Activity 02: BBC - Get That job!

This part of the BBC website will help you to practise important language you need for job-hunting.

Over to you

What advice and help is MOST useful here?

Pronunciation 00: Introduction

Adrian Underhill, guru of English pronunciation, has recently contributed this as the first in a series of short videos.



Over to you
How important is pronunciation for you and your use of English?

Welcome!

Welcome to this site!

You will find lots of resources to help you test, revise and practise English.

Everything is FREE; you do not need to pay for anything.

The purpose of these resources is:

• To give you a chance to test your current level of English 
• To make you aware of some online resources to improve your grammar and vocabulary
• To indicate some options for practising English with other people in Meetups.

PLEASE contact me arthur.mckeown@btinternet.com to confirm that you have seen this site and to ask any questions!
Or use the contact form on the right side of the screen.

Up front statement of purpose: 

The purpose of this website is 

to demonstrate the quality and quantity

of what is available to improve your English.

The idea in 60 seconds

• You can get lots of of FREE online resources to help you test, practise and develop your English
• You can test your English and find where you need to be more accurate and confident
• You can practise your English with other people using Meetups.

Read on to find out more!

The importance of learning a foreign language

Consider:



Activity

• What is this video advertising?
• What does this tell us about the importance of learning a foreign language?

Start here!

This website provides some FREE resources to help you practise and improve your English. Everything here is in the public domain, from publishers, language schools and organisations such as the BBC and the British Council.

I have been gathering examples of useful resources from a wide range of sources. No one person will want or need to use everything; select the resources you personally find most interesting and useful.

This is work in progress to provide a compendium of free resources for potential students for the English for Employability programme.

Users of this prototype / pilot are encouraged to make use of the COMMENTS feature on each of the messages, to provide some comments; you are encouraged to use this to practise writing skills.

Students will also be encouraged to explore other resources that are available on the various websites to which their attention has been drawn. Part of my purpose here is to make people aware of the range and variety of good quality resources available online to help practise and develop communication skills in English.

I have not (yet) had a chance to quality assure every single page but I am generally content that the resources are well fit for purpose.

I am aware of the need to give further thought to:

• Information overload
• The sequencing of the content provided here
• Managing expectations about the progression issues mentioned in next steps.

The process

Customer journey mapping

•   Pre course    (1+ weeks)

• Awareness of the resources

• Sampling over several weeks

• Formal placement testing

• Diagnostic test, to identify focus for private study 

•  Six weeks of intensive work      (6 weeks)

• Weekly grammar syllabus

• Weekly vocabulary syllabus

• Extensive reading activities

• Extensive listening activities

• Meetups, to practise speaking

• Online activities

• (GoToMeeting) - 50 minutes per week

• Weekly progress tests

• Final examination      (1 week)

Next steps

The University of Ulster hopes to be able to provide an accredited English for Employability programme to help adults who are living in and near Belfast to improve their English language skills so that they will be able to get jobs, better jobs or promotion in the local economy.

The programme will last for six weeks:

• 1 day Induction
• 6 weeks Private study
• 1 day Examination

During this time each individual will be expected to work on:

• An ENTRY TEST to identify their level of English and suitability for the programme:

Grammar and vocabulary, with reading and writing

Interview

Listening test.

• The diagnostic grammar test
• Private study of the grammar syllabus
• Private study of the vocabulary syllabus
• The weekly MEETUP, face to face with other students
• Online activities
• Weekly progress tests
• The EXIT EXAMINATION to identify their level of English and improvement during the programme:

• Grammar and vocabulary, with reading and writing
• Interview
• Listening test.

English language tests

Use this test to practise your English!

Its purpose is to help you get used to testing your English.

Make a note of any problems or mistakes that you make.

You can of course do the test several times.

Grammar level tests

Cambridge has provided a series of tests, online or as PDFs which you can print, to let you test your own English; answers are usually provided.

• Take your time and work through each test, probably starting with Essential Grammar in Use. Check your results and make a note of any grammar points where you have made mistakes.
• Then use some of the online video resources to get explanations and examples to help you understand the grammar point. You may also be able to find useful grammar books in local libraries, etc.
• You can of course take the test several times as you work to improve your accuracy and confidence in using English grammar.
• When you complete each of the tests you can move on to the next one.

The following are available:

• Basic and here
• Essential Grammar in Use
• Intermediate
• Upper Intermediate
• Advanced and also here

These can help you to diagnose areas of grammar where you need to revise and practise.
See more about the apps for smartphones on the Cambridge site. They are also available on iTunes.

Grammar 01: Present Simple and Present Continuous

This the first of ten 5-minute videos to help you practise English grammar:

Grammar 02: Present Simple / Present Progressive

Nick Shepherd has provided several hundred FREE videos to help you with different parts of English grammar.
Look at his website.

Grammar 03: Prepositions of time

This 5 minute video from Holmwood deals with this important part of English grammar.

Their main website requires a subscription to get access to premium resources.

Vocabulary 01: Check your vocabulary

http://www.lextutor.ca/tests/

Spend a few minutes exploring this Canadian website.

The tests were devised by Professor Paul Nation. He has recently retired as Professor of Applied Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Follow the instructions on how to complete each of the tests.
Please use a dictionary to help you understand some of the words you meet.

Paul Nation

Vocabulary 02: Memorising vocabulary

Watch this short video (3 minutes) by Michael McCarthy with some ideas for how you can record and memorise new vocabulary:

Vocabulary 03: How to expand your vocabulary

Think about how you can use the advice Rebecca provides here to increase your skills in building your vocabulary.

