Listening

Welcome to the Listening Page

What is listening?  ( basic) 
What is listening   (Int. /Advanced)
Why Learn About Different Types of Listening
Different Types of Listening  (Entry level l,2,3 - Level 1) 
Types of Listening ( Advanced) 
Active Listening: What is it? How do you do it? 
Ineffective Listening: Barriers to Listening
Common Misconceptions ( Wrong Ideas) About Listening 

Barriers to Effective Communication 
Listening for Specifics ( basic) 

Improving Listening Skills  

   If you want to improve your listening, you must listen to English as much and as often as you can.   You need to surround yourself with the MUSIC of the English language.

You need to do this without subtitles or captions or reading, just to get the feel of the English language.  If you start right away with scripts and subtitles, you won't  your listening skills, only  your reading skills.

It takes effort to improve something that is difficult. If you don't make the effort, you will not improve. 

Use subtitles, and scripts AFTER you start getting used to the "sound and rhythm" of English and begin to understand some of what you are listening to.  

At this point, English captions and scripts can help you build your vocabulary and other

How to Practice Listening with Recorded Materials

General Tips: 

• Remember, you are NOT A COMPUTER. You DO NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND or REMEMBER every single word you hear in order to have a general understanding of what you are listening. Even native speakers do not hear or remember every word. They are focusing on the main content, not every tiny detail. 

• It is  better to understand 20% of the key words and content words than to try and catch many unimportant words. You will increase the percentage of content words that you understand if you accept that you will not, cannot, and do not need to  understand everything and continue to practice focusing on what you DO understand, rather than on getting upset, and trying to remember what you DIDN'T understand or hear.

• Don't translate words and sentences into your own language as you listen.  When you translate, you are always five or six sentences behind what is being said in the conversation. As a result, you completely lose the "gist" or the context of the conversation itself.

 Procedure:

• First, listen to the story, or episode several times without subtitles, reading the script or even quiz,or comprehension questions. This will help you to let your ear get accustomed to the rhythm of English, and also help you to get a general idea of the story on your own. 

• Sometimes, it is a good idea to close your eyes when you listen for the first time. This can help you focus on the sounds and words you are listening to instead of becoming distracted by other things around you.  Do this with both video, and audio. It is particularly helpful with news stories. 

• In your first listening, listen for the big picture: main ideas, content words that will give you important details you need to understand the story. 

• You do not need to understand every word to understand the story, so do not even try to listen to every word. 

• Listen to the word and sentence stress of the speaker or speakers. That will help you understand content words.

• Listen to the intonation of the speakers. Do they sound, excited, surprised, angry, certain, uncertain, upset?

• As you listen focus on the context. Try to answer some of the following questions in your mind: 
• Where is the conversation taking place ( in a shop, at work, at school, on the street, in an airport, at home, etc? 
• What is the relationship between the speakers? ( Are they friends, colleagues, family members, customer and clerk etc.
• When is this conversation taking place ( during an event, before something., after something, in the morning, at lunch, on a date   
• What is this conversation about generally?

• When  you have a general idea of what the story, or video is about, try to answer comprehension  questions, or to read the script along with the story.

 VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:

• DO NOT STOP and START the recording or video every few sentences in order  to try and completely understand what the people are saying. Conversations are not dictations. You do not need to take word by word notes, nor do you need to understand every single word someone says. You will NEVER have this opportunity in the real word, or even on a listening test. 

• Teach yourself good habits immediately. Make sure you that listen to enough of the conversation or lecture to get some kind of context, big picture of what it is all about.

• If the conversation or lecture is short. Listen to the whole thing all the way through before stopping it and playing it again. After you have listened to the whole thing, then you can listen to it in "chunks", but again, the chunks should be at least a minute long. 

 Stopping and Starting the audio:

• Later, when you have done the main listening work and activities, you may want to concentrate on vocabulary, specific expressions, or even pronunciation. 
• At this point, go ahead and stop and start the player as often as you want in order to focus on specific language.Write new words and expressions that you hear. 
• At this point, you may also want to turn on the captions or read along with the script, if the script is provided. At this point, you will have made a real effort,. and the script or captions will help you to check your understanding, as well as to help you improve your ability to understand 

BASIC LISTENING PRACTICE

How to Improve Your Listening Skills 

• How to Listen and Understand English ( video with quiz) 
• 4 Ways to understand what you hear SourceEnglish withJames  
• How to Improve Your Listening  ( Source: EnglishVid.Com - Ronnie)  Video: 3 Major Tips To Help Improve Your Listening Skills
• Video: Effective Listening Skills  
• How to Be a Better Listener Part 1 
• Types of Listening from BBC Skillwise  
• Listening for Details from BBC Skillwise  
• Shadowing
• Shadowing What it is and how it can help you.  

HOW TO LEARN ENGLISH In GENERAL  

• How NOT to Learn English at Home
• How Not to Learn English At School 
• How to Learn English More Effectively 
• How to Maximize your English Learning

LISTENING TO

 CONVERSATIONAL EXPRESSIONS

expressing opinions, agreement, disagreement, refusing, delaying tactics etc, 

• How to join an ongoing conversation  NEW 
• How to say NO : Communication  Skills that Work  NEW 
  
• How to avoid a conversation  NEW 
• Don't be Shy  NEW 
• Conversation Skills: Hesitation devices...uh/um...NEW

• How to Express Preferences ( Which do/would you prefer?)
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• Many practices listening to specific words: listening and pronunciation 
• Saying "I Understand:" A Great Way to Make People Like You
• Understanding When People Use Tag Questions 
• Making a Request (Funny Version)  
• Can You Do Me a Favour: Saying NO 
• Inviting + comprehension  SOURCE: Englishinvancouver.blogspot.com

ENGLISH AT WORK (NEW)

From the BBC a  70 part series of programmes set in an office, full of top tips to help you learn some useful communication  skills and  business language  you can use in the workplace. 

