The BBC: A British bevy of content

One of the most comprehensive sites I've explored is the omnipresent and venerable British Broadcasting Corp's (BBC) Learning site. The difficulty with the BBC's learning programme is that it is almost too in scope. But let's start at its core - teaching English.

Friends, Romans, countrymen

The core is the Learning English category. It's located at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ . There, you can find almost anything you want to know about learning English as a first or second language. It has a Bangkok Post-esque "News English" section that specialises in using authentic news stories to learn English. In that section it provides vocabulary, definitions and explanations for the language of actual BBC news reports.

There is an archive of stories covering several years and there are three new stories published every week. Very good indeed. But when you're finished at the BBC, remember to return to our Ajarn Terry's readingbangkokpost.co.th , which does most of the same, but focuses on Thailand. Both sites include audio so that you can perfect your pronunciation as well.

New in Learning English are topics on London life, business English, flatmates, music show (this week's topic is new Las Vegas Beatles show), Words in the news (Zidane heads out of football), Ask about English (words that confound and confuse - e.g., solve vs resolve), the Blue Plaque (about vixen Vivian Leigh), etc.

If you don't like Ms Leigh, you can choose to listen to information about Johnny Allen "Buster" Hendrix (Who? I'm sorry, I mean Jimi Hendrix.), David Ben Gurion, and several other world-famous personalities. There's lots to grip your interest and challenge your level of learning.

Be sure and stop by the "Language Point", which this week has an assortment of air travel vocabulary, e.g.: parts of an airport (departure lounge, etc.); air travel jobs and descriptions (customs officer, etc); things you find on a plane (cockpit, galley, etc.); verbs about air travel (check in, disembark, taxi, etc), and so on. Very useful if you are planning a flight abroad or just within Thailand.

Audio, audio! wherefore art thou audio?

The very good thing about most of the BBC English lessons is that most of them have accompanying audio of the text. This is great because you get to read and practice the words, then listen to the audio and fine tune your pronunciation. Just click on any available "voice" icon and the file is sent to your computer. Because it's stored on your computer, there's no delay or breakup of the sound as it streams over the Internet. The downloads are free, quick and easy.

A word of caution, however. The audio files are in the Real Audio Meta (.ram) format, which is associated with Real Player (current version 10.5). Real Player is offered as a free download, but only for 14 days. After that, I'm sure you will be bombarded by unceasing messages to buy. There are dozens of totally free audio players that BBC could have chosen. C'est la vie.

If music be the food of love, play on

Jumping over to http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ , we find that this site is about all kinds of online learning, not just English, but geography, sports and fitness, science, religious studies, business, art and design, and of course, adult learning, to name a few. The BBC has done all the legwork for you, all you have to do is relax and let your mouse do your walking to the sites BBC has already harnessed for you. For example, say you are interested in history. If you click on that hotlink, you'll find categories for history - interactive; family history; eye witness to history; history trail, and even The History Channel.

There's a compartment for Online Courses (basic skills, languages, cookery, etc); and Returning to Learning (great for mid-career executives housewives/husbands and others who have been out of the school loop for a few years), and many more. Because of it's size, you may get lost trying to ferret your way around the site, but you won't bored.

Finally, one of the neatest things I've seen on any educational site is BBC's "60 Second Shakespeare". The title alone captivates. The site challenges you to make your own interpretation of Shakespeare in one minute - make a film or audio, take a scene or whole play, keep it classic or make it modern, it's up to you, touts the site. Teachers are you listening?

This is an interesting and educational way for students to use mom's video camera or dad's audio recorder to learn about Shakespeare and be creative too. If you need inspiration or ideas, the site already contains dozens of samples by others of "Macbeth Meets the Witches", "Richard III", and of course, what teenager could resist making a movie about "Romeo and Juliet - Two Star Cross'd Lovers". Some are hilarious, some serious, some melodramatic, and yes, some are very good. Alas poor Yorick, you will have to download the free-but-not-free Real Player to watch them. Uhm, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If you lack technical skills, don't flinch. The BBC has thought of everything. Right there on the page they have sites, advice and lessons on learning film and audio skills, a quick-start guide on how to get started, and a step-by-step guide on how to upload your finished work to the BBC. The complete rules and formats are there also. Yours may even be broadcast on BBC television and radio.

Parting is such sweet sorrow. So until next week, enjoy your ride on the BBC. Click ahoy!

You may visit the many learning and language sites of the BBC here:: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/english.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/