Listening Page 2

Level 100 = beginner/advanced beginner
Level 200 = intermediate
Level 300 = upper intermediate
Level 400 = advanced

Level 300 and up	American RadioWorks Documentaries - Over 50 online documentaries providing background, original photography, interactive elements and streaming audio. The documentaries cover a fascinating range of topics. The combination of text and visuals helps the English learner to understand the audio content. Examples include: Witness to Terror (9/11), Mandela: An Audio History, and Global Politics of Food. http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/documentaries.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Breaking-News English - Ready-to-use EFL / ESL lesson plans based on current affairs. All of these current events lesson plans contain a news article, listening (MP3 file), communication activities, pair work, discussion, reading and vocabulary exercises. Classroom handouts are reproducible in Word and PDF. Updated daily. http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio® or QuickTime®,
Level 300 and up	CNN Student News - View a video of a new news story each weekday. There is an accompanying reading that is similar in content and structure but not a word-for-word transcription. There are discussion questions. Video requires a password which you get for free by signing up for an email newsletter. An entire 10 minute version of the shortened online video can be videotaped off CNN from 3:12 AM to 3:22 AM Eastern Time M-F. http://.www.cnn.com/fyi Click here if you need to download RealAudio® or QuickTime®,
Level 300 and up	The Daily Idiom - Slang and idioms are described in writing and with audio. New ones added daily. This is in the form of a blog at http://englishcaster.com/blogs/
Level 300 and up	English, Baby! - A commercial site, but presently free. Includes five new lessons per week, 3-4 of which are typically listening based, with text, quiz, and glossary. The new lessons replace those from the previous week, but institutions can purchase access to their extensive archives. Authentic, entertaining material geared toward teens and twenties. Great for advanced students but can be daunting for lower levels at http://www.englishbaby.com/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	English Bites - This Australian site provides interesting interviews on a wide range of topics accompanied by videos, transcripts, vocabulary explanations, comprehension exercises and more. There is a huge amount of material here and the quality is very high. http://www.abcasiapacific.com/englishbites/archives.htm Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	English Listening Room (Charles Kelly) - Listen to the songs (they are fast!) and fill in the blanks for the missing words. This is part of the larger site, "Interesting Things for ESL Students." http://www.manythings.org/pp/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	English-Trailers.com - Do you like to watch the coming attractions for movies? These are called "trailers" and they are short, action-packed summaries of the movie. Now you can choose from more than 50 trailers to watch and then do English activities: summary, cloze, script, quiz and Web links. The exercises help you understand the trailers and the Web links are there for you to find out more information about the movies and the people in them. If you sign up as a member, you can see even more trailers and you can send the results of the language activities to your teacher. Cool! http://www.english-trailers.com/ Click here if you need to download QuickTime®
Level 300 and up	ESL Bear Lyric Activities (Douglas Kellar) - Complete gap-fill exercises for some of your favorite songs. http://www.eslbears.homestead.com/lyrics.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	ESL Business News - ESL Business News is a new weekly podcast of international business news read in slow, clear English. In addition to a link to an MP3 file of the podcast, the http://www.eslbusinessnews.com website provides a link to the script that accompanies each podcast so that the listener can follow along, making it an ideal learning tool for students studying business English. http://www.eslbusinessnews.com/index.html
Level 300 and up	Favorite Poem Project - At this fascinating Web site, click on the title of one of 50 poems. You will then see a video of the person who will be reading that poem. However, before the poem is read, the video will explain why this poem is particularly important to the reader at http://www.favoritepoem.org/thevideos/index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Fire Fighter Protective Clothing Tour (Davis, California Fire Dept.) - Ever wondered how fire fighters can survive inside burning buildings? They have to wear very special clothing to protective themselves. At this site you can read about, look at, and listen to information that shows some of this protective gear. You'll need Flash v. 6 or later. http://www.ci.davis.ca.us/fire/pct/ Click here if you need to download Flash®.
Level 300 and up	Light Up Your Brain - Classic children's stories (though loved by us older people too), such as "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "How the Leopard Got His Spots." mp3 files download to your computer or play directly. You can also read the text while you listen, which makes this site accessible to intermediate level ESL/EFL students. There is also a games section when you're finished listening to stories! at http://lightupyourbrain.com/stories.html
Level 300 and up	LingualNet (Michael and Keiko Rost) - According to the founders, "Lingual Net builds on the central theme of 'learning English through movies'. Why movies? Movies-- from home made videos to full length feature films-- represent the essence of communication." When you visit the site, you can watch videos/films in the following categories: Narrative, Animation, Commercials, Cine-Poetry, Homemade, Documentary and Travel. Learners can view the materials with or without subtitles, and can also answer quiz questions as they view. Finally, learners can submit a review of the materials they've watched. There's a lot of creative and engaging media here so give LingualNet a visit at http://www.lingual.net/index.php
Level 300 and up	Marketplace (PBS) - A daily public radio show that maintains several years of audio archives. Shows prior to December 24, 2002 include transcripts. Excellent for building vocabulary because the transcripts are accessible to Babylon (www.babylon.com/) and other online dictionaries. Especially interesting to students in business and economics at http://www.marketplace.org/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	The Moonlit Road - Ghost stories and strange folk tales from the American South. Click on the "Hear the Storyteller" links to listen as storytellers read these strange tales, complete with excellent sound effects. After starting the audio, you can click on "Read the Story" to see the text as you listen. http://www.themoonlitroad.com/featurestories001.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	NY Times Year in Pictures -2003 - Although we're past the year 2003 now, this imaginative site shows beautiful photos plus audio descriptions of the most important events of the year in the categories of National, World, New York, Sports and Culture. Choose low or high bandwidth depending on the speed of your Net connection. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/photo/20031229_YIP2003/