• A crisis at work
• The Interruption
• How not to sound too bossy
• Doing Lunch

Every Day English in Conversation

 (very natural sounding  dialogues about every day topics)  

Every Day English in Conversation  (Focus English) Includes complete dialogue

• Communication  ( You're so Difficult to get Through to, 
• Eating
• Emotions (v I can't stand him, No wonder you're livid)
• Fashion ( conversations about skin care, clothing, cosmetics)
• Health
• Traffic( car and car problems,  accidents, tyraffic jams)  

LISTENING FOR NUMBERS: 

• English Numbers. Com

EXAM LISTENING PRACTICE

This page has specific test-based listening tips and strategies from the best known international English listening tests.  BUT,  if you really want to improve your listening, make sure you watch and listen to a much wider range of listening materials.  

If you plan to work, go to school or justg live in an English- speaking country, remember - REAL listening involves much more than choosing a, b, c, or d in a multiple choice test, or filling in the blanks on a form.  You have to UNDERSTAND and more importantly RESPOND APPROPRIATELY to what you are listening to.  This is called communication. 

TOEFL Listening Practice 

Complete Tests

• Exam listening practice ( Test your level) 
•  Free Sample TOEFL Test 

TOEFL :Listening Practice
TOEFL 46 Longer Dialogue Practices
61 Short Dialogue Practices( each one includes 10 questions)
TOEFL Listening for Main Ideas  

TOEFL Practice 51 Mini lecture Practices 
TOEFL 66 Mini Lecture Practices  New 
91 TOEFL Practice Listening Gap Fill Tests  New
TOEFL IBT (Computer) Practice  
31 TOEFL Idiom Listening tests from English Test Store New
Gist Guide 40 Listening Practices  (You need Quick Time  media player)

   

TOEFL LISTENING ON YOU TUBE : 
Toefl IBT from ETS

• TOEFL Listening Practice on You Tube ( 28 videos 2:30 - to 6:00min_  
• Toefl TV The Official TOEFL Channel  
• TOEFL Listening Test 101  
• Conversation 306 You tube  
• Lecture Practice 201  
• Lecture 401 You tube

 A Yard Sale ( English with Jennifer)

TOEIC Listening Practice

• 610 TOEIC photographs  
• 200 TOEIC Question and Response Dialogues   
• 200 TOEIC Longer Conversations  
• 200 TOEIC Short Talks including radio commercials  
• TOEIC Listening Test ( I whole test) 
• TOEIC Listening Practice ( Mini Test with all 4 sections 40 questions)  

YOU TUBE Complete TOEIC Test Practice 

• Complete Oxford TOEIC Listening Test Practice  ( part 2  at 6: 41, Part 3 8 minutes)
• Complete Toeic Test # 1 ( American and Australian voices) Part 3 at 18 minutes

Longman TOEIC Practice 

I don't think this is the "real LONGMAN" DESPITE the photo of the book. The contents and questions are realistic, but the voices are "stilted" and not natural.   Still useful, but the REAL test will be more DIFFICULT.    

• TOEIC Listening Test ( 43 min) Longman #1  
• TOEIC Listening Test ( 43 min) Longman # 2  
• TOEIC Listening Test ( Longman #3) 
• TOEIC Listening Test ( Longman #4)  
• TOEIC Listening Test Longman # 5  
• TOEIC Listening Test ( Longman #6)  
•  

IELTS Listening Practice 

Overview of the 4 parts of the IELTS Listening Exam  

Dominic Cole's IELTS You Tube Channel

IELTS Practice Materials  (large site with many opportunities) 

•  IELTS Listening Practice 
• Listening for Numbers, Names and Addresses 
• Listening to Directions on a Map New
• Listening to Directions  New
• Listening Practice: A Festival  New 
• At The Train Station and at The Hotel  New
• Listening Test 1   SOURCE: CANADAVISA   New
• Listening Practice 2  SOURCE: CANADA VISA  New
• Multiple Choice Practice NEW
• Practice 4: What To Do With Your Time  SOURCE: DOMINIC COLE'S IELTS BLOG   NEW

IELTS: Complete Practice Tests  ON YOU TUBE  

• Complete Test 2015 ( British Council) ( DIFFICULT)    NEW
• Complete Test #2 ( British Council) NEW 
•  Complete Test #3 2015 Oxford NEW 
• Complete Test #6 DIFFICULT NEW
• Complete Test #7 2015 NEW 
• Complete Practice Test #1 2015 NEW 
• Complete Test (Cambridge) DIFFICULT  NO KEY NEW  
• Complete Test #2 2015 NEW 
• Complete Test #1 January  2014 NEW  
• Complete Test #2 June 2014  NEW 
• Complete Test #2 2012   NEW 
• Complete IELTS Practice Test 2013 ( answers at the end)  NEW 
• Complete IELTS Practice Listening 1 Test # 2 from Cambridge
• Complete IELTS Practice Listening Test 2 
• 9 IELTS Practice Listening Tests  

IELTS Practice from the British Council for Professionals

• IELTS Listening Test Tips Introduction
• IELTS Listening Exam Tips Part 1  
•  IELTS Listening Exam Practice Tips Part 2
•  More Tips for the Listening Exam
•  Mock Listening Paper (Dormitory Tour)  NEW
•  Mock Listening Paper (Economics Group) NEW  
• Sample Listening Paper Literature Group  NEW 

British Council  U.K. Main Site NEW

•  (British Council) Sample IELTS Academic Listening Test Section 1
• Sample IELTS Listening Test Section 2  ( British Council) 
• Sample IELTS Listening Test Section 3  
• Sample IELTS  Listening Test Section 4 
• PDF Blank Answer Sheet for IELTS test   
  
• PDF Answer Key for test  
•  PDF All Questions to IELTS sample listening test

Road to IELTS   NEW

interactive online practice with all skills. Includes  e book, online tutorials and advice, practice tests,feedback on type of errors, progress reports  

• Road To IELTS online 
• Road to Ielts Academic Listening Module
• Road to IELTS Listening Module (General Training)

IELTS Listening Preparation: Source British Council China

These practices do not exactly follow the IELTS formula, but they are still good listening practices.You can listen at three different speeds: slow, medium and fast

