English for ENSA staff

Hints, tips, links and resources

How to Improve Your English

Tips for ENSA Staff

Free & Easy

Simple Ways to Improve Your Language Skills

  1. Trouvez une radio ou une chaine de télévision anglaise. Ecoutez ou regardez-là pendant une quinzaine de minutes. Vous comprendrez chaque jour un peu plus et vous vous habituerez au son de la langue.
  2. Lisez un article en ligne sur internet, par exemple l’article d’un journal ou d’un magazine. Ne vous inquiétez pas si vous ne comprenez pas tout dès la première fois, plus vous lirez, plus vous comprendrez.
  3. Mettez votre compte Facebook, votre console de jeux, votre téléphone, votre télévision, ou toutes les technologies que vous utilisez en anglais. C’est une très bonne manière de vous immerger dans la langue.
  4. Ayez une courte conversation avec quelqu’un qui parle anglais.
  5. Achetez un guide de conversation et apprenez cinq phrases par jour. Vous serez surpris du vocabulaire que vous retiendrez jour après jour.
  6. Regardez une série ou un film avec des sous-titres en anglais.
  7. Abonnez-vous à un magazine anglais.
  8. Faites-vous des amis parlant anglais, vous pourrez pratiquer la langue plus souvent.
  9. N’ayez pas peur de faire des fautes, c’est en essayant qu’on se sentira le plus à l’aise.
  10. Inscrivez-vous à un MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) par exemple ceux proposés par des universités britanniques (commencez ici). Trouvez un thème qui vous intéresse et profitez de cours d’anglais gratuits en ligne.

Start here...

Commencez par télécharger ces 7 applis sur le site spécialisé LearnEnglish du British Council. Vous y trouverez des exercices de langue, des règles de grammaire et vocabulaire, des jeux interactifs, des activités, même des chansons et des histoires à partager librement avec vos enfants.

Maintenant c’est à vous. Good luck.

My Smartphone is Rich

Put an English teacher in your pocket

Using Interactive websites

  • Know your level. If the lesson is too easy, you’ll be bored. If it’s too hard, you won’t learn. So know your level and be honest!
  • Know how you learn best. Find a website that will help you learn through your favourite learning style.
  • Use a computer or phone with a microphone. Many of these websites and apps have activities where you can practice speaking. You’ll need a microphone for that.
  • Find topics that interest you. When you use topics that you like, you’ll want to learn and listen or read!
  • Schedule a time each day to study. You need to practice often and regularly to get better. Schedule a set time each day to study English, like while you have breakfast or take the train to work.
  • Don’t forget to go offline as well! Even if you learn a lot with these websites, don’t forget to practice with real people as well!

Apps and Websites to Help Improve Your English

Here are some more websites; some focus on listening, some on vocabulary, others on grammar or a range of activities to practise your english. Happy learning!

Test your english and get advice on the best course for you from Cambridge English (Cambridge University Press).

Easy World of English
easyworldofenglish.com
An attractive, user-friendly website including grammar, pronunciation, reading and listening practice and an interactive picture dictionary.For younger learners.

Many Things
manythings.org
This website includes matching quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator and other computer-assisted language learning activities. The site also includes a special page on pronunciation, including practice with minimal pairs. Not the fanciest or most beautiful website, but with lots to see and use and no advertising.

Dave's ESL Cafe
eslcafe.com
A forum for both ESL teachers and students around the world. Includes quizzes, grammar explanations, and discussion forums for students. For teachers, includes classroom ideas on all subjects as well as discussion forums.

The California Distance Learning Project
cdlponline.org
Read and listen to a news stories on topics including working, housing, money and health, then work on activities based on the stories including matching pairs, vocabulary, and quiz questions. Some stories also include videos.

Activities for ESL Students
a4esl.org
Grammar and vocabulary practice for all levels, including many bilingual quizzes for beginners. Also includes a link for teachers, with conversation questions, games, and many other ideas to put to use in the classroom.

ABCYa
abcya.com
This is a website for kids, but who says adults can't use it, too? The site includes educational games organized by grade level, from 1st to 5th, and is particularly good for spelling and phonics. There are games to practice vowels, uppercase and lowercase letters, Dolch sight words, synonyms and antonyms and more.

TV 411
tv411.org
This site includes videos with native speakers explaining key reading concepts like critical reading, summarizing and scanning, and key life skills like signing a lease and reading a medicine label. Following each video is a comprehension quiz. Click on the blue tabs across the top lead for lessons on reading, writing, vocabulary and finance.

GCF Learn Free
gcflearnfree.org/everydaylife
A well-designed site with interactive tutorials for everything from operating an ATM machine to reading food labels. If you click on the main page icon and then click on reading, the site has resources for English language learners as well, including stories to listen to and read along, and picture dictionaries.

Language Guide
languageguide.org/english
This is an online picture dictionary, with everything from the alphabet to parts of the body to farm animals.

Oxford University Press
elt.oup.com/learning_resources
This site from Oxford University Press has activities to practice spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and listening. A bit difficult to navigate, so more suitable for advanced learners and savvy internet users.

And don't forget YouTube. Whatever you'd like to learn — an explanation of a grammar term, idioms, a set of vocabulary — enter it in the search field and an array of videos are sure to come up. I hope some of these sites prove useful. Enjoy! And please let me know if you find any other sites that you have found interesting.



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Specialised resources

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