Reference
This section includes a list of books and links to websites which complement the information in the written material.
Basic bibliography
Thomson, A. J.; Martinet, A. V. (1986). A practical English grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
A clear, comprehensive reference grammar which includes very clear examples and explanations.
Murphy, Raymond; García Clemente, Fernando (2008). Essential Grammar in Use (edición en español, con respuestas). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
A self-studying reference grammar for elementary students of English. The topics are explained very clearly and they are accompanied by the corresponding practise exercises. It includes the answer key to check the answers.
Vince, M.; McNicholas, K. (2003). Elementary Language Practice, with key. Oxford: McMillan Publishers Limited.
A self-study reference book for elementary students. It includes information about the basic grammar and vocabulary of English with practice exercises and an answer key.
Harvey, N. (2006). Effective communication. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan Ltd.
A popular textbook that covers a wide range of communication topics. It provides lists of useful websites for further study and exploration. It includes an extensive chapter on communication technology - on how to make the most of the Internet, e-mail, mobile phones, on the impact they all have on our lives and how they influence the way we communicate.
Oxford Pocket (2000) Oxford Pocket para estudiantes de inglés: español-inglés;inglés-español. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2nd edition.
A pocket bilingual dictionary with clear definitions, occasional boxed notes on the language and special pages with a small grammar and vocabulary reference.
Interesting links
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
In this link, you will find a great variety of listening texts about different topics at different levels: easy, intermediate and difficult. The texts include a script and comprehension questions. There is also a section with videos about the English culture and some vocabulary exercises.
This is a huge site created by Sean Banville which is entirely devoted to listening activities. You can choose texts from nine different sites with an enormous varieties of topics. Especially interesting is the site ‘Breaking News English’, which is constantly updated with the latests world news. The levels range from pre-intermediate to advanced. Apart from the listening texts, you can also find a great variety of activities. An interesting feature is that you can download the texts in MP3 format.
In this link, you will find a very interesting tool to convert your text into speech. In English, you can choose different speakers (male and female) with different English accents. You can introduce a text in a text field and then listen how it is pronounced in English. This tool is very useful to practise your speaking skills and improve your pronunciation. You can download the text in MP3 format and keep it in your hard disk to listen to it as many times as you wish.
This is the link to one of the best known online dictionaries. You can choose bilingual dictionaries in a great variety of languages. There are also monolingual dictionaries, including English definitions, English synonyms, English usage, English collocation and English verb conjugations. Many words also include an audio file with their pronunciation. There is a language forum where users can ask their doubts about language. You can read the threads in the forum, but you need to be a registered user to post or respond to a message.
This is a free online pronunciation dictionary where you can introduce a word and you can listen how it is pronounced. It also gives you the possibility of reading the definition and checking the translation into your language. For the definition and the translation of the words, however, the site links to external Google sites, like the Google web browser and the Google translator.
Forvo is a website that gives access to pronunciation sound clips in a large quantity of languages. When you introduce a word in a seach box, the website gives out the pronunciation of the word in the language of your choice. You can choose the pronunciation or the translation of the word. The sound clips are recorded and uploaded by Forvo registered users from all over the world, so you can hear a great variety of accents.
The is a chapter in the very interesting website called English Club. The chapter is devoted to give information about the word stress in English. It includes some basic rules to stress words as well as interesting information, including a word stress exercise for practice.
Here is a link to a monolingual dictionary in English created by the Macmillan publishing house. The site is more than a dictionary: it includes many other resources, such as games and quizzes, grammar and vocabulary reference, a spelling guide, videos, etc. The site will be especially useful for students with an intermediate or advanced level of English and a liking for words and word games.
This is the link to the main page of the Wikipedia in English. Here you can find texts about virtually anything. Ideal for practising the reading skills and finding information about the topics of your interest.
As the name clearly indicates, this is a version of the wikipedia in simple English. The texts are written in shorter and more simple sentences and they use more basic language than the full English version. It is especially designed for learners of English who need to practise their reading skills and find useful information. Although it has fewer articles than the full version, the Simple English Wikipedia has already reached nearly 160,000 articles.
This site offers a great variety of technical articles on many topics. It is very useful for practising the reading skills and learning about practically anything. It also includes a section with podcasts and videos (ideal for practising the listening comprehension skills) and a section with quizzes to check your knowledge about a topic of your choice.