Practice Collocations

Collocations - An arrangement or juxtaposition of words or other elements, especially those that commonly co-occur, as rancid butter, bosom buddy, or dead serious.
They are collections of words that occur together in discourse.

Below are two sites to practice collocations in English.

http://www.ccym.edu.hk/english/Hkcee/Collocation.htm

http://www.better-english.com/strongcoll.htm

Americans and Food - Listening Comprehension

Voice of America News Online (www.voanews.com) has a Special English section where you can listen to podcasts online and read the written transcripts that accompany them.

Here's an interesting podcast on Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma which deals with America's unhealthy and destructive relationship with food.
Click here to access the audio file and the transcript: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-02-17-voa1.cfm

I suggest you read the transcript first, then listen to the podcast, then listen again with the transcript in front of you. If this topic doesn't interest you, check out the many other podcasts listed on the Voice of America website.

Stress & Intonation in English - Practice

Please go to the link below to read about and practice stress and intonation in English.
http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa100500a.htm

North American English Vowel Chart

ManyThings.org features several webpages for practicing your spoken English. For Italian speakers, please go to the "Minimal Pair Practice and Quizzes" page and focus on Lessons #3, 5, 7, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 23.