•  A House Explosion
• A Robbery  
• At the Train Station  
• Banking   
• Difficulties of having a Car 
• Helpline 
• In a Post Office 
• Language School
• Ordering a Pizza

IELTS Listening Practice from YOU TUBE (new) 

Strategies and Tips  
Better Listening Skills for IELTS Dominic ColeYou Tube  

How to Improve your IELTS Listening Skills  Dominic Cole 
Listening for Context in IELTS  ( How to understand what you are going to listen to)  Dominic Cole

• 14 Tips to Improve Your IELTS Listening 

Explanation for Multiple Choice Listening for IELTS

  IELTS Listening Test Strategies (Online English Club)  
  IELTS Listening Section Strategies ( 9 videos)  ( Academic English Help.com) 
 IELTS Listening: General Strategies 
 IELTS Listening Section 3 Source: Academic English Help) 

IELTS Listening Practice with tutorial and subtitles 
IELTS Listening Practice Tutorial ( Listening to a Talk:vocab + explanations and  answers)  James from Crown Academy

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IELTS Listening Practice Activities NEW
Lifestyles ( Fill in Missing Information) source ESL4Free
Tea Myths 
Water  
Medical Net
Unreliable Web
Keyring Drive
The Value of MMS ( Messaging Service)
What's in a Name 
Being Single
Japan's Population
Bullying Bosses 

The NEW IELTS Listening  Test Practice ( You Tube)  NEW

• Tourist Directions 
• Cinema Questionnaire
• Room Layout
• Job Interview Details
• School Development Plans

 Pearson Test of Academic English (PET)

• PET Pearson Academic English Test
• PTE Academic Listening Practice 1  
• PET Academic Listening Practice 2  
• PET Academic Listening Test 3 
• PTE General Level 2 Listening Test  
• PTE General Level 3 Listening Test  
• PTE General Level Listening Test 1  
• PTE General Level 4 Listening Test 2 
• PTE General Level 5 Listening Test  

Other Academic Listening Tests 

• 100 Academic Test Gap Fill Passages: Listen and Fill in the Blanks New 
• 26 (Put the sentences in the right order quizzes)   SEQUENCING PRACTICE
• Pronunciation Quizzes: What Word Did You Hear? from English Test Store
• 135 Quizzes Main Stress of Word in Sentences

Practice Paraphrasing: Same Meaning Sentences 

• 54 Quizzes Choose the Sentence with the Same Meaning ( Paraphrase)
•  20  Quizzes  Sentences with the Same Meaning Paraphrase)

First English Certificate Listening Practice NEW

Thematic units with three kinds of practice in each activity: listening for (gist) - getting the big picture, listening for details and listening for inference.  

FCE Listening Practice Activities  ( British Accent)

• Describing Places: Describing a House 
• Money: Time for Presents   
• Health  (Afraid of Dentists)  
• Interviews 
• Travel  
• Historic Moments ( Kennedy's Assassination)  
• Relationships (A Peculiar Family)
•  Education ( Studying Abroad) 
• Society: Homeless Harlem  
• The News: Crime  

MINI LECTURES  

• 15 Mini Lectures from to learnenglish 
• English the Easy Language  
• Sandspits (Mini Lecture Quiz source EFL NET)  
• Adam Curry Mini Lecture Quiz 
• Edmond G Ross Mini Lecture Quiz
• The Dilbert Principle Mini Listening Quiz 
• William Labov Mini Lecture Quiz 
• The Four Minute Mile
• Culture Shock ESL -lab
• Stereotypes of Native People in Canada  
• Rescue at Sea Listen to the lecture without reading. Try to answer the questions. Then, listen and re
• A Short History of Marriage 
• The Irish Famine  
• The Origins of Conflict in Ireland  
• It's a Small World ( source Lingua Spectrum)  
• Ten Fun Facts About the English Language  

GRAMMAR BASED LISTENING  NEW


Sound Grammar.com
e An excellent way to practice listening to specific grammar points used in a real context text through audio and video based grammar lessons with sample conversations with audio, video tutorial and interactive quiz .

• Present Simple for Future ( Source Sound Grammar.com)  
• Adverbs of Frequency
• There is/There are/ one/many/some
• Modals Necessity and Suggestion (Must, Should, Have to)
• Listening for "The"

Listening to Conversations: 

• Lower Intermediate Listening Exercises  ( includes exercises and activities) Source Agenda Web 
• Practical English Dialogues (with scripts) 
• English Conversation (A Video Library of Conversations)         ( includes scripts, but no exercises) 

Intermediate Listening Practice
The Beautiful Game (1)  dialogue (British accent) gap fill Source: Sounds English
The Beautiful Game(2) English Accent  Source: Sounds English

Randall's Cyber Listening Lab 
Randall's Cyber  Listening Lab ( esl-lab.com)

This was the first listening lab on the internet that was specifically developed for ESL students. It is still one of my favourite listening practice sites for students because although  the English is a little slowed down, the conversations represent "real" conversations you would have in every day life. They are NOT just test preparation dialogues - which frequently only deal with "academic conversations" rather than normal conversations between all kinds of people.

The site includes hundreds of everyday conversations graded easy, medium and difficult. It also includes at Academic listening practice, vocabulary based listening, daily tips listening and  even "real" conversation

The content is strictly audio. That means you listen without pictures. You can improve  
Improve your listening skills through practice and self grading quizzes that focus on on "normal" conversation topics in many situations. 

The quizzes include pre-listening questions, listening questions, vocabulary explanation and post listening questions as well as transcripts 

Daily life topics:  
Easy

• Answering Machine  
• A Day at School

Medium:

• Friday Night Mishaps

Difficult

• A Great Car Deal (difficult)
• Store Returns (difficult) 
• ABC of Money Matters  
• Home Repairs

ELLLO ( English Listening Lesson Library  Online) 

These are intermediate and advanced level listening activities that include real conversations with native  speakers about a wide variety of topics.  The speakers use idiomatic language. You can listen and take a quiz. Then listen and read along with the quiz.

