Materials for learning English. English language Language material on English language

Let's say you decide that the time has come for you to join the community of people learning English. You have decided for what purposes you need it, so you have the motivation. Finally, you have chosen where and how exactly you will learn English: in a group or prefer with the authors of our blog. It seems like we got everything sorted out. Maybe it's time to start? Ah, no! One more question remains open: what materials for learning English may you need?

Choosing materials for learning English

No matter how you organize your learning process, you should acquire some materials for learning English that will help you master it. Here is a rough list of what you will need:

Of course, the top material for learning English is headed by an English textbook, or, more precisely, training course. When taking foreign language courses, you will follow a specific educational complex, according to which teachers of this particular organization work. Most likely, you can purchase these textbooks there. If you decide to study without outside help, try to choose the publication that suits you best (consider your level of knowledge and the focus of the course). I’ll say right away that the choice is not easy, since there are so many series of educational materials. Buy or search online for the option you want and try it out. If you don't like it, change it.
As a rule, all well-known foreign publishing houses offer not just textbooks and workbooks for practicing what you have learned. In the composition of a certain educational complex materials for learning English also include audio and video materials. Be sure to use them. Make your learning process more effective. And in general, while learning English, try to watch more educational videos, video lessons, etc. Listen and complete assignments using these recordings.
Purchase bilingual dictionary. They are different: general plan, specialized (economic, technical, medical, etc.), thematic, explanatory. They also differ in the number of dictionary entries. The more there are, the more valuable the dictionary is. If you do not want to become the owner of a Talmud of one and a half thousand pages, which can kill you, use online Internet dictionaries (for example, multitran). True, you can’t take them with you, unless on a laptop. But in this sense, pocket-sized electronic dictionaries-translators will help you.
Be sure to consult specialized literature. It would be a good idea to buy a reference book (good publications present the theory and those in which all the grammar is written out in tables). Experience shows that you can make the learning process a little easier by using a dictionary and antonyms in the English language. If you are studying English for a specialization, for example, you want to become a doctor, you will also need a dictionary of medical terminology. Don’t forget about (the original or), which it would be nice to devote a small amount of your time to reading.
Among the materials for learning English, I would like to mention programs that serve this purpose. These could be games for practicing a specific language skill, collections of the most common words in the English language, training programs for memorizing them, translators, phrase books, etc.
And of course, develop the excellent habit of learning something new in English using the World Wide Web. Resources dedicated to English language, millions. Some may like it, others may not. Either way, they are a treasure trove of valuable information and materials for learning English, including all of the above.

As they say, there are plenty of materials for learning English, as well as ways of teaching. There would be a desire, but useful resources there will always be!

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The traditional method of teaching English and other languages has long become obsolete. Most people no longer want to do the same type of exercises from a textbook and memorize dialogues, and they don’t have enough time for classes with a teacher. Therefore, more and more different resources are appearing on the Internet that help everyone who wants to learn different foreign languages.

Lingualeo provides almost unlimited possibilities for comprehensive mastery of the English language. By registering on the site, you can watch English-language videos, films, music videos, listen to podcasts and audiobooks. All materials are accompanied by text, from which you can easily and quickly add words to the dictionary, and then repeat them during training.

There is a separate section “Courses” for mastering grammar. The site also presents programs in business and English from scratch and for preparing for the Unified State Exam, State Examination and IELTS.

As a nice bonus, there are browser extensions that allow you to expand your dictionary on any site, and mobile applications for all major platforms.

The British Council website is a treasure trove of various video, audio and text materials not only for language learners, but also for people interested in English culture. The Learn English section deserves special attention, which is divided into subsections for children and teenagers, students and adults.

Also on the British Council website you can find many articles on English grammar, where even complex constructions are explained simply and clearly.

3. busuu

With busuu you can learn 12 languages, including English. This application allows you to train all skills: reading, writing, listening comprehension and speaking. After each block, you can test your knowledge using a test and even a native speaker (you can send him the text you wrote).

Ororo.tv is a real find for series lovers. On the site you can watch American, English, Australian and other TV series with subtitles or built-in translation. Unfamiliar words can be added to the dictionary. 1 hour of viewing per day is available for free.

