Materials for the study of English. Materials for learning English Easy navigation and formatting

These days, there are dozens of ways to learn a foreign language on your own. There would be a desire and perseverance in achieving the goal. You can find a training site on the Internet with ready-made materials and exercises, or you can purchase tutorials and study from books. We will consider useful materials for learning English for this particular way of learning.

The educational literature market is full of various tutorials and manuals, so choosing a good textbook can be difficult. We have selected for you English language learning materials that have stood the test of time and have proven their effectiveness.

First you need to decide what materials in English you will need and what they are for. To master all the necessary skills, you need, firstly, a textbook with teaching texts and rules, audio materials in order to learn to understand English speech, a good grammar guide (or better, several different ones) and, of course, a dictionary.

Let's start with textbooks. Let's focus on two options that complement each other well.

English textbook Upstream

Jane Dully and Virginia Evans, it seems, they wanted to make up for everything that was left behind by the lightweight. 7 voluminous manuals for each level of knowledge offer numerous tasks for learning English through reading, although grammar exercises are also present.

You have to read a lot: you correct mistakes in texts, fill in gaps in memos and letters, choose nouns or adjectives that fit the context, memorize the highlighted words, and also just read without doing any of this. Of course, the texts cannot boast of special artistry, but interaction with ordinary silent books never tires, on the contrary, “Upstream” seems to be an integral work that you write together with the authors, and at the same time learn the language.

Computer program Rosetta Stone - English

The program and set of lessons, presented in both British and American versions, opposes the natural epistemological method to the analytical method.
To learn English, this technique immerses you in the environment gradually, while the comprehension of information occurs by itself, in other words, when using it, you will again feel like a child who is learning to speak.
If you take a textbook on Russian grammar, you will be surprised at how many strict and complex rules, unusual for a foreigner, you use intuitively when you think and communicate. This happens because you did not start learning the language from books, but listened to the speech of others and built associative links with objects and concepts. offers the same principle of learning: you will learn to reproduce template speech constructions without thinking, associate meanings directly with an object, and not with an analogue in your native language, and combine known concepts without translating them.

Unfortunately, the semantic load of the course is insufficient for medium and high levels of knowledge and the amount of information is rather narrow, but it is ideal for beginners. It will help you understand the language even before you start to understand it, so every beginner should try it, most importantly, follow the order of the lessons so that the immersion goes smoothly.

Using these two textbooks in combination, you can simultaneously learn new words, practice listening to English speech and read. In addition, the basic grammar rules are also not left without attention, although they occupy a small place in these materials for learning English. You can understand the intricacies of English grammar in more detail and find answers to questions that arise in the course of learning in special grammar books. As already mentioned, it is better to have several such textbooks on hand. It is desirable that these be textbooks by both Russian and English authors. Thus, you can study the rule in the Russian version of the reference book, and then look it up in the English edition - thus gaining an additional skill in working with foreign literature. So, grammar books that will help you master the basic rules of English grammar:

The Cambridge teachers, the authors of the series, have not changed the classical approach, even though they have rethought the materials for teaching English in a new way. Just like in other textbooks, you need to go through theory and reinforce it with practical exercises, but the surprising thing is that almost every lesson takes only one spread or two pages with explanations and tasks, no matter how important it is, moreover, a page theoretical information is also divided into blocks for better orientation.

Any topic Raymond Murphy and Martin Hevings reveal in simple intuitive examples, explaining the principles in a nutshell, which is quite enough. The lessons are not organized by increasing difficulty, so you are free to choose a specific topic that you need to pull up. In addition, at the end of the books there is a study guide - a test that will allow you to determine what should be paid attention, however, it will not take you long to go through all the textbooks in a row of their lightness. The entire course consists of three books, respectively, for beginners, advanced and experienced, and also contains disk applications with additional exercises.

