Isn´t there something just so amazing about discovering new ways to approach your studies? If you are anything like me, reading realms of typed black and white notes doesn´t do much for making you excited about learning a list of new words or a new grammar structure each day. Being a visual learner I need colour, patterns and images to make me feel excited and stimulated about my learning along with connecting with real people and their voices to inspire me to keep pushing forward to meet my goals.
Out of the hundreds of new web sites I discovered this year the following 10 are the ones I´ve returned to time and again:
- Peartrees is hands down the best site to store all the web pages you want to re-visit in one tidy place. It´s also by far the best site to discover new sites daily.
- Evernote has to be the next best discovery and perfect place to keep notes of everything in your life that you don´t want to lose track of. I personally use it for listing all my links under subject headings.
- Open Library is a free online lending library where I´ve been able to find the books I want to read. It works like a normal library where you can put your name down on a waiting list if the book isn´t available immediately. You can lend each book for 2 weeks.
- Dropmark is another site where you can organize all your links,files and notes in one place and share them. It has a very handy tool for annotating pages online and saving only the segments you want to re-read.
- NaturalReader has been a brilliant find for me. Free text to speech online with natural voices. I copy and paste my target language text into the site and can choose between a variety of voices to read my text to me; choose from a variety of male or female voices.
- Study Stack has been my go-to place this year for building decks of flashcards under different titles, to practice memorizing the new vocabulary. I keep returning to the same lists leaving a few days between each visit until the new words are fixed in my long term memory.
- Babadum has really put the joy back into learning new words for me and I´ve spent many happy hours with this visually fun site. You can choose which language you´re learning.
- Loopy - Loopy is a tool for thinking in systems and I use this whenever I want to memorize new grammar rules or content that I want to talk about in my target language. It helps me organize my thoughts in a colourful and interesting way and really aids me in remembering the topic I want to talk about.
- Visuwords This has been my most exciting find. It´s a visual dictionary with a big difference. It´s an educational and highly creative modern dictionary for a modern world. It represents language visually in the form of a mind map. From each new word, there are many branches leading to new connections. It´s a perfect tool for brainstorming ideas as well. It´s the best discovery for learning you will make in a long time.
- Stormboard Lets you brainstorm with your team or friends to create and discover better information. Shared sticky notes and whiteboards. Generate more ideas, then prioritize, organize and refine those ideas to make your meetings, brainstorms, more productive and effective.
Christmas videos Just because it´s the Merry Christmas season, a time for happiness and fun, here is a list of Christmas videos for you to enjoy.
Christmas Turkey | Mr. Bean Official
I’m sure there are many more that can be added....
Lastly, never forget that your teacher is your best resource. Unlike a language exchange where you have to spend equal hours teaching another person, your own personal teacher focuses entirely on your needs and gives you the specific coaching you need to achieve your goals quickly.
I´m looking forward to seeing you in class in 2019 with renewed energy, excitement and fresh goals.