BBC world service -- learn English course -- overview

Before the advent of internet, people used to learn English over the radio. British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Service is a world-renowned radio service. It is broadcasted in 32 different languages and is available over the internet as podcasts (downloadable audio files of the broadcasted programme). The service covers different genres like current affairs, documentaries, news, sports, cultures, science, religion, etc. BBC Learn English Service Learn English service aims at providing practical knowledge in speaking good English. Topics such as grammar, pronunciation, business English and quizzes are covered in a non-academic manner. The user can listen to these topics, watch videos on grammar and tips and can test their retention through the quizzes. The crossword section of the site is a great way to build vocabulary. The Flatmates - BBC You can learn day today conversations through the ‘The Flatmates’, a home production serial of the BBC. It is like watching a short cartoon movie and still learning a great deal of words, pronunciations and diction. The conversation is open ended, which gives new learners opportunity to modify them on their own. This way they can come up with their own sentences to complete the conversation. The videos are available on YouTube, linked via BBC’s Learn English site. ‘How to…’ You are good at speaking, but have trouble framing the right sentences to make the conversation flow? The ‘How to’ section will be of immense help in such a case. It goes about giving very simple and general explanations on how to discuss, ask for direction, invite someone, etc. Knowing the world through cultures To create variety in the content, BBC’s Learn English brings in cultures together in its Costumes and celebration and recipes section. If you have a blog and want visitors of your blog to get help from this service, add their widget to your webpage. For a more wholesome interaction a community forum as been set been by the BBC for interaction of teachers and learners from all over the world. Therefore, you can post questions or topics and get different views, comments, and answers from people around the globe. Free downloads You will find new exciting content everyday and the best part is, if you happen to miss any of the day’s content, you can download it here fully and listen to it at leisure. Listening to wide range of topics from news to day today happenings, not only does your English improve, your knowledge improves as well. Since the content is from BBC, you can be rest assured about its authenticity. Unlike a course where you learn English through intensive classroom or online session, followed by assessment of some kind, BBC has designed the Learn English section for those who would like to pursue a very casual and passive form of learning English. For more info, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/