If the authors of the previous course paid more attention to theory, then the latter on the pages can be lost among the abundance of exercises, although in fact it is harmoniously woven into a practical program in which knowledge is immediately mastered on assignments. Materials for learning English from Jane Dooley and Virginia Evans (Jenny Dooley / Virginia Evans) are replete with magazine-style images and, thanks to the bright design, the book can be advised not only to adults, but also to children. The structure of the manuals is quite dense, so for high-quality assimilation of the material, you will have to go through them from beginning to end.

“Repeat tenses of the English verb” - T. Klementieva

The new generation of teachers and tutors likes to scold Soviet textbooks and in most cases their criticism is quite justified, but not in the case of "Repeat the Tenses of the English Verb", which will outdo any modern textbook, and its content even exceeds expectations.

If English times are difficult for you, work Tatyana Borisovna Klementieva is a great opportunity to clear up confusion and get to the core of key English grammar concepts through simple explanations and hands-on activities. The author describes the functions of English tenses in an accessible way, explains their action using numerous examples and illustrations, compares them with each other so that the reader can feel the difference, and then offers to consolidate the material with exercises.

And finally, as mentioned at the beginning, a few words about dictionaries. Nowadays, with the presence of the Internet, it is rare for anyone to use dictionaries in their book version. Online dictionaries have become very popular. After all, it is easier and faster to type the right word on the Internet than to flip through the pages, looking for it in endless columns. The main vocabulary that is used in teaching is usually explained in the textbook. Despite this, we advise you at first to acquire a small English-Russian and Russian-English dictionary to work with unfamiliar words. As practice shows, when learning new words, visual memory, associations can work - after which word was the word you were looking for, which words and letters you scrolled through before you found the right one, etc. Frequent use of the same small vocabulary can serve you well in memorizing new words. Moreover, paradoxical as it sounds, precisely because finding them in a book is more difficult than typing them into a search engine on the Internet.

Lim English online service

When choosing teaching materials in English, do not forget about modern programs and online services that offer a variety of forms and methods of learning English. For example, according to the online self-instruction manual of the English language, you can start studying without even having any initial knowledge. The technique is based on working with texts of different levels of complexity. All texts are accompanied by exercises, by doing which you can replenish your vocabulary, develop reading and writing skills. All texts are voiced by professional American speakers, so very quickly listening to English ceases to be a problem. The site has a guide to English grammar, which is also accompanied by short texts with exercises illustrating the rules.

Watch a video of one of the lessons

2017-06-07

Hello everyone and everyone! My dears, I continue to generate useful information and materials on such an important direction for many as English for children. And a lot has already accumulated ... Therefore, I decided to collect everything in an organized warehouse! (Or maybe a treasure :-)) so that everyone can look there and find what they need for themselves and their children.

This page of my site is the address of the location of this warehouse. It contains (and continues to collect) all the necessary materials on the English language, which will be useful to the smallest representatives of the human race)) (2-7 years old, and even older), their parents or teachers. Here are my materials, and there are those that I found on the Internet, chose the best and present to you here. English can be interesting, free and accessible to every child!

By the way, be sure to voice your questions or suggestions on materials in the comments. Let's improve the treasure together!

Content:

Remember that the basic principles of teaching “young students” are brightness, interest and only playful form! So here everything is exactly like this - memorable and exciting video English lessons, bright educational cartoons, game ideas, cards and pictures, songs and rhymes - everything that will allow you to plunge into the world of English with your baby!

By the way, many materials are suitable not only for those who begin to plunge into the world of the language from scratch, but also for those who are older! Such children can use the materials even on their own, listening, watching and repeating.

Always seek emotional involvement on your part, and then the child's enthusiasm for the subject will not take long.

My advice and recommendations

Once a very serious mother asked me a question: “Tell me how to teach English to my 3-year-old son? How best to build a lesson ... and in general, where to start? I answered her: “Start with this - forget the word “teach”, “lesson” and the like! And remember the words "games, fun and colorful pictures"!

Books and textbooks

There are parents who believe that in the age of modern technology, a book can be replaced by various convenient devices. And I say no! A book is something that will never go out of fashion and will always remain every child's best friend! Especially when it comes to learning a new language.

