An excellent free website has been launched for English language learners by the U.S. Department of Education.*

I have taught ESL both here and abroad and found this website to be superior for what it contains and its ease of use. I took it on a tour and found it to be user friendly for both students and teachers.

The purpose of this website is to help immigrants learn English. Presently, more than 11 million limited-English speaking adults in the US could benefit from this free website created by USALearns.org. But it is equally useful if you are planning to teach ESL overseas, or here in the US. It is equally useful in American classrooms to improve the language skills of our native speakers.

Unlike many free lessons on the internet this course has sound and therefore lessons in proper English pronunciation. I find a 'how to learn English course' to be useless if a beginner cannot hear the spoken word.

The course is interactive, it has videos, and if you have a microphone hooked up to your computer you can practice speaking English.

I found the lessons to be very clear and easy to follow.

This free website offers the following:

- an easily accessible internet learning tool

- with simple directions

- free instructional materials developed to teach basic English skills

- learning modules that can be used outside of a traditional classroom

- you can choose directions in Spanish or English

- you can pick a level according to your proficiency - beginner or intermediate

- 20 units are offered in areas such as numbers, the calendar, families, schools, places to go, money, clothes, and shopping.

So far, this is the best "How to Learn English" website I have come across and the price is right - free!

*The website is USALearns.org