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Learn English as a Second Language (ESL) with Hundreds of Courses & Sites

How to Learn English

Although Class Central lists online courses in 87 languages, courses made in English outnumber all of the others by more than six to one. English is therefore a useful language to know, even though some courses have subtitles in a range of languages.

Earlier this year, we updated our list of courses to help improve your writing skills. These courses all assume some fluency in the language.

But what if you do not know any English, or your English is very poor?

If you do not have convenient access to a teacher, the internet is a useful place to learn. Like many other skills, learning a language requires some memory techniques, plenty of practice, and learning from your mistakes.

It also helps if a friend or family member learns and practices with you. On the other hand, with available apps and online tools, you no longer need to have a learning companion.

If you are not a native English speaker, read on to find various online learning resources. Also, 250 free and paid online courses to help you improve your English are listed below, arranged into Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced categories.

Some of these courses are also listed in the Improve Your Writing Skills article mentioned above. If you start a free course and find it is either too hard or too easy for you, it is easy to drop it and try another.

Index

Click to jump to the corresponding section and resources.

More Courses


If you don’t find what you need in the lists below, Class Central’s got you covered. Browse our catalog of 250K courses or visit these collections:

Why Learn English?

Here are just a few of the many reasons for learning English:

  • English is becoming the most common communication language worldwide (a world language or Lingua franca). According to Ethnologue, more than 1.5 billion people speak English. Estimated numbers of English speakers vary from site to site on the internet
  • If it is not your native language, learning English can help you communicate with others who have also learnt the language, for example, a Spanish speaker talking with a Chinese speaker in English
  • You will have a more enjoyable traveling experience if you can communicate with the local people as you travel. Many tourist destinations have English-speaking guides and hospitality staff
  • Enhanced opportunities to study in different countries
  • Enhanced employment prospects worldwide
  • More social opportunities
  • More online resources become available to you
  • Understand English-speaking countries’ cultures better and acquire a deeper understanding of your own culture
  • Research shows that using the brain to recall and practice with different words and sentence structures can boost your brain health and may even delay the onset of dementia
  • Improve your communication skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking.

English Tests

People wanting to work or study in an English-speaking country often need to prove their English proficiency by taking a test. According to Voice of America’s Learning English, there are three common tests for English proficiency. They are the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Various Free Language Sites

Duolingo: Duolingo claims to be the world’s most popular language learning site with more than 500 million users. English is the most popular language in 154 countries. Learn a language in a game format. Enjoy free access, including mobile apps, or you can pay a subscription to remove ads and access other features.

Forvo: Forvo is a pronunciation dictionary, with millions of words recorded and shared to the site by thousands of native language speakers of more than 370 languages. Free access, donations welcome. You can join for free and add your own pronunciations of words in your native language to help others learn. Forvo has more than 430,000 English speakers who have pronounced over 340,000 words.

Forvo site in German

Avatalks: Free users have access to the Learn Section with limited stamina, basic progress insights, and character learning. Subscribers gain additional benefits, including unlimited stamina, full access to both the Learn and Chat Sections, the ability to save unlimited favorite words, and complete learning history tracking. Avatalks combines structured Learn Sections (vocabulary, grammar, listening and reading) with AI-driven 3D character tutors and Chat Sections to simulate real-life conversations.

Avatalks English page

The Mimic Method: Idahosa Ness uses listening and mimicking to learn new languages. He explains that different languages use different sounds. Some sounds are common to various languages, others are unique to specific languages. A big part of learning how to communicate is to listen to those sounds so you can discern them and learn to pronounce them yourself, progressing to reading and writing the language later.

The Mimic Method site

The Learn English Network is based in the UK. Free with ads, with donations accepted to this non-profit organization. Offers grammar and vocabulary sections, plus magazine, diary, games, and tests.

The Learn English site

Free content may be fine for your needs, but to really get your teeth into a language, you may need to pay for lessons. Thanks to the internet, there are plenty of options.

Babbel: Founded in 2007, Babbel is a pioneer in online language learning, with more than 100,000 hours of content in 14 languages, including lessons, games, podcasts, and live classes. You can try the first lesson, then it’s subscription-based.

Babbel site in Spanish

Rosetta Stone: With millions of users worldwide, Rosetta Stone’s app uses a speech recognition tool to give instant feedback on your pronunciation via your own device. It uses native speakers, downloadable audio lessons, and phrasebooks of common phrases. Payment is subscription-based, ranging from three months to lifetime access.