If your child is already 4 years old and you want him to learn English not only with the help of songs and cartoons, it's time to buy a good book that will be for him the best assistant and guide to the world of language . I talk about good options for books and textbooks for kids here:

Numbers and Numbers (1-10, 11-20)

One spoon ... two spoons ... three spoons! How it is familiar to our children! After all, they hear numbers almost from birth. Perhaps that is why this topic is especially easy for kids!

Numbers and numbers... What a vast topic! But very young students do not need to know all the numbers - they only need to learn 10 digits! It's so easy - after all, there are 10 fingers on your hands! On your feet too! And in general, you can count anything around you - toys, books, adults, and even seconds ...

But if you want more, then you can reach 20!

Alphabet

Some people think that teaching a child English should only start with the alphabet. This is a big misconception when it comes to children 3-4-5 years old! Children learn a foreign language without any problems, without even knowing the letters. After all, they understand Russian somehow already in 1-2 years!))

But nevertheless, one day there comes a moment when it is already worth getting acquainted with English letters. For example, before school - to be fully armed, as they say. Or if the baby himself shows interest in them.

My daughter knew all Russian letters (in appearance and corresponding sound) at the age of 2. We were ready to get acquainted with English letters at 4!

And here different ways of approaching this insidious English alphabet come to the rescue)). I talk about these methods in my article:

There with the help songs, videos, cards, sounds, games and rhymes you can learn the alphabet very quickly.

Words for children by topic

It is with the words that every child begins to get acquainted with the English language! He must hear and see them! And this - the foundation at the initial stages. But to see is not to look at the written word! Each new word heard should form an image and picture in the child's head. That's how he starts to see him! And only then the child will try to pronounce the learned words himself.

I have prepared for you a selection of the most popular words for children , as well as small thematic collections . Each word is voiced, translated and has a picture. In addition, you can download cards with printable words, cut them out and work. It is very convenient and practical.

Words about family

Words about animals

Words about fruits and vegetables

Words on the theme of the house

Words about food

Words about clothes

Words on the theme of the profession

Colors in English

Pink became an even more favorite color for my daughter when she met it in the context of the English language. After that, "pink" was heard from her lips wherever she met pink objects))

Colors in English are kids favorite theme which comes very easily to them. The child is able to memorize even 10 colors within 2-3 days. To do this, you need to present these bright words “on a silver platter”)). And to do that, just go here:

cartoons

Needless to say, cartoons today are one of the favorite entertainments of all children and teenagers. Some kids manage to watch them all day, and some parents manage to let it!

I think this kind of entertainment for a child should be strictly limited. And of course, if you really watch cartoons, then they are useful and meaningful. Do you agree? And this is especially true when we are talking about cartoons in english . They can become completely unobtrusive but at the same time super effective English lessons that the child will perceive as fun! He may not even realize that by doing so he is learning a foreign language!

I have selected the best, in my opinion, cartoons for children. Please note that such cartoons are divided into those with Russian comments and those that are only in English! I recommend children under 4 years old watch exclusively English cartoons without a single Russian word . They will understand everything. Watch, learn and enjoy!

Video tutorials

Here you also need to understand that very young children (up to 3-4 years old) do not have to listen to explanations in Russian - just watch English-language videos with vivid pictures - they will be able to understand everything! The main thing is that the video is liked and aroused interest. Choose:

Songs and Video Songs

Beautiful combination of rhyme and melody always gives a wonderful effect in the process of learning and remembering something!

In addition to cartoons and educational videos (where there were also a lot of songs), I offer you 2 more of my notes with materials for kids. In the first - video songs, in the second - just songs with an attached translation into Russian:

Games

play and learn in fact, two identical words, because nothing gives such results in learning as a game form of any class and any activity.

I talked about games in English for kids more than once on the pages of my blog. And this topic is far from closed. AT a large number of materials are in the process of preparation, which parents and educators will soon be able to use for their very young wards.

