Web Site Update – December 2019
Hi everyone,
I want to thank you for visiting my sites over the past 21 years. It has been so exciting to see that many of my visitors are new to the site, some hadn’t even been born when I started it, and even a few who have followed my work during this whole journey. In addition to pointing out holiday-related listening activities in my last post, I also wanted to introduce or remind visitors of the other sites that I have created.
Although most people know of my main listening Web site (esl-lab.com), fewer visitors have tried some of my other Web sites for listening practices. You can find useful fliers and handouts on them here (https://www.esl-lab.com/esl-study-handouts/). Let me introduce these Web sites to you:
1. DailyESL.com (https://www.dailyesl.com) – I created this site to give focused practice on specific topics with a reading that includes many of the related vocabulary. These topics include shopping, going to a bookstore, visiting a flower shop, and so forth. These activities are different from esl-lab.com in that you get a concentrated dose of language in a reading passage verses a conversation. After listening to the passage, you then can answer three questions to check your understanding.
2. Trainyouraccent.com (https://www.trainyouraccent.com) – One of the biggest challenges facing language students is learning how to speak more smoothly and naturally. However, some students come from language backgrounds in which the vowel and consonant sounds are different, and students often stress every sound. However, one of the most common sounds in English is the unstressed schwa sound (ə) that affects stress and rhythm. Thus, on this site, learners can listen to a passage on a particular theme (e.g, breakfast meals) that highlights the unstressed sounds and then answer some questions related to the topic.
3. EZslang.com (https://www.ezslang.com) – This site focuses on introducing slang and idiomatic expressions. Visitors listen to conversation, answer questions, and review the related vocabulary.
Give these Web sites a try!