A burning question every international student faces today is “Why learn English online?” The answer is best sought by analysing the reasons one has for learning English. For some, this reason is more mundane such as wanting to learn English to facilitate one’s day to day business. For example, a store owner might want to learn English to understand his customer’s needs to serve them better. On the other hand, the reason may be that one may wish to learn English as part on one’s higher Education. Be it to better help a student studying another subject or be it one who is studying English as a subject.
The most common reasons one has to learn English is that English has soon become the world’s common language. Everything from newspapers to magazines, to technology, to services, to even the internet is predominantly in English. Almost every country on earth now speaks some degree of English. With today’s rapid globalisation most English speaking nations play host to migrant students arriving for either studies or employment. Each of these students faces the need to learn English fast and efficiently in order to adjust to their new surroundings.
In all of these reasons, the common denominator is that the knowledge of English is required to be studied in the student’s spare time so as not to impede in their day to day activities. It inevitably means that the Learning of English has to be at a fast pace as most students need to apply this knowledge in real time so to speak. This need for an accelerated method of studying English has found its answers on the internet.
The ease of access given by the internet as well as being able to be in control one’s learning at one’s pace has made it an ideal source for students to learn English at their pace. One of the best such resources for learning English online is English Club TV. Accessible from www.tv-english.club ECTV is an online English learning resource where students can learn English by watching and being part of various programmes designed by a panel of expert native speakers. Each program being formatted into a TV show addresses each aspect of the English language.
Visitors to the website portal are encouraged to take a self-assessment test where students categorise themselves into five distinct levels based on their current knowledge of English, Viz. Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate and Advanced.
In illustrating the site’s proficiency as a tool for learning English online, the Elementary level also known as A1, covers four base modules; Listening Skills, Speaking Skills, Vocabulary Expansion and Grammar. Each level imparts its knowledge by way of English video lessons specially designed as “shows” and “episodes” centring on current affairs and day to day interactions.
Students can improve their Listening skills and Vocabulary expansion by watching programs such as “ECTV Simple News”, “Step By Step” and “The Week in Review.” After each episode of each show, tasks and glossaries are provided to ensure students understand each programme. Students who need to address issues in Speaking Skills and Grammar are offered a range of shows including the “E-lab” series, “Say It Right” and “Perfect English.” Each episode here is designed to teach pronunciation, phraseology, and vocabulary.
The presentation of the shows, in news or documentary format makes these English video lessons unique and readily understandable.