Welcome to England

LEARNERS | TEACHERS | ENGLISH LINKS---------BRIGHTON UK | CLIMATE CHANGE | EWAN MacCOLL

(a) Free English language practice materials for learners

Choose Lesson Materials for practice exercises listed by level. These include a Beginners' Reader with its own integrated work scheme, Adult literacy worksheets for students learning the Roman alphabet for the first time, as well as vocabulary and grammar topics such as Phrasal Verbs and Advanced Particles.

I devised the 28 Discussion Topics to meet the active vocabulary needs of non-native English speakers at post intermediate to advanced levels. However, they are also being used e.g. by British students practising core communication skills (in Aberdeen Scotland) and by American adolescents on community education courses (in Pennsylvania, USA). Higher level learners wishing to teach children may be interested in the Advanced Reader - an autobiographical account by my second cousin, Irene Ellen Power Clifford, of her work in London Primary Schools from 1919 to 1953, her attempts to mitigate the poverty of the 1930s and the disruption of World War II and to promote more modern teaching methods.

(b) Handouts and Language Games for class use

Click here for the index of Handouts. These Handouts are to help with the dynamics of class teaching (e.g. for use on the first day to help with introductions) and to facilitate oral and written composition on topics such as 'what I do every day', 'likes & dislikes' and 'my country'. There are also some Language Games designed to make classwork more active.

(c) Pronunciation Practice - common mistakes

The Pronunciation section contains listings by language background of the English vowel and consonant sounds, which learners from different L1s generally find most difficult. For each L1 I have added external links to web sites dealing with non-native pronunciations of English, such as Wikipedia. New pages have been added on the production of English vowel sounds (a) the 12 monophthongs and (b) the 8 diphthongs. There are some new materials to practise English consonant clusters at the ends of words where most difficulties occur, as well as further exercises on assimilation, for those wishing to achieve a high level of oral fluency. The assimilation exercises contain practice lists of two-word phrases, illustrating how some consonant sounds change when followed by certain other consonant sounds. For people without the knowledge or habit of assimilation, the written word is a very poor guide to how English is spoken.

The Phonology section aims to teach some of the key symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet used to indicate the pronunciation in good dictionaries designed for English language learning.

(d) Articles on language teaching methodology

Teaching English is aimed at both trainee and experienced teachers of English. Many of the articles should prove useful to teachers on CELTA, DELTA, and/or TEFL-related MA or MBA Courses. The EFL author, Robert O'Neill, whose command of the structural syllabus resulted in some ground-breaking published course materials (e.g. Kernel Lessons; 3rd & 4th Dimension), has kindly contributed some interesting articles, many of which relate to the more recent Notional/Functional syllabuses and communicative approaches.

(e) Books from England and Books from America for lists of recommended materials

Two links Books from England and Books from America contain my own recommendations (***** five stars means "highly rated") for published ELT/TEFL materials, which I have listed by categories such as listening, speaking, pronunciation, reading, vocabulary, grammar, etc, also indicating the level (L1=low to L6=high) of the materials. Clicking on the titles listed will allow you to view the book descriptions on the Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com web sites, where you can benefit from the comments of other reviewers without having to buy. These recommendations are intended for learners wishing to improve their skills, class teachers entrusted with a choice of supplementary course materials, Directors of Studies or Self-access Centre managers responsible for stocking Resources Rooms, Libraries or Learning Centres, and those involved in Teacher Training. I have recently added a DVD index of the successful TV series Tales of The Unexpected since the 112 stand-alone dramas, each running for 25 minutes, are excellent to use for listening comprehension and vocabulary development with post intermediate to advanced level learners. The DVDs can be purchased very cheaply in the UK (DVD Region 2) or the USA (DVD Region 1).

(f) Brighton UK

I have held English teaching posts in Algeria (Tiaret), Sweden (Fagersta) and Spain (Madrid), though most of my teaching has been in Brighton & Hove UK, where I was first an EFL Teacher and then Teaching Resources Manager / Self-access Centre coordinator at The English Language Centre for many years until a road traffic accident ended my career prematurely. I currently take an interest in the history of Brighton and co-edit the web site for my local residents' association, The Round Hill Society in Round Hill, Brighton. This English language site therefore has a second home page Home - Brighton.

(g) Links Page for learners and teachers of English

English Links is a page of external links to web sites which I judge might be of interest to EFL learners and teachers, especially those planning a visit to the UK. Approximately 1000 other web sites have been kind enough to link to me and I get several requests to reciprocate. However, my English Links Page reflects my own research and the web sites I regularly use rather than the spirit of reciprocity - I am unlikely to include links in response to email requests, though I am always pleased to look at non-profit making sites where educational materials are offered freely with 'a minimum of' or no commerce attached. I have nothing against commerce (e.g. browsing published materials relevant to ELT), but it is not the aim of this site to steer learners into the thick of it.

(h) rss webfeeds

-- Easy Access to the key parts of English language learning and teaching

-- Published resources for English language learning and teaching (Ted Power's recommendations): This feed is intended for learners/teachers/Directors of Studies wishing to review or select books/CDs/CD-ROMs on English language learning and teaching including areas such as teacher training, pronunciation, listening to spoken English, oral fluency, grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing (including handwriting & basic literacy).

-- English pronunciation for L1s: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek or Hungarian

-- English pronunciation for L1s: Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Taiwanese, Thai or Turkish

-- Higher Intermediate vocabulary and discussion - topics 1 to 10: 1. Alternative Beliefs 2. Animal Welfare 3. The Arts 4. Crime and Punishment 5. Cultural Differences 6. Economics 7. Education 8. Environment 9. Fashion 10. Food