I’m “mad” at David Deubelbeiss.
I’ve been trying to get a little ahead on my posts, and had “finished” my “The Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners — 2009” when he sent me an email earlier today telling me about a new site called English Central.
Now I have to revise my list because English Central is great!
David has just posted a very thorough post about the site titled English Central – Bringing “voice” and output to learning English. I’d strongly encourage you to read it — I don’t feel any need to “reinvent the wheel.”
A quick description is that it’s a free video site for English Language Learners, lets users listen to parts of the video, then lets them repeat what the characters says and compares it to the original. You get graded on how well you do. It has even more features, but you can read David’s post or check out the site directly. The other great thing about it is that the videos are all appropriate for the classroom, unlike several other ESL video sites that have come online recently.
I’m looking forward to having my students try it out tomorrow.
Larry,
My apologizes! 🙂
But I’m sure English Central will make a list or two in the future and be around for awhile. Thanks for the mention of my post. I’ll be updating it shortly after talking to the site creator next week and their plans.
I really don’t get too excited about many new sites. Voicethread / Voxopop / Tarheel Reader are a few that in the last few years I’ve loved but I think English Central takes language learning to a new level. I’ll look forward to a comment about what your students think – when you have the time.
Cheers,
David
http://eflclassroom.com
Thanks, Larry! This site is simply fantastic. If the reaction of the young people in my family is something to go by, then I guess it will be a success with my students. It has that element of competition and challenge that makes you want to go on trying until you can reach the ideal score.
An ideal tool to motivate students to improve their pronunciation!