Cultural Links

• Did you know? - a daily factoid. The applet can only be seen by browser with java enabled.
• History Channel - The Best Search in History.
• What happened... On This Day? - exactly what the name says.
• World Maps - click on a country to see its www resources. Very interesting!

• The Collins Cobuild Student's Dictionary Online
• The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus - described as The Only Integrated English Dictionary and Thesaurus in electronic form. It's worth having a look at it!

  Exact - "dog" only matches "dog"

  Fuzzy - "dog" matches "guide dog"

  Approximate - "dawg" matches "dog"

• WWWebster(TM) Dictionary - based on Merriam Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary, Tenth Edition.

• Britannica.com - great stuff to be checked!
• Encarta Online - search a topic of interest entering a word or phrase in the labeled box.
• Information Please - daily almanac, biographies search, facts behind the news, today in history and a lot more. Very useful site to find basic information easily and quickly.

• Drag & Drop Java Puzzle for ESL Students (by Charles Kelly) - unscramble the puzzle to discover the message.
• Games - an entertaining & educational game that changes everyday.
• Javascript Hangman Games (by Charles Kelly)
• Word Find - printable puzzles sorted by level of difficulty.

• Study Guides and Strategies - an extremely helpful site for students.

• Grammar Help and Writing
  • An Elementary Grammar - an online grammar book by the English Institute.
  • 11 Rules of Writing - take a gander at this great site.
  • English Grammar The Easy Way - everyone can learn English; this site explains English, so that everyone can understand.
  • Grammar When You Need It - a site by David Tillyer that offers explanation to grammar topics and some practice.
  • Guide to Grammar and Writing - an excellent website dedicated to all aspects of writing: sentences, paragraphs and essays. Includes interactive quizzes and online grammar help among other great stuff!
  • Handouts - from Purdue University Writing Lab (OWL). Handouts and exercises on every single aspect of writing. Recommended!
  • Ruth Vilmi's Grammar Help Page - a wealth of information linked from a variety of Web sites around the world. This page also includes links to grammar topics and resources. Highly recommended!
  • The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation by Jane Straus.
  • The Five Paragraph Essay Wizard - an online writing tutorial for beginners which provides the following sections: Getting Started; How to Write the Essay; Editing, Revising & Evaluating; and Writing Prompts.
  • Traditional Grammar: An Interactive Book - as the name says, this interactive book (by Donald Hardy) contains 12 chapters, 3 exams and some practices.
  • Writing Resources for English Language Learners - compiled by John McVicker.
  • Writing Research Essays In North American Academic Institutions – A Guide For International Students, by William Badke.

• Hints
  • Hint-of-the-Day (Dave Sperling and Dennis Oliver) - this page offers a "web hint" or a "help hint" on grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and more!
    
    

• Listening
  • National Public Radio Online - news, talk show, music, and much more.
  • Randall's Cyber Listening Lab - practice your listening skills via RealAudio and RealVideo self-grading JavaScript quizzes.
  • The English Listening Lounge - authentic recordings of ordinary English speakers on a variety of everyday topics. It's suited for learner of all levels. The site requires the use of Real Audio.
  • US History Out Loud - really interesting audio materials. The site requires RealAudio Player.

• Reading
  • BBC World Service English Learning: Network - an Internet magazine for teachers and learners. Interviews, useful sites, Internet glossary and lots more.
  • Online Medical English Resources - many reading texts and exercises.
  • The New York Times Learning Network - great site for students and their teachers. It is updated Monday through Friday throughout the school year.

• Vocabulary
  Anagrams and Idioms
  • Everyday Vocabulary Anagrams - a project by Charles I. Kelly and Lawrence E. Kelly. Really cool!
  • Idiom Page (from Dave's ESL Cafe) - idioms along with a definition and examples. You can get idioms at random, or view the entire list, or get the alphabetical lists of meanings and examples.
  
