Useful apps and websites to learn English

With regard to the best apps to learn English, we must say they are lots of useful and appealing apps available for us. Some are specialized in specific aspects of communicative competence: vocabulary, grammar, speaking, listening...Among all these apps we want to highlight Babbel, Duolingo, and Johnny Grammar's. Maybe you are familiar with Babbel and Duolingo, they are really good and cover all aspects of language, but maybe you haven´t heard about the app Johnny Grammars's, designed by the British Council, which allows you to practise grammar, learn vocabulary, and improve your spelling skills. There are lots of apps designed to practise your speaking skills or your pronunciation, I would like to mention ELSA Speak.

With regard to the websites to learn and develop your communicative competence in English, I would like to start with engVid, which contains audio-visual lessons prepared by native English teachers. These lessons are divided into levels of proficiency and cover different aspects of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, writing, and even specific skills to train students for external examinations such as IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge Tests.

In order to improve your oral skills in an entertaining way by means of music videos and the lyrics of your favourite songs, we can access the webpage Lyrics Training. I also recommend using subtitles when you are watching your favourite movies or series through streaming platforms such as HBO Max, Netflix or Disney Plus, so you can train your listening skills and learn grammar and vocabulary incidentally.

One of the most interesting websites to improve your English is Breaking News English. This website collects news and articles about current events organized according to different levels of proficiency. You can practise reading comprehension skills, and listening skills, you can increase your lexical repertoire or even engage in role-plays. 

Finally, the BBC Learning English website has a great amount of useful material and resources for ESL students. This website is divided into different sections: grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, news, games, podcasts... where you will be able to find a great deal of funny and entertaining resources organized in different levels of difficulty to learn whatever you want at your own pace.

Miguel Ángel Sánchez

Member of the internationalization program