‘Learning English Blogs’ – teachers’ and students’ blogs
BBC Learning English – Paul Scott

The Learning English Blogs transform the concept of blogging from an individual pursuit into a collaborative learning process.

The blogs retain a rich vein of individual expression since the ‘student blogger’ writes about topics of interest to them. A ‘teacher blogger’ prepares posts in response to the student’s writings giving feedback on good language use, specific student mistakes and typical language errors, all within the dynamic of a content-based, personalised and meaningful dialogue.

A global audience contributes to the learning by completing the teacher tasks, providing words of encouragement to the student and giving their opinions on not only language use but also the topics under discussion – a rich source of additional material for the teacher.

This process results in a simple one-to-one blogging relationship creating a one-to-many learning environment, that continues long after each blog post.

‘Bookworms Club Reading Circles’ – teacher’s and student’s books
Oxford University Press – Mark Furr, Jenny Bassett and Nicole Irving

Bookworms Club Reading Circles  is a unique series that provides all that is needed for running Reading Circles. Reading Circles are groups of students who meet in the classroom to discuss stories, having prepared their Reading Circle role.  

Bookworms Club combines carefully graded short stories from Oxford Bookworms and Role Sheets (e.g. Discussion Leader, Word Master, etc.) that help students prepare to take part in the Reading Circle, and ensure that they have natural, meaningful discussions in English. This improves the students' speaking and listening, and also their motivation and sense of autonomy. Bookworms Club is also a great stepping stone to extended reading.

User feedback: ‘While teaching, I discovered that Reading Circles had the power to transform my students from passive, shy students into students who eagerly pointed at their texts to support their arguments while sharing their opinions in English!  I don't know what you might call this, but to me, it was indeed magical.’

‘The Flatmates’ – weekly online interactive EFL soap opera
BBC Learning English – Nuala O’Sullivan

The Flatmates is a free, interactive, weekly online soap opera for Intermediate EFL students.

First, read and listen to Tim, Helen, Khalid and Alice and their tales of love, cheating, football and, of course, arguments about the rent!

Second,  cast your vote to decide what'll happen in the next episode

Third, study the language point (grammar, vocabulary, spelling or pronunciation) highlighted from each week's episode.

Next, take the quiz to see if you've understood the language point. If you get any of the answers wrong, you'll get feedback steering you towards the right answer

Finally, write your response to each week's topic. It might be 'What's your ideal date?' or 'Who was your worst boss?' Then, see your own comments published online and read what other learners around the world have to say too.

And don't forget, there are lots of free materials to download and take away!

‘The Vocabulary Course’ – blackboard WebCT and paper-based materials
Dubai Women’s College, U.A.E – Emma Pathare

The Vocabulary Course is a ground-breaking, stylishly designed product, built on extensive academic research. It enables learners to increase their vocabulary both during and after its use, as they not only learn the target vocabulary but also become adept at employing effective learning strategies independently.

 More than 150 quizzes, 4000+ questions and over 30 learning modules together provide extensive independent study opportunities for learners to engage cognitively with and reflect upon their success in learning vocabulary. The additional, optional mathematics component builds the vocabulary required to learn basic numeracy in English.

 The Vocabulary Course has been used by over 1500 students so far. Testing shows that its use results in substantial gains in core vocabulary knowledge. The course is popular with both learners and teachers, and its academic basis earned a Manchester University Platt Prize award and a distinction at Master’s level.