• Interviews and Conversations: The Big List of Topics
• Conversation: Job Options with Quiz 
• Athletes  ( 5 topics       
• A Bad Hair Day
• How People Feel About Welfare in the U.S Source ELLO advanced 

EASY LISTENING GAMES

• Listening  Games from ELLO NEW

Conversations and Dialogues from About.com

•  a Job Opportunity (Dialogue) 
• A Job Opportunity (2) Dialogue  
• A Customer Request  
• A Customer Request (2)  
• A survey  
• A Crime: A Policeman Asking Questions  
• A trip to London ( monologue + comprehension questions)  

Medical Dialogues  Medical DialoguesClick on one of the topics. Then click See full cartoon. Click the round arrow on the right and wait for the sound file to load. Excellent site and no password needed.
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Admitting a Patient to hospital - Establishing Relationships

Mini Lecture and Note-taking Practice from ESL-Lab.com

Take notes as you listen to the short lecture. ( Watch the first one for an example). Then, go to the website link indicated and answer the comprehension questions.  Do not look at the comprehension questions first.

•  Credit Cards

• Part Time Jobs
• Gas station

Time 4 English: 

Mainly short interesting news stories read at a medium speed. Includes comprehension questions.

• Low Fat Yoghurt Scandal ( with questions) 
• Dog Endangers Then Saves Man  
• Milk Linked to Acne  
• Cats Generate Billions  

hings for Students

A series of podcasts aimed at ESL students. They come from a number of different sources and cover a wide range of topics including the most recent current events, and pop culture stories. Some podcasts are short talks. Others involve conversations, dialogues or interviews. You can listen to the podcasts at a slow, medium or fast speed. Each podcast includes a script that you can read as you listen, or  read later. 



REGULAR PODCASTS  AIMED AT NATIVE SPEAKERS   

(These are not always as difficult as you think. Many ofd them are quite easy to understand because of the topic , th context and the length of the program)

• Parent Teacher Interviews  

SHORT  VIDEOS WITH QUIZZES  

• A Video on Beauty - Highly recommended 
• Jeremy Lin The Best of 2012 from ESL Video New
• How Does Advertising Work? ( Source ESL Video )
• Addicted To Technology  
•  Tipping Etiquette  from ESL Video
• How to Remember What You Read  (Source ESL Video)
• How to Send a Resume  
• How do Videos Affect Behaviour?  
• Spiderman Origins and Story from English Magazine New
• The Truth About McDonald's  
• The History of Human Rights  (ESL Video)
• Keeping Kids Safe Online (ESL Video)
• Phases of the Moon   ESL Video New
• The Spaghetti Harvest  
• Gangs  (Quia)
• Bryce Canyon  (To Learn English)
• The Eccentric Career of Johnny Depp New
• What is an Avatar? New  (Learning English Online) 
• Harry Potter: One of the Best Selling Books Worldwide New
• Mr. Bean and His Final test Source ESL Video  
• The Berlin Wall  
• The Difference between Great Britain and the U.K.( British Council Learn English New
• Visit-the-set-of-high-school-musical-3 ( Learning English Online)  NEW
• American Star Talks About Eating Disorder ( Listening/Vocab and Reading)  New 
• Speed Friending ( my own resources)  New 
• The World's English Mania (my own resources)  New 
• Ted Talks The Hidden Power of a Smile  (My own resources) New

Sports 

• How David Beckham Became A Professional Footballer (B1)   New
• Interview with David Beckham ( Family, Abusive Fans and Friends) (B1) New
• Formula One: Schumaker's Comeback (B2) New

Nature

• BP Oil Catastrophe (B2)  New 
• How Humans Make Rain B2 (Reading/Listening/Vocabulary) New  
• How the Earth Was Formed (B1- intermediate)  New
• Lions Hunt Elephants (B1 - Intermediate)  New
• What If Dinosaurs Hadn't Been Wiped Out (A2 - elementary (grammar/ listening) New
• The Story of Cosmetics B2 (Reading Listening/Vocabulary) New  
•  The Arctic in Danger ( A1- elementary)  New

Videos of "Classic" Short Stories  for Advanced ESL  

• The Bet ( by Anton Chekov) Part 1
•  The Bet by Anton Chekov Part 2
• The Last Leaf by O'Henry
• The Last Leaf animated
• Gift of the Magi animated
• Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes
• The Open Doors ( bnased on the Open Window by Saki)
• All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
• Lamb to the Slaughter
• A Dip in the Pool

Graded Readers 

The Elephant Man
  

READING PREPARATION FOR INTERNATIONAL TESTS 

• Huffington Post Speed Reading Test 
• Speed Reading Test online 
• How to improve you TOEFL IBT reading scores  ( videos) 
• Reading For IELTS  ( video)

ANIMATED STORIES ON VIDEO  

• The Book Box: Animated Stories with  subtitles  : A wonderful, entertaining series of animated videos in which a narrator tells a story. Each video has subtitles so that you can listen and read at the same time.
• The Little Pianist 
• The Moon and Her Mother  SOURCE: Linguaspectrum
• The Greatest Treasure 
• English Through 60 Stories (Another entertaining series of animated videos from the British Council. Each video is narrated and includes subtitles. Comprehension activities are available for subscribers. Subscription is free. 
• The Little Match Girl (you can read along)  
• The Little Shoe Maker  

LISTENING IN THE REAL WORLD

LONGER AUTHENTIC ACADEMIC LECTURES 

contents include: listening strategies, audio version, video version, comprehension activities 

• Listening to Academic Lectures 
• Lecture on Aboriginals  (23 minutes) 
• African Music Lecture  
• Modern China Lecture  
• The Picaresque Period  

American Rhetoric 100 Top Speeches (New)


Martin Luther King - I Have a Dream
Transcript I Have a Dream
Johnv F Kednnedy Ich Bein Berliner

ESL Listening Practice  

Interview about higher education

MOVIE CLIPS 

All movie clips have listening comprehension activities

• Eat, Pray Love
• Twilight: The Popular Vampire Saga 
• Miss Congeniality
• Bridesmaids 
• AVATAR  
• The Lovely Bones
• Away We Go
• Best Compliment from As Good As It Gets  
• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince  
• Terminator Salvation SOURCE ESOL COURSES
• Dead Poets Society with mini quiz  
• High Fidelity movie clips and script 
• Slumdog Millionaire Listening AND reading activities  
• Why We need Rice
• 
  
• Inviticus Review  Inviticus Worksheet 
• The Daily Script Scripts of Movies and TV Shows  
• Catch Me If You Can  
• Unbreakable  
• The Patriot  
• Gladiator  
• Lost In Translation 
• The Wedding Crashers   
• Almost Famous  
• Matchstick Men  
• Spirited Away   
•  Houston We Have a Problem (Apollo 13)  ESL Video ( L.I)  
• Baghad Express  
• Movie Trailer Dictations 

Movie Sound Clips with Dictations

TV ADVERTISEMENTS

• Evian Baby Inside
• Seatbelt Ad 
• Heaven Can Wait
• Sometimes You Need More than Medicine
• Simply the Best 
• The 12 Best I am Canadian TV ads  

Listening to Commercials: Find the Mistakes 

• Cheerios 
• Alexis Lechine Wines  
• Baggies Food Wrap  

• The Origins of Conflict in Ireland  

GRAMMAR BASED LISTENING  NEW


Sound Grammar.com
e An excellent way to practice listening to specific grammar points used in a real context text through audio and video based grammar lessons with sample conversations with audio, video tutorial and interactive quiz .

• Present Simple for Future ( Source Sound Grammar.com)  
• Adverbs of Frequency
• There is/There are/ one/many/some
• Modals Necessity and Suggestion (Must, Should, Have to)
• Listening for "The"

 MORE GRAMMAR IN LISTENING 

Listening for Grammar 

Listen and Identify the grammar mistakes  
How to Use Randall's Grammar Lessons on ESL-lab  

Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals  (NEW) 

This huge site contains a series of movie segments and activities to assess or practice grammar points through fun, challenging exercises. Although the site is aimed at teachers, students can also learn a lot from movie segments, the lesson plans, printable worksheets with answer key for each activity, and the tips to develop your own grammar activities with the DVDs you have at home. 


Movie Segments with Grammar Lessons: ( main site) 

• Numbers: DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS? 
• Giving Directions  "THE GHOSTWRITER" / "EDEN LAKE"
• Describing People's Physical Charactertics: "MONSTERS INC."  

• Count and non count Nouns  "CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS"
• Quantifiers for count non count nouns: IMAGINE THAT  

• Time Clauses [with When Before etc,]  "IN TIME"  
• The Other, others, another   AVATAR 
• Asking Questions: Prometheus, Patch Adams, 

SIMPLE PAST 

• Simple Past : FRANTIC  
• Simple Past: DUPLICITY 
• Simple Past with WH Questions: Mr. BEAN'S HOLIDAY  

SIMPLE PAST vs PAST CONTINUOUS  

• Simple Past/Past Continuous : HUGO  
• Simple Past vs Past Continuous : SEX AND THE CITY
• Past vs Past Continuous: THE LOVELY BONES  
• Simple Past /Past Continuous: THE PACIFIER  

 Simple Past vs Present Perfect 

• Simple Past vs Present Perfect: BURLESQUE
• Simple Past and Present Perfect: MARY and MAX  
• Simple Past/Past Perfect: SPLICE  

 ANIMATED STORIES ON VIDEO  

• The Book Box: Animated Stories with  subtitles  : A wonderful, entertaining series of animated videos in which a narrator tells a story. Each video has subtitles so that you can listen and read at the same time.
• The Little Pianist 
• The Moon and Her Mother  SOURCE: Linguaspectrum
• The Greatest Treasure 
• English Through 60 Stories (Another entertaining series of animated videos from the British Council. Each video is narrated and includes subtitles. Comprehension activities are available for subscribers. Subscription is free. 
• The Little Match Girl (you can read along)  
• The Little Shoe Maker  

TED TALKS 

 Ken Robinson: Schools Kill Creativity If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” (Ken Robinson)  Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

•  Three Things I Learned When My Plane Crashed  ( Ric Elias)

SHORT VIDEOS ABOUT "ISSUES"  (New)

• Grocery Store Wars  (includes many activities)
• The Maetrix  ( includes many activities)  
• Child Labour in Pakistan   
• Ireland (Five Different videos with activities) 

CANADIAN HISTORY ( New)   
 Today in Canadian History Podcasts

Short Videos about Canadian History(New)

• The Halifax Explosion   Many different videos on the explosion itself, its causes, effects and long term impact)
• The History of Canada You Tube Channel ( 348 short videos on different aspects of Canada's history)
• Quebec and New France
• The Battle of the Plains of Abraham: How the British Beat the French and won Canada 

Armchair Traveler: Get To Know Canada  

• Quebec City": A Tiny Piece of Europe in Canada (Videos on Things to see and do) 
• British Columbia  ( More than a 1,000 videos about British Columbia, its cities and its natural environment 

ESL PODCASTS: 

A podcast is an audio file ( ( there is no video - listening only) that you download from the Internet. After you download it, you can listen to it on your computer or on an MP3/portable music player (for example, an iPod, an iPhone or iRiver).

You can subscribe to a podcast so that it is delivered to you automatically each day, just like a newspaper.

 Podcasts with Conversational English 

ESL Pod  

 This is a very popular free podcast site with more than 865 podcasts. It was Podcast is designed especially for people who are intermediate or advanced speakers of English, but want to improve their listening and speaking skills. It is a good way to listen to real native speakers talking as they do every day in English.

Although all the podcasts are free, you can get a more detailed study guide by subscribing to the sitre for a fee. .

Benefits of Using ESL Pod in Chinese 

Guide on how to listen to ESL Pod through iTunes 

Sample ESL Podcast Study Guide

Some Recent Podcasts

• Having trouble concentrating SOURCE ESL Podcast 
• Working in a Factory  
• Finding a House to Buy  

Better at English.Com :   

An English Conversation podcast series in which Lori from the U.S. and Michael from Britain talk about a wide range of entertaining topics including: how to use specific idioms, weird food, what leads to success, perfectionism, junk food, noisy neighbours and many other topics. 

