8 Excellent English Beginner-Level Resources

Are you learning English as a beginner and looking for good resources?

In this list, I’ve provided my favorite beginner-level English resources to help you get started.

I’ve also highlighted which skill (reading, writing, listening or speaking) I think they’re most useful for improving.

Free English beginner-level resources

These beginner-level resources are free to use.

1. Breaking News English (reading)

Breaking News English has 3,277 news lessons in English.

You can use this resource to read recent news stories at the A1 and A2 levels. If you want to read the news story and study a more difficult version, you can choose a higher level on this resource.

With Breaking News English, you can do vocabulary-matching exercises that correspond to the library of news stories.

The news stories are about different topics, so you can choose interesting stories and improve your reading skills.

2. Talk English (listening)

Talk English has many options to help you practice your English speaking and listening skills.

This resource has 34 basic listening lessons.

You can use Talk English to listen to audio files and listen again and again to improve your skills. You can select the conversation dialogue to view the text version if you can’t hear the words.

You don’t have to pay for this resource.

3. British Council (writing)

With the British Council resource, you can choose different English writing lessons for the A1 level.

Some lessons you can study include writing exercises about your family, applying for jobs, introducing yourself and meeting people.

The British Council also has lessons for reading, listening and speaking English, and you can choose a higher level when you start to understand the basics.

All of these options are free.

4. HelloTalk (speaking)

If you want to practice speaking in English, you can use the HelloTalk app.

With this resource, you can speak with native English speakers who live in different places worldwide.

HelloTalk allows you to search for native English speakers by choosing a city and selecting the accent you are learning in.

If you want to make an audio call, you can use HelloTalk.

This resource also has translation options to help you understand native English speakers when you chat with them. Every feature that you use in this resource is free.

Paid English beginner-level resources

These resources aren’t free to use but are worth the price, in my opinion.

1. Beelinguapp (reading)

The Beelinguapp is a resource with many stories and articles to read online.

The books on this resource belong to several genres and topics, such as technology, culture and science.

Beelinguapp has a premium subscription option to get more stories and articles.

If you want to learn more vocabulary, you can choose keywords and check their meaning with this resource. Beelinguapp also tells you which words are important to study, helping you improve your reading comprehension.

With Beelinguapp, you can read the stories in English and your native language.

It also has audiobooks to help you get better at listening comprehension.

2. DailyStep English (listening)

With DailyStep English, you can study and improve your English listening skills with beginner English audio lessons.

You can also look at each lesson’s vocabulary, verbs and keywords.

For instance, you can see if the verbs are regular or irregular.

The lessons on DailyStep also allow you to listen to audio in British English or American English. You can choose slow MP3 versions of the British and American English lessons.

This resource offers many English courses, including MP3 audio lessons.

You can complete one trial lesson with Daily Step, but you must pay for all the best lessons.

3. English For Everyone (writing)

You can use English For Everyone as a resource to practice your English writing skills.

This resource is a good option if you are studying English at A1 level.

Some of the lessons you can study and work you can complete in the English For Everyone book include rewriting sentences with contractions, filling in the gaps and changing figures to words.

This English language workbook also offers lessons about likes and dislikes, talking about sports, describing places and describing your day.

4. Lingoda (speaking)

With Lingoda you can talk and practice your pronunciation until you get it perfect.

You can get feedback from an English teacher to help you learn when you make mistakes or say something incorrectly.

If you want to learn business English, Lingoda has this option. The resource has options for nursing, learning and development, and global mobility.

The A1 level lessons that Lingoda offers include using familiar expressions, introducing yourself, and interacting in basic conversations.

The A2 level lessons that Lingoda offers include talking about routine tasks, understanding familiar topics and talking about your background.

See this Lingoda review.

Other English beginner-level resources

Here are some other beginner-level English resources I recommend.

English dictionary apps

Every English learner needs a good dictionary to understand new words.

Some of the best English dictionary apps like Google Translate, DeepL translator, Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English can help you improve your English vocabulary.

Google Translate and DeepL translator are two of the most popular digital translation applications.

You can use Google Translate to check the meaning of words by selecting them in the textbox and looking up alternative verb forms or synonyms in the DeepL translator.

Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English are both available online.

Merriam-Webster has over 225,000 definitions, and the Oxford Dictionary of English collates 15 separate dictionaries. You must pay to access the best features of the Oxford Dictionary of English, but it’s still a good dictionary app for learning English.

Grammar apps

To study English grammar, you may consider using an app to help you practice and learn the key rules.

Some of the best grammar apps include English Grammar Book, LearnEnglish Grammar and English Grammar and Vocabulary.

English Grammar Book app

The English Grammar Book app offers you 138 grammar lessons and quizzes that make studying English fun.

With this app, you can study the different parts of speech, verb tenses, conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and more. The app is free.

LearnEnglish Grammar app

The LearnEnglish Grammar app offers you thousands of English grammar-related questions.

You can access beginner levels and progress to more advanced levels on this free app to improve your English grammar.

English Grammar and Vocabulary app

With the English Grammar and Vocabulary app, you can study different units.

As you study each unit, you can complete different activities, such as choosing the correct word, reading texts or matching synonyms.

YouTube

Plenty of YouTube resources are available for English beginners.

Two of the best examples include Easy English and BBC Learning English.

Easy English YouTube channel

The Easy English YouTube channel has many videos to help you learn English.

From videos on homophones to grammatical videos, the content of this YouTube channel covers grammar, spelling, pronunciation and more.

BBC Learning English

With the BBC Learning YouTube channel, you can access several educational videos that cover different topics.

From videos on the environment to lessons on current news to grammatical content, the content of this YouTube channel will help you learn English as a beginner.

Learning English may seem difficult if you are a beginner, but using the resources I’ve listed above can make it easier and more fun.

Which other resources do you recommend for English beginners?

Add your suggestions to the comments!

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