Online courses directory (13)

Basic Chinese – Introduction to Social and Leisure Activities is a free online Chinese language course that will take you through the basics of talking about your social and leisure time, from your hobbies and sports interests to making plans to meet with friends or go to the movies as well as talking about your planned vacation. You will also learn about the Chinese festivals and how they are celebrated. You will be able to go the mall and buy something to wear or a gift for a friend. Words and phrases are presented via audio, Chinese script, Pinyin and English to facilitate learning. The content is broken down into key terms and vocabulary. There are also video clips accompanied by a transcript and translation with additional key cultural and grammatical points being highlighted and explained. This free online Chinese language course will be of great interest to anybody wanting to travel to China, either as a tourist or for business, business people who have regular contact with Chinese colleagues and for any learner who has an interest in speaking or reading Chinese. <br />

When traveling in a foreign country everybody needs to know how to book a hotel room, check in and check out as well as the basics of ordering something to eat and drink in a restaurant or cafe. This free online Chinese language course will take you through the basics of reserving a room and enquiring about facilities to checking out and paying the bill. You will also learn how to order tea and coffee in a café and also how to order core dishes and a drink in a restaurant. Words and phrases are presented via audio, Chinese script, Pinyin and English to facilitate learning. The content is broken down into key terms and vocabulary. There are also video clips accompanied by a transcript and translation with additional key cultural and grammatical points being highlighted and explained. This free online Chinese language course will be of great interest to anybody wanting to travel to China, either as a tourist or for business, business people who have regular contract with Chinese colleagues and for any learner who had an interest in speaking or reading Chinese. <br />

While China has increasingly adopted Western influences, the traditional family structure is still highly valued and holds a prominent position in Chinese culture. This free online Chinese language course will help you converse confidently about your family. You will learn how to tell people more about your family, from how many brothers and sisters or children you have, what age they are, what they are studying, and what your parents work at. You will get an overview of the Chinese family and its role in Chinese life and well as a detailed list of how family members are referred to. Words and phrases are presented via audio, Chinese script, Pinyin and English to facilitate learning. The content is broken down into key terms and vocabulary. There are also video clips accompanied by a transcript and translation with key cultural and grammatical points being highlighted and explained. This free online Chinese language course will be of great interest to anybody wanting to travel to China, either as a tourist or for business, business people who have regular contact with Chinese colleagues and for any learner who has an interest in speaking or reading Chinese. <br />

Building on the ‘First Contact’ course you will learn how to say more about yourself, from stating where you are from and what languages you speak to telling others what you are studying and describing your family. When talking about age you are introduced to numbers. You will also learn about the formation of the written Chinese characters, the types of strokes and the order in which the strokes are placed, the formation of words and the different styles of writing. The difference between Simplified and Traditional Chinese is briefly explained as well as how to use a Chinese dictionary. Words and phrases are presented via audio, Chinese script, Pinyin and English to facilitate learning. The content is broken down in key terms, vocabulary. There are also video clips accompanied by a transcript and translation with key cultural and grammatical points being highlighted and explained. This free online Chinese language course will be of great interest to anybody wanting to travel to China, either as a tourist or for business, business people who have regular contact with Chinese colleagues and for any learner who has an interest in speaking or reading Chinese.<br />

China is a large country with many large cities so at some stage the traveller to China will need to use transport to travel around the country or a city. This free online Chinese language course will take you through the basics of getting a taxi, giving the driver directions, and paying the fare. You will also learn how to ask for directions to local places of interest and use the bus to get there. For travelling longer distances you will learn how to enquire about train departure and arrival times, and book and pay for the ticket. Words and phrases are presented via audio, Chinese script, Pinyin and English to facilitate learning. The content is broken down into key terms and vocabulary and there are also video clips accompanied by a transcript and translation, with additional key cultural and grammatical points being highlighted and explained. This free online Chinese language course will be of great interest to anybody wanting to travel to China, either as a tourist or for business, business people who have regular contract with Chinese colleagues and for any learner who had an interest in speaking or reading Chinese. <br />

French is spoken by millions of people in many countries around the world and is a very popular second language to learn. ALISON's free online course is a series of engaging video lessons for beginners that introduces the learner to various aspects of the French language including basic French vocabulary and grammar. By studying this French course you will quickly pick up conversational French that will help you deal with everyday situations you may find yourself in when you visit a French speaking country. <br /><br />ALISON's online course will help you learn French online and will be of great interest to all learners who want to pick up basic French language skills.<br />

German is spoken by nearly one hundred million people in central European countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union. Germany is internationally recognised as the industrial and economic powerhouse of Europe, so a working knowledge of German is essential for professionals in areas such as business, finance, economics and politics. In this free online German language course you will be introduced to basic German vocabulary and grammar. You will learn about times of the day, colours, numbers, the alphabet, and important verbs. This free online German language course will be of great interest to all professionals who would like to begin learning German, and to all learners who would like to be introduced to this very important European language.<br />

Proper grammar is essential to communicating well in English. ALISON's free online English diploma course introduces the fundamental aspects of English grammar and explains how they should be applied in written and spoken English.<br /><br />The first section of this course explains the role of grammar in English. Following this, the importance of punctuation is described. The online English grammar course also explains the different parts of speech and the role they play in English sentences. Finally, the course introduces all of the tenses used in the English language through well-produced videos.<br /><br />This free online English grammar course is ideal for English language students who wish to complement their vocabulary and phrases with a greater understanding of grammar. It is also suitable for native English speakers who want to revise their grammar or learn to communicate more effectively.<br />

International tourism is a vital part of the economy of many countries and with its continued growth the tourist industry will provide many employment opportunities for individuals with the appropriate skills and qualifications. This course allows you combine the study of many aspects of international tourism and tourism-focused English language skills. The course describes the formation of the tourist industry as well as outlining its sectors and employment opportunities. It then explains the needs of both business and pleasure travelers and the ways that tourism businesses/destinations can market themselves effectively. The final section explains how the tourist industry packages and sells tourism products through retail and online channels. English is the main language of international communication and is essential for people working in the tourist industry. This course introduces the English vocabulary necessary for working at a hotel reception or front desk. It explains how to communicate with potential customers during enquiries as well as how to reserve rooms for hotel guests. It then describes the steps involved in check-in and check-out and how to resolve customer complaints with helpful and non-offensive phrases. This course details the English necessary for working in restaurants in tourist areas or hotels. It explains how to take customer orders and provides key English expressions for every stage of restaurant service. This course details the English necessary for working in tourist information offices including how to provide directions, understand guidebooks and write press releases. The English needed for conducting guided tours is also defined. This free online course will be of great interest to all learners who would like to develop a career path in the tourist industry and who would like a qualification that combines study of international tourism with the practical application of tourism-focused English language skills.<br />

French is spoken by 110 million native speakers, is an official language in 29 countries and has 190 million non-native speakers around the world. This free online course is ideal for learners who have had some exposure to the French language and want to continue improving their knowledge and understanding of both grammar and vocabulary of this wonderful language. You will start this free course by improving your pronunciation skills. This is followed by learning more useful vocabulary and further expanding your ability to count numbers in French. You will also improve your understanding and knowledge of grammar rules, in particular, the use of adjectives, adverbs and pronouns. This course will be of interest to business professionals doing business in French speaking countries and who would like to communicate more effectively with their French speaking colleagues, and to individual students learning French who would like to continue improving their understanding of this language.<br />

For learners who have studied our first two French courses, this third course will further increase your understanding of the French language. You will build on your existing knowledge of French vocabulary and master important areas of grammar that will greatly improve your comprehension of the French language and your ability to communicate effectively with native French speakers. In this free online French language course you will be taken step by step through grammar topics such as using adverbs and prepositions, using relative and demonstrative pronouns and understanding the differences between 'depuis', 'pendant', 'pour' and 'il y a'. You will also cover a wide range of new topics and learn vocabulary related to jobs, professions, religion, law and order, driving and music to name just a few. This course will be of great interest to all learners of the French language who would like to take their knowledge and understanding to a new level and further deepen their comprehension of this language.<br />

When learning a new language an important first step is to learn the rules of grammar that allow people express what they want to say and understand what others are saying in a coherent manner. An equally important second step is to practise using the rules of grammar to become proficient in communicating in the language. In this free online English language course you will get to practise using important rules of grammar that will greatly improve your ability to communicate in both spoken and written English. You will practise the use of tenses such as the present continuous, past perfect, past simple, present perfect continuous and past perfect continuous to improve your ability to communicate. You will also practise and learn how to use superlatives and comparatives, and practise using reported speech. This free online English language course will be of great interest to all learners who have studied previous English language courses on ALISON such as 'Fundamentals of English Grammar' and 'Introduction to Conversational English', and who now want to further practise and improve their ability to communicate confidently in English.<br />

Lyrics Training is a Web application that allows you to read and listen to the lyrics from music videos and can be used as a fun and interactive way for language teachers and trainers to introduce new vocabulary and grammar to their students in a classroom setting. This free online language learning course will introduce you to the features and functionality of Lyrics Training, you will learn how to choose a song in the language you are learning and listen to the lyrics of the song word by word. Lyrics Training allows students to fill in the lyrics as they go along, and the difficulty level they choose decides how many words in a sentence are missing and they must fill in. This online language learning tool is particularly useful for students of foreign languages who want a fun and entertaining way to learn the correct pronunciation of words and it will improve their listening skills as students must identify words from a song. This free language learning course will be of great interest to all language teachers and trainers who would like to learn more about Web 2.0 applications that can greatly improve the learning experience of their students, and to all learners who would like to learn about using Lyrics Training for a fun way of learning a new language.<br />