How to Choose the Perfect English E-learning Website!
There are many websites with audio and video materials for learning English.
So, how can you choose one good resource from so many websites?
Where can you practice a language or prepare to achieve your English goals online?
Your choice, most of all, depends on the way you learn and on what you need to learn.
Contents
- How to Study English with E-learning Resources
- E-learning English: 6 Online Learning Solutions for English Students
- How to Choose Your English E-learning Resources
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How to Study English with E-learning Resources
We are going to see what is on the Internet for English students and how you can benefit.
First, it is important to know what makes all these resources different. The resources we will see are different in terms of:
- Learning method. Some e-learning tools are just like traditional classrooms, with textbooks, teachers, tests and assignments. Other tools will keep you focused on learning with clever activities. Others will help you learn in a fun way by using games. Others will give you lessons filled with more visual materials, like videos and texts.
You need to decide which types of materials help you learn better than others. It is all about what you like!
- Time commitment. There are solutions that will offer you complete independence in learning—this means that you can decide when, where and how you learn. You do not need to follow someone else’s schedule. For example, you might use an app or website to learn on the go (while you are traveling or moving) and at home. This way, you can turn your learning resource on and off whenever you want to or need to.
There are also resources where English teachers will meet you online and help you learn, but you will need to make a schedule or follow the teacher’s schedule. If you want to find a language exchange partner (where they help you with English, and you teach them your native language) for free, you will need to make a schedule together.
So, you need to decide how much time you want to spend learning English every day. You also need to decide how important a flexible schedule is for you!
- Level. While some online resources will work for every English student at every skill level, from beginner to advanced, some resources are made for English students at specific skill levels. This means that you must be a beginner, an intermediate or an advanced learner to use these specific e-learning resources.
- Topics. There are sites that focus on special aspects of learning such as writing, listening, vocabulary or grammar. Some focus on exams like the TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS. There are also sites that offer a broad spectrum of areas and topics you can work on, which is great if you want to learn general English skills.
- Materials. How do you learn best? Do you remember English lessons better when you read them? Do you have more fun learning with videos and music? Do you love to sing? Choose the e-learning resource that uses your favorite materials.
Keep all of these points in mind while you are choosing your new e-learning tool.
E-learning English: 6 Online Learning Solutions for English Students
Memrise
Learning method: Learn English vocabulary with the help of mnemonics (tricks to help your memory)
Time: Some courses take one hour to learn, others may require many hours to complete
Level: Beginner, intermediate and advanced
Topic: Vocabulary, expressions, pronunciation, improving your memory, TOEFL/TOEIC/IELTS
Materials: Courses, flashcards, pictures, quizzes
Memrise is one of the most popular e-learning tools for language learning. It is not just for learning English. It is for learning anything! However, it makes an excellent English e-learning tool.
When it comes to its methods, it uses many little quizzes with multiple choice questions to help you learn English vocabulary. You will see a definition and need to choose the correct word, or see an English word and need to choose the correct definition. There are many other ways to play with these courses and quizzes.
To help your memory, Memrise uses mems. Every mem makes some kind of interesting, memorable connection that helps you learn and remember the meaning of an English word. Each mem can be in the form of a cartoon, a drawing, a picture or a word. These mems are created by you and other English-learning members of Memrise.
FluentU
Learning method: Learn English through authentic English videos and audios, with activities like fun quizzes
Time: 2-10 minutes per video, 10-30 minutes per video activity
Level: Beginner, intermediate and advanced
Topic: Authentic English, becoming fluent in English, sounding like a native speaker
Materials: Movies, music videos, interviews, news and anything else that native English speakers watch
To learn English, you’ve probably already watched videos in English on YouTube.
Can you imagine using some of your favorite YouTube videos as personalized, interactive English lessons?
Well, you don’t have to imagine it—FluentU has made it a reality!
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
British Council
Learning method: Practice writing, speaking, reading and listening; prepare for the IELTS
Time: 5-20 minutes per lesson or activity
Level: Beginner, intermediate and advanced
Topic: Kids, teenagers and adults
Materials: Writing samples, videos, online activities
British Council has an official site full of different kinds of resources for learning English. It offers learning materials that are perfect for different age groups, and you can choose resources to focus on the specific English skills you want to develop.
There are kids, teens and adults sections, as well as writing, reading, listening and speaking sections.
For example, if you are an adult and you want to practice writing, you can pick a section where you can learn how to write professional emails. There you will have different units and tasks to complete. Tasks include things like filling out missing words related to the given subject.
Coursera
Learning methods: Learn English while learning about other subject areas, like history, science, math and more
Time: 4-8 hours weekly for duration of course
Level: Advanced
Topic: Grammar, writing, test preparation, business English
Materials: Lectures, video tutorials, practice materials, student discussions, assignments and tests
Coursera is a massive online learning platform with numerous top universities offering courses for everyone. Their English courses are usually designed for more advanced English learning. The English topics range from TOEIC preparation and English writing practice to interview preparation.
You can also take courses in English to learn about other subjects—everything from marketing and business management to astronomy, chemistry and math can be found here.
You can take Coursera courses at your own pace, or you can instead follow the rhythm of the group of students. The courses usually last for a few weeks or a month. There is also an option to take more courses integrated into a specialization by a topic.
Break Into English and Live English
Learning method: Learning through English conversations with professional English teachers
Time: Break into English offers 45-minute lessons, and you should take one to two lessons every week; Live English gives you one 15-minute trial lesson for free, after that you can take 30-minute or 1-hour lessons
Level: Beginner, intermediate and advanced
Topic: Children, general English, business English, legal English
Materials: Skype or telephone conversations
Break Into English is a site offering online Skype courses with teachers. It offers different topics and you can choose your own schedule to take lessons and interact with the professor.
Which level? All level classes are available, but there are a lot offered for intermediate students, covering areas such as general English, business English, legal English and conversation classes for children. The lessons are offered by teachers trained by the company.
With Live English, you can also take English classes on Skype or even by telephone. Live English focuses on topics such as spoken English, job interview preparation, exam preparation and business English. It offers flexibility in designing a program that is suitable for you.
How to Choose Your English E-learning Resources
As you can see, each of the solutions has qualities you can benefit from through their way of teaching and the aspect of language or the topic they want you to learn.
- Do you want your schedule to be flexible? Since time commitment is an important factor for most of English learners, all of the above e-learning options enable you to create your own schedule and/or choose your own rhythm. Explore the resources and see which one works for you.
- Do you like to learn with a certain type of material? Some, such as Memrise, provide you with engaging visuals (mems), while others, such as Coursera or British Council, offer you numerous types of materials, topics and tasks to work on, which is great if you like more variety.
- Do you want to keep track of your progress? If you want to see how much you have learned with your e-learning program, you should look for tracking and evaluation features. Look for quizzes, tests and assignments that will be graded. Even better are programs like FluentU, which will easily let you see how much you know and how much you have improved over time.
- Do you want to talk to real teachers? While e-learning programs some offer lessons and courses where you are independent from your instructor and the tool itself—such as MOOEC—others like Live English or Break Into English offer real-life video lessons with instructors.
So, there you go!
You are now completely prepared to start learning English on the Internet. Start exploring these e-learning resources for English, and choose the one that works best for you.
Happy online learning!
