Today I want to focus on three BBC podcasts targeted at English language learners.

6 Minute English aims to teach useful English language for everyday situations. The podcast is updated every Wednesday and each episode is about 6 minutes long.

Talk About English helps you to improve your vocabulary, grammar and listening. Each episode is about 11 minutes long, and a new one comes out every Thursday.

Grammar Challenge is great for those of you who want to work on your grammar. Each episode is only about 6 minutes long, and you get a new one every Friday.

Do subscribe to all three, so that you don’t miss any episode!

If you’re not sure what podcasts are, here’s a video that explains them well.

Here’s a rather fun site, English Online, by the British Council in China. Though designed for Chinese speakers (the site is bilingual), I think it would be interesting and useful for other learners of English too. I especially like the Exams & Work, and Games sections.

English Club is a self-study site that was recommended to me today by a colleague. There are lots of free lessons on all the four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing), as well as Grammar and Vocabulary. You’ll also find games, quizzes, videos and even chat rooms where you can chat with other English learners online.

Here’s a great series of video English lessons. Choose the category you want from the column on the right. Here’s one to start you off:

Here’s a funny series of videos for those of you who find idioms fascinating. After watching the latest video, you can submit a paragraph using the idiom and The Teacher will post his favourites.

Image © J. James

Here’s a tip for those of you using online dictionaries. What do you do if you can’t spell the word? Well, you can try using the wildcard asterisk (*).

For example, you want to spell “archaeology” but only know that it begins with “arc-”. Type “arc*” into the dictionary search box, and you’ll find all the words that begin with “arc-”. Here’s the example on Macmillan Dictionary and LDOCE. (I like Cambridge Dictionaries Online too, but it doesn’t recognise “*”.)

You can also put “*” in front, or at both ends, e.g. “*arc” or “*arc*”, if you’re looking for words that have “arc” at the end or in the middle.

The Macmillan English Dictionary is now online! I like the fact that each dictionary entry is linked to its thesaurus entry (just click on the red and white ‘T’) – great when you’re writing essays. Also, you can listen to all of the entries being read aloud. While I like the LDOCE very much, their online version no longer has the recordings available, so the Macmillan is definitely better for learning the pronunciation of words.

By default, each entry in the Macmillan dictionary is shown with just a simple definition and example. Make sure you click on the ‘Show More’ button to get more information on how to use the word/phrase, etc. After you click on ‘Show More’, you’ll also see a ‘Word Forms’ button. Remember to click on that too!

The How to… section of the BBC Learning English site covers language used for different functions.

Discover and practise phrases and expressions which you can use in all kinds of different situations, whether it’s to order a drink in a restaurant or have an argument with someone!

Each unit has audio and texts you can download. There are also quizzes and exercises to help you practise what you have learnt.

Learn how to gossip, be sarcastic, and even chat someone up in English!

Being able to speak English fluently is a struggle for many learners. In this series of podcasts, you will hear about various ways you can improve yourself in this area. This is great for listening practice too!

Better Speaking is all about how you can become a fluent, confident speaker of English. In the programmes we hear from learners of English from around the world and also from someone who specialises in teaching speaking, trainer Richard Hallows. Better Speaking is presented by Callum Robertson.

Learning English for business/work? Try BBC Learning English’s self-study materials on Business English. You may find the section on the roles and teachings of Business Gurus to be particularly interesting.