China232.com  

A great ESL podcast with a free study guide. A great site for Intermediate to Advanced ESL students. Two brothers from Canada,. buty who live in China discuss all sorts of interesting topics on their ESL Podcast. (60 different topics) Perfect for classroom discussion as well.

Elementary Podcasts                   Source: the British Council               

This is a weekly podcast. The episodes’ content is very interesting, and its elementary level British English is easy to understand even for the beginners.

 Episodes feature dialogues about every day situations.  The basic focus is to improve conversational English.

Each episode is accompanied with a free transcript or a complete record of the lesson. You can also download and print out the additional exercises. You can download the mp3 file with any lesson, starting with the very first one.

You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes or through RSS.  The interactive exercises on a podcast theme with sample answers are also available online.

Listen to English Learn English  

SOURCE: the  British Council   

Over  200 free podcasts in clear, easy to understand British Engish.  Most of the podcasts consists of mini talks on a variety of topics rather than on natural conversations between two people. The topics will help you to improve your English vocabulary and pronunciation and your listening skills. They are quite short (5 or 6 minutes) and delivered in clearly spoken English. Many of them are linked to grammar and vocabulary notes, or to exercises or quizes.

Recent Podcasts  
Midlife Crisis



ESL PODCARDS.COM: A series of FREE English podcasts from and about different countries specifically designed to help English learners improve their listening skills . Each podcast includes a worksheet with questions and a complete transcript.   

CANADA: 4 Podcasts about Canada ( Niagara Falls, Welland, James Naismith and Churchill)  

Worksheets to accompany the podcasts: 

• Niagara Falls  a high level, with interesting facts and figures on the world's most famous waterfalls
•  Welland   HIGH LEVEL, the story of inventors of the game Trivial Pursuit  
• James Naismith:   HIGH LEVEL about the man who invented basketball 
• Churchill Manitoba  LOW LEVEL listening about polar bears in the town of Churchill 

THE UNITED STATES:

PODCASTS: 10 Podcasts about the United States ( places, people, events)


WORKSHEETS FOR THE 10 PODCASTS :   

• Death Valley  LOW LEVEL
• Al Capone from Brooklyn, LOW LEVEL
• Coney Island  LOW LEVEL  
• The Gold Rush  LOW LEVEL  
• Central Park Zoo   LOW LEVEL
• Seattle  HIGH LEVEL
• The White House  HIGH LEVEL 
• Las Vegas  HIGH LEVEL  
• Detroit   HIGH LEVEL 
• Springfiled (The Simpsons)   HIGH LEVEL

Podcasts Canadian archives

			Breaking News English   This site provides news stories and accompanying activities specifically targeted at ESL learners. What to check out first: The main page  has it all! Check out the top of the page, under the current date, for the latest stories, or search for a specific topic a bit further down, in the box provided.

Most Recent Podcasts: 

December 29th, 2012        1,634 FREE News Lessons		donate	connect
UAE gas station strips & fires worker over $2 tip 29th December - "Harder" A gas station in Dubai has fired one of its workers for accepting a $2.72 tip. A UAE newspaper reports on the strip searching and sacking of... China opens world's longest high-speed railway 27th December - "Easier" The longest railway line in the world opened on Wednesday. The line joins China's capital Beijing with the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The line is ...

Other Podcasts

• Optimism - Breaking News English Podcast  
• Optimism Pre listening and listening questions 
• Podcast Idioms about Colour 

CBC Edmonton Podcasts  

• Urban Coyotes
• Urban Coyotes Reading and Listening Questions for Podcast 
• Procrastination : A radio interview  CLB 6+
• Procrastination Worksheet  

ESL Pronunciation Podcast

ESL American Pronunciation Podcast( C0mplete website - go to pronounciation page)


30 New ESL Podcasts from Many T

Wired for Books  Ohio University 's online audio includes interviews with famous 20th century authors and audio (on RealPlayer) of some of the most important classics such as Alice in Wonderland and A Christmas Carol. You will find hours of listening pleasure at this link. Scroll down for the classics.

Do It Yourself English

 TOPIC BASED LISTENING 

LINC VIDEOS ABOUT JOBS

• LINC Videos re jobs 
• LINC Job Interview  3.24
• LINC Discussing a job Interview  

Linc Canada website 
Verb Machine

EMPLOYMENT and JOB  RELATED 

EMPLOYME

Career Profiles 

Career Stop videos   

An American site with videos and details on job profiles, salaries, expectatons, requirements etc .

Career Trek B,C. (What does each specific job involve) 

Video descriptions of 56 different types of jobs, what they involve , day in the life, job prospects, qualifications needed, salary range etc. 

Career Trek B.C. Skills

Descriptions and definitions of the major skills required by Canadian employers and which are required for different types of jobs.

Work BC 
Work BC on You Tube ( includes a series on job seartch and interview skills)

The B.C government page on all aspects of working in B.C.. It is worth exploring the site in detail since there a lot of useful information and resources: 

job forecasts 

• Job trend tracker by centre
• matching careers with skills 
• job finding tools
• career profiles 
• upgrading skills 
• information 
• skills assessment
• workplace resources    and more

'Welcome B.C.

Essential Skills: Transferable skills: How do your skills measure up? ( TOWES)  

Huge website with a variety of assessment tests on specific job related skills

Job Interviews:

Job Applications.com   YOU TUBE channel    

A You Tube  with a assembled a large collection of informational job videos. Our Job Interview playlist contains interviews of former employees from various companies such as department stores, restaurants, and retail outlets. In each video, the subject describes the job conditions, and duties, what its like working there, and how to succeed at the job interview.

