#8 Listening Websites

On-Line Authentic Listening Sites.

1. Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab
http://www.esl-lab.com/
Online listening quiz site created to help ESL/EFL students self-test and improve their listening comprehension via interactive Web pages (semi-authentic).

2. CNN
http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/,
The Learning Resources site offers web-delivered instruction using current and past CNN Stories Each module includes the full text of each story and interactive activities to test comprehension. The learner can choose to read the text, listen to the text, and view a short video clip of the story. Each module is designed for ease of use so the learner can use it independently. The instructor can also incorporate any story into class activities and lesson plans.

3. Brain Tracks
http://braintracksaudio.com/sound_bites.htm
Authentic voiceover demos containing bits of 4 or 5 advertisements spliced together. Speech is lightening fast and truly authentic. Good test for advanced listening students, or a method of exposing students to popular American culture regarding radio advertisements.

4. CTV
http://www.ctv.ca/
Canadian News, Entertainment and sports.
(Canadian AM has great video/audio)

5. Hollywood Online Movie Talk
http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/
Short interview clips with movie personalities.

6. Brain pop
http://www.brainpop.com/
This site is aimed at kids, but the science related animations have real possibilities for the ESL classroom.

7. National Public Radio
http://www.npr.org/
U.S and World online Information Source. Comprehensive web site for news, entertainment, sports, business, and a complete guide.

8. Friends Scripts
http://www.eigo-i.com/friends/
Complete scripts from the sit-com Friends.

9. Simply Scripts
http://www.simplyscripts.com/unpro_all.html
Original movie scripts and fan fiction for you to read on line, free. Unbelievable!

10. ESL Independent Study Lab
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/listening.html
Links to authentic and semi authentic listening material. Divided by level.

11.Cultural Debates On-line
http://www.teachtsp2.com/cdonline/
This online activity makes multicultural studies come alive! You'll watch video, learn about issues, read and write opinions, and see what others think too.

12. Moonlit Road
http://www.themoonlitroad.com/welcome001.asp
Ghost stories haunt the moonlit back roads of the American South. Their roots in Southern culture and folklore are deep. Each month, The Moonlit Road brings you these ghost stories and other strange Southern folktales, told by the region's best storytellers.

13. NewsHour with Jim Lerer
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html
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.

14. National Geographic
http://pulseplanet.nationalgeographic.com/
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.

15. Radio Diaries
http://radiodiaries.org/radiodiaries.html
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) .

16. CBC Home Delivery
http://www.cbchomedelivery.com/archives/
CBC Home Delivery is part TV, part radio, part magazine photo essay, with just the right amount of interactivity. The result is great storytelling.

17. Songs and Lyrics
http://english.baladre.org/sedaviwebfront/listenings.htm
Collections of popular songs and with exercises.

18. English Listening Lounge
http://www.englishlistening.com/
Great for authentic listening practice for lower to advanced learners.

19. Yahoo Launch
http://launch.yahoo.com/
Links to news, music and music videos.

20. ELLO
http://www.elllo.org/
The site is for students and teachers of English. In my opinion there is a huge need for authentic, graded listening for learners, especially new learners of English. Also, this site is for teachers around the world who are looking for alternative listening materials for their students.

21. Virtually American
http://www.virtuallyamerican.com/
Excellent site for advanced students. Streaming audio of radio programmes including: comedy, drama, suspense, social satire, science fiction and classic radio. Not specifically for ESL.

22. English Pronunciation
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/

23. Christmas: History
http://pulseplanet.nationalgeographic.com/ax/archives/01_culturetemplate.cfm?programnumber=2562
Just what the name says….

24. The Internet TESL Journal's
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Quizzes/Quizzes_with_Sound/index.html
ESL : Quizzes : Quizzes with Sound (lower Levels).

25. Movie Trailers
http://www.english-trailers.com
Watch English movie trailers. Includes variety of ESL activities including cloze and quiz questions.

26. Real.com The best of interviews, previews & Hollywood headlines.
http://celebs.guide.real.com/?rnd=1114696622684&has-player=true&flash-version=7&version=6.0.12.857
Clips of celebrity interviews.

27. Lyrics Universe
http://www.azlyrics.com/index.html
Lyrics to popular songs.

28. ESL News (1-A Lanuage.com)
http://www.1-language.com/eslnews/indexnew.htm
News reports from around the world. Most of these news articles use streaming audio. Includes gap-fill and multiple choice questions.

29. English Language Learning Materials and Teaching Resources
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html
Common Pronunciation Mistakes in English by Language Background.

30. StoryCorps
http://www.storycorps.net/
StoryCorps is a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others' stories in sound. Offers a variety of authentic interviews about a variety of social and humanitarian issues.

31. Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/index.html
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is NPR's weekly hour-long quiz program. Each week on the radio you can test your knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what's real news and what's made up. On the Web, you can play along too.

32. ABC Asia Pacific
http://abcasiapacific.com/livingenglish/
ABC Asia Pacific is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s free to air international satellite television and online service, offering a rich and diverse range of information and general programming.

33. Authentic American Pronunciation
http://evaeaston.com/pr/home.html
Pronunciation practice with real audio.

34. English Baby
http://www.englishbaby.com/community/index.htm

35. Advanced Listening Students Homepage
http://www.actionenglish.com/Advanced_Students/Advanced_Students.htm
Links to advanced listening websites and excercises.

36. PBS News Video Search
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/index.html
Provides on-line audio and video latest news stories. Search by news category. Good site!

37. Traveller’s Journal
http://www.travelersjournal.com/stations.html
Interesting audio recording from travellers around the world.

38. Voice of America Special English
http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/
News for ESL learners (in slower English).

39. Podcast.net
http://www.podcast.net/
Podcasts on a variety of subjects.

40. Podcast.com
http://www.podcast.com/
Podcasts on a variety of subjects.

41. Script-o-rama
http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html
Great Links to TV and Movie Scripts.

42. Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/
Personal video broadcasts.

43. Slang City
http://www.slangcity.com/songs/index.htm
Songs with the slang explained.

44. All About ESL Podcasts
http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/a/intro_podcasts.htm


Suzan's rating: ***** stars.