ELT1108 English Improvement
Strategies II
CALL Workshop
Language Learning Websites on the Internet
Suggested sites for ELT1108 students:
Language Learning Links at the ILC at http://www.ilc.cuhk.edu.hk/english/links.htm
Be sure to visit the sections for On-line News, Grammar, Reading, Writing,
and On-line Writing Labs.
Websites with readings, grammar lessons and exercises
- 330
Reading Exercises from the University of Victoria's
English Language Centre at http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/reading/index.htm
This website's exercises are based on stories about Nasreddin. The
"Recreating the Story" exercises are like the software Sequiter.
The "Summarizing the Story: Gap-fill Exercise" is good for
combining grammar and summarizing skills.
- Reader's
Digest World at http://www.rd.com/index.jhtml
Articles are available in Featured Articles, Channels, and Archives (a
list of archives is in the "Site Map").
- Mysterynet.com is at http://www.mysterynet.com/
Mysterynet.com has short on-line mysteries. Choose SolveIt or Twist. Read
the mystery and look for clues. When finished with SolveIt, you can guess
the criminal's identity, compare your guess to other readers, and learn
the solution. For more mysteries, visit Mysterynet.com archives. (These
mysteries can help you with inferences.)
- Story
of the Week" at Learning Resources at http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/week.html
This site has a featured CNN story with a "Story" version,
"Abridged Story" version, and a "Story Outline." You
also have the option to hear or view the news story. When you finish
reading, do the vocabulary and comprehension exercises: Vocabulary,
Word Selection, Multiple Choice, Sequencing, Conclusions, and Your
Turn. Note that the "Story Archives" link on the first webpage
has more articles. (Compare the writing styles in different versions to
learn about paraphrasing and writing outlines.)
- Reading
Comprehension Texts with Questions from Poly
U's Virtual Language Centre at http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/comp/readcomp.htm
This website has adapted articles from the South China Morning Post
. Try the vocabulary and comprehension activities.
- The Why
Files at http://whyfiles.org/
The Why Files have a feature article, news, and archives. When you
click on an article to choose it, you'll see a new webpage with a story
map. Look at the story map to preview the contents of the article. Then,
go to the first section. At the end of the section, click on the next
link.The website tour
explains how to navigate through the articles. (Use the story map to preview
and predict the article's content.)
- Student
Connections with the New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/index.html
The New York Times news articles at this website include
"Knowledge Tools" that allow you to "turn on"
vocabulary. In a section called "News Summaries" you can study summaries
and compare them to the longer articles. (Use the turned on vocabulary
option to practice guessing vocabulary words in context.)
- The
Scientific American at http://www.scientifiamerican.com/
For science readings, go to this on-line magazine. Visit the current
issue, past issues, feature articles or exhibits. As you read an
article, visit the links in the article for background information and
definitions.You can also find editorials in the "From the
editors" section of each issue of the magazine. For a list of more
magazines on a variety of topics, go to Google's list of "Magazines
and E-zines" at
http://directory.google.com/Top/News/Magazines_and_E-zines/
- Charles
Kelly's Quizzes Based on VOA's Special English Programs at http://www.manythings.org/voa/
Try grammar and vocabulary quizzes based on topics in the
Voice of America's Special English programs. Program scripts are also
available.
- Learning
English from the BBC World Service at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml
Choose "Learning English" for grammar and vocabulary
activities about news, work, sports, and music. Also, try "Quiznet"
for short quizzes and "Learn It" for mini language lessons.
- Learn
English by the British Council at http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/
Try the "Magazine" or "Grammar" sections.
- Yahoo's
Full Coverage section at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/
Yahoo's Full Coverage section categorizes news by topic. Look for
"World," "Science and Technology," and
"Business" categories. Click on a news item to choose it. For additional
news items, click on the"more..." link. Each news item has a
list of current articles from a variety of newspapers and magazines. Each
news item also has a list of related websites. (Use this website to find resources
for research projects.)
- Google
News at http://news.google.com/
Google News has breaking news organized by topics:World, U.S.,
Business, Sci/Tech, Sports, Entertainment, and Health. Click on the
"related" link for additional articles.
- Voycabulary at http://www.voycabulary.com/
Enter any URL to link a webpage to an on-line dictionary. (This activity
is good for guessing vocabulary in context.)
- OneLook
Dictionaries' Dictionary and Glossary List at http://www.onelook.com/browse.shtml
OneLook is a list of resources on a variety of subjects like "Arts
and Humanities," "Business," "Computer/Internet,"
"Medical," "Religion," "Science,"
"Sports," "Technological," and "Slang."
- NetGrammar by Allen Quesada at http://netgrammar.altec.org/Units/menu.html
This website combines grammar lessons with reading activities.
- Guide
to Grammar and Writing at http://cctc.commnet.edu/grammar/
This site has three levels: "Sentence Level," "Paragraph
Level," and "Essay Level." Choose a topic in a
"level" to learn more about it. At the end of each lesson are
computer-graded quizzes to test your understanding. If you want to go to
the quizzes directly, then click on the "Quizzes" link to find vocabulary,
grammar, punctuation, and writing quizzes.
- Sentence
Sense at http://cctc.commnet.edu/sensen/
- Kathy
Livingston's "Basic Guide to Essay Writing" at http://members.tripod.com/%7Elklivingston/essay/index.html
This website has simple instructions for writing an outline, thesis
statement, body paragraphs, introduction, and conclusion. Look at the
sample essay,
- Structure
of the Five Paragraph Essay at http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/essay/
This website provides a sample essay and detailed explanations of its
structure. Click on the red arrows to view the explanations.
- Purdue's
On-Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
This OWL covers a wide range of writing topics. Try the downloadable
PowerPoint presentations and the Hypertext Workshops. For example, see the
"Types
of introductions" from the "Writing a Research
Paper" section at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/writeintro.html
For more on-line news, visit the ILC's Language Learning Links
section and choose On-line
News. Here you'll find on-line versions of the South China Morning Post,
the Hong Kong Standard, Asiaweek, CNN, and Time.
South China Morning Post at http://www.scmp.com/
International Herald Tribune
at http://global.nytimes.com/?iht
(For your ILC task sheet, read the editorials.)
Lexis-Nexis through CU's library at http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe
China Daily at http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/
Back to workshop page
last updated 19 August 2009