Useful Apps to Learn English
People all around the world are learning English for various reasons, that span from necessity to the sheer possibility of expanding their knowledge base. If you are learning English now, you have something in common with all those people that, one way or another, want to learn a second language. What’s that thing?
It may be:
- business goals to reach, maybe even within a certain timeframe
- passion to entertain yourself with a global community
- an academic advancement that propels you to new adventures
However, what you all really share is the desire to learn a second language in the most fun and effective way.
Text books or workbooks represent the traditional approach to learning a language, but thanks to technology there’s a plethora of great apps you could be using on your smartphone or tablet, to play “on the go”. Paper-free, mess-free, and a promise of great interactivity, such apps can definitely support your learning process helping you even to keep your notes organised and updated frequently.
Before sharing some cool apps for all of you, English Learners and ESL students, a reminder:
Podcasts (our favourite is the 6 Minute English by BBC), YouTube channels (one of our favourite channels is BBC English) or even Films ( –here’s where you can watch online films in English) are some of the best ways to improve your English.
Now, back to useful apps for learning English. If you have a smartphone or a tablet, then this is your best friend when it comes to improving your language skills.
Here’s why:
- Convenience: you can use the apps in your device anywhere, anytime you wish
- Efficiency: apps are designed to help you organise the areas you need to improve on, so you can focus on clear learning goals. Plus, they are user-friendly!
- Engagement: apps are fun and interactive, creating a positive learning experience; in some cases, you can invite fellow language learners and practice your English together. Apps can be good for your social life too! Why not turning a quite hard task into a more pleasing experience?
On to the apps. It is a challenge to pick the best ones for you, so we did some research and here’s what we found:
- 8 Best Apps for English Learners and ESL:
http://www.fluentu.com/english/blog/best-apps-learning-english-esl-students
- Top 10 Apps for Learning English:
https://edition.englishclub.com/articles/top-10-apps-for-learning-english/
- Busy teacher has some great ideas about which apps to use and improve your English:
http://busyteacher.org/12155-9-best-mobile-apps-for-esl-students.html
- Voxy is a new mobile app that helps users learn language from real life by using location and current events to teach language:
http://mashable.com/2011/04/25/voxy/
Feel free to let me know with a direct message the apps you are currently using. Let’s share the fun and the purposefulness
I have 4 ESL apps in the iStore under my company name – Big Tick. I very much doubt they qualify as ‘best’ but I do like to think they are useful in several problem areas of English that I have encountered teaching here in Hong Kong.
If you have problems when using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ adjectives in speaking and writing, or saying numbers and understanding them in English when you read them, or get mixed up between the noun and adjective for countries, or have trouble with binomial expressions (or just want to learn A LOT more!) then these apps might be a good investment of both time and money.
Apps are a great way of creating correct habits in language learning because you can do the exercise over and over until it is just ‘second nature’. This is of course why we native speakers never have any problems with things like tenses, ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ adjectives etc. We have been using it so much we don’t have to apply grammar rules, the grammar just comes naturally from habit.
Hi Nick,
Thank you for your comment to this blog post! We agree that Apps a great way of creating CORRECT habits in language learning as with repetition the learner is able to integrate new linguistic elements and make them his/her own. We love that our learners stay motivated when they choose to use English Apps as they feel supported outside classroom.
Good luck with your ESL Apps and your teaching in HK!