The site has more than 600 free video lessons from native language teachers. All lessons-lectures are divided into levels: from to advanced. The topics are very diverse: business English, spoken words and expressions, preparation for passing international exams and much more. After watching, you can test yourself with a test.

On the Memrise website you can learn English through courses that users create for each other. During the training, you will be asked to choose a mem - a picture or recording for better memorization of a word - or create your own associative image. Then you need to perform exercises on choosing the correct answer and listening to the word.

After you “plant” the word in your “garden” (the creators compare human memory with a garden), you will need to “water it” periodically, that is, consolidate knowledge through regular repetition.

Free Rice Trainer Includes Replenishment Exercises vocabulary English and other languages, simple grammar tasks, as well as tests. For each correct answer you receive 10 grains of rice, which are used to fight hunger.

italki is a community of teachers and people studying foreign languages. The site has both professional teachers and native speakers offering informal tutoring. Each user can be both a student and a teacher.

To start studying, you need to register, buy some virtual currency ITC (italki credits) and pay for a lesson with the selected teacher.

This is a free service for finding people to talk to from all over the world. By registering on the site, you can find a pen pal or for casual conversations on Skype.

The Polyglot Club service invites users to join the culture different countries communicating with native speakers. In addition, you can watch educational videos, improve your writing skills, and attend language meetings in different cities around the world.

If you already know English well enough to understand even university lectures, welcome to Coursera. Here you can sign up for courses in physics, medicine, construction, pedagogy and other disciplines. Teachers from the world's leading universities give lectures in English. Sometimes classes are held on writing essays and articles in English.

In this service you can go through interactive lessons which help to master grammar, develop correct pronunciation and listening comprehension. Every day, the system generates an individual task plan based on the user’s knowledge and progress in LearnatHome. Some lessons are available for free, the rest, including teacher review, are included in the premium package.

Duolingo offers a free sequential course designed primarily to improve vocabulary in English and other languages. The exercises are beautifully designed and built on various game mechanics, so doing them is not boring.

An active community of users has formed around Duolingo. You can always chat with them on a special forum. In addition, the service is developing a course incubator, within which users can create their own educational materials for everyone.

Project Puzzle English designed for anyone who wants to hone their listening comprehension. For this purpose, the service database includes films, cartoons and TV series with double subtitles. You can combine business with pleasure: watch your favorite works in the original, while simultaneously sending unfamiliar words to a special dictionary.

Puzzle English also has video lessons on grammar, interactive exercises, trainers for memorizing words, and even courses for comprehensive learning of English from scratch. The service is free to use. But to get rid of restrictions, you need to buy a subscription.

Which of these resources have already helped you achieve tangible results? Tell us in the comments!

IN modern society It seems that it is easier to find a person who does not know how to cook than someone who does not know English. That's why less words, more to do! We have collected for you the best sites for learning English, which are guaranteed to make the learning process easy and enjoyable!

Lang-8

If you often write letters to foreigners, this resource for learning English will help you not to lose face in such a situation. You are composing the text on foreign language, after which a native speaker checks it and makes appropriate corrections. With the same success, you yourself can act as a verifying party regarding the texts on your native language(you indicate this when registering). You can learn only two languages for free, three or more - for a fee.

Photo: lang-8.com

Grammar.net

Many websites for learning English, like grammar textbooks, consist of boring, dry texts that usually make you want to sleep. Grammar.net is not like that: it has a lot of pictures and infographics. There are also English lessons for various skill levels (even homework is provided), and you can learn new words and idioms through simple and colorful pictures. The site is run by a young linguist teacher who speaks five languages and is studying a sixth.

Photo: grammar.net 3

Lingua Leo

An easy and fun resource for learning English. When you register, you get a lion cub at your disposal, which you need to feed with meatballs. The latter can be obtained in the “jungle” by completing various tasks using audio, video and text materials. Most of the tasks are free, but there is paid content and limited opportunity add unfamiliar concepts to the dictionary.

