Drama from BBC Learning English: The Race

In mid-Febraury this year, the BBC Learning English site launched The Race, a new drama suitable for intermediate students.

The Race, tells the story of Phil, a writer living in London. His life isn't very interesting but it's about change dramatically!

Students can can download the weekly instalments of the audio file and PDF of the transcript and they can also subscribe to the podcast.

H/T to The English Blog.

Down to Business English podcasts

Down to Business English is a podcast for people who use English as a Second Language in their work environment and are trying to improve their overall language skills.

In each episode, Down to Business English hosts Dez Morgan, who lives in Tokyo, and Skip Montreux, who is based in Auckland, discuss business stories making the news around the world.

Through their discussions, Skip & Dez introduce business-related vocabulary and phrases, review grammar, and identify cultural differences in international business situations.

Although the 15-minute podcasts are mainly business-oriented, general English learners in the intermediate-to-advanced bracket will greatly benefit from Down to Business English, as most of the topics dealt with have a universal appeal (millenials, music streaming, Uber, youth unemployment, gaming, the future of restaurants, and so on).

The podcasts are free to download and a courtesy transcript is offered to those users who register, but a subscription is required to have access to all transcripts .

ESL Culips

Esl Cupids is a site where English learners in the intermediate-to-advanced level will find a trove of podcasts on everyday topics spoken in real current English.

There are two kinds of podcasts in ESL Cupids: Chatterbox episodes, in which we can listen to interviews with guests, and Catch Word episodes, with a focus on vocabulary.

Optionally, there are learning materials for learners to further delve into the vocabulary and specific cultural aspects of the podcasts.

Radio Praha

Radio Praha is a radio station that allows us to listen to the news from that part of the world in English.

All the audio files are downloadable in MP3 format and a lot of the news items come together with their transcript.

As you can well imagine, most of the programmes on Radio Praha have to do with Czech society and its problems. Here, the avid English learner in the intermediate-to-advanced level will find stories on the arts, books, current affairs, business, interviews with interting Czech figures, travel, and so on.

As an example, here's the link to the interview with bilingual translator Lucie Mikolajková.

Chalene Johnson podcasts on healthy living

Chalene Johnson is a New York Times best-selling author and fitness trainer who tries to help people live their life to the full and succeed in their professional and personal life.

She publishes a podcast three days a week with tips and suggestions on lifestyle and professional life that advanced English students may find helpful to improve their English. The podcast includes a transcription.

Deep English

Learn English with interesting stories at an intermediate level while listening to a weekly lesson at three different speeds with Deep English. Full transcript provided.

The Helenic American Union is an educational public charity based in Greece with an international focus. It is dedicated to providing opportunities for a diverse range of audiences to encounter and benefit from innovative educational programmes and cultural events.

As part of its online learning resources the Helenic American Union offers a number of podcasts for lower-intermediate to advanced students divided into four levels: Pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced. There are ten podcasts per level with topics ranging from video games and the history of beer (pre-intermediate), to yoga and balcony gardening (intermediate), gossip and restaurants (upper-intermdiate) and cigarette lawsuit and anorexia (sdvanced), to name just a few.

The podcasts come complete with transcript and activities.

Better at English podcasts

Better at English is collection of around 40 podcasts for intermediate to advanced students by Swedish Lori Linstruth. They come complete with a vocabulary list and transcript and deal with everyday topics like junk food, the office, relaxation, TV adverts, dogs, cultural differences, perfectionism.

Lori Linstruth herself, the person behind Better at English, describes the idea underlying the podcasts on the About section of her site:

"If I want to achieve one thing with Better at English, it’s this: to nudge you gently outside of your comfort zone and encourage you to take action to get a little better every day. Having spent time learning 5 foreign languages (Swedish, Spanish, Dutch, German, Indonesian) with varying degrees of success has shown me that taking (small) risks and pushing yourself to do difficult and scary things is the key to continual progress."

Dig into English

This is the way  Ben, the person behind Dig into English, introduces the site:

"Dig into English is a website and a podcast for intermediate to advanced learners of English. It will help you improve your vocabulary and grammar knowledge by listening to natural, everyday English.

Whether you are taking classes or learning English all by yourself, Dig into English can help you.

The free podcast episodes and the free PDF scripts will help you get used to hearing and reading English.

If you listen often, you will become more comfortable when understanding or speaking English because you will learn many new words and expressions. The best part is that you will have a lot of fun!"

I also have to add that Dig into English will help us to get familiar with Australian English.

All Ears English

Gaby and Lindsay help us with (American) English by publishing podcasts four times a week on their site All Ears English. Every week the podcasts respectively deal with vocabulary, American culture, strategies for learning English and with motivation and inspiration to learn. The level is suitable for intermediate to advanced English students.

On the downside, the transcripts are only available through subscription, although I feel they are good value for money.

Each podcast lasts around 10 minutes, and Gaby and Lindsay make a point of inviting guests to take part in their podcasts, which contributes to the variety of accents and ideas for students to improve their English.

The American story teller

The American Story Teller is an incredible site created by Nelson Lauver. It is specifically meant for English learners and those with special learning difficulties.

Every week and for the last twenty years, Nelson has been publishing a three-four minute podcast with anecdotes of personal experiences, American history, famous and local people. The stories are told in a casual, conversational way, but they all illustrate what any person can do with courage and determination in their life.

Nelson has grouped the stories around topics that you can find in the Audio Stories tag: American History, American Icons, American Presidents, Animal related, Black History, Disability related, Heart warming, Holiday, Human interest, Humour, Military, Motivational, Overcoming adversity, Real people profiles, Small town America, Trivia.

To get the full transcript of the podcasts you have to register on the site.

This I believe

This I believe introduces itself in this fashion:

"This I Believe, Inc., was founded in 2004 as an independent, not-for-profit organization that engages youth and adults from all walks of life in writing, sharing, and discussing brief essays about the core values that guide their daily lives.

This I Believe is based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. Each day, Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays from the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, and Harry Truman as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists, and secretaries—anyone able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. These essayists’ words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism, and racial division. (...)

Teachers around the country—and around the world—have embraced This I Believe as a powerful educational tool. They have downloaded our educational curricula, posters, and brochures for using This I Believe in middle and high school classrooms and in college courses. These curricula help teachers guide students through exploring their beliefs and then composing personal essays about them. The students learn about themselves and their peers, and experience the delight of realizing their views and voices have value."

For the English learner at intermediate level and above, apart from the above-mentioned educational value, This I believe provides an invaluable tool through their daily podcasts which come accompanied by the transcript.

Podclub

Podclub offers podcasts adapted to the language level of learners in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish every two weeks.

As for the English podcasts, Gareth Hughes presents his Gerry's diaries, where he tells us what's been happening to him in Switzerland, Britain and elsewhere. He comments on what has caught his eye. He talks about his family, friends and colleagues. But thanks to his "outsider's" view after his 20 years living in Switzerland, he often sees things that "insiders" just don't notice. Gerry's diaries are intended for lower-intermediate to intermediate students.

Gerry’s news digest, on the other hand, is for more advanced users of English (at level B2 and above). The English is not simplified in any way. In his News Digest Gerry takes a personal look at some of the stories that have been filling the newspapers and the TV screens in Britain, Switzerland and elsewhere.

Gerry's podcasts come accompanied with the transcript and a short list of vocabulary items.

My American Friend: Podcasts for English learners

I discovered My American Friend a few months back, and I feel I should have let you know way earlier.

As it is stated in the About section of My American Friend, “my American friend” blog and podcast was born with a view of "learning English by using it to explore the American and European cultures, habits and lifestyle."

The Italian singer/songwriter Marta Innocenti and her American friend Cindy help us improve the language "while taking you into a pleasant journey on both sides of the Atlantic ocean."

My American Friend is the right podcast to improve your English and to learn something new about America and Europe. Listen to Marta Innocenti's conversations with her American friend Cindy. Every episode includes new words and expressions about a new subject.

Marta and Cindy have published 48 podcasts so far. The podcasts are just perfect, as they come together with transcription and detailed vocabulary notes. On top of that, they are manageable time-wise, under ten minutes each episode.

If your English level is intermediate or above, My American Friend is a good way of improving your listening and vocabulary skills in a stress-free way.

Fables and stories podcasts

English Club has a more than interesting collection of podcasts featuring fables, stories, the Chinese Zodiac, the signs of the Zodiac.

The podcasts are on the short side and they can be downloaded. They come complete with their transcript.

Self-study activity:
There are several ways you can work with this material:

• You can select a podcast and check how much you have understood by reading/listening to the transcript later on.
• You can shadow-read a story: Read the transcript while you listen to it, so that you can imitate the rhythm and pronunciation.
• You can develop your oral skill by listening to a story and trying to retell it in your own words later on.
• You can discuss the moral of the story with your conversation group.

H/T to Larry Ferlazzo.

How to write a CV

Intermediate English students, specially those who are preparing for an exam like the EEOOII intermediate cycle or FCE should make a habit of visiting the British Council Professional podcasts.

There they will find dozens of online listening activities about a variety of topics, ranging from technology, to medicine, to motivation and so on.

The activities have been structured in a straightforward and user-friendly way. We first have an introductory vocabulary activity, followed by the listening activity and, to round everything off, students can do some work on pronunciation.

A transcript is available, and everything -tasks, transcripts and audio files- can be downloaded.

Take, for instance, this activity on how to write a CV, which the English Weavers blog drew my attention to. You can do it online by clicking on the picture below. Or you can download the audio file from here, and download the acitvities to do them on paper from here.

If you wish to get more background information on CVs and covering letters, you may also find of interest these articles from the British Council site. If you decide to read any of the articles below, you have at your disposal a glossary of terms to help you out with difficulties in vocabulary.

CV and Cover Letter FAQ
Why a good CV and a good covering letter are important
Top tips for covering letters and CVs
Covering letters: the beginning, core and ending
Covering letter styles
Advice on covering letters
Tailoring your CV for different jobs
How to write a CV
Which CV format to use
What to include on your CV

Listen a Minute

Students at Básico 2 and Intermediate 1 level may find this site really interesting: Listen a Minute by Sean Banville. The site has many interesting features: Short listening stories (one minute), the possibility of downloading the audio file, listening comprehension and vocabulary activities which we can also download on a pdf.

The Story Home

Amazing site created by Sharon and Alan Scofield where we can listen to lots of children's stories and traditional tales. We can even download them as a podcast.

The only 'but' is that no transcript is available, but a lot of the stories are well known and they are read in a very emphatic and theatrical way, which makes comprehension easier.

Self-study activity:
Listen to one of the stories on the web and try to retell the story later on in your own words.

Preparing for the exam?

The exam is still a long way off, but I don't think we should neglect preparing for it from the very start, especially at an intermediate level, where there seems to be such a different philosophy between the textbook and the exam activities.

Here it is a web page that can be really helpful for you, especially as far as listening comprehension is concerned: News English lessons.

 

Make it a habit to do a lesson on a regular basis. You can download everything you need, from audio files, to exercises, to transcripts to answers. On top of that, you can subscribe to the feed for free.

British Council Podcasts

The British Council offers podcasts that you can download on your computer to practise your listening skills. On top of that, they come with activities that you can also download and print. Great stuff to learn English for Basic and Intermediate students.