaking and writing. It is therefore very important to always read a lot, listen to podcasts, and radio in English. Of course, you might want to use them in speaking as well, so try to speak with others in English as often as you can.
Here are some sites that you can use as a reference.
1.https://www.idiomsite.com/
2. https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm
Other Sites that you might want to check out:
1.https://www.idiomconnection.com/
2.https://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idioms_proverbs.html
3.https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/verbs/list-of-phrasal-verbs/
4.https://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/list.html
You may also want to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I upload English video lessons on Idioms, Phrasal verbs and more that you can watch for free.
Subscribe here.
Skypeinenglish YouTube Lessons ( 2-3 videos a week, schedule may vary )
Bonus Tools and Resources
If you have little kids, I have just the perfect Resources for them to use….
These sites are wonderful for them. I personally use these for my little students because they have downloadable activities, videos, interactive games, and more.
1. https://www.funbrain.com/books/tesstree/bio.html
2. https://www.eslgamesplus.com/
3. https://www.kidsworldfun.com/shortstories.php
Other sites to consider:
1.https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories
2.https://interactivesites.weebly.com/
3.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOPzf8kf-FUDs32E7F2wGdg
4.https://www.youtube.com/user/KidsFirstTV
5.https://www.youtube.com/user/familyfunpack
CONCLUSION
Dear, Students.
Wow! You’ve made it at the very end of this book, and with that I commend you. Learning English can be quite hard especially when you’re just starting out. As a language learner myself, I know how frustrating it is when you can’t seem to get your message across because of limited vocabularies, poor grammar skills, and poor listening skills. However, don’t let that bring you down in achieving your goal to be able to speak English fluently. The tools and resources here that I’ve showed you is just a piece of the whole pie. It’s not something that you can use to magically learn English in a day or two. There is no tool/book/software in the world that can do that. You need to put in the effort if you want to learn English.
But, it’s not that hard. With constant practice and motivation from your part, you can definitely achieve your goal, and become a confident English speaker.
Lastly, you can follow some of our social media sites where we share and deliver Free English lessons.
Click the link to subscribe :)
Skypeinenglish YouTube Lessons ( 2-3 videos a week, schedule may vary )
Skypeinenglish Facebook Lessons ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 )
Skypeinenglish Google Plus Lessons ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 )
Skypeinenglish Google community Lessons ( 2 times a day 9am and 9pm GMT+8 )
Skypeinenglish email Lessons ( once a week every Friday )
Again, thank you for downloading this ebook. If you want to have 1-to-1 English lessons, you can begin by signing up for a 25-minute trial lesson at 20% off. Just use the coupon code: Newstudnt when signing up.
Sign up here: https://skypeinenglish.com/learnenglish
All the best,
CHEN
Head Online English Teacher
https://skypeinenglish.com
