1. Top of the list at the time of writing is Verbling (www.verbling.com). As I've already shown you in class, I will be sparing comments here.
WRITING
1. Topping the list, just-the-word (www.just-the-word.com). An online concordancer that is highly visually appealing. I find it a big addictive but then again, it's a nice healthy addiction.
2. Twitter. Yes, Twitter. Say you have taken good note of nice language chunks from the textbook, board annotations, a newspaper, etc. Then type that chunk in a sentence of your own with inverted commas (it is important that you use inverted commas) into Twitter search box. Here's an example: you think "sort of" is a cool language chunk to learn. Go to Twitter and type something like "sort of hungry" and see what you come up with. Here's a screenshot for you:
You can see authentic use of the language chunk in context. These are just three random tweets but you will find tons of them. By reading them and noticing the target language in bold, you are facilitating long-term storage of it. It works. If you like writing vocabulary lists, why not -instead of writing "sort of"=your Spanish translation)- copy down two of those tweets? No translation needed. Read those notes regularly and then try to use those expressions in writing tasks or when you speak English in class.
READING
No links here from me. I believe you should read anything you like, really. Grab graded readers from the class and read as many as you can or want. Go on the Internet and read blogs or newspapers. I don't really know what ticks you, what your interests are. I read a lot about methodology for English teaching, football and tweets and posts on Facebook from English-speaking friends. However, you may like reading recipes, or instructions for videogames, poetry, song lyrics, stuff about One Direction... To be honest, I'm not bothered about the quality of your reading but rather about your getting plenty of exposure.
USEFUL LINKS
LISTENING
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish Tons of material for you at different language levels.
www.elllo.org More than 1,000 listening comprehension exercises.
www.esl-lab.com Listening comprehension activities: Easy, Medium and Difficult leves.
www.listenaminute.com Many different topics listed in alphabetical order.
www.breakingnewsenglish.com News in English and various activities related to them.
www.famouspeoplelessons.com Activities around bios of famous people.
www.newsenglishlessons.com Listen to news in English.
www.eslholidaylessons.com Listening activities around the topic of holidays and celebrations.
www.eslyes.com Short listening extracts and fill-in-gaps activities, vocabulary activities, dictations, crosswords...
www.vaughanradio.com Radio station for students of English. All levels.
www.eslpod.com English podcasts.
www.eltpodcast.com English podcasts.
www.podcastsinenglish.com English podcasts.
http//:learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/listen-and-watch English podcasts.
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Spoken_articles Audio Wikipedia articles.
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts Plenty of links for podcasts.
www.shiporsheep.com Exercises on pronunciation.
www.lyricstraining.com Song videoclips and fill-in-gaps exercises.
www.cnn.com Click on videos for plenty of news stories on video.
www.ted.com Inspirational speeches.
SPEAKING
1. Top of the list at the time of writing is Verbling (www.verbling.com). As I've already shown you in class, I will be sparing comments here.
WRITING
1. Topping the list, just-the-word (www.just-the-word.com). An online concordancer that is highly visually appealing. I find it a big addictive but then again, it's a nice healthy addiction.
2. Twitter. Yes, Twitter. Say you have taken good note of nice language chunks from the textbook, board annotations, a newspaper, etc. Then type that chunk in a sentence of your own with inverted commas (it is important that you use inverted commas) into Twitter search box. Here's an example: you think "sort of" is a cool language chunk to learn. Go to Twitter and type something like "sort of hungry" and see what you come up with. Here's a screenshot for you:
You can see authentic use of the language chunk in context. These are just three random tweets but you will find tons of them. By reading them and noticing the target language in bold, you are facilitating long-term storage of it. It works. If you like writing vocabulary lists, why not -instead of writing "sort of"=your Spanish translation)- copy down two of those tweets? No translation needed. Read those notes regularly and then try to use those expressions in writing tasks or when you speak English in class.
READING
No links here from me. I believe you should read anything you like, really. Grab graded readers from the class and read as many as you can or want. Go on the Internet and read blogs or newspapers. I don't really know what ticks you, what your interests are. I read a lot about methodology for English teaching, football and tweets and posts on Facebook from English-speaking friends. However, you may like reading recipes, or instructions for videogames, poetry, song lyrics, stuff about One Direction... To be honest, I'm not bothered about the quality of your reading but rather about your getting plenty of exposure.
So read whatever you want but read.