Level 300 and up	Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - Listen to the daily news from this respected show on PBS (the Public Broadcasting System). Some of the stories have only audio, and others have the written text so you can read along as you listen. Also, on the left side of the screen is a subject index of over 30 topics. Each contains the past NewsHour stories, again with text and audio. This is also a good place to look if you need to do a research project for class! Also, have a look at Online NewsHour Extra. This is a special resource for students. There are articles written by students and lesson plans for teachers. This is a great way to stay informed on current events. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Pulse of the Planet - Listen to short audio segments on nature, culture and science from National Geographic. In the Archives section, you will find short audio clips that have text you can read as you listen at http://pulseplanet.nationalgeographic.com/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Radio Documentaries - These sites cover a wide range of extremely interesting topics. There is something here for everyone! All of these sites receive some support from National Public Radio. The America Project (over 20 stories, no transcripts); Radio Diaries (more than 30 stories - people document their own lives for public radio: teenagers, seniors, prison inmates and others whose voices are rarely heard, includes transcripts); Transom (topics that don't normally appear on radio, accompanied by articles); Hearing Voices (an offbeat collection of stories, some with illustrated articles and transcripts to accompany the audio); Sound Portraits is dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected American voices to a national audience. Audio is accompanied by a story, transcript and sometimes links to additional resources. Explore these resources to learn more about the U.S. and the world at large! Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Scientific American Frontiers (PBS) &endash; An amazing site with all the Scientific American Frontiers shows back to 1990 archived. Since they allow educators to videotape their broadcast shows and use them for up to a year, this is also a good support site for classroom video use. Includes quizzes and other support materials at http://www.pbs.org/saf/archive.htm. Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Stone Soup - Listen and read along as youth read stories that they wrote themselves. http://www.stonesoup.com/main2/listen.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	UEfAP - Using English for Academic Purposes(Listening) - Designed for English learners in academic settings, this Web site combines advice, based on current research, along with interactive exercises. The listening section includes notetaking practice too on a variety of academic topics. This site was designed by Andy Gillett, University of Hertfordshire at http://www.uefap.co.uk/listen/listfram.htm The main page of this site gives access to academic study materials in speaking, writing, vocabulary and reading. A really excellent resource. Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Youth Radio - Youth Radio's Web Radio station is dedicated to keeping listeners updated on what's going on in the world for today's young people through music and commentaries. In addition to listening to music, pick a topic from the list on the left side of the window. You will hear a commentary and can follow along with the text at http://www.youthradio.org/webradio/index.shtml Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	Historical Voices - The purpose of Historical Voices is to create a significant, fully searchable online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century - the first large-scale repository of its kind. Historical Voices will both provide storage for these digital holdings and display public galleries that cover a variety of interests and topics. There are two ways to use the site: 1) You can access galleries that contain audio materials. Currently, the galleries include: Studs Terkel: Conversations with America, The Oyez Project (including streaming audio of oral arguments in front of the U.S. Supreme Court), Earliest Voices (voices from the first 50 years of audio recording), History and Politics Out Loud (speeches and personal communications), and The African Digital Library (Western African affairs in multiple languages). 2) You can look for audio materials on a content area of your choice using the search engine on the site. http://www.historicalvoices.org/galleries.php Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	Justice Talking (National Public Radio) - Learn about some of the most important political and legal issues in the U.S. today by hearing debates between experts. There are over 100 debates. In addition to the debates, you have access to an overview on each topic, introduction to the guests, court cases and additional Web resources, and a quote on the topic. A great way to practice your listening while learning information critical to understanding the U.S. political/legal system and the values underlying it at http://www.justicetalking.org/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	SoundLearning (Minnesota Public Radio) - Sound Learning is a launching point to Minnesota Public Radio's content on the Web. Choose from the following content areas: English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Music, Family/Consumer Science at http://www.soundlearning.org/
Level 400	Studio 360 - A new national radio show about arts and culture, hosted by novelist and journalist Kurt Andersen and produced by Public Radio International and WNYC. Current issues, events and trends in art are a jumping off point for an exploration of ideas that aren't necessarily "news," yet are provocative and offer a lens on experience that only art can provide. Studio 360 presents richly textured and emotionally resonant stories that look at art's creative influence and transformative power in everyday life at http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Do you want more?	See Listening Resources for English Language Learners (John McVicker - Ohio University). You'll find more "Collections of Listening Links, Things to Listen To and Watch, and Listening Comprehension Activities." http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/listening.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Return to top.

Return to Listening Page 1
Return to ESL Independent Study Lab.