Photo: lingualeo.com 4

Busuu

The best sites for learning English are those that provide live. The Busuu social network has about 50 million registered users from all over the world. You will be able to study new material and grammar, submit practice exercises for testing by native speakers, and monitor your knowledge with tests and word games. When you purchase a premium account, you will receive access to video lessons and language tests, as well as a certificate after completing the course.

Photo: busuu.com 5

Livemocha

The Livemocha network has about 15 million users around the world, and all of these people are interested in learning a language. This is exactly what the service is based on - you want to learn English, and an American, for example, wants to learn Russian. Thus, the completed exercises are mutually checked by native speakers. You learn step by step by completing various tasks. For a fee, you can choose a native speaker yourself and get access to all materials on the site.

Photo: livemocha.com 6

Learn English British Council

Websites for learning English are so common that even the British Council has one. There is a huge amount of text materials, exercises, videos, audio files, games, professional podcasts and even a special section for self-preparation for language IELTS exam. Football fans will enjoy the PremierSkills section, where they can watch interviews with Premier League football players, read articles about football clubs and reports from past games. All information on the site is in English, so it will probably be difficult for a beginner to navigate.

Photo: learnenglish.britishcouncil.org 7

BBC Learning English

It’s not very often that you come across websites for learning English that perform multiple tasks at the same time. The resource of the British corporation BBC is valuable primarily because, in addition to educational, it also performs educational and entertainment functions. There are audio and video lessons, tests, animations and simply colorful materials like “The Lexicon of Office Clerks” or “Why Chewing Gum is Banned in Singapore.”

Photo: bbc.co.uk 8

List English

Free sites for learning English are not a fiction. The ListEnglish resource is a very detailed database of materials for learning English: online dictionaries, translators, tutors, tests, school books, slang expressions and idioms, video courses and audio files, materials for preparing for language tests, games, links to YouTube channels, podcasts, smartphone applications and much more.

Lyrics training

The most effective resources for learning English are those that allow you to have fun at the same time. Thus, Lyrics training makes it possible to learn English through your favorite songs. You choose a musician and a song, indicate your language level, and then listen to the song and try to fill in the gaps in the subtitles. Music can be sorted by genre (pop, jazz, rock, funk, blues, folk, etc.) and by language. Most songs are in English, although some tunes are also available in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese.

Photo: lyricstraining.com 10

Ororo.tv

Another resource for learning English, allowing you to combine business with pleasure. The site is a database of more than five hundred TV series and a huge number with built-in English subtitles and a translator. While viewing, you just need to hover your mouse over an unknown word and the translation will appear. Some content is available for free viewing, but a significant number of feeds require a paid account.

Photo: ororo.tv

Happy exploring!

Time to learn about the pitfalls of English grammar. Based on our experience, we have compiled a list of sites where it is great to practice it.

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For beginners

EnglishDom.Grammar
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Pros: detailed and accessible grammar rules, several types of tasks for consolidation, interesting and popular videos with exercises. A convenient dictionary with ready-made sets and the ability to create your own collections. Absolutely all exercises are supported by English voice acting, and the selection of material is based on the student’s interests. The site is also suitable for more advanced users, because it is possible to choose the difficulty level, and the list of grammatical topics is quite large.
Cons: Not all grammar topics have video explanations.
Pros: Russian-language site that presents more than 75 grammar lessons with examples, explanations and tests. The site has excellent videos created by native speakers.
Cons: not the most convenient and outdated interface.
Pros: This site is perfect for beginners. The theoretical part is written in a clear and in simple language, you won’t have to rack your brains dismantling complex structures. All topics are perfectly structured - from easy to more complex.
Cons: students at higher levels may find it simple and boring.

