English Learning Tools:10 Word Searches

One of the best tools to help you improve your vocabulary is the Word Search. Word Searches involve you - surprize, surprize - searching for words hidden on a grid of letters. The words may be found running right to left, left to right, vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

In order to maximize the benefit gained from doing the search, think about checking the definition of the words before you begin to search for them and say them over along with the definition in your head while trying to find them.

Please find below links to an couple of online word search puuzzles, and a site where you and make your own word search puzzles.

Links:
1. Online Word Search Puzzles [johnsesl.com]
2. Lanternfish ESL Word Searches [bogglesworldesl.com]
3. Word Search Puzzle Maker discoveryeducation.com]

English Learning Tools: 9Study Plans

How much time do you want to spend each week on your English? According to the EnglishLink.com site it is important to remember that "... if you are going to succeed, you need to make a plan". And, if you make a plan, "you need to stick to it.

In making your plan, they note, it is important to "...make sure you can actually spare this amount of time. Be realistic." Among the questions you might want to ask they suggest are:

* Do you work? If you do, when are you free to study?
* Do you have a family? When do you spend time with them?
* Are you studying full-time? If you do, when do you have free time to study?
* Do you have hobbies that take up your time? Do you use English in your life?

Find below links to: the EnglishLink.com site of study plans [which in turn contains a link to study plan template; and a general Learning Plan Templates from SlideShare.net.

Links:
1. Lets make Your Study Plan [englishlink.com]
2. Learning Plan Template [slideshare.net]

Tools for Learning English Extra:Medical Themes Movies

As noted in a previous post one of the best tools you can you to improve your English are English Movies. While there are a number of different types of films you might want to consider watching, a group of films that are of particular interest to Medical students are films with a medical theme. According to the MedIndia.net website, for example:

Movies with medical themes have always made film-watching more interesting. A well-crafted movie dealing with a disease, not only creates awareness, but also creates sympathy for the malady in the society. In the recent past, lesser-known conditions such as 'Dyslexia, Autism and Schizophrenia' have gained ‘mass mileage’ thanks to the exposure they have gained through movies.

For doctors, films which have medical themes are of use because it is often from flims of this type that patients get their ideas about different diseases and the way in which doctors, medical centers work [or not].

See below for links to: the MedIndia.net sit on Medical themed movies; wikipedia.org's artical on medical themes movies; and, AllHealthCares.monster.com's list of the 10 favourite medically themed movies.

1. Movies With A Medical Themes [medindia.net]
2. Medically Themned Movies [wikipedia.org]
3. 10 Favourite Medical Movies [allhealthcare.com]

English Learning Tools 8:English Movies

I noted in the last post that many people have noted that one way to learn English faster is to make learning English fun. While there are lots of ways to do this, one sure way for most people is to learn English through movies.

According to the Antimoon.com site, Learning English by watching movies is learning by input: ...you get lots of correct English sentences into your head. Then you can imitate them and you can make your own sentences.

With movies, antimoon notes, you learn how people speak English.

• You learn what words they use.
• You learn how they say these
• You learn to understand spoken language.
  

Find below links to: the Antimoon.com article on Watching Movies in English; a step-by-step guide showing you what to do to learn English through films; a website devoted to helping learner learn English through movies; and a site which offers to help you learn English through movies for a fee.

Links:
1. Watching Movies in English [antimoon.com]
2. Learning English With Films [polyu.edu.hk]
3. Learning English Through Movies [lingual.net]
4. Through Movies [MovieLearn.com]

English Learning Tools 7:Learning Style Quizes

As noted in the last post, one way to improve your English is to find out what kind of learner you are. The next issue would appear to be therefore how do you do this.

One of the best ways ways to find out what kind of learner you are is to complete a Learning Style Quiz. These can be found both online and in various English Learning textbooks.

Find below links to: a language specific Learning Style Quiz from V A R K -learn.com [n.b. : V A R K stands for: Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinaesthetic]; a Quiz from the 1stoped.com website you can download; and, a general Learning Style Quiz from Education Planner.org

Links:
1. VARK English Learning Style Questionaire [VARK-learn.com]
2. How do you like to learn [1StopEd.com]
3. Discovering Your Learning Style [EducationPlanner.org]

English Learning Tools 5:Board Games

Another way to make learning English more fun is to practice your English by playing board- games. A board-game, as Wikipedia notes, is "a game in which counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a 'board' (a premarked surface usually specific to that game)" .While good old fashioned commercially available board games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk and Cluedo [a murder mystery game] are fine for practising English you can also find on the market board games specifically designed to help students improve their English [the most well know of these being 'Word Up' [see picture to the left].

While games such as Monopoly, Cluedo and Word Up will end up costing anywhere between 60-100 Riyals, you can also download a whole range of board games from the internet for free from the various ESL [English as a Second Language] sites. The Board Games on these sites are often ideal for improving ones communicative English grammar, structure and vocabulary. They often include high quality printable game boards and rules and are aimed at 'beginner', 'pre-intermediate' and 'intermediate' level students. To play most of these games, you will need dice and chips [made of plastic ..not potatoes].

Finally, it is worth noting that one can find on the market a number of games with medical themes. Perhaps the most famous two of these are Pandemic and Medical Monopoly. While in the former [Pandemic], players are supposed to help each other control outbreaks of diseases around the world and search for cures against them, in the later [Medical Monopoly] you play a doctor running a hospital attempting to get more patients by being skilled at diagnostics and spending your funds wisely on acquiring the right kinds of drugs, equipment and organs for transplants, etc...