Vocabulary 04: How to increase your vocabulary

Make some notes as you listen to the advice given here about ways to increase your vocabulary.

Listening 01: Podcasts

Explore the British Council podcasts, with the worksheets, to find activities to help you to improve your listening skills.

Speaking 01: Meetups

Meetups allow you to meet other people with whom you can practise your English.

This is the Budapest meetup for business English and employability.

Go to Meetup.com to find if there is something to help you.

Or start your own!

Activity 

Post a COMMENT to tell other people about interesting Meetups you have been able to find.

Resources 01: The British Council

The British Council provides a lot of high-quality material for language learning at different levels and for different purposes.

Spend a few minutes here exploring the resources available, so that you can identify the ones that are likely to be of greatest interest and value to yourself.

Look, for example, at the podcasts to help you improve your listening skills.

Resources 02: The BBC

The BBC provides a lot of high quality resources to help people improve their English.

Resources 03: TED

TED has nearly 2,000 presentations, each lasting about 15 minutes.

• Rose George talks for 12 minutes about the shipping industry. Use the transcript to follow what she says, either in English or one of the other languages available here.

Resources 04: The local library

The local library contains a huge number of books, magazines and newspapers.

Using them can help you to improve your reading skills in English; and they can also help you to understand more about Belfast and the area where you live.

Find books, magazines and newspapers about things you are interested in – football, food or films! Or whatever you really like!

Resources 05: Apps for English language learning

Explore this site to find some no cost and low cost apps for smartphones and tablets.

The use your web searching skills to find others of particular interest for yourself.

Over to you

REPLY to give a  comment on what you have found.

Resources 06: English for Everyone

English for Everyone provides worksheets (and answers) to help you practise English.

Resources 07: RSA animates

The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) now provides as series of 'animates' on different subjects.

These can help you practise your listening skills.

• Sir Ken Robinson - Speaking (12  minutes) about how education is changing.  Use the CAPTIONS to help you understand the main ideas.

Resources 08: MOOCs

MOOCs are massive open online courses.



They are FREE but are not accredited.

Look here to see what is available.

Resources 09: YouTube

YouTube

Sometimes you can turn on captions or get transcripts in your own language; it is always worth checking to see what is available.

Resources 10: Online dictionaries

This is just one of several websites that you may be able to find dictionaries at different levels:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org

Books 01: Essential Grammar in Use

Raymond Murphy, 2007  Essential Grammar in Use, with ANSWERS and CD, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge    Third edition

This is a self-study reference and practice book to learn english grammar at elementary level.

This is an easy to use book with full-colour illustrations, explanations of grammar points and exercises to check understanding.

The CD-ROM contains lots of additional practice exercises.

ISBN: 9780521675437

Read more.

Books 02: English Vocabulary in Use - Elementary

Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell, 2010 English Vocabulary in Use Elementary, with answers and CD-ROM, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge   Second edition

An updated edition of the best-selling vocabulary practice book.

English Vocabulary in Use Elementary covers all the words and phrases you need at this level to understand and be understood in English.

The book comes with a CD-ROM that has interactive games, hundreds of practice exercises, audio recordings, customisable tests and a built-in dictionary.

 ISBN: 9780521136204

Read more.

Books 03: Cambridge Essential English Dictionary

Cambridge Essential English Dictionary, 2011 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

A monolingual English dictionary for elementary to intermediate learners of English, using short, easy to understand definitions and lots of example sentences to put English language into context.

This new edition of the Cambridge Essential English Dictionary clearly marks essential vocabulary that students need to know at A1-B1 levels.

• Over 15,000 up-to-date words with clear and easy to understand definitions 
• Hundreds of short, natural example sentences show exactly how the language is naturally used in spoken and written English 
• 'Common Error' boxes, based on the Cambridge Learner Corpus, help avoid mistakes that learners of English typically make 
• Hundreds of illustrations and sixteen pages of colour pictures aid vocabulary learning and make it ideal for self-study 

9780521170925

Read more.

(In this area I will give some guidance about how an English-English dictionary can be used, in preference to online, smartphone and other dictionaries.)

Books 04: English Grammar in Use Online

Raymond Murphy, 21xx English Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Fourth edition

This is suitable for students who want more challenging material (B2) after they complete the B1 material.

English Grammar in Use Online is available for a subscription. Some samples are available.

ESOL Nexus

The British Council has provided a substantial amount of material on this site for people living in Britain who want to develop their language skills as well as their knowledge of life in the UK.

Activity 01: Introducing yourself

Use the REPLY feature of this website to create a short message in which you tell us something about yourself:

• Your name 
• Where you are from 
• What you like doing in your free time.

PLEASE do not include any private or confidential information.

Activity 03: Your reflections

Activity

Please spend some time writing a short message in which you tell us what you like and what you do not like about this website.

In particular, is there anything you would like to get more of?

A joke

What is your favourite joke?

Here is one that I like; and I am prepared to accept losing friends as a result of presenting this here:

Chelsea have set up a call centre for fans who are troubled by their current form.
The number is 0800 10 10 10
Once again the number is … 0800 won nothing won nothing won nothing.

(You can of course simply cut the name of this team and replace it with that of another ...)

Over to you
Have you got a joke you can share here?

And finally ... The history of English in 10 minutes

Me on my bike ...

... and you think this is really me ... SAD! ... I thought you knew me better ...