February 5, 2017 at 15:3310 podcasts to learn / continue learning English
Six months ago, I made a very pleasant discovery for myself - podcasts in English for learners of English. At that time, I had problems with listening and the opening of podcasts helped me a lot to develop listening to the level of understanding films and audio books without any subtitles.
Podcasts are sound audio files in the style of radio broadcasts on the Internet. As a rule, podcasts have a certain theme and frequency of publication. Everyone who has a smartphone can listen to podcasts. Apple owners have a native app called podcasts to listen to podcasts. Android users can use the Podcast Addict app.
It’s worth immediately explaining that podcasts greatly develop their understanding of English, especially if you listen to podcasts of different genres and different levels of difficulty. If you listen to podcasts regularly, the brain gets used to English speech => it makes it easier for you to understand the context of the sentence => your progress in learning English is getting bigger.
I’ll add from myself that the best progress is obtained when you drive yourself into a stressful situation. For our brain, a stressful situation is when it takes more effort to solve a problem than our brain expected or a situation arose suddenly and required an immediate solution to this problem. So, what am I doing this for? I mean, you need to listen to those podcasts that you are NOT comfortable listening to, I mean, those podcasts that you listen to, understanding the material LESS THAN 70 percent. In this case, you will strain, for you it will be a kind of challenge, you will grow and this will be more useful than the fact that you are listening to something that does not cause you tension.
For myself, I identified two options for listening to podcasts:
1) Targeted listening. You take time specially, write out incomprehensible words, enter them into the dictionary, and analyze them. You focus only on the material you are listening to. For such an option, those podcasts are very suitable, the understanding of which causes you difficulties.
2) You listen to podcasts and at the same time do some things, such as a trip to work, cooking, occupation in the hall. You listen to what they say, but you concentrate on speech not completely. The sense, of course, from this option is less than from the previous one, but it is. Your brain is independent of you, captures words and expressions, and when you meet these words in any text, they will seem familiar to you. For this option, podcasts that you enjoy listening to are suitable.
At first it seemed strange and unusual to me - to study English moving away from the usual listening methods. It was a little unusual, as if you were listening to the radio ... It seems that you are doing a serious business, it seems like entertainment. Anyway. It became interesting to me, I got involved and, here is the result, I am ready to give a detailed description of my favorite podcasts.
I will begin to describe podcasts based on their difficulty level, that is, let's go from easy to difficult.
1. The easiest, in my opinion, podcast - grammar girl
Description: In this podcast you can hear different stories, small lectures on grammar, animals, how something can be done. All in all, pretty interesting, easy to listen to.
Difficulty: easy. The measured, slow speech, rather simple sentences.
Duration of the episode: 10-17 minutes.
Recommended English level: pre intermediate - intermediate
Price: free
Link: www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl
2. A little more complicated, for me it is VOA (Voice of America)
Description: In this podcast you can hear discussions of the news, the latest achievements of mankind, fairy tales, world histories, reading classical literature, grammar analysis and much more. Of course, listening to news is more difficult than fairy tales; this is compensated by vocabulary.
Difficulty: easy. Clear, medium speed speech. Pretty clear. Simple sentences.
Episode duration: 5-40 minutes
Recommended English level: intermediate
Price: free
Link: americanenglish.state.gov/node/1374
3. Even more complicated is the BBC.
Description: An educational podcast that includes news, grammar, history, educational, and more.
The difference from VOA is small, except that it is a British accent ...
Difficulty: easy. Academic, correct English with perfect pronunciation. Normal speech speed. Medium difficulty offers.
Episode duration: 10-40 minutes
Recommended English level: intermediate, upper intermediate
Price: free
Link: www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
4. In fourth place in complexity I had Luke's English podcast. By the way, my favorite podcast.
Description: A podcast of one English man, which simply describes events from his life. He makes it pretty sweet. Sometimes it explains something from the grammar. Also, actively involved in political activities. Gives comments on the latest significant news, talks about his travels, about his new feelings and much more.
Difficulty: easy. Academic British English. Very nice to hear. Speech speed, as in a normal conversation. Pretty complicated sentences. Phrasal verbs are used.
Episode duration: 40-60 minutes
Recommended English level:intermediate, upper intermediate
Price: free
Link: teacherluke.co.uk
5. In fifth place I have such a podcast: Startalk. One of the most interesting podcasts.
Description: Scientific lectures on various topics. The two presenters, quite fascinatingly discussing atronomy, physics, chemistry, all sorts of interesting cases from people's lives and not only.
Difficulty: difficult. Spoken American English. Speech speed, same as in normal conversation. The use of phrasal verbs and idioms.
Episode duration: 50-60 minutes
Recommended English level: upper intermediate
Price: free
Link: player.fm/podcasts/startalk
6. I placed in sixth place - Radiolab
Description: Interesting stories from the life of people and, even, the stories of entire peoples and settlements, quite unusual, making you imbued and think about them.
Difficulty: difficult. The use of idioms and phrasal verbs. Pretty fluent speech.
Duration: 40-60 minutes
Recommended English level: upper intermediate
Price: free
Link: www.radiolab.org/series/podcasts
7. Another interesting podcast - The Allusionist
Description: A very high-quality podcast. It tells about scientific facts, achievements of mankind, about the meanings of the word, tells fantastic stories. In general, listening is very interesting.
Difficulty: difficult. Scientific terms, quick speech, complex sentences.
Duration: 10-20 minutes
Recommended English level: advanced
Price: free
Link: www.theallusionist.org
8. So, complicate ... Monkey Cage at your service!
Description: podcast of English stand-up artists Brian Cox and Robin Ince. They tell funny stories, make jokes, make fun of each other. They talk about the news in a very playful way.
Difficulty: difficult. Fluent conversational academic English. A lot of specific words. Complex sentences.
Duration: 50-70 minutes
Recommended English level: upper intermediate, advanced
Price: free
Link: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w
9. The smartest man in the world - proudly placed in 9th place.
Description: Greg Proops makes reviews of movies, TV shows. His reviews reflect all English humor and irony. It’s hard to understand for non native speakers, but if you understand, you can appreciate the charm of English humor.
Difficulty: difficult. Fluent conversational British. A large number of idioms, rare words, very complex speech turns.
Episode duration: 40 - 70 minutes
Recommended English level: upper intermediate, advanced
Price: free
Link: www.gregproops.com/blog
10. One of the most difficult podcasts for my personal understanding - WTF with Marc Maron
Description: Marc Maron talks about cases from his life, about his career. Everything is fun with humor and irony.
Difficulty: very difficult. Specific jokes. Complex sentences. Very fast speech.
Duration: 60-70 minutes
Recommended English level: advanced
Price: free
Link: www.wtfpod.com
