Job Discussion Forums

[Jbhughes]

I would like some recommendations for tried and tested online listening resources that my sts could use to study at home (or indeed cover in the classroom). I�m aware of blended learning courses and corresponding coursebook/software suites, but that option isn�t available to me in my current workplace at least at this stage.

The ideal situation would be during the day I could look through a few different sites for exercises that practice and consolidate the basic language points to be covered that evening. I�d like to provide the sts with websites where they could follow a simple interface and do some structured and interactive listening activities. It would be great if sites were organised into grammar and vocabulary points and the listening texts or questions were graded by level (CEFR would be best). Preferably the texts would be BrE, as this would best consolidate what they learn during their lessons however I would be interested in AmE or other varieties too, if they are clearly marked as being so.

Most of the sts I teach find listening to be the hardest skill and simply don�t do enough of it. Whereas of course we cover listening in the classroom, there is only so much time that can be committed to this skill and the students need a lot more exposure.

Many thanks in advance for any recommendations.

[gator07]

I've used this one before: http://www.esl-lab.com/

My students used it mostly while they were in the CALL lab or at home. They found it user-friendly and most of them enjoyed using it as an extra learning tool.

[LongShiKong]

Thanks for this. Anyone got a similar website for videos? I'm thinking of short video clips that are accessible from beginner to intermediate level students.

Last night, someone at our school chose one of those pixar animations (not dubbed--just subtitled bilingually) to show the 7-10 yr olds--poor choice IMHO as most of these:
a) if the visuals don't tell the story, the kids get bored as they're not at the age where they can or want to read the subtitles, especially at the speed they're presented);
b) even if they do, they won't get much out of it as such 'family' films were written to entertain western (paying) parents more than their children;
c) contain far too many cultural references for young children, especially non-westerners, to pick up on;

[Jbhughes]

Many thanks for the link, gator07.

Video clips would also work for my sts and any recommendations for those would be gratefully received.

I'm a tad surprised that more teachers don't provide listening homework of some form to sts, so perhaps there's a reason for lack of responses?

I suppose I could be accused of not doing my own research, the internet is a massive place and surely I could find my own sites rather than asking for someone else to do all the work?

Well, fair enough, should ppl think it's a bit lazy, I will accept the charge - to a certain degree. Honestly though, any attempts I make at finding EFL-related websites almost always end in a wasted afternoon of traipsing through pages and pages of either absolute dross, kids colouring pages (when I'm not looking for them, when I am, I can never find the damn picture I'm looking for) or atrociously designed sites with 10% content 90% advertising that require a bloody sign-up. Perhaps my googling skills aren't what they could be, but I'm usually up to it when looking up other subjects.

Is it possible that teachers are providing some kind of other listening homework and as such don't bother with providing links to sts? The blended courses that I've looked at are impressive; however, I'm just not able to make that level of decision in the school (and I think they'll be ploughing through New Cutting Edge long after worms have had their last with me! - Maybe a New New Cutting Edge? Real Life Buying a shuttle ticket)

Please help - I find myself constantly telling sts to listen to English outside of the classroom and not helping them do it!

[Denim-Maniac]

[artemisia]

Do you know the BBC English site?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

[DebMer]

I don't know if it's important to you that it be sequential (I doubt you'll find a free series out there equivalent to a complete, sequential program), but a search on youtube of ESL will turn up a mountain of video instruction for you to sort through.

I'm partial to Rachel's English http://www.youtube.com/user/rachelsenglish?feature=g-all-u , but there's much more out there: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=esl&oq=esl&aq=f&aqi=p-p2g8&aql=&gs_l=youtube.3..35i39l2j0l8.25031.25553.0.31761.3.3.0.0.0.0.83.245.3.3.0...0.0.0pO5lCd8sBY Most of these instructors have a youtube channel dedicated to ESL, so find a few you like and see what each one offers.

For listening and reading simultaneously, I love this site: http://www.manythings.org/ Scroll down to the listening and reading section.

[LongShiKong]

For beginners and pre-intermediate, Longman's Youtube channel (among others) has all the Side by Side videos. They're a bit dated now but they provide a good consolidation of grammar and vocabulary. In comparison, Cambridge's Interchange video clips were a bit more challenging for my beginner students given the added language.

Two tips for assigning listening for homework:
1. Suggest students play the video/audio at speeds they are comfortable with using software playback speed settings. One thing I always test new students for is their speaking speed (words per second x 60= wpm). Anything 50% faster than this will pose a problem for them.
2.Suggest they keep a record of listening errors and their causes -- particulary things that they can improve in their speaking (contractions; reductions; pronunciation differences; elision, assimilation, variations in word stress depending on part of speech, etc.) They can rely upon you (indicatingthe playback timing) or the tapescript for what they couldn't make out.