For those in the know

BritishCouncil
learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar
Pros: the same site from the British Council where you can read the rules in English and practice your grammar by selecting the desired category. The site has a lot of other useful information, as well as games in English and preparation for exams.
Cons: the site is positioned as intended for all levels, but is entirely in English.
Pros: An interesting and detailed blog on the topic of grammar from the popular service Grammarly. You can find a lot of useful information on grammar, writing and modern slang.
Cons: There are no tasks to reinforce the rules.
Pros: a cool site from a whole team of teachers with video explanations and a fun way of presenting grammar rules. There are exercises for consolidation and breakdown by topic.
Cons: The site is entirely in English, so some details will have to be clarified using dictionaries.
Pros: the site is conveniently divided into categories: tenses, nouns, verbs, prepositions and other grammar topics. You can also find video lessons on the site and, if you do not have constant access to the Internet, tasks and rules can be downloaded to your computer or phone.
Cons: The site may seem difficult for beginners learning English.
Pros: here are rules, examples and exercises, as well as a division into difficulty levels. Distinctive feature of this resource - after each topic there is an example of using a rule not just in a sentence, but in a literary text.
Cons: quite complicated even for users with high level knowledge of the language.

For experts

reddit
www.reddit.com/r/grammar
Pros: a very famous site with a separate section dedicated to grammar. It will be useful to everyone who already speaks English well and wants to understand its individual aspects and nuances, because on the site you can get answers from the most qualified specialists.
Cons: there are no tasks to reinforce the rules, the site is entirely in English.
Pros: The site also needs no introduction. Here you can learn about English grammar and individual cases of using certain vocabulary.
Cons: the site only provides background information, without strengthening exercises.
Pros: a site that is often used by many teachers. The nuances of grammar, the frequency of use of certain words, modern slang or the history of origin and pronunciation - this and even more can be learned here.
Cons: There are also no tasks to reinforce the rules, and it is worth looking through all the comments to make sure the answer is correct.

We hope that the resources above will help you master the difficult English grammar.

Continue to study English comprehensively: words, grammar, written and speaking practice, live communication. It is this approach that will help you master the language much faster than studying its individual aspects.

We wish you good luck in your studies and look forward to your comments!

Bonuses for Habr readers

Online courses

We give you access for a year to the English course for self-study"Online course".
To gain access, simply go to before September 1, 2017.

Individually via Skype

There is so much free English content that it is no longer clear how to find the most useful and interesting one. We will share tips on what criteria to choose materials by, and tell you how we prepare content ourselves.

If you learn English on your own, where do you get the necessary materials? Let us guess: you are subscribed to many mailing lists, groups on social networks, YouTube channels, etc. However, there is a catastrophic lack of time, and you put off reading until later - week after week, month after month... There are more and more materials, but knowledge is not added.

How can this be? You need to choose high-quality materials and read only them, and not everything in a row. Easy to say, but how to do it? In this article we will give advice on choosing worthwhile materials, and also talk about how Inglex employees prepare content.

How to independently select English language materials

We have tried to highlight the main criteria by which you can select high-quality materials on the English language.

1. Expertise

Good English language articles are written either by an expert or by an author who interviews an expert. Such a specialist understands the language - he, as a rule, received higher education and international certificates like working as a methodologist, linguist, translator or teacher. Therefore, his opinion can be trusted.

If the articles are not signed, most likely they were written by copywriters from freelance exchanges. They are not language experts and cannot guarantee the accuracy of the translation or the correct explanation of the rules. Also, copywriters often use unverified Russian-language sources and rewrite information from them in their own words.

Let's take another type of content - webinars in English. They can only be carried out by experts who have significant experience in teaching, compiling teaching aids or translation activities. Neither sales managers nor YouTube stars will be able to conduct a useful webinar on learning English.

2. Personal experience

It’s good when authors write materials based on their experience: stories about travel, life, studying and working abroad, tips on using different techniques, textbooks, resources, etc. in lessons. Such content is valuable for its uniqueness.

3. Regular occupancy

Dead blogs or webinars that take place once a year indicate that the project is not developing and is no longer relevant. It also happens that there seem to be a lot of webinars, but the topics are the same - the presenters simply repeat them from year to year, without changing or adding anything. However, if there are too many materials, this should alert you, since high quality can only be ensured by a large team. Otherwise, such materials are compiled hastily based on unverified sources.

4. Relevance

The materials in outdated textbooks cannot possibly meet the requirements of modern students. Assess the relevance of the content: topics should be topical, and examples should be applicable in real life.

