Learning English for FREE at home, on the bus, in a bar or in bed is easy in ‘current year.’ With a whole host of platforms, apps and resources available, there’s no reason to not learn, develop and evolve your English starting today! Without further ado, here’s BulldogZ best free picks for TEACHERS and STUDENTS (from our Speaknic sessions):
Bit of everything
Our picks of the best ‘all rounders’ for creating your own English learning adventures in grammar, speaking, reading, listening ad infinitum.
Memrise is a web platform and mobile app that those familiar with DuoLingo will recognise. However, this platform focuses on VIDEO for the acquisition and understanding of new vocabulary. It is a great tool for setting daily goals and monitoring progress through statistical development and personalised learning journeys.
Although Mondly does have a paywall, it is possible to use the free sections available for an adequate learning experience. This platform plots a course through various fields of language learning, focusing on USEFUL vocabulary and grammar relating to real life situations such as family, sport, expressions, business, travel and so on. It also provides good statistical data to help monitor your development.
LEO TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Although the design of the website is a little ‘clunky’ the resources are free and many. A healthy selection of vocabulary and grammar exercises and resources, flashcards, books, games and more.
ESLgold TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Quite simply a goldmine. Speaking, grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, phrases for conversation, grammar explanations, conversation topics and more...
Speaking
Check out this free course on the MOOC platform Coursera, it offers everything mentioned in the accurate title ‘Speak English Professionally: In Person, Online & On the Phone.’
FORVO is quite simply your main port of call for pronunciation in almost every imaginable accent. As the Forvo motto goes ‘All the words in the world. Pronounced.’
ConversationExchange is a fantastic free forum for connecting with other language learners. You can choose to meet in person if you find someone in your location that speaks or is practising your chosen language or communicate by other platforms such as email, whatsapp, skype and so on. I would recommend finding a NATIVE that is learning your natural language and going for an online exchange.
Clarisketch is for Cambridge, Oxford or any exam preparation that involves describing images, this is a great resource that allows you to take a picture then talk and draw over it.
“Use YouTube to improve your English pronunciation. With more than 30m tracks, YouGlish gives you fast, unbiased answers about how English is spoken by real people and in context.”
The Macmillan sounds pronunciation app is handy pronunciation tool that provides you with sounds and diagrams of how the mouth should move to form them.
Listening
Look no further than your very own Bulldog team for fun and insightful British cultural material and reviews. Email us with your requests!
VoiceTube TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Learn English by watching subtitled videos, movie trailers and music videos. A great resource that utilises YouTube videos and transforms them into custom exercises.
TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab has been providing online English listening comprehension quizzes and activities for ESL and EFL learners since 1998. Huge archive of listening quizzes.
TEACHERS and STUDENTS. An enormous English Listening Lesson Library, ELLLO offers over 2,500 free listening lessons with accents from all over the world and an almost infinite variety of topics.
Cities and memories A different way to explore English speaking culture. This 'sound map' project is an open source public archive of sounds recorded around the world, including busy streets, bars, conversations, inside cathedrals...take a different kind of audio trip through English speaking territories.
Reading
Readlang allows you to translate to and from your native language into any language. This is great as a translation tool, but it also allows you to track and record phrases and vocabulary and build your own dictionary. It also comes as a browser plugin so you can instantly transfer any text on the internet. Recommended for reading articles online and saving new vocabulary.
IFLScience The perfect resource for interesting and unique science stories in environment, technology, space, health and medicine, the brain, plants and animals, physics, chemistry and policy.
TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Dreamreader.net is a website run by an EFL instructor with over 15 years of experience in the field of language education. Several years ago, he noticed that there were few sites on the web that freely provided a comprehensive graduated approach to English reading suited to different levels of English ability. As a result, he decided to create his own website with freely available reading materials for all English language learners and teachers!
Factitious A fun and different way to read, determine which stories are true and which are fake in this ‘fake news!’ game.
Grammar
English grammar secrets TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Clear explanations and fun exercises.
Using English TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Study grammar and learn vocabulary using our online English quizzes and printable English worksheets for learners, teachers and instructors. Test yourself with 518 free language quizzes covering grammar, usage and vocabulary for beginner, intermediate and advanced level English students.
Vocabulary
Babadum Fantastic and fun image based vocabulary game, very simple and easy to use with a variety of different test methods.
Vocabulary TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Create custom classes around word sets, or test yourself and build a personalised dictionary along with tests.
Clozemaster TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Learn language in context. Clozemaster is language learning through mass exposure to vocabulary in context.
Lexipedia Create a map of associated vocabulary and go on an adventure of word association.
Games
Tubequizard TEACHERS and STUDENTS. Fantastic resource for creating personalised lessons or tests. Simply find a video on YouTube and the platform will automatically create a test for you based on your requirements.
Games to learn English TEACHERS and STUDENTS. A variety of fun games for all levels, great to play at home and get your name on the global scoreboard or get it up on the screen in a class!
Let us know your favourites or what we missed in the comments or send us an email