Web sites for studying a language

[Jacki Richey]

Have you found any good web sites to help your students study English? What about sites you can use to improve your Spanish? Please share them. I have found some that have helped me with Spanish and that my students can use to improve their English.

The first is www.lingq.com. This site has material for studying several languages. One can pick up an article from the library, read it, and listen to its being read aloud by a native speaker. Also, it is easy to highlight an unfamiliar word and by clicking the lingq button get a translation in one's own language and then make a flash card for later study. All these (reading, listening, and flashcards) are free. If you want to take a class, have a tutor check your writing, or participate in a conversation with a tutor, you have to pay. For free you can also find friends who are native speakers of the language you are studying and who want to learn your language, and you can participate in forums in English and in other languages.

Another useful site is www.livemocha.com. As on lingq.com you can find friends who are studying your language and who are native speakers of your target language. You can then do a written exercise (Click on Extra Practice) and invite your friends to review it for you. You gain mocha points for reviewing the writing or spoken exercise of those studying your native language. They offer classes for a fee, also.

Another wonderful resource is http://esl.about.com for learning/teaching English and http://spanish.about.com for learning Spanish. Lots of good lessons and answers to questions.

I hope these sites help you and your students.
Jacki in Morelia

[seamuspuebla]

2 websites I would strongly recommend are mangolanguages.com and babbel.com. Mangolanguages follows a quite simple approach, offering basic language practice throught PPT style slides with audio. Babbel is more complete, with a variety of materials for all levels of language learning. I particularly like the diversity of material available in Babbel, especially the interactive elements it offers which allow for real communication with native speakers.

[Melissa]

I've got several of my students using Livemocha. They LOVE it. I'm going to be their friend on there over summer vacation to help them with their writing.

[Frank]

LiveMocha has a nice list of educational bloggers, too... lots of good reading and cross-commenting!

Melissa said:

I've got several of my students using Livemocha. They LOVE it. I'm going to be their friend on there over summer vacation to help them with their writing.

[Benjamin Stewart]

I personally like eTandem for those interested in participating in language exchanges.

[Leigh Thelmadatter]

my collection of favorites are on a wiki... at http://virtuallanguagelaboratory.wikispaces.com Feel free to join and add. Gonna check some of the suggestions above

[Jacki Richey]

Thanks for the referral to www.babbel.com. I have joined it and have been quite active on it. It has excellent writing exercises, and it's easy to ask native speakers to review them. I just started doing a tandem exercise with one person from Peru. We will do a number of writing exercises and correct each other's work. Babbel doesn't have the speaking exercises like livemocha does. Too bad we can't combine the sites and have everything in one place.