partners use voice chat programs which make it easy to talk to anyone
in the world for free. Thus, you can easily find a native speaker or an
advanced English learner – no matter where you live. Some people use
video chat – even better!
A community also gives you support and encouragement. You’ll
get great ideas from other learners. You’ll also make new friends
from all over the world. Members of Effortless English™ courses
automatically join our international online community and can use
our forums and social site.
Online English Dictionary and Word Saver As you use your English
lessons, you’ll sometimes want to look up new words in a dictionary or
find a translation in your language. Online dictionaries are simply great
– much faster than text.
You will need two types of dictionaries. The first is a standard
dictionary. This can be a translation dictionary for your own language
or you can use an English-only version. The other type of dictionary
you need is an idiomatic dictionary. As you might guess, this type of
dictionary contains the common English idioms (phrases) you won’t
find in a standard dictionary.
Audio and Video The Internet is a buffet of authentic audio and video
material. As I noted in a previous chapter, you can find podcasts and
audio books on virtually any topic with a simple Internet search. You
can watch American and British movies and television on a variety of
websites as well.
More advanced students can listen to copies of actual
conversations. These are best for learners who need to understand
casual speech.
