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Resources Section
“Improve by 1% a day, and in 70 days you’re twice as good.” Alan Weiss
I know we meet up on a regular basis. But perhaps you’d like to do more? Why not read an article or a book, listen to a podcast or watch a video? Choose something you really enjoy doing!
You’re not sure how to begin? Sign up for my Sparks of English and get a short message delivered to your inbox every weekday. It acts as a reminder that you’re working on your English skills!
But let’s take a closer look at some other resources. Perhaps you have some to add?
Link Collection
Here is a collection of links I think you might like.
1. NEWSPAPERS (you might only be able to read snippets without subscribing!)
The Guardian: a good quality newspaper and one of my favourites
The Telegraph: conservative, but with quite funny and frank obituaries (Todesanzeigen!)
Daily Express: says it’s the “world’s greatest”!
The Scotsman: a quality daily Scottish newspaper
Daily Mail: a British tabloid newspaper
The Independent: perhaps the UK’s most free-thinking newspaper
The New York Times: an American daily newspaper
Financial Times: well-known for the latest UK and international business, finance and political news
2. MORE NEWS (European and international)
BBC: a great website for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories
Deutsche Welle: one of my favourites for news and up-to-date information—from a German perspective
euronews: international and European news from a European perspective
News in Levels: news in three different levels of English (with a 3-minute “Test your English level”
The Local: Germany’s news in English
The Times of India: an Indian English-language daily newspaper
USA Today: delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology and more
3. MAGAZINES (unfortunately not all free, but you might be able to read bits and bobs on their websites)
Scientific American: for those interested in science issues (such as the earth, environment and space)
The Economist: a publication focusing on world politics, economics and business, science and technology, and the arts
Entrepreneur: lots of information for small businesses
Time: an American magazine covering international affairs
National Geographic: the official magazine of the National Geographic Society focuses on geography, natural science, world culture, archaeology, history—and more.
New Scientist: a weekly science magazine offering science news and science articles
Spiegel: the online international edition of one of the largest-circulation news magazines in Germany
4. BOOKS Read an English book for fun or, as an alternative, listen to an audio book.
ReadPrint, a free online library, with thousands of online books, including fiction, non-fiction, short stories and more.
Penguin Readers: a great selection of stories for all ages—graded at eight levels of difficulty.
Free Audio Books: hundreds of free works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry
5. VOCABULARY TRAINERS AND GAMES “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. D. A. Wilkins
One-Word-A-Day: a new word or idiom in your inbox every day (for more advanced learners)
Test your vocab: check how many words you know
Freerice: an online game that donates the cash equivalent of 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Programme for every correct answer a player gets
6. WRITING SKILLS For writing tips, use an online style guide. And online tools to improve the readability of a text.
Skillswise: short videos with transcripts and quizzes on writing skills
Readable: a neat tool which tests the readability of your writing
OnlineCorrection.com: a free tool that checks your spelling and grammar
7. GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING
Englisch-Hilfen.de: lots of free grammar exercises and more
BBC Skillswise: one-minute videos with transcripts and quizzes on sentence grammar
8. TEST YOUR ENGLISH
Cornelsen: at the end of the test you’ll get a personal recommendation in German
Sprachtest.de English
Sprachtest.de Business English
BBC Learning English test your level. Are you B1, B2 or C1?
BBC Learning English quizzes
British Council: are you B1 or B2?
9. ONLINE DICTIONARIES
dict.cc: fast and easy to use – with audio pronunciation and a translation forum
LEO: also fast and easy to use with audio pronunciation and a translation forum – especially good for technical vocabulary
YourDictionary: an easy to understand dictionary with example sentences and audio pronunciations
Visual Dictionary Online: helps you to picture an object
Linguee: a dictionary and search engine with example sentences (But always look at the source of the translation!)
10. VIDEOS
TED Talks: Ideas worth spreading
TED Talks: under 3 minutes
ABC World News: watch and listen to the latest news stories and headlines from around the world
BBC Learning English: new videos every day on areas including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, answers to your questions and study skills
BBC’s Words in the News: watch and listen to video clips to help you learn the language of news reports – with the transcripts
BBC’s English at Work: an animated series that focuses on English communication in the office
BBC’s The Sounds of English: 45 pronunciation videos to help you learn how to pronounce English
Do Lectures: inspiring talks from people who are changing the world
11. PODCASTS
BBC’s Business Daily: “the daily drama of money and work”
BBC’s News Report: listen to authentic audio news stories from the BBC
BBC’s 6 Minute English: a series of topical discussion and new vocabulary
BBC’s Witness History: the story of our times told by the people who were there
British Council: podcasts for professionals, covering a large number of business and work themes
12. INTERNET RADIO
ABC NewsRadio: an Australian Broadcasting Corporation 24-hour news radio service
BBC’s World Service: with international news, analysis and information
The World: “the leading broadcast provider of global news and cultural perspectives in the US”
Grammar Explained
On my grammar explained page you’ll find some grammar topics that we and other groups have discussed in the live online sessions.
I thought you’d like to be reminded now and again!
The last posts:
Vocabulary Explained
On my vocabulary explained page you’ll find audio files on vocabulary-related topics.
Would you like me to explain a word or to help with a translation?
The last audios: