VOA and/or BBC!

If someone asks you how to learn English outside the classroom what would you suggest to them? Of course to read some English newspapers! Right? Out of the newspaper, what can you suggest!

 

Voice of America Learning English (VOA- Learn American English with VOA Learning English) and British Broadcasting Corporation Learning English (BBC Learning English) is also kind of two different webpages that will help you to learn and practice English (consecutively American and British English) outside of the academic books. VOA and BBC- learning English both can be used by a learner for autonomy learning. However, in EFL classrooms a teacher who would like to use authentic materials can use VOA and BBC websites frequently. 

VOA-Learning English has started its journey as part of Voice of America Broadcasting Channel in 1959. Primarily it functioned with Special English Newscasts for more than half a century. However, from 2014 VOA has expanded its line with more English teaching materials, and the service became known as Learning English. BBC- Learning English, on the other hand, has started its journey in 1943. It is a part of BBC World Service which is aimed at teaching English to global audiences that offers free audio, video, and text materials to learners around the world. The ELT experts, writers, and producers from BBC Learning English produce such authentic, apprised and alluring materials for English learners from every level. If we consider the experience of these websites in teaching English, then BBC is older than VOA. 

Regarding the content VOA and BBC, both have enriched fields of practice for EFL learners. In BBC besides skill lessons (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) you will get grammar and vocabulary lessons as well for practice. On the contrary, in VOA you will not get much variety. Yet, both of the websites offer content in the range of intermediate to advance level following different names such as in BBC learning you will get levels namely "Lower intermediate- Intermediate- Upper-intermediate" whereas, in VOA you will get it as "Beginner- Intermediate- Advance Level". Additionally, BBC has a different segment labeled as For children where you will get stories for your kids to teach them the English Language, which feature is not available for VOA users. BBC and VOA both have a large cover of their content, but BBC has slightly richer than VOA as under courses of BBC Learning English there are tips for enriching learner more named as English You Need. Besides, the BBC Learning English website will help you with your pronunciation by Tim's Pronunciation Workshops and by teaching you the sounds of English where, in VOA you will get it as part of a, particularly focused lesson. 

About the organizations and user comfort, both websites are incredible. It will depend on learners what they would like to choose and practice, but from both websites, they will get plenty of practice lessons, varieties, and difficulty levels they would like to hook. However, when I was the first guest of these classrooms, I felt VOA Learning English has the easier look than BBC Learning English. Yet after a few visits when I became a part of its family, these are now much easier than before. Having said all these, I should not avoid a worth mentioning idea regarding pronunciation. Those who would like to practice the American accent should consult VOA Learning English for pronunciation where the opposite should be consulted by the lover of British accents. However, where pronunciation is not a focus you can consult frequently both websites for learning English. 

For ELT practitioners, both of the websites are blessings. Both websites have offered a range of places for teachers where a teacher will able to learn more about teaching English. In BBC Learning English this is labeled as teacher's room under the option For Teachers whereas, in VOA Learning English you will struggle to find it out from the bottom where there is an option called Let's teach English under video program. Yet, I must say that both are fantastically designed for helping ELT teachers. Both offer plenty of techniques a teacher can use in his/her EFL/ESL classrooms. The teacher who loves to design authentic material for teaching English in their classroom they can easily get any lesson from these websites. The contents will not only be informative, but they will also be interesting to their learners. Additionally, if a teacher off cost wants to furnish his/her existing knowledge they should visit the teacher's corner available on both websites. 

As a blind supporter of ELT, I have to grapple with both websites sometimes as a teacher and sometimes as a learner. When I meet these websites as a student I feel that there are plenty of opportunities from where I will not only able to learn English but also can learn about many interesting ideas. When I am a teacher of EL, I visit the pages to catch a lesson and to learn different tips for teaching English with more competence and more confidence.

Now decide your role & be one of the many guests in VOA and/or BBC- 

• https://learningenglish.voanews.com/

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/