Listen to English - learn English

This is a BBC web page (http://www.listen-to-english.com/index.php), which has rapidly become one of my favourite web pages for class room activities. The activities available on the web page are plentiful. The main idea is listening exercises. All recordings are podcasted; they can be downloaded to smart phones or saved on computers through Mp3 recordings. There are pdf files which can be printed and used as support for pupils and for further exercises. The recordings are in a very understandable English and clear.


Topics vary, from Halloween to good behavior, breakfasts etc so they are very usable. The recordings are 5 – 8 minutes long so there is plenty of time for preparation before listening, as well as discussions and questions after the recording. Most of the recordings are suitable for pupils age 10-13. By using only the pdf it is possible for teachers to tell the same story using a simpler language and pictures.



There are a number of different ways to use this web page.
Listening – straight forward listening exercises, with the pdf for support if necessary.
Listening – with the pdf but with words missing, the pupils are to fill in the gaps when listening to the recording.
Reading – only using the pdf, allowing pupils to read the text, looking up any difficult words and in smaller groups discussing the text with the help of some questions.
Vocabulary/comprehension – after having listened to and read the text, pupils are to explain, in their own words certain, underlined words. Not using the dictionary but rather by comprehending the text.
Group assignments – pupils are divided into groups of 3-4 pupils. They choose one recording per group (different recordings). It is important that no group choose a recording already used in class. They then produce a work sheet with sentences, gaps or whatever is the point of the exercise. They tell other groups what the text is about, what the exercises are about and help other groups to manage the tasks. For example, the aim could be to spot as many adjectives as possible and put them into right columns for absolute, comparative and superlative, alternatively to spot as many nouns as possible in the texts.
Drama – using the recordings to perform a short play using the topic given in the recording but adjusting it to fit the play.



Pupils benefit from hearing English, the fact that there are so many topics available is good as that means that there is something for everybody’s taste. Pupils also learn vocabulary, comprehension, team work and responsibility. It is also good for the pupils to learn to take charge of their own learning, of course supervised by a teacher.



For the teacher it is a useful website as the texts are so versatile and useful. Setting up various tasks does not require a huge amount of hours, downloading the recordings means that the recordings can be used without internet access or more than one or two computers. As most pupils like to do new things, this is a perfect website to use as an alternative to the course books as there are so many topics to choose from.



The website, does not however offer listening comprehension in various dialects, which to me, is the only negative point. It would have been great if some of the recordings had been done in Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Australian etc as that would have made the material even more useful.

Susanne Guildford