Rosetta Stone site
Preply: Choose from over 33,000 English tutors. Use the filters and read profiles to choose your personal tutor at a time and price suitable for you. Book a trial lesson on Preply’s video platform, and you can try several tutors for free until you find one you’re happy with. Or try a small group class.

Preply site

British Council: As well as offering online courses via FutureLearn, the British Council offers self-study courses, online classes and private tutoring.

British Council site
Yabla: The language immersion style videos have optional dual-language interactive subtitles. Learn on the go with the mobile app. Free trial available. Yabla can also be used in schools and universities.

Yabla site in French

FluentU: Taught by real-world videos with interactive subtitles. Try free for 14 days before your first subscription payment. FluentU also offers unlimited quizzes, flash cards, and spaced repetition reviews. Take a look at 30 Games to Learn English.

FluentU site

Italki: Join 5 million learners in 150+ languages. Test your proficiency level and choose from more than 7000 English teachers, select a lesson date and time, then connect for your personal lesson using Skype or other video chat software. Students purchase italki Credits which are stored in their Student Wallet. Credits are deducted from the Student Wallet when a lesson is requested. The italki Credits are transferred to the teacher’s Teacher Wallet after the lesson is completed. Or use italki’s learning tools to learn without a teacher.

italki site

Oxford Online English: A range of options and prices, from free pre-recorded lessons to 1-to-1 learning in a range of topics from speaking, writing, IELTS exam preparation, business English, and more.

Oxford Online English site

YouTube

Type “learn English” into YouTube’s search box and you will have access to a seemingly never-ending list of videos. Some teach general language learning skills relevant to learning a range of languages, not just English.

Websites and Mobile Apps for Chinese Students

Kaomanfen: An English education website from TAL group. It covers test preparation materials for TOEFL, IELTS, GRE and GMAT, mainly for Chinese students. Free or paid online courses and free test simulations for each test such as 50+ official TOEFL Practice Online are also provided by the platform. 7 mobile apps have been launched: KMF TOEFL, KMF GRE, KMF IELTS, KMF GMAT, KMF Vocabulary, GRE Vocabulary, KMF Courses.

Open Language: An English learning mobile application launched by the host of a popular podcast. It provides multiple English learning services including online courses, vocabulary learning, Open Language FM, online chatting, etc. The company was acquired by Bytedance in March 2018.

Yidian English: A mobile application that helps users practice English speaking with short videos cut out from TV series, movies, speeches, music videos, etc. You can learn new words, practice listening and speaking along with the app.

HelloTalk: A community of language learning through online chatting with people from different countries. You can find partners and exchange languages with them through the mobile app. You can also practice vocabulary, listening, speaking inside the app.

Baicizhan: A mobile application for English vocabulary learning by matching a word with the right picture. It covers different levels of English vocabulary resources from elementary school to college. You can also practice vocabulary by playing a series of mobile games like joining an online word match competition.

MOMO Vocabulary: A mobile application for English vocabulary learning with different kinds of learning statistics. Multiple English vocabulary resources from primary school to workplace are available.

Liulishuo: A mobile application for practicing English speaking by shadowing English conversations. You can get immediate feedback from the system after repeating each sentence by marking your weakness in word pronunciation. It also offers free and paid learning services like online courses, one-on-one real-person training and dubbing for videos.

Qupeiyin: A mobile application for learning English speaking through movie dubbing. You can receive timely feedback and guidance from the system about your speaking.

Shanbei: A series of mobile applications in English learning including Shanbei Vocabulary, Shanbei Listening, Shanbei Reading, and Shanbei Speaking.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Listen to podcasts, radio, movies and television shows in English, particularly any you are already familiar with. If subtitles are available, turn them on in English, not your own language. Reading the English as you hear it will help you learn more quickly.

Keep a daily journal in English. Even 5 or 10 minutes will help. Don’t be overly concerned with accuracy as you write. Write about your activities, feelings, hopes for the future, your memories, or any other topic.

Try to think in English rather than constantly translating from your own language.

Start Learning Today

Thanks to the internet, it is now more convenient than ever before to learn a foreign language. Frequent practice helps you improve more quickly.

Beginner ESL Courses

Intermediate ESL Courses

Advanced ESL Courses

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