• Interviews by hiring managers 
• Three Essential Things Interviewers want to hear from you

5 videos to help you to prepare to find a job

Advice from a Canadian aimed at high performing Canadian immigrants '

Series of Videos with Job Interview tips

• Top 10 Skills Employers Are Looking for in an Employee
• Tell Me About Yourself: Good vs Bad answer
• Toughest Question: Tell Me About Yourself
• Tell Me About Yourself
• How to Prepare for a Job Interview
• Dos and Don'ts for Job Interviews
• Mistakes to Avoid in Job Interviews
• Top Mistakes to Avoid in Job Interviews 

• Transferable Job Skills 
• Answering Difficult Questions in an Interview
• How to Communicate Your Strengths
• Talking about work 
  
• Classic Job Interview Questions
• Job Interview Questions and Answers
• Job Interview Dos and Don'ts 
• Job Interview Talking about your education
• What is your greatest weakness
• What is your greatest weakness?

• Anthony's Channel Series of Videos with tips on all aspets of job inteviews 
• Five Videos to Help You Prepare for Job Interviews

ESL Job interview Don'ts 
Job Interview Dos and Dont's
ESL Job Interview Tips 
Job Interview Tips from English Vid 
Job Interview Sample

Videos Describing Jobs You Tube Channels 

• Working in Canada Videos (141 occupations described by workers)
• Career Trek (52 videos occupations described by workers)   
•  Innovate Career Videos 
•  Gadall Career videos very short descriptionsJob descriptions 
• ESL Voices Job Descriptions on I tunes    
  

Videos Describing Specific Job

• Human Resources Specialist
• Electrical engineer 
• Retail Sales Associate
• cashiers subtitled
• By law enforcement
• Accountant very short
• Software Engineer
• data entry technicians
• Electronics Technician
• Health and Safety Advisor
• Major Appliance Repair Technician

Famous People

• Famous People who Talk About their Dreams and Achievements A very rich (downloadable audio and video resources) database of famous people’s testimonies. From Bill Gates, to Maya Angelou. The interviews are split up so it’s easier to find what you are looking for. Theme: dreams/childhood/success

Food and Obesity

• Ted Talks: Jamie Oliver" My Wishes about Food"

HEALTH  NEW 

• Calling an Ambulance (easy)  Source: ESL Pod
• Doctor_Patient Confidentiality (difficult) 
• Accupuncture ( difficult)
• Arthritis (Source: Hospital English)
• Asthma (Source: Hospital English)
• Asthma 
• Diabetes (Source: Hosptial English)  
• Having Skin Problems ( Easy)   Source: ESL Pod
• Visting A Patient in the Hospital  (medium)

HEROES: 

• CBC Four Local Heroes  
• Listening Comprehension CBC Local Heroes  
• CNN Special: Heroes 2011   
• CTV Weekly Series: Local Heroes

JOKES

• Listen to Easy English Jokes

MARRIAGE 
(SOURCE for all videos and quizzes: linguaspectrum.com) 

• A Short History of Marriage 
• Defining Marriage  
•  What Makes a Good Marriage 
• Why Marriages Fail  
• In Favour of Marriage 
• Warnings Against Marriage 
• How to Stay Married  
• Love and Marriage

PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS

• The Ideal Woman (ESL-Lab.com)
• Listen and Guess the Personality Traits (ESL-Lab.com)
• What Are Your Best Personality Traits? (ELLO. org listening)
• What is Your Worst Quality?  
• Are You A Shy Person? 
• Are You A Clean Freak?

EXTREME WEATHER:

Severe Storms and Tornadoes Across the U.S. and Canada

NEWS QUIZZES

•   John Keith's ESL News Quizzes  ( 5 news quizzes) 
  

Michelle Morissette's News Quizzes  (More difficult)

• CBC News Nov 7th, 2011    Comprehension Questions Nov.7th    News Script
•  CBC News Oct. 31st , 2011         Comprehension Questions          News Tanscript
   
  

• CBC News Oct. 17th, 2011
• Oct 17th Comprehension Questions
• News script  Oct. 17,2011

• CBC News Audio 
• CBC NEWS QUESTIONS Oct 11 - 
•  CBC News Transcript  
•  ESL News June 12th, 2012 (Video) 
•  

NOTE-TAKING for  ACADEMIC LECTURES 

( high level students)  

• Note taking Strategies 
• How to Organize Notes  
• Strategies for Taking Notes in a Second Language   
• The Cornell Note taking Strategy  

ACADEMIC LISTENING (COLLEGE and UNIVERSITY)New

• Talk About Listening: A Series on Academic English from the BBC 
• University Lectures to Watch and Listen to ( 10 different sites)   
• Frontlines: Videos about Issues from PBS

INTERMEDIATE LISTENING PRACTICE:  FUNNY ! New

This is a series of listening lessons in which English teacher Phil teaches 5 new words, and reads a funny passage about an interesting topic. Then he reads the passage again, but this time YOU can see the words and read along with Phil. Finally, Phil asks several questions at the end of the reading. He then provides answers.  

• Practice #1: Kangaroo Analysis  
• Practice 2: The Lost Art of Witch Hunting  
• Practice 3 Inadequate Horse Parking Space  
• Practice 4: Wearing Masks While Shopping  
• Italy to Repay Loans in Pizza  
• Babies Want the Right to Vote  
• No More New Movies Forever  

ENGLISH COURSE BOOK VIDEOS

• New Headway Intermediate Video ( complete )tv

Beginner/Elementary Listening 

• Babies can Teach Us the Simplest Things  

•  

Listening for FUN   

Stories on Video: 

National Film Board Animation Stories  

30-40 NFB Animated Stories

CARTOONS

The Power of the Cartoonist

"Visual imagery is very powerful. Cartoons can be very effective.
We are trying to make people think - using humour to deliver a message."

(BBC)

 TV CARTOONS  New

Liketelevisioncartoons

Watch some of the greatest cartoons ever made - Popeye, Betty Boop, Mighty Mouse, Gabby, Casper, Little Lulu, Felix, Superman, Baby Huey, Barney Bear, rare cult classics, and much, much more! Broadband ready, encoded in Real8.



Current TV Cartoon Shows

Read this before you check out shows: 

Before you start watching a television show regularly, it is a good idea to learn about what the show is generally about, who the main characters are, what they do and how they relate to each other. If you already have some background, you can focus on what is happening on the screen instead of trying to figure out what the whole show is all about. 

