FREE WEBSITES TO PRACTICE ENGLISH AT HOME 

DICTIONARIES:

Longmanwebdict, http://www.ldoceonline.com/

Cambridge, http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Oxford, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

Macmillan, http://www.macmillandictionary.com/

Merrian-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/

Collins, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english

RADIO AND TELEVISION:

International:

Radio Garden, http://radio.garden/

BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk

Learning English, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

Radio, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

BBC iPlayer, https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Video nation, http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/videos/

BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/bbcnews

VOA http://www.voanews.com/

Learning English, https://learningenglish.voanews.com

Wordmaster, https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/1978161.html

Video, https://learningenglish.voanews.com/p/5631.html

Words & their stories, https://learningenglish.voanews.com/z/987

ABC Australia's public broadcaster http://www.abc.net.au/

Radio, http://www.abc.net.au/radio/

Behind the News, https://www.abc.net.au/btn/

NPR (National Public Radio) http://www.npr.org/

Radio Podcasts, https://www.npr.org/programs/

NEWSPAPERS:

British:

The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/

The Daily Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

The Times, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/

Metro, https://metro.co.uk/

Private Eye, http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

American:

The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/

The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/

The Chicago Tribune, https://www.chicagotribune.com/

USA Today, https://eu.usatoday.com/

Reader's Digest, http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/

The Onion, https://www.theonion.com/

Australian:

The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/

Sidney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/

The Canberra Times, https://www.canberratimes.com.au/

The West Australian, http://www.thewest.com.au/

The Australian Newspaper, https://www.news.com.au/

Perth Post, http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/

PRONUNCIATION:

International phonetic alphabet, https://www.ipachart.com/

Phonetic alphabet fonts (Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London), http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-unicode.htm

Pronunciation (British Council), https://esol.britishcouncil.org/.../skills/pronunciation

Phonemic chart (British Council), https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart

Vowels, consonants, and diphthongs (audio files available to be downloaded to your PC), https://davidappleyard.com/english/pronunciation.htm

Phonetic transcription application, https://tophonetics.com/

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY EXERCISES:

BBC Learning English, https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

Learn English (British Council), https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/

Oxford, https://elt.oup.com/student/practicegrammar/

Using English, https://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/

Guide to Grammar & Writing, http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm

Cambridge Assessment (smartphone app), https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/.../quiz-your-english/

ESL Lounge Students, https://www.esl-lounge.com/.../picture-vocabulary-quizzes...

English Grammar Online, https://www.ego4u.com/

Better English Lessons, http://www.better-english.com/

Wyzant, https://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/english/esl

LISTENING COMPREHENSION:

Radio Interviews: This BBC site has a collection of interviews, originally produced for radio, with people as diverse as Bob Marley and Margaret Thatcher or Rowan Atkinson. Many of the interviews are based around facets of British culture and are organised alphabetically. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

Repeat After Us: A library containing 7,854 copyright-free texts and 1,820 recordings. Poetry, children's stories, prose, memorable quotes, nursery rhymes and more. http://www.repeatafterus.com/index.php

ELLLO: English Language Listening Lab Online. Listen to English speakers from all over the world. Over 400 listening activities that include quizzes and texts. New listening every day. http://www.elllo.org/index.htm

English Listening Lounge https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening.php

ESL-Lab.com: Randall's ESL lab offers listening with online quizzes, activities and scripts, at easy, medium and difficult levels. http://www.esl-lab.com/

The Voices Project: a snapshot of the many ways people speak across the British Isles in the early 21st Century. http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/about_voices.shtml#A

Don't miss 'Video Nation'! Here you'll find video recordings on a wide range of topics you can choose from. http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/

Interested in the English language? Here you will find a weekly analysis of the English language. Voice of America also features grammar, slang, regional English, idioms, you name it https://www.voanews.com/listen/programs

Want to keep your English up to date? Well, you can listen to David Crystal's talks http://www.bbc.co.uk/.../specials/1728_uptodate/index.shtml

BBC recordings of news and other interesting stuff especially created for students of English. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

A compilation of films to learn English, organized by levels. (In Spanish.)

