English Listening Resources
Having good listening skills are an important part of being able to communicate effectively in a any language. If you really want to improve your listening skills, be sure to practice at least 4 times a week. Not everyone has time or the stamina (YET!) to watch a film in another language. Think about acquiring skills like going to the gym. If you go and try to do exercises or lift weights that are too difficult or too heavy, you will lose your motivation.
Below you’ll find a list of English Listening Resources that covers many different topics and areas of interest. As well, our PINTEREST boards are divided by areas and contain interesting videos and articles, so be sure to have a look.
- ted.com – If you click on “watch” at the top of the page, you can then choose topics, length of the listening, and language.
- www.topdocumentaryfilms.com– there are some really good ones on here! I really like the Louis Theroux ones. They’re about an hour long and cover interesting topics.
- A good source of colloquial language is television shows that have interviews. Here’s a list of some you can find on youtube.
The Late Late Show with James Corden
James Corden also has a bit on the show called Carpool Karaoke – he drives around with famous singers talking and singing
- News sites
American
https://www.youtube.com/c/Nbclearn/videos
https://edition.cnn.com/videos
British
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/10318236/headlines-from-bbc-news
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGuardian/videos
https://news.sky.com– There are videos down the right-hand side and also short audios of the headlines
- Podcasts
https://serialpodcast.org– they investigate unsolved stories. The first season is about a young man who was convicted of killing his girlfriend, and the second season is about the soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, who abandoned his post in Afghanistan.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast
https://themoth.org/podcast– a collection of stories. Some sad, some funny.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-economist-editors-picks/id313848583?mt=2– The Economist – current affairs
https://podfanatic.com/podcast/the-economist-special-reports– The Economist – current affairs
https://www.radiolab.org– variety of topics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nq0gn/episodes/downloads– Global news podcast
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cbs-local/60-minutes-full-audio– variety of topics
Tips
- Don’t try to understand EVERYTHING! Just listen for meaning.
- Don’t use subtitles. We always go to our strongest skill. And, usually, reading is a stronger skill than listening.
- Try to do a little every day. Increase the length of the listening. Not only are you trying to understand, but you need to build your stamina for concentration.
Your Task
In the comments below, we’d love to hear if you tried any of the listening resources above! Also, have you found any sites that you have found useful for listening?
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