Now you can take a look at these.

Now, it seems to me that teaching English, that learning it is much easier and more interesting. If earlier we were to some extent limited in the means and materials to achieve the desired effect, then today the amount of information presented in all possible versions is so great that it is sometimes difficult to choose what exactly to use in the learning process.

Let's think about what happened, for example, ten years ago? We studied and taught someone from books and notebooks. Audio materials were presented on tape cassettes (with not always good recordings), and video materials were provided on video cassettes for VCRs. Moreover, not everyone had the latest materials for learning English, they were more related to rare publications.

What do we see now? The number of training courses provided with both audio and video materials on disks is so numerous that it's just dizzying. Textbooks and workbooks from foreign publishers have become available. The Internet is leading the way in providing English material to any pupil or student. Yes, in principle, if we are talking about this foreign language, then on the World Wide Web you can find everything your heart desires. As they say, there is no shortage of didactic material in English.

What is didactic material in English?

That's the definition the encyclopedia gives us. Didactic material in English- this is a special type of manual for training sessions, the use of which contributes to the activation of the cognitive activity of students, saving study time. That is, this is all that additional educational material for learning English, which makes learning an exciting, interesting, versatile, cognitive process.

What do we refer to didactic material in English? First of all, these are specially designed for each training course, very useful for monitoring the comprehensibility of the material by students. As a rule, these tests are a separate manual, like a teacher's book, in each training course. Tests are also provided with keys or correct answers to their own tasks. That is, the teacher can save his time by using ready-made tests to test knowledge, and then compare their results with the provided keys.

Didactic materials in English include various games for teaching English - lotto, dominoes, logic games. These games can be purchased at bookstores or found online and printed out for use in class. Games very well activate the student, and the spirit of competition and the desire to win accelerate his thought processes, develop attention and ingenuity. Separately, it is worth mentioning didactic games, which are a type of training sessions organized in the form of educational games that help to implement a number of principles of gaming, active learning.

Among the didactic materials on the English language, it is worth noting even such language tools as tongue twisters, as well as puzzles such as. The former help to work out pronunciation, the latter develop abstract thinking, and the latter are exercises for the mind. All kinds of demonstration material (puzzles, posters, cards) also applies to didactic material in English. All these printed products visualize the studied material and contribute to its speedy memorization and retention in memory.

There is so much free content in English that it is completely incomprehensible how to find the most useful and interesting. We will share tips on how to choose materials by which criteria, and tell you how we prepare content ourselves.

If you are learning English on your own, where do you get the materials you need? Let me guess: you are subscribed to a lot of mailing lists, social media groups, YouTube channels, etc. However, time is sorely lacking, and you put off reading for later - week after week, month after month ... Materials are becoming more and more, and knowledge is not added.

How to be? You need to choose high-quality materials and read only them, and not everything in a row. Easy to say, but how to do it? In this article, we will give advice on choosing worthwhile materials, as well as talk about how Inglex employees prepare content.

How to choose materials in English on your own

We have tried to identify the main criteria by which you can select high-quality materials in English.

1. Expertise

Good articles in English are written either by an expert or by an author who interviews an expert. Such a specialist understands the language - he, as a rule, received higher education and international certificates like, works as a methodologist, linguist, translator or teacher. Therefore, his opinion can be trusted.

If the articles are not signed, most likely they were written by copywriters from freelance exchanges. They are not language experts and cannot guarantee the accuracy of the translation or the correct explanation of the rules. Also, copywriters often use unverified Russian-language sources and rewrite information from them in their own words.

Let's take another type of content - webinars in English. They can only be conducted by experts who have significant experience in teaching, writing manuals or translating. Neither sales managers nor YouTube stars will be able to hold a useful webinar on learning English.

2. Personal experience

It’s good when authors write materials based on their experience: stories about travels, life, studying and working abroad, tips on using different techniques, textbooks, resources, etc. in the classroom. Such content is valuable for its uniqueness.

