Great places to practice your English ... outside of class!

• websites
• podcasts
• cinemas
• TV
• radio
• audio books
• etc.

Many of these places were suggested to me by my students! They are all useful for learning English.

Most of the websites also offer PODCASTS (programs which you download and listen to on your MP3 player). Podcasts are very versatile! You can practice listening to English anywhere you can listen to your MP3 player: while you walk the dog, wash the dishes, exercise in the gym ... or even while you drive your car (but don't get distracted and have an accident!).

The Internet is VERY important nowadays ... but don't forget the "traditional" ways of learning English!!! Go to the cinema in English (Avenida 5 Cines), listen to audio books in English, and READ BOOKS in English!

BBC Learning English

A wonderful website with a great variety of English programs. All in British English.

• Main site. A huge variety of resources for English learning. You MUST visit this site!
• Podcasts. All the BBC's podcasts, mostly requiring ADVANCED English. There are hundreds of podcasts!
• Podcasts for learners. For people learning English, other languages, and other subjects.
• INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED: "Six-minute English" podcast. A short program once a week, on a variety of subjects. If you don't do podcasts, you can also listen to  this program online.
• PRONUNCIATION: The BBC has two great sites to help you improve your pronunciation:
  • The original pronunciation site (now being replaced, but still complete and very good).
  • The new pronunciation site (still under construction).

Voice of America

This site is run by the U.S. government. It has news and stories, mostly about American themes. Their "Special English" programs are extremely popular among English learners. Also available as podcasts.

• EASY: "Special English". Slow and easy to understand. Includes written transcripts. Very popular.
• ADVANCED: VOA News. News, from the perspective of the United States government.
• ADVANCED: other VOA programs.
• (They also have video broadcasts.)

Spotlight

This is another very good site. All of its content is in "Special English" (slow and easy to understand). Both American and British English.

• EASY: "Listen and Read". In "Special English", with written transcripts.

Avenida 5 Cines (in Seville)

c/ Marqués de Paradas, 15;   tel. 954293025

If you are studying English and you enjoy movies, this should be your FAVORITE cinema in Seville! The films here are ALWAYS in the original version, including many in English. You can find their programming by searching Google for "avenida 5 cines".

Linguapress.com

A great resource with lots of readings, exercises and other stuff, at both intermediate and advanced levels. The root website is linguapress.com.

Listen to English

Another website with slow and easy English. The texts include a variety of themes.

• EASY: Two short podcasts per week, or you can listen on-line (includes written transcript).

Daily Audio Bible

The entire Bible, read in a year. About 20-30 minutes a day. The reader is a former music producer named Brian. He reads very clearly, with perfect expression, but of course the Bible is sometimes difficult to understand. A good strategy is to read along with a (Spanish) Bible as he speaks in English.

This is clearly a Christian site, so if you don't like Christianity, you will not like this site. :-)

• INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED: Daily Audio Bible website
• INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED: Daily Audio Bible podcast

Collins Dictionary

My favorite on-line dictionary, based on Collins's wonderful print dictionary. Highly recommended!

WordReference.com

Another fantastic on-line dictionary, for Spanish/English and also other languages. You MUST have this in your list of Internet favorites.

Merriam-Webster

The most popular dictionary in America. It has both Spanish-English and English-only dictionaries. For advanced English speakers, there are also some excellent word games and videos.

LyricsTraining.com

Click here to see a really original and fun idea. You listen to a song and read the lyrics. From time to time, a word is missing, and you have to type it in. The song stops until you have gotten the word right.

You can choose "Easy", "Medium" or "Hard" songs. I highly recommend this site to everyone!

Television (TDT or cable)

Now, with the new digital TV, you can watch MANY programs in the original language. This is wonderful for your English learning, and it is also GREAT to hear the actors' original voices.

If you think this is too difficult, start with the children's channels (cartoons, Disney, etc.) — it's easier than you think!

On your TV remote control, look for a button marked AUDIO or something similar. Choose the "English" or "undefined" soundtrack.

