Level 200 and up
Interactive Crossword Puzzles (Virtual Language Center) - When you get to this page, choose #2. Then select a puzzle (20 to choose from) on topics such as earth, body, geography, music, history, etc. Click "Start" and you're ready. NOTE: If you can't figure out a word, just click on "Cheat." That's OK, just try really hard first before using the "Cheat" button! http://vlc.polyu.edu.hk/XWord/xword.htm
Level 200 and up
Phrasal Verbs Drink Dispenser - Do you know the difference between "tear up," tear down," and "tear apart"? Phrasal verbs (sometimes called "two-word" verbs) are often difficult for ESL/EFL students. Choose from 8 different topics and if you choose the correct phrasal verb, watch your can of soda drop down for you! Enjoy! http://www.stuff.co.uk/phrasal.htm
Click here if you need to download Shockwave® or Flash®.
Level 200 and up
Pictorial
(Picture) Idioms (Virtual Language Center) - Click on a
picture in any of five categories: animals, clothing, games,
body, or nature. When you click on different parts of the
pictures, you will learn different English idioms. Ex: Click
on the fish and you learn, "A fish out of water." Click
another fish picture and you learn, "A big fish in a little
pond." Sentences are given to make the meaning clear. This
site is in Hong Kong. If you are Chinese, you'll be able to
read the Chinese translations!
http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/
Level 200 and up
Tower of
English Idioms and Slang - A very useful collection of
sites that present slang and idioms. This is very helpful to
be able to understand English as it is really spoken! Try
the "Your Turn" activities to practice the new vocabulary
you learn.
http://towerofenglish.com/idioms.html
Level 200 and up
The
Unmatching Game (PBS Kids) - Which of four words is
*not* like the others? You'll improve your vocabulary and
general knowledge with this game. When your answer is wrong,
you get a very complete explanation. After you play one
time, choose "Easy" or "Hard" to try another one!
http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/unmatching/index.html
Level 300 and up
Computer
Quizzes - (John de Szendeffy, CELOP, Boston University)
- These quizzes will help you learn *very* useful
information to make you a better computer user.
http://www.bu.edu/celop/mll/tutorials/C_quiz/
Do you know the basic parts of a computer ("hardware")?
Try this quick scrambled
letter game to find out!
http://www.quia.com/jw/13254.html
Level 300 and up
Heteronym
Homepage (Ellis) - Heteronyms are words that are spelled
the same but have different meanings when pronounced
differently. For example: Lead (pronounced LEED) means to
guide. However, lead (pronounced LED) means a heavy metal.
Here is another example: When the forest fire came close,
the police had to close (pronounced CLOZE) the road. Study
some of the words in this list and you will improve your
pronunciation, vocabulary, AND your listening
comprehension!
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/heteronym.html
Level 300 and up
Talking-About
- We want to make your job to learn English easier and
faster and present you our 'Talking about …' site. It
is one more fun way to build your vocabulary!
http://www.talking-about.net/
Level 300 and up
Vocabulary
Exercises (Englishpage.com) - Intermediate to advanced
vocabulary exercises on useful topics such as higher
education, ordering in a restaurant, getting a job, returns
and refunds, entertaining films, etc.
http://www.englishpage.com/vocabulary/vocabulary.htm
Level 300 and up
Vocabulary
Size Test (Insightin.com) - Answer these 50 multiple
choice vocabulary items and find out your approximate
vocabulary size. You'll also be given some strategies for
learning more vocabulary once you finish the quiz at
http://www.insightin.com/test/test.phtml?test=test10k
Level 300 and up
Web
Concordancer (Virtual Language Center - Hong Kong) - A
concordancer is a computer program that allows you to look
up a word or phrase from a corpus (a collection of writing)
and see how it is actually used in sentences. By looking at
many, many sentences using a word or phrase, you can learn a
lot about its meaning and its grammatical use.
Example 1: Here's a simple example: Enter "look forward" into the box that says "Search String." For the "Corpus," select "Brown." Then click "Search for Concordances." Study the sentences which are found. What preposition will almost always follow "look forward? Is the meaning of "look forward" clear? Click on "Lexicon entries" and you will see a definition for "look forward".
Example 2: Do five separate concordances: 1) other 2)
another 3) the other 4) the others 5) others
Study the sentences which are found. Does this help you to
understand the differences in meaning between these five
words? Does it help you know the correct grammar when using
these five words?
Level 300 and up
Word
Power - Welcome to word-power.us, a free survival guide
for all who would like to perfect their spoken English
language.
http://www.word-power.us/
See Larry Ferlazzo's "The
Best Sites Where ELL's Can Learn
Vocabulary" at
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/07/15/the-best-sites-where-ells-can-learn-vocabulary/
