It’s been a long time since my last update. My apologies for the delay. I’m back and ready to help bring you more useful links to help your learning than ever:-)

Let’s kick things off with one of my favorite sites: This I believe.

You’ll find hundreds of short but powerful essays written by famous and not-so-famous authors. You can also listen to the audio for each essay, so there is plenty of English practice waiting for you. Here’s a description of the This I believe project:

This I Believe, Inc., was founded in 2004 as a not-for-profit organization that engages youth and adults from all walks of life in writing, sharing, and discussing brief essays about the core values that guide their daily lives.
This I Believe is an international project engaging people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. Over 70,000 of these essays, written by people from all walks of life, are archived here on our website, heard on public radio, chronicled through our books and television programming, and featured in weekly podcasts. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

Hello everyone,

I am very pleased to introduce my friend Andrew’s latest project, English Star, an English video site with lots of interactive listening and general comprehension support. There are many kinds of practice, plenty of study content and a growing community of English learners there. You can use subtitles in English or Japanese, as well as some other languages. Register for the site to have full use of all site functions.

Hi everyone,

A fellow teacher who lives in Kyushu, Peg, kindly passed along this link and I was amazed to find real picture books on the website. You can turn the pages just like if you were holding the book in your hands. Please have a look. You won’t be disappointed:-)

Have a look…and a listen!

Enjoy:-D
Steven

My friend Charles Kelly, who runs manythings.org and a4esl.org with his brother Larry, has set up an easy-to-access listening resource. Please check it out by clicking on the image below

Hi everyone,

My friend Marc recently introduced me to this site, and I think it’s a brilliant idea! Members can upload videos and have them transcribed and translated by other members. Have a look!

Enjoy!

Steven

Today, I saw one of my students for the first time ina few weeks. She really surprised me with her rapid improvement in such a short time. She told me that she has started practicing English everyday on a social networking site called iKnow! I checked the site today and it looks great for all students learning English in Japan. Here’s an article with information and a link to their site. You can login with one of your current usernames, and it’s FREE!

英語学習SNS「iKnow!」が4月1日より共通認証規格「OpenID」に対応し、Yahoo!JAPANやmixi、Livedoor、はてななどのIDを使ってログインできるようになる。運営会社のセレゴ・ジャパンが3月18日に発表した。

　すでに上記サービスのアカウントを持っているユーザー（セレゴ・ジャパン推計で約4000万人）は、初回に会員登録をすることなく、iKnow! の英語学習アプリケーションやSNS機能を利用できるようになる。セレゴ・ジャパンでは、新規アカウント作成によるサービス利用のハードルを下げることで、より多くのユーザー獲得を目指すとしている。

　4月1日からは以下のような形で、トップページに外部サービスに対応したログインボタンを設ける。ヤフーやmixiの他にもボタンの数はできるだけ増やしていくという。
iknow YahooJAPAN IDでのログインに対応したトップページ（クリックすると拡大します）

You can login here.

Hello everyone,

Have you tried singing simple English songs for kids? It can be a lot of fun to practice singing with your kids, grandkids, nieces, or nephews. Don’t be shy, just click on the link and start singing:-D

and while you’re at it, how about trying some tongue twisters (早口言葉) to practice your pronunciation?

http://www.esl4kids.net/tongue.html

Have fun

Hello everyone,

Students often tell me that they have no chance to use their English on a daily basis, and that reading and writing in English is easier for them than speaking and listening.

For students who enjoy using computers–especially if you like sites like Mixi–I recommend trying an online social network.

Today, I would like to introduce you to a popular social networking site called Facebook. I use Facebook everyday to stay in touch with many communities. You can make friends, play games, talk about music and movies, exchange photos and videos, and much, much more. There is even software that helps you find language exchange partners who want to help you practice English (or Spanish, or Chinese, etc) in exchange for your help with Japanese.

Please sign up here for an account today:

After you have an account, please add Steven Nishida as a friend. Then please join the English Masters – Communication Center group.

If you need help, just ask!

See you on Facebook

If you want to hear some real university lectures and seminars, check out this long list of excellent links.
(For High-Intermediate to Advanced level listeners).

“How to learn for free on the web.”
The Stingy Scholar

Happy listening!!!