PODCASTS:

English Language Learning:

ESL Podcast

With English as a Second Language Podcast, you will improve your English by listening to native speakers talk and discuss topics of interest to you. You'll learn new idioms and expressions and learn to use them the way native speakers do. http://www.eslpod.com/website/index.php

TOEFL Podcast

With TOEFL® Podcast, you will improve your English by listening to native speakers talk and discuss topics similar to those that will appear on the TOEFL® or IELTS exams. https://player.fm/podcasts/Toefl

Adept English

Listen and learn method to help you speak English fluently. It's much more enjoyable if you learn English in the way that your brain naturally wants to learn. https://adeptenglish.com/lessons/

English Story Podcasts

Improve your English by listening to fun, entertaining stories. You'll learn new idioms and expressions and learn to use them the way native speakers do. If you are an advanced speaker of English looking for an interesting, entertaining way to improve your English, listen to them. https://player.fm/podcasts/English-story

The Teacher’s Challenge (Teacher’s TV)

A series of video podcasts from Teachers' TV where celebrities find out just how tough it is to be a teacher. http://archive.teachfind.com/.../the-teaching-challenge.html

Radio:

The Chris Evans Show. A weekly Saturday afternoon show from BBC Radio 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/evans/

News:

ABC News Australia Podcasts https://www.abc.net.au/news/feeds/

AP News Podcasts https://www.theguardian.com/podcasts

BBC Global News Podcasts https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nq0gn/episodes/downloads

CBC News Podcasts https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/comedy/because-news/

CBS News Podcasts https://www.cbsnews.com/podcasts/

CNN News Podcasts https://edition.cnn.com/audio

FOX News Podcasts https://radio.foxnews.com/podcast/

Global News Podcasts https://globalnews.ca/pages/original-podcasts/

NPR News Podcasts https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500005/npr-news-now

NBC News USA Podcasts https://www.nbcnews.com/podcasts

SKY News Podcasts https://more.skynews.com.au/podcasts/

The Independent UK Podcasts https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/podcasts

The Guardian News Podcasts https://www.theguardian.com/podcasts

Voice of America Podcasts https://www.voanews.com/listen/programs

Comedy:

The Now Show. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present an end of week mix of stand-up, sketches and songs. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/nowshow.shtml

Travel:

BBC Travel Podcasts https://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/category/factual-travel

Forbes Podcasts https://www.forbes.com/.../7-of-the-best-travel-podcasts.../

Wanderlust Travel Podcasts https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/.../top-travel-podcasts-you.../

READING:

Books online:

Classic Reader http://www.classicreader.com/allauthor.htm

Digital Books for English Learners https://www.digitalbook.io/.../free-ebooks-for-english.../

English e-reader (different language levels available) https://english-e-reader.net/

Good Reads https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/free-online

Many Books https://manybooks.net/

Online Literature http://www.online-literature.com/

Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org

Study guides:

Gradesaver http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/

SparkNotes http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/

Stories:

Short stories. http://www.short-stories.co.uk/

Crime Fiction https://www.crimeonline.com/category/crime-library/

Humour:

Joke Post http://www.jokepost.com/links.html

The LaughLab http://www.laughlab.co.uk/winner.html

Quotations:

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/famous-quotes

https://www.keepinspiring.me/famous-quotes/

https://www.pinterest.es/dollygajjar/quotes-english/

http://www.quotationspage.com/

https://www.superprof.us/blog/english-language-quotations/

Oddities:

http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/

https://oaeblog.com/

Biographies:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/

http://www.biography.com/

http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/reference/bioref.htm

https://www.notablebiographies.com/

https://www.s9.com/

OTHER INTERESTING SITES FOR LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE:

General English resources:

Hot English Magazine - learn, listen to and practise English online https://learnhotenglish.com/

English language activities, exercises and tests. http://www.world-english.org/

The online resource for students of English as a second or foreign language http://www.anglik.net/

Activities for ESL Students http://a4esl.org/

Free English teaching and learning resources http://www.eslgold.com

A fun study site for learners of English as a Second Language http://www.manythings.org

Dave's ESL café www.eslcafe.com

Free online English lessons & ESL/EFL resources http://www.englishpage.com/

Free online English lessons from Churchill House http://www.churchillhouse.com/english/index.html

English as a Second Language http://esl.about.com/

The British Council's free site to help learners and teachers of English, http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/

Improve your English and maths with Skillswise: Factsheets, worksheets, quizzes and games to help improve your skills. http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/

LanguageGuide.org offers free sound integrated resources for learning languages: pictorial vocabulary guides, grammar and vocabulary tutorials and interactive readings. http://www.languageguide.org/

(Reading and Writing) The biggest adult literacy campaign the BBC has ever undertaken and the first to have entertainment at its core http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/raw/index.shtml

Britain:

Tourist information about Britain https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en

London http://www.londontown.com/

The Big Project https://www.thebigproject.co.uk/

Automobile Association route planner http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp

Multimap http://www.multimap.com/

Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/