Seminar 2. CALL & Language Skills

I'll be as critical as I can to all the presented sources.

1) Listening, Speaking and Pronunciation

So, starting with the website www.manythings.org I was shoked with the front-end developing. It's awful! Taking into consideration that we live in an advanced society, this website left shadows of horror in my eyes. I did not want even to click any links. However, it's up to you to decide it's usability.

The next source is http://fsm-portal.net/video_lessons/1119-professor-xiggins-anglijskij-bez-akcenta-versiya-61.html. Well, despite the fact that this programs looks like early Nency Drew's games at the beginning of 90-s, it has an opportunity to record the sound of your own voice and compare with the original. To my mind, that's quite useful and helpful for your productiveness in phonetics.

At englishpronunciationcourse.com you can sign-up for free to try them and decide whether it's your cup of tea. In my point of view, this can help you to systematize your studies and get a better result!

I share the link of the demo version of the next link at once as I assume we should firstly try what we are to buy www.rosettastone.eu/demo. I find this source very bright and versatile in the learning methods, so I'm sure if I had enough time and money I would start learning German with this source.

2) Reading and writing

I liked eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/READ.HTM a lot because here you can find different genres and their examples. I liked US newspapers, especially Wall Street Journal (mostly the ability to see and read it for free =))

This source www.er-central.com amazed with the interface and usability in finding information. Also, I was glad to see the separation of the materials for students and teachers.

3) Grammar

Liked this grammar quizes www.grammar-quizzes.com (even if you can find some websites in Google, this source is convenient in its content much more than the others!)

I did not like www.esltower.com as there were too much advertising, and its content leaves a lot to be desired.

4) Vocabulary

When I was preparing for my FCE test, I liked this source to study new words, idioms and set expressions: www.splendid-speaking.com/products/wotd/index.html

So I advice it to you without any fear. It's really worth visiting every day and gain knowledge :)

These two www.ldoceonline.com and www.pdictionary.com did not inspire me on gaining knowledge. They look like an amateur IT-specialist made them for a school project. I definitely know that good content and conveniency of buttons are the main factors that provide the website's usability. And these two sites have the lack of such factors indeed.

NO! NO! NO!
www.lextutor.ca
I literally felt sick after coming to this site.
Not only that it looks like the time machine sent me in the middle of the eighties; also the color selection makes the eyes sore. Absolute defocusing of view, no assembly or system. I wouldn't succeed there in learning a language, if only my eyesight was spoilt.

Conclusion: free services for learning a foreign language - still a trash. Attend a language course and listen to audiobooks!