Learn the top five tools for learning British English
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Hi, I’m Gabriella. |
| Gina: And I’m Gina. The Top Five Most Useful Tools For Learning British English. |
| BODY |
| Gabriella: This sounds like it could be a very important and helpful lesson for our listeners. |
| Gina: I hope so! I’m counting on you to have some good suggestions and invaluable tools for our listeners. |
| Gabriella: Thanks for the pressure! I’ll do my best! |
| Gina: What do you have for us first? |
| Gabriella: First, let’s make English learning fun and interesting by making the best use of entertainment. |
| Gina: There are so many forms of entertainment out there in English and we should make the most of them, right? |
| Gabriella: Of course! Look at YouTube for example – most videos on there are relatively short so they’re perfect for learners. Some English videos may even be subtitled in our listener’s native language. |
| Gina: It’s a great way to hear native conversations between native speakers, and all for free! |
| Gabriella: I like the free part. On the BBC’s English learning website, they have news articles for English learners so you can read the latest news, listen to the reports and find new vocabulary. |
| Gina: It’s good to combine learning with something more fun – it makes it easier to stick with and you can learn without even realising it. |
| Gabriella: But, what happens if you’re reading something or watching a video and there is a word you don’t know? |
| Gina: Hmm, you would need to look up the word and find the meaning. |
| Gabriella: You would, which brings us to my second useful tool – a dictionary. |
| Gina: A good old fashioned dictionary! |
| Gabriella: Well, not necessarily an old fashioned one! There are plenty of websites you can use such as dictionary.com – that has definitions, example sentences and similar words. It’s all in English, but sometimes you may not know a specific word, but will know similar words. |
| Gina:English has a lot of words with similar meanings so even an all English dictionary site can be of use. |
| Gabriella: It can. There’s also sites like wordreference.com that have translations of words. |
| Gina: And we can use old fashioned paper dictionaries? |
| Gabriella: Yes we can! A bilingual paper dictionary or an electronic dictionary are handy as you can take them with you. You may not always be able to take the internet with you, even if you have a smartphone! |
| Gina: Speaking of smartphones, they can be of use too, can’t they? |
| Gabriella: Yes, and that brings me quite neatly into my third tool – games. |
| Gina: I like games. I’m always playing games on my phone or computer when I should be working. |
| Gabriella: (laughs) Me too! But you can combine the two and play English games to help your learning. A quick search in the App store or Android store for “English learning games” will give you hundreds of results, often for free. |
| Gina: What if you don’t have a smartphone? |
| Gabriella: Of course, there are plenty of games available on your computer too. You can play many flash games from your PC or Mac. |
| Gina: Do you have some games for us? |
| Gabriella: Again, you can search for them but a site that has many is gamestolearnenglish.com. There are plenty of different games to choose from there. |
| Gina: Computers can really be an invaluable tool for learning anything, can’t they? |
| Gabriella: They can! They are also needed for my next tool, and that’s social networking. |
| Gina: Oh, you mean Twitter and Facebook and sites like that? |
| Gabriella: Exactly! Language is used to communicate, right? And that’s what social networking sites are for – communication. So, let’s use them to learn English. |
| Gina: I guess it would be very easy to make friends and have conversations with native speakers, even without knowing anyone personally. |
| Gabriella: Twitter especially makes this easy. You can follow your favourite English-speaking celebrities and easily find other fans to speak with. There’s always someone waiting to speak to you on sites like Twitter. |
| Gina: And even if you’re not comfortable sharing your personal Facebook with strangers and becoming actual friends with them, there are many pages and groups you can join to speak in English. |
| Gabriella: Exactly. And the best place to start would be with our own Facebook page, don’t you think? |
| Gina: And on Twitter! Both addresses are in the lesson notes, so be sure to check them out, follow us, and say hi! |
| Gabriella: After so much technology, I think my fifth useful tool is a good choice also. |
| Gina: What is your last tool? |
| Gabriella: Stationery. Pens, paper, post it notes, flashcards… |
| Gina: That’s very low-tech. |
| Gabriella: But it helps! If you’re out of the house and read an English word or hear one spoken, you might want to look it up, but I bet you won’t remember it when you get home. That’s where a pen and paper come in. Just write it down! |
| Gina: You mentioned flashcards, they can be very helpful too if there are specific words or grammar points you need to revise more often. |
| Gabriella: Stationery can be a fantastic aid to help back up any learning you do online or anywhere else. You just have to make it work for you. |
| Gina: It’s the same with all of these tools, really. Try things out. |
| Gabriella: Exactly! |
Outro |
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| Gina: Ok, everyone. I think that’s all for this lesson. |
| Gabriella:Thank you for listening everyone. See you next time! |
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