  Phrasal Verbs, Proverbs and Slang
  • Phrasal Verb Page - a collection of phrasal verbs (by Dennis Oliver).
  • Common Proverbs - a great number of well-known short sayings! You can choose to work with the proverbs in alphabetical order or get 10 randomly chosen.
  • Common American Slang - a collection of American slang expressions presented in a quiz format.
  • Daily Page for Students of English (by Charles Kelly and Lawrence Kelly) - a page which includes: "Proverb of the Day", "Slang/Word of the Day", "Link of the Day" or "Mystery Word", and Popular Search Engines. Really cool!

• Wide-Ranging Resources
  • Angelonline.net - Cambridge School - the site offers games, cinema, music, lessons...
  • English Gateway - Online vocabulary topics for intermediate and advanced ESL learners. Exercises on idioms, phrasal verbs and collocations. Student and teacher blogs and forums.
  • English as a Second Language - a starting point for ESL learners.
  • English Daily - ESL resources for English learners.
  • English Forum - a comprehensive web portal with a wealth of resources for ESL/EFL students. Interactive exercises, message boards, links, good school guide, web directory, world news, cool tools ... and more!
  • Englishpage.com - free on-line lessons & ESL/EFL resources.
  • ESL Independent Study Lab - lots of interesting things. Take a look at this site!
  • ESL Study Hall - check Christine Meloni's site with lots of material for students.
  • Parapal - resource of interactive writing and EAP developed by Charlie Williams.
  • 1-language.com - The ESL Site for everyone learning English! - comprehensive new ESL Site including forums, realtime chat, grammar, interactive quizzes and games, flashcards, phonics, streaming audio materials, world news, TOEIC modules, helplines, multi-lingual content, and much more.
  • Learn English - British Council - games, songs, grammar, vocabulary practice, among others. You can take a quick online test from Cambridge EFL Examinations to test your level.
  • Nellie´s English Projects - a whole lot of stuff to be exploited.
  • Netsurfing - a wealth of self-access materials for all levels.
  • Vocaboly Vocabulary Builder - Build vocabulary with flash cards, test and games, for SAT, TOEFL, GMT, GRE and general vocabulary.

• Puzzles, Quizzes & Tests
  • Auto-English - free interactive English grammar exercises underwater (by Rob Wilson). Check them out!
  • Crossword Puzzles for ESL Students - a collection of puzzles on a variety of topics related to English teaching. The puzzles contain between 7 and 26 words and are sorted by levels of difficulty. A JavaScript-enabled browser is not required, but it helps!
  • Dillon's Online Vocabulary - links to help you to increase your vocabulary.
  • Easy Vocabulary Quizzes with Pictures - a series of interactive JavaScript quizzes for beginners and children.
  • English Exercises Online - a site with free resources: handouts and exercises.
  • English Exercises - many online exercises for special purposes!
  • English Irregular Verbs - The site is dedicated to the English irregular verbs and includes a competitive exercise with rankings, reports and searchable lists. The activity is free and no registration is required.
  • English Language Center Study Zone - created by Martin Holmes at the University of Victoria - British Columbia, Canada. Students can choose the level!
  • ESL Blue(s) - a site with interactive pages for ESL students by Eifion Pritchard.
  • Fun with Randomly - Generated Sentences - JavaScript pages that make sentences for you to study.
  • Internet Treasure Hunts for ESL Students - a fun way to learn how to use the World Wide Web!
  • Interactive JavaScript Quizzes for ESL Students - a collection of real cool quizzes that promote a game-like feeling! These quizzes require Netscape 3 (or newer) or Internet Explorer 4 (or newer).
  • Self-Study Quizzes For ESL Students - a collection of quizzes produced by ESL/EFL teachers around the world. Immediate answers are available.
  • Useful Sentences for Travel Survival - study the basic sentence patterns, then make your own sentences. Try it out!
  • Twain Teacher - try also these quizzes written by a Taiwan teacher.