Best Internet Sites for Learning English

Compiled by Joe Lauer

Note: Many times sites combine skills, such as listening and reading, together.
But each site has been classified under only one category.

Listening

• All Levels
  1. Listening
     • http://esl-lab.com/
  2. Excellent videos with transcripts
     • http://www.englishcentral.com/watch
• Easy Levels
  1. Simple and Fun Activities
     • http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/listening.html
• Intermediate Level 
  1. Hiroshima University’s Virtual University: A Great Site!
     • http://vu.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/english/listening/index-e.html
  2. Interesting Stories
     • http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/menu.htm
  3. BBC: News, Music, Business English
     • http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/sport/index.shtml
  4. Listen to Interesting Stories While Reading Along
     • http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/topics_summary.cfm
  5. NBA Game Highlights
     • http://www.nba.com/video/
• Advanced Level
  1. Movie Transcripts
     • http://www.script-o-rama.com/trans.shtml
  2. Podcasts
     • http://a4esl.org/podcasts/
  3. BBC: News, With Transcripts
     • http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/news/index.shtml
  4. CNN: Learning English
     • http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html
  5. National Public Radio: News Hour, With Transcripts
     • http://www.pbs.org/newshour/
  6. Stories about American Culture
     • http://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/index.html
  7. Advertisements for American Movies
     • http://us.imdb.com/Sections/Trailers/
  8. Famous Speeches in History
     • http://historychannel.com/speeches/index.html

Vocabulary

• All Levels
  1. Fun Quizzes
     • http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/vocabulary.html
  2. Word Puzzles
     • http://www.funbrain.com/detect/
  3. Interesting Crossword Puzzles
     • http://iteslj.org/cw/
• Easy Level
  1. The 1000 Most Common Words
     • http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/bl1000_list1.htm?once=true&
  2. How the Alphabet Developed
     • http://www.wam.umd.edu/~rfradkin/latin.html
• Intermediate Level 
  1. Communicative Test: Made for Japanese University Students
     • http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/katsuiwa/english/list.cgi
  2. Slang
     • http://www.eslcafe.com/slang/slang.cgi?
  3. Homonyms
     • http://www.quia.com/custom/1055main.html
  4. Lots of Fun Activities
     • http://a4esl.org/a/v5.html
• Advanced Level 
  1. TOEFL Vocabulary Practice
     • http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltoeflquiz.htm?once=true&
  2. Common Errors
     • http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/errors.html

Grammar

• All Levels
  1. Interesting Quizzes
     • http://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz%20center/quiz.htm#Grammar
  2. More Interesting Quizzes
     • http://a4esl.org/q/h/grammar.html
• Intermediate Level
  1. Grammar Test: Made for Japanese University Students
     • http://vu.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/english/grammartest_a.html
  2. Comprehensive Grammar Explanation
     • http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/toc.cfm
  3. Phrasal Verbs
     • http://www.eslcafe.com/pv.cgi?
  4. Grammar Help from the BBC
     • http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/youmeus/learnit/learnit_archive.shtml
  5. Other Grammar
     • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html
• Advanced Level 
  1. TOEFL Grammar Practice
     • http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bltoeflquiz.htm?once=true&
  2. More TOEFL Grammar
     • http://testwise.com/review.html#men2

Reading

• Easy Level
  1. Reading
     • http://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz%20center/quiz.htm#Reading
  2. Good Reading Exercises
     • http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/reading.html
• Intermediate Level
  1. Translation Page
     • http://www.rikai.com/perl/HomePage.pl?Language=Ja
  2. Science
     • http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/scienceqa/index.html
  3. Culture Capsules
     • http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/ortesol98/home.html#master
  4. Comics
     • http://www.snoopy.com/comics/peanuts/index.html
     • http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/
  5. Alice in Wonderland
     • http://the-office.com/bedtime-story/classics-aliceinwonderland.htm
• Advanced Level 
  1. Daily News Quiz
     • http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/quiz/index.html
  2. Interesting Materials about Foreign Cultures
     • http://bjapan.bravehost.com/
  3. Some On-line Magazines
     • http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/
     • http://www.sciam.com/
     • http://www.newsweek.com/
     • http://www.time.com/time/
     • http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm
  4. Some Other News Sites
     • http://www.asahi.com/english/english.html
     • http://www.usatoday.com/
     • http://abcnews.go.com/
  5. Free Electronic Books!
     • http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

Semi-Conversation

• All Levels
  1. Make foreign friends, using keyboard chat
     • http://www.eslcafe.com/chat/chatpro.cgi
  2. Conversation Questions—Do these with a friend!
     • http://iteslj.org/questions/
  3. Excellent Practice with L/R Sounds
     • http://www.englishcentral.com/speak/sound/L
• Easy Level 
  1. Keyboard chat with a robot!
     • http://www.cleverbot.com/
  2. Travel Vocabulary
     • http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~itesls/ts/
  3. Basic Pronunciation
     • http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc.htm
• Intermediate and Advanced Level
  1. Oral Presentations
     • http://ec.hku.hk/tops/html/

Writing

• All Levels
  1. Writing: Made for Japanese University Students
     • http://vu.flare.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/english/writing/movie.html
  2. The Open Diary
     • http://www.opendiary.com/
• Easy Level 
  1. Write Funny Sentences
     • http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~itesls/jaw/w01.html
  2. Write a Funny Story
     • http://www.eduplace.com/tales/index.html
  3. Spelling
     • http://www.funbrain.com/spellroo/
• Intermediate and Advanced Level
  1. Purdue University Writing Lab
     • http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html
  2. Examples of Essays
     • http://www.amarris.homestead.com/writing.html

Other Good Sites

1. Links to Many English Learning Sites!
   • http://towerofenglish.com/
2. Various Interesting Activities
   • http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html
3. On-line Encyclopedia
   • http://www.encarta.msn.com/
4. On-line Dictionary
   • http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm