Listening Resources for English -- Online

This is a list of some websites I have found useful for developing listening proficiency in English. All of these are free sites, mostly supported by Google Ads revenue, except for some of the native speaker sites controlled by independent companies or the Public Broadcasting System. I have used most of these in my Advanced Listening and Vocabulary Development course: see www.stanford.edu/~efs/693b. Others are listed because they are useful for levels below advanced. Starred sites (**) are audio and will load faster than video if you have a slower connection.

        Phil Hubbard, phubbard@stanford.edu

I. Dedicated English materials

Randall’s listening lab: www.esl-lab.com.** Recorded dialogues by ESL teacher Randall Davis. Many are humorous. Material is leveled and labeled Easy - Very Difficult

English Language Listening Library Online www.elllo.org.** Interviews and other listening activities. Good for practicing listening to different accents. Intermediate-Advanced. See especially http://www.elllo.org/video/.

English, Baby!: www.englishbaby.com.** English lessons with natural conversation material aimed at young adults. Good for listening, vocabulary and popular culture. Advanced

TalkEnglish: http://www.talkenglish.com.** Listening to dialogues on various everyday topics Beginning-Advanced. See Intermediate for example - http://www.talkenglish.com/Listening/ListenIntermediate.aspx

English Listening Lounge: www.englishlistening.com.** Audio clips with pre-listening, quiz, and transcript. Material for "New listeners" through advanced.

FlashACE: www.stanford.edu/dept/lc/efs/FlashACE/.** Comprehension practice exercises requiring rapid intensive processing based on picture identification. High intermediate through advanced.

II. Authentic material with English learner support

Lingual.net: www.lingual.net. A variety of short video clips with subtitles and quizzes. Intermediate to advanced.

Learn English, Feel Good: www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/. Examples of movie clips and "trailers" or movie advertisements. Includes comprehension questions but no captions/transcripts. Intermediate to advanced

ESL Notes: www.eslnotes.com/. (**text only) Support materials for watching movies (though not the movies themselves): a summary and extensive vocabulary list with definitions. Intermediate to advanced.

III. Native speaker sites with some support for language learning (transcripts and/or subtitles), possibly native teacher support materials

Nova online: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs/. Example: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3318/03.html. Clips or whole shows from this science program on PBS. Includes transcripts. Native

CNN student news: www.cnn.com/studentnews/. A 10-minute program of news and features aimed at US secondary school students. Includes transcripts and classroom support materials. Native

PBS Online News Hour: www.pbs.org/newshour/. Longer news stories and features for deeper understanding. Native

This I Believe audio/text essays: www.thisibelieve.org/view_featured_essays.php.** Personal, inspirational essays read out loud by the writers. Native

Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/. (video but mp3 podcast option**) Talks by innovators and industry leaders. Some videos have subtitles and transcripts. Note: to get the transcripts, you must first turn on the subtitles. Native

Scientific American Frontiers: www.pbs.org/saf Site with segments from the show, including transcripts and teacher support materials. Native.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): www.ted.com. Talks by global experts in many areas: some videos have subtitles and transcripts (a few include Arabic subtitles, e.g., www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html). Native