Listening practice
What should I be listening to?
The good news is it can be anything; podcasts, audio books, movies, Youtube clips etc.
And it can be on any topic. The main aim of listening practise is not to gain vocab, it is to get your ear used to hearing English. It will also help with your pronunciation, and even sometimes your grammar, as you start to get a feeling for what sounds right.
The most important factor is finding something you enjoy listening to. For example, if you love travel, then find something on travel. If you are a true crime fan, listen to true crime. If you have never listened to a political podcast in your own language, then don't decide to listen to a political podcast in English. I had a client once who did this and then complained that listening to English at the weekend was boring!
Similarly, sometimes I have clients who think because they need English for their job, they should be listening to business podcasts, sitting there making notes of business vocab and common phrases. If you find this interesting, and you know you need this vocab to be able to do your job, then great. However, if this is not your idea of an enjoyable Saturday morning, then my advice is don't do it.
As well as being on the right subject, the English level has to be right. You don't need to understand every word, but you should be able to follow the general meaning without using subtitles. (As soon as you have subtitles, you stop listening and start reading!) If you can't understand enough, just find something different to listen to. And don't feel bad if this happens. There are so many factors: accent, speed, clarity, topic, level of language etc, in how understandable a person's speech is, it's only natural as a language learner that it might take you some time to find the right material for you.
Tips to help you understand:
And it can be on any topic. The main aim of listening practise is not to gain vocab, it is to get your ear used to hearing English. It will also help with your pronunciation, and even sometimes your grammar, as you start to get a feeling for what sounds right.
The most important factor is finding something you enjoy listening to. For example, if you love travel, then find something on travel. If you are a true crime fan, listen to true crime. If you have never listened to a political podcast in your own language, then don't decide to listen to a political podcast in English. I had a client once who did this and then complained that listening to English at the weekend was boring!
Similarly, sometimes I have clients who think because they need English for their job, they should be listening to business podcasts, sitting there making notes of business vocab and common phrases. If you find this interesting, and you know you need this vocab to be able to do your job, then great. However, if this is not your idea of an enjoyable Saturday morning, then my advice is don't do it.
As well as being on the right subject, the English level has to be right. You don't need to understand every word, but you should be able to follow the general meaning without using subtitles. (As soon as you have subtitles, you stop listening and start reading!) If you can't understand enough, just find something different to listen to. And don't feel bad if this happens. There are so many factors: accent, speed, clarity, topic, level of language etc, in how understandable a person's speech is, it's only natural as a language learner that it might take you some time to find the right material for you.
Tips to help you understand:
- Choose something with accessible accents/language. If it is a Shakespeare play or a series about gangs in New York, a lot of natives speakers struggle to understand this.
- Most videos on the internet can be slowed down to 0.75- (just look under settings)
- Something with pictures so TV/videos, is generally easier to follow than just audio.
- Re-watching something you have already watched in your own language makes it much easier to follow.
- If you want to listen to something with specific vocab such as Harry Potter (magic vocab) or true crime, you can get AI to create a list of 20 most common words for this topic (in English with translation in your own language)
- If watching/listening to material aimed at native speakers is too complicated, there is a huge amount of podcasts and audio books aimed at English learners.
How should I be listening?
People sometimes think listening practise means listening exercises like you did at school, where you listen to a short segment and then answer questions. If you are motivated enough and have the time to do this, then great -(see resource list below).
However, if you don't have the time (or indeed the motivation!) just listening, without any studying involved, is enough. Even if you just have English on in the background while you do other tasks, such as making the dinner, it will help. It is not necessary to look up words you don't know, or to re-listen to sentences you don't fully understand. In fact, I recommend against this as you are much more likely to listen regularly to English, if it is an enjoyable and relaxing experience that doesn't require too much effort.
Similarly, for most people, the key to successfully incorporating listening to English in their everyday life is to find a way that doesn't take up any extra time. Maybe that means listening to an English podcast on your way to work. Perhaps it is hearing an audio book while you clean the bathroom or go on a walk. Or it could be listening to something in English, that you previously listened to in your own language, such as watching TV or videos on the internet.
