If you are using the NorthStar Listening and Speaking books, then you can access audio lessons that go with your book on-line. You will first need to sign up for a password and then log in to the NorthStar audio page. Choose the book number you are using, then the chapter you want to listen to, and you’re on your way! If you are using the computer lab, you will need to bring in your own headphones or purchase some from the front desk for just $1.00.
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Prepositions of time and place include words such as: in, on, at, to, since, for, from, above, below, behind, under, over, near, and between…to name just a few.
In order to help you write good persuasive essays, it is helpful to read other persuasive essays written by other authors in order to recognize specific essay writing styles. Essay writing for academics is written in a very specific and well-organized way. The standard essay for most academic tests that are common in the United States (TOEFL, GED, GRE) use the five paragraph style: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each essay must have a clear thesis statement, transitional statements, supporting and/or contrasting ideas, and each body paragraph should be written in a parallel manner. Take a look at the following persuasive essays written by ESL students just like you and see if you can recognize these typical essay traits and decide if they were successful or not.
ManyThings.org is a great ESL website that has “many things” for you to do to help with your English studies. On their Daily Page, they have new things every day that you can use to practice your English. Each day you will find a new slang term, grammar quiz, listening exercise, and pronunciation practice. This is a great way to start off each day with a little English practice!
The General Educational Development Diploma (GED) is a good option for international students who want to take college course in the United States. Many times international students find that it is extremely difficult and often very expensive to have their transcripts translated and transferred to colleges in the United States. In addition, many students did not graduate from a high school in their country and are now too old to enter a high school in the United States.
Practice spelling verbs that end in a consonant when adding -ed or -ing to the end by taking these quick quizzes.
ESLvideo.com has free videos you can watch and listen to while answering questions about what is happening in the video clips. They have videos grouped together for beginning, low-intermediate, intermediate, and high-intermediate ESL students, so there is something for everyone. Try it out and see how you do!
When you’re ready to finally take the TOEFL test, you can easily register online with the official ETS testing site. The test is offered at multiple locations across the state of Georgia (and the world) and is given multiple times each month. The fee for taking the TOEFL test is $170 and you can choose from a paper or computer based test.
Ask anyone who grew up in the United States during the 70s and 80s about Conjunction Junction, and they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about! As children we grew up watching cartoons that taught us common grammar rules and Conjunction Junction was one of the most popular ones…teaching us how to use “and/but/or” correctly. So, check out the video and then practice your conjunctions to see how well you can hook up words, phrases, and clauses!
Check out the new Azar Interactive website that offers online access to additional lessons and learning activities to go along with your Fundamentals of English Grammar and Understanding and Using English Grammar books. The website offers more than 500 new interactive exercises, including listening, speaking, and reading. You can sign up to try it out for free for 30 days.
Looking for a new job? Then you might want to brush up on your business English vocabulary in order to make the best impression possible on your next job interview. Learning the most accurate business vocabulary, phrases, expressions, and jargon is very important if you want to find a job in the English speaking world. At this website you’ll find exercises that will help you learn the vocabulary most commonly used in the medical field, information technology, accounting, sales and marketing, as well as general business terms.
Songs are a great way to learn and practice English, especially if you can see the written words at the same time that they are being heard. At ELLLO, there is a song page that has several different songs to choose from and when you click on it the words appear on the screen Karaoke-style as the music plays. This is a fun and entertaining way to improve your grammar, pronunciation, reading, and idiom skills.
The apostrophe is often misunderstood and generally misused by both native and secondary English language writers. If you are preparing to take the TOEFL, GED, or other college entrance exam, you will need to know how to use the apostrophe correctly in order to gain a passing score on the essay portion.
Well, it just might be a snowy day in the south tomorrow, but luckily classes don’t start until Monday, January 11th, so you won’t have to brave the icy streets to get here! However, this is the perfect opportunity to give you some important information in case there’s more inclement (bad) weather in the coming weeks. Whenever there is extremely bad weather (snow, ice, or tornados), please make sure the school is open before you leave by checking the Gwinnett Technical College main website or one of the local TV news channels listed below. You can also practice your English by reading the local news while you’re there!
Have you read a good book lately? What about an interesting magazine article? Or maybe you just have time to catch up on the daily news. No matter how much time you have to spend, you need to make a habit of reading something every single day if you want to improve your English skills. This website has links to full-length books, online magazines, and different newspapers from around the world. You will be amazed at how quickly your understanding of English improves once you start reading a little bit of English every day.
Here you will find an alphabetical list of famous and not-so-famous proverbs and sayings that you may hear in everyday conversations with English speakers. Each proverb or saying is listed next to an explanation of its meaning, so you can quickly and easily learn what people are really talking about! Try out a new one each day and soon you’ll be impressing your friends with your advanced use of common proverbs and sayings.
Here is a really cool link that has short movie clips you can watch and then answer questions about each scene. This type of practice is great for your English because it teaches you listening comprehension, proper pronunciation, and common expressions. Some of them are more difficult than others, but you can watch the movie clips over and over again until you get all the questions right!
Having trouble deciding between bad and badly; happy and happily; or quick and quickly? Then you might need to practice your adjective and adverb use. Print out these helpful practice sheets and have a great time! The answers are at the bottom of the sheet, so you can test yourself or ask your teacher for more help.
The main thing you need to keep in mind with “have” and “has” is that…you generally use HAVE with (I, you, we, they) and you use HAS with (she, he, it) in the simple present and present perfect forms. You use HAD with (I, you, she, he, it, we, they) in the simple past and past perfect forms. Of course, things get a little more complicated when you start mixing auxiliary and main verb forms of “to have”, so you might need to practice a little more in order to get it right every time.
DO you know when to use do, does, or did? DOES it really matter? DID you think that it didn’t?
Count nouns are those things that can be counted…tables, oranges, or glasses of water. Non-count nouns are those things that cannot be counted…information, courage, or oxygen. It seems like a simple rule, but some nouns are more difficult to determine whether or not they are count or non-count. To learn the rules and to practice your count and non-count nouns, check out some of these links to help you better understand the differences between the two types of nouns.
This wonderful website has pronunciation videos featuring Rachel the ESL teacher who will help you with your American English sounds. Click on the videos and follow along with the printed text below as the sounds are explained. You can then hit the “next sound” key at the bottom to get a new sound or click on the tabs at the top to find a specific sound. You can also read her blog where she posts videos featuring different English pronunciation lessons.
You may not realize it, but one of the most effective things you can do to improve your understanding of the English language is to read, read, read! News stories are particularly helpful for ESL students because they are short, smart, interesting, and to the point. This website offers a variety of topical news stories to choose from along with outlines and worksheets, which would be particularly helpful for TOEFL students.
ESL students often have trouble with knowing when and how to use this, these, and there in sentences properly. Go ahead and practice with these quick exercise sheets and see how you score.
This online picture dictionary will help you improve your English vocabulary by showing you common words along with easy to understand pictures. You can search alphabetically or by category, such as animals, fruits, or transportation words. You can even change to different languages with the click of a button.
Want to learn a little bit about the state of Georgia while also practicing your English grammar skills? Check out this quick quiz and learn a few things about both.
Slang words are a part of the every day American language, but they are rarely taught in the classroom setting. So, in order to help you understand what the people around you are saying, you need to keep up with the slang terms that are commonly used. At this website you will find hundreds of slang words with their meanings so you can keep up with your English speaking friends.