For extra help, you can usually turn on subtitles. (If you have a choice, English subtitles are better than Spanish ones.)

DVD, Blu-ray, etc.

On these disks you can ALWAYS choose the original language. I suggest you watch movies with English sound and English subtitles (NOT Spanish subtitles). Keep your remote control in your hand! Whenever you have a doubt, stop the film and rewind to listen to the difficult part again.

Vaughan Radio

English- and Spanish-language radio broadcasts, operated by Richard Vaughan, one of Spain's best-known English teachers. You can hear Vaughan Radio on the regular FM radio in many Spanish cities (but not in Seville), and you can also hear it on TV (cable or TDT), and of course on-line.

Aprende Inglés TV

Another broadcast by Richard Vaughan, this was formerly available on cable TV, 24 hours a day. However, it seems to have been taken off the air. You can check out its current status here.

TED Talks

Fascinating short speeches — usually between 5 and 18 minutes — about a wide variety of topics. They focus on creativity and inspiration. The English level is high, but most of the talks have subtitles in English, Spanish and many other languages. Highly recommended!

English Grammar Secrets

Exercises to practice major grammatical points.

EnglishExercises.org

Hundreds of exercises to learn English on-line.

LearnEnglish.de

A wide variety of exercises, games, reading, etc.

OM Personal Multimedia English

A very complete site from Argentina.

About.com English as a 2nd Language

A top-notch site with lots of explanations of grammar and other points of interest.

Tu-ingles.com

English language podcasts by an American named Brian.

Aprender Inglés Online

An excellent blog with a very large variety of themes. With explanations in Spanish.

Busuu.com

An on-line community of language learners, for people learning English (of course) and lots of other languages.

La Mansión del Inglés

Another great site with a wide variety of resources, with explanations in Spanish.

InglesTotal.com

Yet another fine website, in Spanish, and with a great variety of themes.

IdiomasGratis.com

A progressive English course, available in several levels (Basic, Intermediate and Advanced) as well as Conversation, Technical English and Business English. (And, as the name tells us, it is free.)

Wikipedia

This famous on-line encyclopedia is available in Spanish, but the English version is much more complete. Use it often!

ESLpod.com

"ESL" means "English as a Second Language". ESLpod.com is a good source of interesting podcasts in English.

Audio books

"Audio books" are complete books recorded by (usually) professional actors. They are not very popular in Spain, but they are VERY popular in the U.S.A. and the U.K. You can listen to them anywhere, just like podcasts.

Many audio books are free, but the best ones are for sale. You can buy audio books at many places. Two of the best are Amazon Books (where you can order books to be mailed to you) and Audible.com (which sells downloadable books).

You can also get many legal audio books for free at LibriVox, which has a very big library of classic books, read (often very well) by volunteers.

Travel!

No matter where you go, you will need to communicate with the local people — and that usually means SPEAKING ENGLISH!

• In England, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc. they speak English (of course!)...
• ...but also in other European countries, like Germany and Holland they will want to speak English with you.
• In India, Africa and many other places, English is frequently spoken — even between people who were born there!
• In fact, even in Portugal they often prefer English to Spanish!

Reading!!!

Don't forget — there are MAGAZINES and NEWSPAPERS in English at every newsstand in Seville. And you can find books in English in any bookstore, especially the big ones: Casa del Libro (c/ Velázquez, 8) and Beta (c/ Sierpes, 25). You can also order books on-line, for example from Amazon or Casa del Libro.

Advanced study

If you feel VERY secure in your English, there are some highly respected universities which offer courses on-line. (These courses not intended for learning English.) At present, you cannot get a college degree or diploma from most of these sites, but I think they do offer a certificate when you have complete a course successfully.

www.coursera.org  offers a large variety of courses for free from four very prestigious American universities: Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania.

www.edxonline.org  is a collaboration between two more very prestigious U.S. universities: Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). EdX is just getting started, but it will presumably offer on-line courses similar to those offered by Coursera.