Find below links to some of the free online board games at the Lantern Fish and ESL Galaxy websites; a link to a site where you can download some board-games designed to accompany the Let's-Talk series of ESL textbooks; and a zipped file of four sample 'free' games.

1. Lantern Fish ESL Board Games
2. ESL Galaxy.com Communicative ESL Board Games
3. 'Let's-Talk'-Board-Games,
4. 'Conditionals', 'Past-Tense-Talk', 'Cutting-Edge-Revision' & Let's-Talk-12

English Learning Tips 4:Personal Word Journals

According to John's ESL Community web site, one of the key things you need to, on the one hand, express your thoughts, ideas and feelings clearly, and on the other, be understood by those to whom you are speaking, is a good vocabulary. According to them, the best way to improve your vocabulary is to read as reading, they argue, "introduces you to words and phrases that are used regularly by native speakers". As you encounter these words and phrases, they suggest, you should write them in a personal word journal and then try to use them in an original sentence. Once you are sure you are using the word or phrase correctly, practice using it by writing more sentences using the word or phrase in different contexts and/or using it in a conversation.

While writing a word down on paper can be a tedious [ie. boring] task, there are a number of tools and software on the web to make the process if not easier then at least a bit more interesting. With respect to tools for example you might check out the Vocabulary Builder tool on the John's ESL Community site itself [see the first link below. In terms of software, you could download the_SuperMemo software developed by our friends at _antimoon.com. A link to a site where you can download the software and read some information on the software and how to use it is also located below.

Links:
1. John's ESL Community Vocabulary Builder [read the instruction first then click on the link in blue at the bottom]
2. antimoon.com's_SuperMemo_software link and instructions

English Learning Tools 3:Good English-English Dictionaries

According to our friends at antimoon.com, the most important thing that you will need when learning English is a good English dictionary. "Successful English learners", they write, "use their dictionaries all the time — that's how they learn to use new words". The adjective 'good' here is very important. "If you get a good English dictionary", the antimoon.com note, "you will be better than 90% of English learners." As they note while you may not believe it, "... most people (even people who want to learn English very much) simply go to a bookstore and buy the first dictionary they see.

So what, according to antimoon.com, should you be looking at when going to buy a dictionary? In brief, they note, it..
1. ....has to be an English-English dictionary.
2 ...must give phonetic transcriptions (pronunciations) for every word.
3. ...must give example sentences for every word, and,
4. ...should be a software dictionary.
With respect to using the dictionary, they note that "if you want to improve your speaking/writing ability", then it is important to remember to read the example sentences in your dictionary. These, they note, "...show you how to use a word and they program your brain with correct English".

Find below links to: 1. antimoon.com's page on Dictionaries and learning English; 2. a comparative review of dictionaries for English learners by Tomasz P. Szynalski; and 3. some links to some of the online editions of some of the most highly recommended dictionaries.

1. antimoon.com's page on Dictionaries and learning English;
2. a comparative review of dictionaries for English learners; and
3. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Online
Longman's Dictionary of Comtemporary English
Merriam-Websters Online English

English Learning Tools 2:Adventure Games

One interesting and fun way to learn or improve your English is the play Adventure Games. According to the ESL site antimoon.com, Adventure Games are "a kind of computer game which is similar to a movie. There is always a story and the main character (usually a person, such as a detective or a pirate). The difference is that you don't just watch — instead, you control the main character . You use your mouse or keyboard, and your character moves around in the game world, looks at things, picks them up, uses them, and talks to other character. Your character also talks to you. For example, when you tell him to look at something, he will tell you what he sees. You can then use this information to decide what to do next."

According to antimoon.com, as an English learner, "you want to see and hear lots of English sentences. Adventure games are ideal, because they are based on dialogue. Your character talks to himself, talks to you and talks to other characters. Everything depends on dialogue." When you play an adventure game, they suggest:
1. You program your brain with good English.
2. You improve your understanding of spoken English
3. You improve your pronunciation.
4. You increase your motivation.

Look below to find links to: the Antimoon.com introduction to the use of adventure games in learning English; the web site for "The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island" (one of the adventure games recommended by AntiMoon); a site where you can download a copy of "The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island" using rapidshare; and, a site with links to free online Adventure Games:

Links:
Learning English with Adventure Games [Antimoon.com]
The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island" [official site]
"The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island" [rapidshare]
Free online Adventure Games [AddictingGames.com]

English Learning Tools 1:Graded Readers & Audio Tapes

As the British Council notes in their page on their use, Graded Readers or ‘Readers’ are books "that have had the language level simplified to help second language learners read them. The language is graded for vocabulary, complexity of grammar structures and also by the number of words. They are made to cater for all levels from beginners through to advance." They are particular valuable if they come with an audio tape so that you can also try to improve your listening ability. Many publishing house produce graded readers and they can be a useful way to improve your English and also your knowledge of world literature. I have included below links to the British Councils' page on Graded readers and a download link to one such reader [with audio] from the great American 19th century short story write Edgar Allen Poe. If you'd like to know more about Graded Readers or some links to other books, please let me know.

Links:
Using Graded Readers [British Council]
Sample Graded Reader: Edgar Allen Poe File 1 File 2