Отправлено: 09.09.14 10:49. Заголовок: Twitter tweeting English

Can you believe that one of the easiest ways to learn English is just a click away on your smart devices. Twitter is a service that people usually use to catch the latest news or stay in touch or follower their favorite people or whatever reason people have. I, on the other hand, am not usual and I have been using twitter to tweach(that is a word I invented to mean tweet and teach) English. Now that LSC has a twitter account, @lscnn98, you can learn about their latest news, learn a word a day, and follow other useful accounts. Some of these other useful twitter accounts can be found in this article that was published on Yahoo News.

In today’s highly technological world people claim that they do not have enough time to do the things that they really want to do. For example, many people want to learn English, I know because I have too many requests for lessons, yet they claim that they do not have the time. So I turned to Twitter in order to tweet some new words with definitions to my students on a daily basis. Despite my greatest efforts to use Twitter as a method of English, I am only one man and my students cover all of Russia. Therefore, I searched Twitter for any accounts that would assist me in my efforts and help my students learn English. After just twenty minutes of searching, I uncovered many helpful accounts; from BBC News to Voice of America.

One of the best ways to learn English is simply absorbing the language every day. That is why I read such accounts @OxfordWords, @OED, and @CambridgeWords every morning and highly recommend them. These three accounts, for example, not only tweet a word of the day but there are also definitions for difficult words. You can simply open their pages to learn three new words each morning. Aside from the word of the day, these particular accounts also provide links to English words, articles, sites, and everything associated with English learning.

Another way to absorb a language is via news, especially current news happening in your target language. The problem is that all websites and newspapers have too much information which distracts a lot of students. Twitter though helps the process by only allowing each tweet to have a concise summary of the attached article. So, if you like the tweet, you can continue on with the article and vice versa; if you did not like the tweet, then do not read. @BBCBreaking offers the latest news, @BBCWorld offers international news, @BBCNews offers British news, and @BBCSport offers news related to sports. Of course, there are many other news agencies out there; you just need to choose what you prefer. Whereas BBC offers more textual news, @VOA_News offers a lot of audio and visual links for those who want to hear and see news broadcasts.

Some students, though, want grammar, concrete lessons, or something more in-depth to learn. Twitter has accounts for such students as well and there are many, both good and bad, that you can follow. One such account that I frequently visit is ‏ @EnglishClub which is basically a live discussion between the people who are tweeting. There are also links to websites, free grammar tips that are tweeted, and lots of practice. A nice place to stop by for some listening practice and quizzes is @bbcle where you can learn many new things and then test yourself. If you need some videos, both audio and visual practice, then check out @LearnEnglish_BC so that you can go through an on-line lesson.

The above mentioned accounts are just a few ways that you can learn and improve your English with Twitter. There are literally so many options that you will be able to find something which meets your needs. Given that I am a teacher, I like visiting ‏ @TeachingEnglish because it is an on-line community of teachers who share their ideas and material. So what are you waiting for, new tweets, which can help you learn English, are being tweeted as we speak. All you need is a Twitter account and a desire to find the accounts that will help you along in English. Good luck and happy tweeting; by the way my handle is @lscnn98.


Even though twitter is a good way to learn English, nothing beats the old fashioned way of classroom or Skype lessons; so come on down to LSC or call them to sign up for classes.