3. Regular occupancy

Dead blogs or webinars that take place once a year indicate that the project is not developing and is no longer relevant. It also happens that there seem to be a lot of webinars, but the topics are the same - the presenters simply repeat them from year to year, without changing or adding anything. However, if there are too many materials, this should alert you, since only a large team can provide high quality. Otherwise, such materials are compiled in haste on the basis of unverified sources.

4. Relevance

The materials of outdated textbooks cannot in any way meet the requirements of modern students. Assess the relevance of the content: topics should be topical, and examples are applicable in real life.

Let's say you are reading a grammar article about the Future Simple tense and come across strange examples with unreal characters or phenomena. Most likely, the author of the article wanted to attract more people to the site, and did not strive to write useful material. For example:

I will build an Egyptian pyramid next year. - Next year I will build an Egyptian pyramid.

5. Completeness and variety of information

After you have studied the material on a topic, everything should be clear to you. Well, almost everything. If there are too many questions, then the topic is not disclosed and is described superficially.

Put a plus on the blog where you can find articles on almost any topic. Just enter 10 keywords into the search bar and see if you find something interesting for you.

6. Convenient navigation and formatting

It should be easy and simple for you to search for new materials in one source. It is convenient when articles are divided into categories, and webinars are divided into English proficiency levels. Articles should consist of logically arranged paragraphs, indicated by subheadings: this way you can read only what you are interested in and in the right order. It's great when the material is supplemented with diagrams, tables, video and audio files - they will help you better understand the essence of what is written than a sheet of text.

Text formatting also plays an important role. Sometimes the reader does not reach the end of the article just because the text is inconvenient to read: the font is chosen incorrectly, the line spacing is too small, bright colors are used in the design, etc. It seems that this is a trifle that cannot interfere with reading a good text. But the brain will automatically reject such a text as uninteresting and boring, because reading it requires additional effort and eye strain.

7. Feedback

The best materials in English are made by people who are ready to take responsibility for their work. They will always answer your questions by email, in the comments on articles and social media content.

8. Comparison

Subscribe to several newsletters from different companies and bloggers. It is enough to read five issues of each of them to understand whether the topics are interesting to you, whether the materials are diverse and useful enough for you. Subscribe to social networks - there you should find copyright materials, and not reposts from other groups and sites.

9. Paid content

Free English materials can be a good help in learning English. But do not discount paid content. When you give your hard-earned money for materials, you are guaranteed to use them - do not postpone the mailing list, go through a month-long training, etc. If this format involves feedback, your completed tasks will be checked and recommendations will be given. The benefits of such activities are obvious.

How to choose a good paid material? Search only for content written by experts. Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, lecturer at Ivanovo State University, can be an expert. And a certain Wow Kate, who promises to teach English "quickly and in the shortest possible time", is hardly. Pay attention to reviews about these people on different sites.

How content is prepared at the Inglex school

We are preparing a lot of diverse materials for learning English:

articles for blogs;
mailing;
webinars;
social media posts, etc.

Many Inglex materials are prepared by our teachers - real experts in English. Sign up with your future teacher!

Lesson materials

The materials used by students in the classroom are prepared by our methodologists and teachers. They take authentic British and American textbooks as a basis, then supplement the materials with auxiliary exercises for the development of vocabulary and grammar rules, as well as examples from real life situations. The courses "", "" and "" are full-fledged developments of the school.

In addition, any teacher selects additional materials for each student. Someone is fond of music, and it is easier for him to explain the rules using examples from songs, the other is preparing to move to the UK and wants to learn more about the culture and mentality of the British.

Blogs

Before creating Inglex, we ran a blog about learning English Engblog. In 2009, the head of the school, Alexander, and the head of the methodological department, Victoria, began to fill it with materials on grammar and vocabulary. Later, other teachers also began to write articles for this project, which continues to this day.

At the end of 2012, we had a second one on the Inglex website. In it, we publish materials for readers with different goals and interests:

articles about and about;
grammar: and, as well as articles on;
work: articles about, and;
travel: , and ;
entertainment articles:, etc.

