American Accents - Test Your Listening Comprehension | Authentic Journeys American Accents - Test Your Listening Comprehension Test your American English comprehension by listening to these videos of various American accents! I urge you - don't just listen, shadow! If you hear an accent had by your client, listen, stop the video and mimic it! Here's another video of a North Carolina accent. Amy Walker on YouTube is really good at changing accents. For me, this collage of accents is not complete without the Boston accent. The Long Island accent. Last, but not least is my accent. Thank you for spending time on my site.
A food festival Introduction When students are going to do a listening activity, it is useful to get them thinking about the topic of the listening beforehand. That way they can reactivate and extend their store of vocabulary. In this lesson, students first discuss the topic of food festivals, then they focus on their listening skills in preparation for part 2 of the FCE listening test. Through a series of activities students will become more aware of what to ‘notice’ in a gap fill listening exercise, enabling them to do the Listening part 2 more successfully. Topic Listening skills for FCE Listening part 2 Level Time 75 minutes Aims To encourage students to predict which parts of speech are missing in gapped texts.To familiarise students with part 2 of the Listening test of the FCE exam.To develop students’ listening skills. Materials Lesson plan: download Worksheets (1, 2A, 2B, 3): downloadNote to teachers: worksheet 1 is reproduced twice on the page to reduce paper usage. Audio script: download
Help students improve their listening skills with these podcasts Listening is one of the toughest skills to master in any language. With dialects, accents, and colloquial phrasings, it’s no wonder that our students sometimes struggle to understand what they hear on the street, on TV or even in the classroom. Thankfully there are thousands of great authentic listening resources that can help them improve their listening confidence, train their ears and prepare them for exams like Pearson Test of English (PTE) General. We’re talking about podcasts – online radio shows with hundreds of millions of listeners combined. So, here are some top podcasts which you can use with your students to help them boost their listening skills and become more independent learners. Why listen to podcasts and not just watch TV? It’s a great idea for students to watch series and movies in their original versions. Podcasts, on the other hand, can more effectively prepare students for exams such as PTE General. So what are some podcasts I can use with my learners?
Four hats for discussion Introduction In the 1980s Edward de Bono came up with his Six Thinking Hats idea, in which businessmen use a parallel thinking process which helps them become “more productive, focused, and mindfully involved”. A similar process can be used effectively in the English classroom to get learners more involved in discussions. By wearing a coloured hat, learners are given help, guidance and more support when they are taking part in discussions. They are also free of the burden of having to share their own opinions, which can be useful if they have very little to say, or feel shy about giving their views. Topic Any current or relevant discussion topic. Level B2+ (but could be adapted for lower levels) Time 40-50 minutes Aims To encourage learners to use English in a creative way.To develop learners’ speaking skills.To role-play a character type while having a discussion. Materials Teachers' notesThinking hat role cards You can download these below.
Arab Nations Cut Ties with Qatar Saudi Arabia, Egypt and several Arab nations have ended diplomatic relations with their Gulf neighbor, Qatar. The move follows criticism over Qatar’s support of what many Arab nations consider terrorist organizations. Adding to the conflict is Qatar’s close ties to Iran, Saudi Arabia’s rival. Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, the Maldives and a government group in Libya also ended diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday. The state-owned Saudi Press Agency said Qatar supports “terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at disturbing stability in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, and al-Qaida.” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the kingdom is facing a campaign based on “fabrications,” or false stories. The conflict between Qatar and other Arab nations grew in recent weeks, when Qatar officials said its state-run news agency and Twitter account had been hacked. Small country with large reach Qatar is home to the Al Jazeera international news network. On Monday, U.S.
