Listening Libraries

I’ve been looking recently for some decent online listening libraries to use with a private student. I like to use the audios from course books, but when there is a long back story to each one, it can be difficult to dive straight into the listening activity without all the build up material. I have to also admit, that after using the same audios with multiple classes, they are kind of driving me crazy too.

Most of my students have expressed difficulty with particular accents (Scottish and Australian seem to be top of the difficulty list), so I wanted to be able to expose my student to as many accents as possible, to better train her ear to their differences. However, I have had difficulty finding decent sound quality, the right level, interesting topics etc.

One of the best websites I have come across so far is ESL Cyber Listening Lab, which has graded listening activities along with vocabulary and comprehension questions. The activities are all spoken with a North American accent, which is good, since it exposes students to something other than my Northern England twang. The one complaint I do have however, is that some of the dialogue is a little mumbled and “laid back” at times (like the people who are speaking are a little drunk or stoned). There are a huge range of topics covered, so there is a good chance of finding something suitable to use with any student.

Another site that I was put on to by another teacher is elllo which has a fantastic range of both listening and video material complete with exercises for each. There are some worksheets too that can be used to make a full lesson out of just one item along with discussion, vocaulary, grammar tasks etc

As I use more sites for listening, I’ll post!