 Top 6 Web Sites to Download Cartoon Videos

"Looking for classic episodes of Family Guy or the newest episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force? These web sites allow fans to watch The Simpsons, Family Guy and more.
Some sites give you only a few minutes of video. Other web sites let you watch full episodes. Most importantly, all of the web sites here are legal."
(about.com)

• Fox (TV)  on Demand Streaming episodes of tv shows  

• The Simpsons (read about them. Then watch the show regularly)
• My Top 20 episodes of the Simpsons by Nancy Basil on About.com 
• American Dad

RADIO SOAP OPERAS

	Big City Small World   In this audio soap set in London a group of young people from around the world share their lives over a cup of coffee.

 





Halloween Ghost Stories

Bloody Mary

Read the general listening instructions before you begin listening, or answering questions.
Comprehension Questions and Script Bloody Mary

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ghost Stories for Young People 

Ghost in the Alley  
I am Coming Down Now

Heartbeat

Christmas  Listening Material -
Video Stories for the whole Family

 Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer


 


How the Grinch Stole Christmas

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Basil | Myspace Video


A Charlie Brown Christmas 
The Snowman 
 12. Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer  Burl Ives
The Gift of the Magi  

Christmas Quizzes 

Mr. Bean's Christmas

Christmas Quiz #1 

Christmas Quiz #1 from ESL Lab 

The Christmas Gift Quiz #2 from ESL Lab

Kwanzaa

Hanukkah

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

Boxing Day

New Year's Eve

Nuttin for Christmas

LISTENING ACTIVITIES THAT INCLUDE SCRIPTS:  

• Computers and GirlsFROM CNN

Make a plan on your own or with a friend, using your favorite songs, lyrics, movies, videos, TV news, etc. to challenge yourself 15 minutes a day, and have fun understanding, speaking and singing in English – variety is the spice of life!

TAKE THE TIME

Learning a language takes a large amount of time. According to the Council of Europe, it takes a European adult learning another European language about 550 hours of study to reach the Threshold Level – that is the level at which, without being totally fluent, you can manage to understand and make yourself understood in everyday situations. If you do not already speak a European language, learning English will take much longer. In seven years at secondary school, pupils usually have about 900 hours of instruction in their first foreign language – excluding homework ! These figures are not given to discourage you, but to help you set yourself a reasonable objective. If you intend to study in an English-speaking country you will need to be much better than the Threshold Level. On the other hand, if you only need to read and write routine e-mails related to your job, you may attain your objective in much less than 550 hours. Generally, it is not efficient to spread language learning over too long a period. Set yourself a time limit – 3 years maximum !

ORGANIZING YOUR WORK

It has been proved to be more efficient to work a little every day rather than a lot once a week. It is important to have daily contact with the language of at least ten minutes. Decide on a specific time each day to work on your English. Write it in your diary/date book or wherever you note your appointments. Draw up a detailed work programme in terms of concrete, limited objectives. Examples :

• read and understand an article
• learn to sing a song
• write 10 questions with « do » and « does »

This means defining your objectives in terms of « know how » rather than in terms of pages read or chapters studied in a grammar book. Evaluate your progress regularly and adapt your programme as needed. You may find it useful to find a graphic way of representing your progress and also the time spent learning English. Take a few minutes each evening, just before going to sleep, to reflect on the English you’ve learnt during the day. This way you will integrate during your sleep what you have been working on during the day. If you find you are no longer keeping to your programme and working regularly, find someone to help you reactivate your enthusiasm for English.

LEARNING ENGLISH WITH A PARTNER

If your objective is to master the oral language, your will need to have practice in speaking. Find someone else who is also learning English in your neighbourhood, your company or your university. Meet at least once a week to speak in English, do exercises together and above all to encourage each other to continue!

MEETING AN ENGLISH SPEAKER

This is easy, of course, if you are already in an English-speaking country. Elsewhere, it will take some organisation, but in most big towns it is possible to find English speakers. This does not necessarily mean native English speakers: Indians, Ghanaians, Germans, Scandinavians… often speak excellent English. People working or studying in a foreign country can be lonely and therefore happy to have contact with local people in exchange for speaking English. Tourists also often welcome opportunities to meet and talk to local people. Think of ways in which you could find English speaking workers, students or tourists :

• put an ad in a newspaper or shop
• go to an embassy or a consulate
• try a tourist information centre
• use a university bulletin board

VISITING AN ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY

A visit to a country where the people speak English can be very profitable, but it has to be well-organised or you may easily find yourself saying little more than, « Black coffee and a cheese sandwich, please » in English. One possibility is an organised trip of some kind :

• visit the Lake District in England,
• explore the Great Lakes in Canada
• go on a wildlife safari in Kenya.

But choose a trip organised by a travel agent in the country itself so that you will be in a gro

PODCASTS ( ON itunes)

Business English Pod

DICTATION PRACTICE

• Telephone Dictationsb English Online France
• "Real English "Dictations - dictations based on video conversations with Native Speakers
• Dictations Based on Very Short Stories
• Fairy Tales
• The Princess and the Pea

Partial Dictations from  Movie Trailers  ( includes first and last letters of words)

• Dictations from Movie trailers/walkingTals
• Troy
• The Clearing
• Lord of the Rings

Find the Mistake (Commercials)

BBC Learning English

BBC Learning English on You Tube

BBC Learning English Sounds of English

Famous Speeches from Movies v

http://legacy.australianetwork.com/learningenglish/

Australian Network ( Learning English)up of local people. This is quite easy to do through the Internet these days.

• Cambridge Complete Test #10 2015 (Cambridge)
• Complete Test #9 2015 Cambrige
• Complete Test #1 2015? Oxford
• Complete Test 2 2015
• Complete Practice Test #2  2010  NEW 

http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/presentperfectorpastsimple/exercise5.html

http://www.english-grammar.at/listening/advanced/listening-advanced-index.htm

http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/agr_finS-aud.html

http://www.talkenglish.com/listening/lessonlisten.aspx?ALID=200

http://englishinteractive.net/listening.html

http://www.isabelperez.com/tesllinks.htm