Podcasts to help English learners practise listening Do your students want more listening practice? Aoife McLoughlin, blogger with ELT-Connect.com and latest winner of the British Council's Teaching English blog award, recommends five podcasts to get them started. Do you spend enough time working on listening skills with your students? Is there ever enough time? Often, when we ask students what part of their English they most want to improve, they will say listening and speaking. But we often give less attention to the receptive skill of listening, perhaps in the belief that 'if you can do it alone, you can do it at home'. Podcasts are a great way for students to improve their listening on the go. With such a huge selection available, students are bound to find a podcast they are interested in that suits their needs. Here are my top five podcasts for learners of English: Englishclass101.com This is much more than a podcast. TED audio podcasts Podcastsinenglish.com IELTSpodcast.com Downtobusinessenglish.com
Draw a story Introduction This lesson uses a wonderful idea from Chris Riddell, currently the 'children's laureate', of turning children into illustrators. Learners will listen to a story and imagine each scene. Note: If you choose to play the audio of the story at LearnEnglish Kids, you will have to become a member. This activity works with most stories and can be adapted to use with other ages and levels. Topic Stories, picture books Level Time
10 Favorite Educational YouTube Channels YouTube is a powerful resource for teaching and learning – if you know where to look. This list of must-watch educational YouTube channels are perfect for finding video clips to share with students in class or in a flipped learning environment. As opposed to an individual video, channels are created by individuals and organizations and are full of related content. You’ll also find resources for educators to help boost content knowledge and introduce teaching strategies. TED-Ed What I love most about TED-Ed videos are how they address questions from our everyday lives. Smithsonian Education With videos for teachers and students this channel has lots to choose from. Crash Course This YouTube channel includes videos that provide an introduction to different topics. Discovery Channel I recently featured some fantastic virtual reality videos from Discovery but their YouTube channel is equally awesome. A couple more to check out: Do you have favorite YouTube channel or clip? Author: Monica
Some interesting resources for listening at basic levels | English in Soria VOA news: News in easy American English, with transcripts.ESL Lab: An interesting site with a lot of listening exercises.YouTube SpeakOut videos, e.g. The videos are useful and interesting, but don’t have transcripts or activities (though watching and trying to understand is an activity!). Search YouTube for “Pearson ELT Speakout Beginner” or “Pearson ELT Speakout Elementary”.lyricstraining.com. Enjoy them, and please tell me if I could add any to this list! Like this: Like Loading...
“You’re Lying”: a Game to Practise Present Perfect Simple and Past Simple Today I’m really happy to introduce a guest writer to you. Angeles Jimenez is a friend and fellow teacher from EOI Oviedo and, in this blog post, she will be sharing with us an excellent communicative game to consolidate the use of present perfect simple and past simple. Ready for a lot of fun! Do you want your students to keep their noses in the course book? Going into a new class on the first day can be a little bit stressful both for teachers and students. Games for getting to know one another can be an excellent way to establish a stress-free environment in the classroom. The “You’re lying “game lives up to its name. It’s a fun game which works very well at the start of the term as a ‘getting to know you’ kind of game. It’s also a great way to consolidate the use of the present perfect tense to talk about experiences and the use of simple past to ask follow-up questions. For B2 students some warming up may be necessary. I’ve been to many countries in my life. How to play
8 YouTube Tools to Help Learn English It always amazes me that despite being the world’s largest video library, YouTube is still blocked or banned in many educational institutions. As a resource for learning about almost anything, but particularly for language learning it is an incredibly valuable tool and a tool that many third-party companies have started to build on and exploit to make its use easier and more engaging. Below are just a few of the many tools that can help educators exploit the learning potential of YouTube with a particular focus on English language learning. I hope you can enjoy these tools and if you do work in an institution where YouTube is still blocked, perhaps you can use this article to help persuade the people responsible that the benefits of making the resource available far outweigh the manageable risks that it can create. 1. This is a self study tool for students that allows them to listen and study each individual sentence within a video. 2. This is a great tool for developing pronunciation.
BusyTeacher.org While these are crucial concepts, others are equally important. What follows is an assortment of alternative ways to teach listening, some quite simple and others based on many years of research. In each case, I will explain each one briefly and give you a suggestion for using it in class. In addition, I have provided a list of resources about each item, for readers who want to learn more about a topic. Get the Entire BusyTeacher Library: Dramatically Improve the Way You Teach Learn more 9 Different Ways to Explore Listening 1Affective ListeningAffective listening (not to be confused with effective listening) refers to listening with the student motivation at the forefront. In conclusion, I’d like to point out that not all of these concepts may be useful in your classroom. Your students might prefer a competitive listening game over applying metacognitive awareness to their burgeoning listening skills. Resources: AFFECTIVE LISTENINGRost, M. and Wilson, JJ. 2013. Bilbrough, N. 2014.