Free Rice

Free Rice home page

Free Rice is a fun website where you can learn English vocabulary and grammar while fighting world hunger! It is a non-profit (doesn't make money for itself) website run by the United Nations World Food Programme (in American English we spell it "Program"). For each answer you get right, the program donates 10 grains of rice to help end world hunger. It's fun to get the right answer and watch your "bowl" quickly fill up with rice!

When you go to the home page, you'll probably see a question on English vocabulary. Select your answer and, if you're right, the program will give you a slightly harder question. If you miss it, you will get an easier one. The questions you get wrong will be repeated later, so be sure to pay attention to the correct answer!

This is a sample English grammar question.

If you want to practice English grammar, click on "Change Subjects" to the top right of the question box. Or click on "Subjects" on the toolbar at the top. In addition to English vocabulary and grammar, you could also practice your English by trying some of the other subjects. For example, "Flags of the World" can help you to learn the English names of many countries, as well as their flags!

These are all the subjects you can study on Free Rice

English Media Lab

English Media Lab is a very busy website!

Home page of English Media Lab

You may find it a bit confusing ... the home page has a lot going on, including lots of ads! If you click on one of those, you may find yourself going somewhere else on the Web, so be careful! Some but definitely not all of the games and exercises are more suitable for children, but you may still find them fun. I thought the videos were a little boring but see what you think. If you do any of the listening exercises, notice that the speakers may have British or Australian accents. They may not sound like the people you hear in the U.S.

When you click on an exercise or game, you will need to scroll down the page a little to find it. There is almost always another window above that's really an ad for another website. If you click on one of these by mistake, you'll be directed to another website. You can tell by looking at the URL address on the address bar at the top of your computer screen. If you go somewhere by mistake, just hit your "back" button and you will get back to the English Media Lab.

Here's a website I went to by mistake. The URL on the address bar says I'm now at Jumpstart.com. I pressed the back arrow at the top left to get back to my game.

Daily Deal Websites

In our class, we discussed daily deal websites like Groupon and Living Social. Some students had used them and some had not. A recent study showed that "while 37 percent of Americans are members of a daily deal site, 56 percent of Americans do not subscribe to any such sites and 42 percent 'do not like anything' about the sites." Also, the study found that most of the people who use these websites are younger and more affluent (have more money).

One important thing to remember before you buy a "deal" is to check the "fine print." The fine print means certain limits and conditions about your deal. For example, I bought a $50 gift certificate at a Lexington restaurant for $25. It sounded like a good deal! But when I looked at the "fine print" on my gift certificate, I found out that there were many weekends in April, May, and June when I couldn't use it. So check carefully to make sure that your deal is really a good deal!

Livemocha

This is the home page.

Livemocha is a website that you should definitely check out if you want to practice your English. To join Livemocha, you need to click on the link, go to the homepage, and tell them what language you speak and what language you want to learn (English, I hope)! You need to give them your email address, make up a password, and you're ready to start!

These are the three questions.

• After you answer a few questions about what your goals are, you will get to your "Welcome [your name]" home page. 

This will be your home page.

Under "My Activities" (on the left-hand side), click on "Start a Course." The "Active English" course is great, with videos and helpful information, but it does cost money. The "Basic English" course is free. Once you join, you'll probably get emails from Livemocha offering you a free trial period of Active English, so take advantage of that! You can take the Active English class for $9.95 a month, and that's a good deal if you have lots of time to spend working on your English.

These are the two types of courses. Active English costs money; Basic English is free.

One thing I really like about Livemocha is that you can get feedback on your written and spoken work from real English speakers. They might also become your "friends." And you can also help people who are learning your native language.

If you have any questions about using Livemocha, please add a comment to this post and I will try to help you.