Click, Listen and Learn: Improving Listening Skills with Podcasts



(Source: Pixabay)

Do your students/acquaintances often ask you to give them advice on how to improve their listening skills? Or are you trying to improve your own listening skills for your upcoming IELTS? Then I have a great recommendation for you, which is easily available and free of cost. I am talking about "Podcasts"!

PODCASTS
What are "Podcasts"? Podcasts are audio files freely available on the internet that can be streamed online or downloaded.
Through podcasts you can listen to discussions on a huge variety of topics and simple narrations of case studies and events in different accents of English. You can play the audio in the background of your phone while you are travelling somewhere or doing some household chores. It's a good and productive leisurely activity! And guess what? The audio files are almost all the time completely FREE.

HOW TO USE PODCASTS?
Using podcasts is no rocket science. You can install the application named "Podcasts" from Google Play store and immediately start listening to any topic that interests you. You can also search on the internet and find plenty of free and downloadable podcasts. Watch this Video to learn more about how to use podcasts.

(Source: https://youtu.be/9dXKGJ7jLsk)

 How to Use Podcasts in a Classroom?
There are different ways of using podcasts in the classroom. Teachers often use videos in class for improving learners' listening skills. However, if the videography is too attractive, learners may get distracted and not pay enough attention to listening. To avoid that teachers can play podcasts instead of videos. Also for assessment, quizzes and class tests podcasts are amazing resources.
Above all, tell your students to listen to podcasts regularly to improve their listening skill!

BENEFITS
1. As you keep listening to these more, your mind gets acquainted with different accents.
2. Your listening skill improves.
3. Your vocabulary gets enriched.
4. And most importantly, your pronunciation skill as well as speaking skill improves rapidly.

Too good to be true? Try it out yourself!

Comments

  1. Tahmid Anik14 August 2020 at 08:36

    A nice thoughtful writing. Looking forward for ur next blog post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tilly30 September 2020 at 08:50

    Hi Marwa! So pleased to see that you are still contributing to this blog. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete

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