What are English learning resources?
English learning resources help expose you to English. We recently talked about English learning tools, and it can be confusing to figure out the difference between an English learning tool and an English learning resource. The difference between a resource and a tool is that a resource gives you things to learn from by listening and reading while a tool helps you to learn. A resource gives you content. A tool helps you use that content.
Resources are like the blocks that you build with. So let’s look at some resources that help you grow like a tree!
Graded Readers (especially audiobooks)
I love these. And the nice thing about learning English, is that there are more graded readers to choose from than any other language I know of, making it much easier to find the right book. Graded readers are books written for ELLs. They are easier to read, contain simpler grammar and vocabulary than native books, and often contain learning exercises and built in dictionaries.
Nowadays, most of these readers come with audio, too! This makes it possible to read, listen, or listen and read. I like to have Chinese audiobooks playing in the background sometimes, because it helps refresh my mind on vocabulary and grammar while accustoming my ears to the sounds of the language.
Podcasts
I recommend podcasts because I know there are good ones. I’ve found a lot of “learn English through podcasts” podcasts, but they are rarely high-quality learning material. But they are out there, I know.
Podcasts are great because, like audiobooks, we can pick them up and put them down at any point, listening hands free, in the background or in a focused listening session. We can listen every time we get in the car. We can listen when we cook. We can listen when we take a shower. We can listen when we get in bed. They are versatile. Like duct tape. You can use it to make or fix anything!
When choosing a podcast, the most important thing is interest, of course. If you don’t like it, you probably won’t do it and learn from it in the long run. But there are other things to consider, too: source, repetition, function.
By source, I mean we should think about who makes the podcast and if we can trust what they say (about English!). By repetition, I mean there should be repeated words and grammar help us learn it better. And by function, I mean we should listen to podcasts that help us do what we need to do in English, because learning “7 idioms natives don’t even know” won’t help any of us communicate effectively.
Here are three great examples of podcasts that ESL-tree loves!
- 6 Minute English (short and sweet podcasts)
- British Council (medium length)
- Culips (longer)
Rosetta Stone
This is my recommendation for all beginners of any language, and if you are reading this now, you have probably outgrown Rosetta Stone’s system. If you don’t know, Rosetta Stone is a learning system that uses pictures, audios, and text, using only the language you want to learn. It’s really brilliant. I used it for Chinese, finishing all of their levels, and now I’m using it for Korean.
I call it a resource because they let you download all of the text from all of their lessons and all of the audios from their audio companion. These two resources allow you to practice reading, listening, and speaking whenever you want. I also use these audios and that text for when I make Anki cards. It’s super awesome.
Breaking News English
This is a website with recent news events in different English levels. What I like about it is that you can switch the level of the text to match your level. I recommend reading each article at the easiest level first, then reading it again at the next level, and again a bit harder, until you are meeting new words and grammar. Then study those and add them to your review lists. This also gives you some talking points with natives and other ELLs because you can ask them questions about the events and share your opinions about them, too.
ESL Lab
This resource is less popular than the others on this list, but great enough for me to use them in my lessons. This website has dialogues and conversations about various topics on various levels with some exercises to practice what you learn. It’s growing into more than that with time, but that’s it’s foundation. I liked using it with my students because it is completely free!
ESL Discussions
This isn’t exactly what we think of first when we think of ELL resources, but I’ll explain why it’s on this list: we want to practice speaking but we often don’t know what to say. This website helps us solve that problem. It gives lists of discussion questions to ask each other about tons of topics. If you are in an English club or have a practice buddy, print off a set of questions for each practice session!
YouTube
Everyone knows about this resource, and I included last because I think it is much less effective than everyone thinks. The problem with YouTube is that it has lots of low-quality content, and it doesn’t give ELLs practice opportunities. When we turn on YouTube, we turn off our brains and watch. Nonstop. Video after video after video of language presentations without practicing or noting anything we learned.
To use YouTube well, we have to be careful. Limit yourself to one video. Take notes. Watch it more than once. Study the language you learned. Add things to your vocab lists (by the way, these lists should be turned into Anki flashcards like this!). Watch it again and practice your speaking by repeating the difficult sentences you hear. And then move on to a second video and repeat if you have time. If you just watch and watch and watch, you’ll waste a lot of time.
How should we use these resources?
These 7 English language learning resources are only as good as your study methods. As we were discussing with YouTube, don’t just listen and watch without doing anything. Use the resources to find new words and grammar that you don’t understand, take note, study, ask your teacher about them, and practice them. The resources are like the dirt around your tree, that without water and sunshine, doesn’t do any good!