Let's say you're reading a grammar article about Future time Simple and you come across strange examples with unrealistic characters or phenomena. Most likely, the author of the article wanted to attract more people to the site, rather than trying to write useful material. For example:

I will build an Egyptian pyramid next year. -Next year I will build an Egyptian pyramid.

5. Completeness and variety of information

After you have studied the material on a certain topic, everything should be clear to you. Well, or almost everything. If there are too many questions, it means that the topic has not been covered and is described superficially.

Give a thumbs up to a blog where you can find articles on almost any topic. Just enter 10 keywords into the search bar and see if you find something interesting for yourself.

6. Convenient navigation and formatting

It should be easy and simple for you to search for new materials in one source. It’s convenient when articles are divided into categories, and webinars are divided into English proficiency levels. Articles should consist of logically constructed points, indicated by subheadings: this way you can read only what interests you, and in the right order. It’s great when the material is supplemented with diagrams, tables, video and audio files - they will help you better understand the essence of what is written than a sheet of text.

Text formatting also plays an important role. Sometimes the reader does not reach the end of the article only because the text is inconvenient to read: the font is chosen incorrectly, the line spacing is too small, bright colors are used in the design, etc. It seems that this is a trifle that cannot interfere with reading a good text. But the brain will automatically reject such text as uninteresting and boring, because reading it requires additional effort and eye strain.

7. Feedback

The best English language materials are written by people who are willing to take responsibility for their work. They will always answer your questions email, in comments to articles and content on social networks.

8. Comparison

Subscribe to several newsletters from different companies and bloggers. It is enough to read five issues of each of them to understand whether the topics are interesting to you, whether the materials are sufficiently diverse and useful for you. Subscribe to social networks - there you should find original materials, and not reposts from other groups and sites.

9. Paid content

Free materials on English can be a good help in learning English. But don’t discount paid content either. When you give your hard-earned money for materials, you are guaranteed to use them - don’t put the mailing on the back burner, go through a month-long training, etc. If this format involves feedback, your completed tasks will be checked and recommendations will be given. The benefits of such activities are obvious.

How to choose good paid material? Search only for content written by experts. Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, teacher of Ivanovsky state university, may be an expert. And a certain Wow Kate, who promises to teach English “quickly and in the shortest possible time,” is unlikely. Pay attention to the reviews about these people on different sites.

How content is prepared at Inglex school

We prepare a lot of diverse materials for learning English:

blog articles;
newsletter;
webinars;
posts on social networks, etc.

Many Inglex materials are prepared by our teachers - real experts in English. Sign up with your future teacher!

Lesson materials

The materials students use in lessons are prepared by our methodologists and teachers. They take authentic British and American manuals as a basis, then supplement the materials with auxiliary exercises for developing vocabulary and practicing grammar rules, as well as examples from real-life situations. The courses "", "" and "" are full-fledged developments of the school.

In addition, any teacher selects additional materials for each of his students. Someone is interested in music, and it is easier for him to explain the rules using examples from songs, another is preparing to move to the UK and wants to learn more about the culture and mentality of the British.

Blogs

Before creating Inglex, we ran a blog about learning English, Engblog. In 2009, the head of the Alexandra school and the head methodological department Victoria began filling it with materials on grammar and vocabulary. Later, other teachers also began to write articles for this project, which continues to this day.

At the end of 2012, we had a second one on the Inglex website. In it we publish materials for readers with different goals and interests:

articles about and about ;
grammar: and, as well as articles on;
work: articles about, and;
travel: , and ;
entertainment articles:, etc.

The authors of our articles are copywriters who speak English at a level or higher. A copywriter always consults with a methodologist about the topic and structure of a future article. The Russian language in the materials is checked by the editor, and the English language by methodologists. All this allows us to write without verbal water for people, and therefore we are responsible for the quality of our articles.

For each article, the designer prepares an original illustration, and the content manager proofreads the material for errors and typos, after which it is formatted and published on the blog. However, everyone sometimes has typos and inaccuracies, so we are very grateful to the attentive readers who point them out. After the article is published, we continue to work on it: we respond to comments and supplement the material if necessary.

Test to determine the level of knowledge

The whole team worked on the test report so that the reader could not only get the number of points and find out his level, but also analyze the mistakes made.