Online Learning with LCF Englishzone

Product description

ENGLISHZONE is the online resource created by LCF Clubs to support the teaching of English as a foreign language to children aged 3 to 11. The materials originate mostly from the class and club programmes created by LCF for their club members. All stories and songs have therefore been taught, tested and improved with children. 
Many activities derive from successful class and club games.

ENGLISHZONE resources help learners to develop an understanding of the English language and communicate from Beginners level to Elementary / Pre-intermediate level (Pre A1/ A1 to A2 CEFR levels).

The aims of LCF Englishzone are:
  • To encourage positive attitudes to the learning of a foreign language
  • To promote communicative language competences:
    • linguistic competence (lexical, grammatical, phonological and orthographic)
    • sociolinguistic competences (registers of language)
    • pragmatic (functional)
  • To increase learners' intercultural understanding
  • To develop learners' confidence and enjoyment in communicating with a foreign language

The online materials are organised as follows:

User access with Option 1 (Thematic and topical approach)
JazzMataz
Musical fun and songs for very young learners
Cambridge YLE Practice
Cambridge YLE Practice
Practicezone
Stories, songs and games
(Thematic Units)
Grammarzone
English Grammar Points
for young learners
Phonicszone
Phonics illustrations and games
for young learners
Picturezone
Photographic Databank for young learners
(Intercultural input)

Quick links to short descriptions: Practicezone Grammarzone Picturezone Phonicszone

User access with Option 2 (Progressive approach)
JazzMataz
Musical fun and songs for very young learners
Learningzone
Resources extracted from Practicezone, Grammarzone and Phonicszone
Quick link to Learningzone screenshots
  • Materials are organised into 3 levels of learning.
  • Wherever applicable, activities are graded in levels of competences required to understand or produce the language (In accordance with CEFR levels).
  • The programme includes added vocabulary / grammar help to enable independent learning.
  • Assessments and progress monitoring are currently in development.
Juniorzone
New resource: English at secondary level
Quick link to Juniorzone short description

ENGLISHZONE materials are varied and engaging:
  • The stories, songs and poems are either original or adapted from traditional folklore, promoting intercultural awareness.
  • Our stories are rich in vocabulary and grammar patterns. After positive concrete outcomes, (in the form of games, quizzes, drama, songs, projects, book making, colouring, etc…) they also develop children's learning strategies such as listening for general meaning, predicting, guessing meaning, and hypothesising.
  • The graphics and animations are colourful, often lively, quirky and amusing
  • The video presentations are short and to the point.
  • Many of the stories and songs have complementary activities (quizzes, games etc…) encouraging and facilitating a varied learning experience.

ENGLISHZONE is flexible and follows the teacher's or learner's pace:

Users have complete control of the interactions:

  • The interactive stories and songs are designed with play/pause controls that enable teachers or individual students to view and listen to them at their own pace.
  • The interactive games are “untimed” and can be played by a whole class group with teams or students individually and in pairs.
  • Most input allows the text to be displayed or hidden.
  • Most displayed text is clickable so that the user can hear it read aloud at will.
  • Flash games are untimed, with immediate feedback.
  • “Hot potatoes” mini-tests are designed with added graphic or sound support. They are voluntarily kept short and include detailed feedback.

Within a theme or a level, all resources are accessible at any time:

  • Stories, songs and presentations are animated in Flash or Video format displaying well on interactive boards and individual computers.
  • They are always accompanied by a downloadable PDF transcript.
  • In Learningzone, each unit includes a vocabulary section where individual words or expressions are linked to the relevant input and offer interactive options for sound, picture and text.
  • In Learningzone, grammar presentations include a web page where relevant sections can be translated into the learner’s language if necessary.

ENGLISHZONE provides useful and adaptable tools for teachers:

(Examples below)
Parts of the body - Vocabulary

Parts of the body (Vocabulary display) with interactions: Click on a word to animate a part.

  • Oral games
  • TPR games
Where are they?

Where are they? (Vocabulary/Structures display) with interactions:
Characters can be dragged anywhere on the screen.
What do you do after school?

After-school (Vocabulary/Structures display) with interactions:
Mouse over a picture to view text / Click on a picture to hear text.

  • Oral games
  • TPR games
  • Noughts and crosses on IWB
What do you like?

Likes and dislikes (Vocabulary/Structures display) with interactions:
Mouse over a picture to view text / Click on a picture to hear text.

  • Oral games
  • Sentence building
Write on the wall.

Write on the wall:
Letters can be dragged anywhere on the screen.

 Calendar

Interactive calendar:
Symbols can be dragged to the boxes. (Includes sound)

Others tools include:

  • Downloadable MP3 soundtracks for songs or dialogues: Teachers can include them in listening activities.
  • Downloadable PDFs: Transcripts or activities related to input.

Short description of the "zones"

Within PRACTICEZONE, activities are organised in 12 Topics + Holidays & Festivals

Practicezone Units
  1. I can speak English
  2. All about me
  3. Family
  4. Animals
  5. My Birthday
  6. The world around me
  7. My school
  8. I would like...
  9. Sports
  10. Clothes
  11. Where I live
  12. I Travel
  13. Holidays and Festivals

GRAMMARZONE presents activities clearly organised, focusing on specific grammatical points

Grammarzone Levels

Together with an aide-memoire of the CEFR for teachers, one area of the site is dedicated to preparing for the Cambridge Young Learners Examinations (Currently Flyers).

PICTUREZONE contains a wealth of visual resources for both teachers and students,
once again divided into sub-topics for ease of use.

The sub-topics are 'People and jobs', 'Food', 'Landmarks and Places', 'In Town',
'Shopping', 'Transport', 'Leisure and Holidays' and 'Miscellaneous'.

Picturezone

PHONICSZONE a complete audio/visual course with exercises

Phonicszone EFL

Phonicszone is complemented by the Teachers Coursebook LCF Phonics Extra.

LEARNINGZONE
Learningzone - Level 1
Learningzone - Level 2
Learningzone - Level 3
Learningzone - Unit sample

JUNIORZONE - CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT

Juniorzone - Resources for levels A2-B1 / Learners aged 11 to 16.
First phase of Development = Equivalent to Key Stage 3 in UK (11 to 14 year olds) = Pre-intermediate towards Intermediate levels

Juniorzone Topics

Juniorzone topics:

  1. Survival Kit
  2. You, them and me
  3. At home with my family, and other animals
  4. The world around us, other cultures
  5. Eat well to live well
  6. Life at school
  7. Urban and rural environments
  8. Sports and leisure, going out
  9. Travel, transport, on holidays
  10. Shopping, money
  11. A year in festivals
  12. Work and society
  13. All songs and poems
  14. All stories and dialogues
  15. All graded tests
  16. Cross-curricular ideas

Coming Soon

  • Progress tracking and reporting (online tool for teachers)
  • Mini-Tests/Worksheets can be completed online rather than downloaded and then can be saved, by class, for review at the teachers convenience

Technical Requirements for LCF Englishzone

LCF Englishzone is a web based resource and requires only an internet connection from a computer.

Content is created in the following format:

  • Flash
  • HTML
  • PDF
  • MP3
  • FLV Video

The content is available online with the exception of resources in PDF or MP3 format that can be downloaded.

The computer requires a web browser installed and one that supports Adobe Flash files. LCF recommends Mozilla Firefox. Adobe Acrobat Reader is also required for PDF files. Mozilla and Adobe software is available as open source (free) downloads.