ISLPR Language Services Blog

Many of you will be in states, territories, and countries where social distancing, self-isolation and lock-downs have rapidly become the new norm. While these are unusual times, we encourage all of you to stay active, both physically and mentally.

During times like these, it is more important than ever to establish and maintain a routine. To help our candidates maintain their English skills from home, we will be updating this blog post with free resources we come across that will (1) help keep you busy at home and (2) help you develop and maintain your English skills at home.

1. National Emergency Library: The National Emergency Library was established “to address our unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials”. This virtual library will give you access to reading materials on almost every topic.
   • ISLPR tip: set yourself a goal to read a certain number of books over the coming weeks/months.
2. Free Online Courses: As of 4 January 2020, there are currently 450 different online courses that are on offer from Ivy League Schools in the USA. These courses are free and cover a range of topics.
   • ISLPR recommendation: find one course and commit to completing it in a set time. Why not spend your time at home learning something new?!
3. Free Museum Tours: Take a virtual tour through one of twelve famous museums that are offering free virtual tours.
   • ISLPR tip: practise your English skills by reading the description for each artifact or painting.
4. ABC Learn English: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation provides several free resources on their Learn English platform. While some of these resources are aimed at beginners, there is plenty of useful content available for all ESL speakers.
   • ISLPR tip: make use of the video content they have available. Use the videos to practise your speaking skills (e.g. if you hear a word you don’t know, pause the video and practise saying the word).
5. Stay in touch with your family & friends. Make sure you are calling, emailing or video chatting with those you care for. This is important for your mental health as well as theirs.
   • ISLPR tip: find a friend who speaks English or is also learning to speak English and call them to practice your speaking skills! Make an agreement that you will only use English during your phone calls.
   • There are a variety of free video conferencing tools you can use, e.g. Zoom, Skype or Facebook Messenger.
6. ISLPR Activity Sheets: We have two activity sheets and one free webinar that is available to download for free! Make use of these resources to continue developing your English skills.
   • ISLPR tip: Subscribe to our blog to be notified when we publish new blogs, activity sheets and release other content to help you study at home.

Do you have a tip or a link to a free resource?  Leave a comment below, and we’ll add it to the list!