There is no wrong or right amount of time that you should be listening to English and anything is better than nothing. However, if you can find 30 minutes, three times a week or 15 mins five times a week, this will make a noticeable difference. Take the time to think about when it is realistic for you to listen to English. Then set yourself a goal that includes 'the when'. e.g. 'I'm going to listen to English in the car for 30 minutes on the three days I drive to work'. This is much more likely to be successful than a vague 'I will listen to 30 minutes of English, three times a week'.
However, if you don't have the time (or indeed the motivation!) just listening, without any studying involved, is enough. Even if you just have English on in the background while you do other tasks, such as making the dinner, it will help. It is not necessary to look up words you don't know, or to re-listen to sentences you don't fully understand. In fact, I recommend against this as you are much more likely to listen regularly to English, if it is an enjoyable and relaxing experience that doesn't require too much effort.
Similarly, for most people, the key to successfully incorporating listening to English in their everyday life is to find a way that doesn't take up any extra time. Maybe that means listening to an English podcast on your way to work. Perhaps it is hearing an audio book while you clean the bathroom or go on a walk. Or it could be listening to something in English, that you previously listened to in your own language, such as watching TV or videos on the internet.
There is no wrong or right amount of time that you should be listening to English and anything is better than nothing. However, if you can find 30 minutes, three times a week or 15 mins five times a week, this will make a noticeable difference. Take the time to think about when it is realistic for you to listen to English. Then set yourself a goal that includes 'the when'. e.g. 'I'm going to listen to English in the car for 30 minutes on the three days I drive to work'. This is much more likely to be successful than a vague 'I will listen to 30 minutes of English, three times a week'.
Resources:
TV in English:
General videos:
News and business:
Stories/audio books:
Podcasts specifically for learners of English:
General podcasts:
If you have time to study:
- Nearly all shows on Netflix/Amazon can be watched in English (remember without subtitles!) Also on national television channels, if a show/film was originally in English, it is now normally possible to watch it in English.
General videos:
- TedTalks: More than 4000 talks on work/life themes from great speakers, normally 20-30minutes in length.
- TEDEd: Thousands of short talks (5-10 minutes) on all subjects from 'the history of ice cream' to 'why does rain smell'. These are often very fast, so remember you can slow down the speed in settings.
- BBC 6-minute videos: Specifically designed for English learners:
News and business:
- Zeit Sprachen: News and business in simplified English, both written and audio. It normally requires a monthly payment, but there is a trial period of 7 days so you can try it out for free.
Stories/audio books:
- Luke’s English podcast: Short stories for beginner and intermediate levels
- American Stories from Voice of America: Short stories for intermediate and advanced levels
- Graded Audio books. Classic stories changed into simpler language from A2-C1 English level. This is a useful article explaining several places you can find them (both books for reading and audio books for listening).
Podcasts specifically for learners of English:
- English listening time: Connor talking in slow but natural American English about a variety of topics, over 100 episodes, circa 30 minutes long.
- All Ears English Podcast: "Come hang out with Lindsay, Michelle, Jessica and Aubrey! We are here to help you relax, have fun, and learn real, natural English." Daily episodes. Need to subscribe so search for it in Apple/Spotify etc.
- Or just search for a theme that interests you. I just googled 'podcast, English learners, fishing' and found something!
General podcasts:
- Stuff you should know Over 1,500 episodes (circa 60 minutes) on a huge variety of topics. Can search for something that interest you. It is not specifically aimed at English learners so the language is complicated but they speak slowly and calmly.
- Ted Talk Daily Podcast: Has the best Ted Talks with a short introduction from the presenter.
- Or just search for a topic you are interested in.
If you have time to study:
- www.elllo.org >3,000 graded audio clips, with quizzes, vocab, and transcripts
- www.linguaso.com You give your level, reason (e.g. business) and how much you want to practice and then you get exercises to listen to.
- BBC Learning English - Lingohack Short news stories, with questions and highlighted key vocab (but nothing new since 2022)
- My exercises to practise listening out for the stressed (emphasised) word in the sentence are here.