Learn About Science in English

Learning English can help to make knowledge available to you in so many fields of study, especially science. So today's task looks at how you can learn more about science and improve your listening, reading and vocabulary at the same time.


This is quite a challenging task, so I'm also going to include a link to a dictionary site called Ninjawords which will help you.

Task:

• Let's start with some listening. Go to: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/ Here you will see a collection of 1 minute audio podcasts.

• Choose one to listen to. Here are some suggestions.

1. The Myth of Multitasking
2. Movie Magic (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs), Part 1
3. Fish Shrink to Beat Heat

• Get a pencil and some paper ready, turn up your volume and click the small button to play the audio. As you listen try to make notes about some of the facts. You can listen two times if you are finding it difficult.

• Now scroll down the page and you will see the text that you heard. Read it and check how much of the information you noted down was correct. It may also help to listen again as you read.

• Now go to http://ninjawords.com/ and check the meaning of any words you don't know.

• Once you made notes about the new words listen to the podcast once more and this time try to read along copying the pronunciation of the speaker if you can.

If you are really interested in science and you found this activity useful then you can subscribe to the podcast using i-tunes or download the audio to your computer and print a copy of the text. This will be useful for revising the texts in a few days time.


Spending just a few minutes each day doing this activity will help to improve your listening, reading and vocabulary, so why not give it a try?

• Here you can find more EFL ESL listening activities.

Related links for teachers:

• Adding Phonetic Symbols to a Webpage
• Dictation goes Web 2.0
• Pronunciation goes 2.0
• Phonology can be fun and free
• Karaoke with a Social Network
• Artificial Intelligence Chat bots and EFL ESL
• Listen and Write the News
• Listen to and Download Texts
• Subtitling your video clips

Best

Nik Peachey

Ask and Answer Questions

One key element of communication is the ability to formulate and answer questions. This is fundamental to using language in a communicative way to get information and build relationships.
Today's activity uses a site called Hunch which can ask you lots of questions and help you get useful information. The more you use the site, the more it will learn about you and give you better and more useful information.

Task:

• Go to: http://www.hunch.com/ You will see your first question. You can either answer it by clicking your choice or skip it.

• Work through the questions. These will tell Hunch a bit more about you and help it to provide better information.
• After you get through the first few questions you will be offered help with making some decisions.

• If these don't interest you explore more topics, or you can get some advice on learning a language by using the search and then answering the appropriate questions.
• You can now get help with specific questions too by using the search and typing in what you want to know.

If you want to use Hunch regularly to ask and answer questions then it's a good idea to create an account and then it will store your answers and give you better results.

This is a great site for asking and answering interesting questions. I hope you enjoy it. Here you can find more question activities to help with your English.

Related links for teachers:

• Writing Upside Down
• Create an ESL EFL Video Quiz
• Interactive multiple choice activities
• Making quizzes for i-pod
• Cloze Test Creation Tool
• Listening Dictation Puzzles for EFL ESL
• Creating an interactive cloze text
• MS Word tutorial 1: Adding ‘comments’
• Create EFL / ESL Lesson Plans in Mins

Best

Nik Peachey

Understanding Different English Accents

It is great that English is spoken by so many people around the world, but this can make it very difficult to understand, because there are such a range of different accents.

In today's activity we use a website called The Speech Accent Archive to listen to different accents and compare them.

Task:

• Your first activity is to listen to this audio file and try to write down what you hear. This speaker is from the UK and has an accent from around Oxfordshire.
• Once you have listened a number of times and written down the complete text you can check here to see if it is correct. You will see both the written text and phonetic transcription.
• Now you can listen to the same text again spoken by a variety of other nationalities. Listen to each one and try to decide what nationality they are:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Now click the links below to check your answers.

1. Check you answer
2. Check your answer
3. Check your answer
4. Check your answer
5. Check your answer

Now if you go to the link to the Atlas, you can try to find the same recording of an English speaker from your country. Atlas link


Just click on the atlas to go to the continent you come from, then click on the flag which is closest to you.

You can then listen to the speaker from your country and compare the accent to one of the other countries. You might want to see if you can hear important differences between the accent from your country and the accent of a country you want to visit. You can compare the phonemic script too and try to spot the differences. here's the script of a man from the UK.


I hope you find this activity useful. Be sure to listen to some of the other accents too and try to record your own accent and listen to the differences. You don't have to change your accent, but being aware of differences can help you to understand more.

• Here you can find more pronunciation activities.

Related links for teachers:

• Pronunciation goes 2.0
• Phonology can be fun and free
• Transcribed Videos for EFL ESL
• Karaoke with a Social Network
• Another Great New Karaoke Site
• Great New Karaoke Site
• Sending Bubble Joy to your EFL / ESL Students
• 12 Second Video Clips for EFL ESL
• Great Video Commenting Tool
• Video conferencing for EFL
• Send Free Video Messages

Best

Nik Peachey

Take a Quick English Test

Learning English can be very useful, but having a certificate telling potential employers what level you are can really help to open more opportunities for you.

If you aren't sure which exam to take or what you level is, today's activity could help you a little. It uses two websites, one produced by Cambridge ESOL to test your level and the other Exam English to help you practice for a test.

Task:

• Go to: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/testyourenglish/ and click on 'Begin Test'

• You will the see a series of multiple choice questions. For each questions you can select only one possible answer.

• Once you have worked through the test, you will get a suggestion for the appropriate level of test that you should take.
• Once you have your recommendation go to: http://examenglish.com/ Here you will see a range of practice tests. Try the type of test that is for your level.

If you do well at the practice test you might consider taking the real test and getting a certificate.

I hope you enjoy this simple test. Here you can find more tests of your English

Related links for teachers:

• Create EFL / ESL Lesson Plans in Mins
• Interactive multiple choice activities
  
• Prompting reading speeds
• World Languages Assessment
• Exam Practice
• Improve your Vocabulary and send Aid to Children
• Try a TOEFL Reading Test
• Try a TOEFL Listening Test

Best

Nik Peachey

Images for Vocabulary Revision

Vocabulary is the key to expressing yourself well in any language and the key to learning and improving your vocabulary is constant revision. Luckily there are lots of sites which can help to make this easier and more fun.


Today's activity is based around the PhotoMunchrs website that combines words and images into a simple game.

Task:

• Go to: http://imagine-it.org/flickr/PhotoMunchrs.html here you will see a grid with images and at the top you should see a word.

• To play the game you simply use your arrow keys to go to images that are connected with the word. Each time you find an image press the space bar.
• If you are correct the image will disappear and you will score a point. If you are wrong you will loose one of your 3 lives.

• You will have to find 7 example images to move to the next level and a new word.

Good luck. I hope you enjoy this game. You can find more activities to improve your vocabulary here.

Related links for teachers:

• Create Image Books
• Create a Flickr Montage
• Great Time Line Tool
• Create a YouTube Carousel
• Interactive presentations
• A Picture's worth
• Picture phrases
• Make Your EFL ESL Yearbook
• Personalised flashcards

Best

Nik Peachey