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The English Breakfast ☕️
Hello again and welcome back to The English Breakfast. Your weekly, Sunday morning collection of business English tips and tricks to make you look awesome in the office next week.
When we talk about learning a language, what we’re really talking about is improving 4 separate skills at the same time:
Speaking, Listening, Writing, Reading
Today we’re focusing on listening skills and, more specifically, how you can improve this passive skill on your own.
A few weeks ago we spoke about useful approaches and methods to learning English easily with TV and film.
This time, I want to give you a list of free resources you can use to find listening material that’s perfect for your level.
Sound good? All right, let’s go…
Beginners to lower intermediate (Levels A1, A2 and B1)
Improving your listening skills can be difficult especially when you’re just starting.
If you watch a film or a TV show in English but you can’t understand enough to be able to follow the story, don’t worry, it’s normal! But I understand that this can be disheartening and frustrating. Especially if you’ve just had a long day at work and want to relax.
So, sometimes it’s nice to have listening resources that are suitable for your level. That way you’ll recognise more words and phrases, and be able to follow the dialogue more easily. Plus, you’ll see common scenarios that you’ve probably already studied or are a logical next step for you.
That doesn’t mean they’re easy! It just means that the range of topics and vocabulary used is narrower and more focused to your level.
So, here’s where to find listening material at your level:
You’ll find material for all levels on this site, but what I really like is their series of videos called One Minute English.
These are a collection of short videos showing a variety of people from around the world (both native and non-native speakers) answering a simple question.
You can find the transcript below each video as well as a short quiz to test your understanding.
Great for elementary-intermediate learners. Perfect if you only have 10 minutes to spare.
Covering a wide variety of topics from fictional drama and jokes to quizzes and language advice, these podcasts are aimed at elementary-intermediate learners.
They’re between 10-30 minutes long and can be downloaded and listened to like any other podcast—perfect for the commute to work.
Again, you can find the transcript below each episode, but you’ll also find up to 7 activities and quizzes to test your understanding.
As you can probably guess from the name, these weekly podcasts are 6 minutes long.
They’re aimed at intermediate learners and are accompanied by a whole bunch of extra material. You can download a worksheet, the transcript and the audio file, but what I particularly like is the introduction, where you can find some interesting vocabulary (and definitions) that’ll help you to understand the episode more easily.
The fact that there’s a new episode every week means that if you like these episodes, you’ll have the opportunity to create a fantastic weekly habit that’ll help improve your listening skills.
Upper intermediate to advanced (Levels B2+)
If you’re a B2 level or above, authentic material (like TV series and films that were made for the general public) will probably be more approachable for you. You’ll be able to watch an episode of something on Netflix and understand enough to enjoy the experience.
That doesn’t mean you should be able to understand EVERYTHING, in fact, if you want to practice your listening skills, a great activity is to focus on understanding the gist. This means that you focus on understanding the general meaning of what you hear and not every single detail.
Hit pause every now and again and try to recap what you’ve just seen. Understanding the gist sounds a bit like this:
“OK, so there are two friends, they’re arguing about something. I think they’re both getting married soon and they had a disagreement about the wedding dress. I’m not sure exactly what the problem was.“
If you want to watch or listen again for a second time to catch more detail, great! If you just want to continue catching the gist, that’s great too! And to be honest that’s how most people watch/listen to things in their own language. We’ll be watching an episode of something, get distracted by a whatsapp or an email, miss some details of what we’re watching and just try our best to follow the rest of the story. Sound familiar?
Here’s where to find listening material at advanced levels:
Even though at this point you could watch or listen to anything, it’s still nice sometimes to have some material that’s focused on English learning or at least with some supporting material like a transcript.
If you’re looking to improve your American English listening skills, check out this series made especially for upper intermediate to advanced learners.
The topics covered are focused on learning English, so you’ll hear how to use everyday English vocabulary and natural idioms, expressions, and phrasal verbs and how to make small talk in American English.
There’s a new episode every day so it’s a great resource to follow to give your English listening skills a daily boost.
These 5 minute animated videos from TED are perfect for some listening practice with material that isn’t made for English learners.
You can find a video on just about any topic you can think of. Interested in learning about the history of chocolate? There’s a video for that. Curious to know what happens when a company has no CEO? Check this out.
If you find it difficult to understand native speakers in conversation, I have something for you.
This book will teach you 99 phrases you need to be able to follow English conversation at a high level.
You’ll find a collection of stories, videos, listening activities and quizzes to test your understand and take your listening skills to the next level.
All right, that’s it. Have a great week and I’ll see you next time.
Ciao for now,
Dan
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