Before this e-tiviy I had never thought of downloading an English podcast in order to listen to it with my Mp3 player. Actually, I didn't know they existed. I always listen to English music and watch films in original language but I found out that podcasts are something different. Lots of lyrics talk about the same things and haven't a wide range of vocabulary and verbs. As regards films, I tend to pay attention to actors' mouth movements when I don't understand something and I don't think this is a good habit. With podcasts you can (and you have to) focus only on what you hear and if there's something you don't understand you keep on listening to it over and over again till you get the meaning clearly.
After spending some time on the web I found three interesting sites about podcasts. The first is English as a Second Language Podcast. It provides audio files about everyday life situations, entertainment, business and so on. Some of them teach you how to describe common medical emergencies in English, or what you should say when you arrive for business appointment, for example. Others are about American culture in general and talk about its folklore, its cities or give some advice if you want to travel to the U.S.A. Each podcast has some explanatory written sentences that let you know what it talk about and which idioms you will learn listening to it.
The second one is The Bob and Rob show and it contains weekly English lessons with a large range of topics: animals, culture, education, health, food. In each podcast Bob and Rob talk about these topics as they were two friends having a everyday conversation. Therefore they are very fluent and the register is very colloquial; what is more you can listen to different accents, grammar, idioms and slang both in British and American English.
The third one is Voice of America which provides podcasts in special English, for people whose first language is not English but I think it is useful also for more advanced learners because its articles are very interesting and some subject are quite complex. There are different topics (agriculture, health, education) for each day of the week and the latest new from around the world. The podcasts have short sentences, a limited vocabulary and a slow pace of speaking but I think that it represents a useful exercise for us too to improve our English. Maybe it will not help us in our listening skills but it represents a good source of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions.
All things considered, I think that podcasts are useful to learn English because they give us the opportunity to listen to people speaking in English, which is something we don't do very often. The more we plunge in all the aspects and different ways of get in touch with English, the better we'll learn it.
4 commenti:
Hi Giovanna! I do agree with you: pods are useful because they "force" you trusting your ears only. As you cannot see the speakers' body language, you really have to focus on what you hear, which is something we do need to improve our English skills!
As for the pods you suggested, I had a "look" (I'm not sure I can use this expression!) at "The Rod and Bob Show", which I found particularly interesting. As you said, each pod seems to be an informal conversation between two friends and the topics they deal with are taken from American life and culture: in my opinion, this makes listening quite relaxing and easy, because you get the impression you're listening to some friends of yours having a conversation. I would say that the pods in the ESL website that we both suggested are created in a quite similar way, that is with the basic convinction that listening to discussions is a great way to learn things more quickly and, what's more, having fun.
Hello Giovanna!
The more the weeks pass, the more I find out that we share similar thoughts and interests! Just like you, I love English music and when I have the chance I watch films in the original version: I firmly believe that if you find a way to improve your English by doing something you really like, not only do you have fun, but what you learn remains engraved on your memory. For example, reading the lyrics of the songs I loved the most enabled me to enlarge my vocabulary! For this reason, I found Bob and Rob's show particularly interesting: they really talk about everything (from sex to Japanese taboos!) and don't mince their words! Their silly and funny chats keep you from stopping listening and in this way you can get used to their colloquial language with the greatest ease!
Cheers,
Elena
Hi Jo!
One can see your love for America just looking at the websites you choose! Sarah will be happy of it :-)! Among the websites you choose, my attention too was caught by Bob and Rob show, because it sounded funny...and actually it was!
I listened to the discussion, or better conversation, about Machismo. Interesting! Like Marta said, listening to them chatting is relaxing since their tone is friendly and informal. Furthermore, the fact that the topics they deal with are both interesting and curious makes easier for me to concentrate and listen to them more carefully.
Good choice!
bye!
Sara
Hi, Giovanna!
I'm so sorry but I couldn't comment on your post in time because there's a fault in my telephone line at home. I'm isolated! The telephone doesn't work! I hope this problem isn't due to the fact that I asked for broadband two days ago.
Now I have to attend a lesson, so I can't look at your podcasts now.
I'll answer you as soon as possible!
See you later in the lab.
Marty
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