The authors of our articles are copywriters who speak English at a level or higher. A copywriter always consults with a methodologist about the topic and structure of a future article. The editor checks the Russian language in the materials, and the methodologists check the English. All this allows us to write without verbal water for people, and therefore we are responsible for the quality of our articles.

For each article, the designer prepares the author's illustration, and the content manager proofreads the material for errors and typos, after which it draws up and publishes it on the blog. However, everyone sometimes has typos and inaccuracies, so we are very grateful to attentive readers who point them out. After the article is published, we continue to work on it: we respond to comments and supplement the material if necessary.

Knowledge level test

The whole team worked on the test report so that the reader could not only get the number of points and find out his level, but also sort out the mistakes made.

At the time of this writing, 1,473 free lessons could be found on the site. Each lesson consists of a small newspaper / magazine article, as well as introductory exercises developed for it, reading, listening, vocabulary expansion, questions for further discussion of the topic and homework. On the site you can also find links to other equally interesting Sean's resources.

8. Another site created by Sean Banville is http://www.esldiscussions.com.

More than 600 different topics for discussion, grouped alphabetically, with the ability to print documents in Word or PDF. Great for tasks for the development of oral speech in the classroom and discussions in language clubs. Initially, each topic is divided into 2 groups of questions - for Student A and Student B, that is, the work is supposed to be in pairs. But I used them both for discussions in mini-groups and for individual work. Works.

9. For everyone who uses films in one way or another in learning / teaching a foreign language, I think this one will be useful movie development website: http://www.eslnotes.com/ .

On the site you can find the following materials.

Each individual guide is a detailed synopsis of a popular movie that consists of the following:

a summary of the plot,
a list of the major characters,
an extensive glossary of vocabulary and various cultural references that even advanced ESL learners would often not understand,
questions for ESL class discussion.

An interesting and varied selection of films, including, for example, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Planet of the Apes, Erin Brokovich, A Beautiful Mind. I think you will find among them those that will be of interest to your students.

10. Online Assessment Tests, Vocabulary Activities, Grammar Exercises, Puzzles and Quizzes, as well as a forum, mailing list, finding pen pals, and more can all be found at http://www.world-english.org/.

One of those resources that can be easily used for self-reinforcement and repetition of the material covered. Notice the links at the top of the home page. It is worth studying them in more detail, as here you can find a lot of useful and simply entertaining material.

11. English Listening Lesson Library Online - this is the name of the site www.elllo.org.

Interesting collection listening exercises, video, games, songs. The excerpts are accompanied by lexical exercises, questions for understanding, topics for discussion. I really liked the Mixer section, where different people speak on the same topic. A significant disadvantage of the site is the abundance of advertising.

12. Resource with exercises for the initial stages - www.123listening.com. Very short files, basic vocabulary, clear diction, simple topics. Nothing special, but might be useful for beginners.

13. Simple, useful and free site for compiling crosswords in English Discovery Education Puzzle Maker. Word Search, Criss-Cross, Double Puzzles, Fallen Phrases, Mazes, Number Blocks, Hidden Messages. Enjoy!

Useful Resources for Teaching Preschoolers and Early Schoolers

1. - existing since 2002, a free resource aimed at teaching kids to read in english. Moreover, you can teach here both kids, both English-speaking and those for whom English is not native. The site is colorful, animated, easy to use.

2. Another resource with materials for teaching children English - developed by British Council teachers. On the site you can find various materials - games, songs, videos, tests, learning tips, printouts with assignments. You can register as both a parent and a teacher. A computer-savvy child can register as a student to be able to interact with other users and participate in competitions. There is really a lot of material, and it is really worthwhile.

3. — very nice and positive resource. Here you will find a collection of original and traditional children's songs recorded by teacher Matt R.

For example, on the site you can find such an author's song about colors:

Or the classic "Old McDonald Had a Farm":

Also on the site you can find games, counting rhymes, vocabulary cards. Matt