10 podcasts for learning / continuing to learn English
Six months ago, I made a very pleasant discovery for myself - podcasts in English for English learners. At that time, I had problems with listening and opening podcasts helped me a lot to develop listening to the level of understanding films and audio books without any subtitles.
Podcasts are audio audio files in the style of radio programs on the Internet. As a rule, podcasts have a certain theme and frequency of publication. Every person who has a smartphone can listen to podcasts. To listen to the podcasts, Apple owners have a native application called “podcasts”. Android users can use the Podcast Addict application.
Immediately it should be explained that podcasts greatly develop an understanding of English speech, especially if you listen to podcasts of different genres and different levels of complexity. If you listen to podcasts regularly, the brain gets used to English speech => it becomes easier to understand the context of the sentence => your progress in learning English becomes greater.
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From myself I will add that the best progress is obtained when you drive yourself into a stressful situation. For our brain, a stressful situation is when more time is needed to solve a problem than our brain expected or a situation has arisen suddenly and requires the immediate solution of this task. 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, listening to which, an understanding of the material is 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 confusing than listening to something that does not cause you tension.
For myself, I identified two options for listening to podcasts:
1) Target listening. You allocate time specially, write out incomprehensible words, enter them into the dictionary, and analyze them. You concentrate only on the material you are listening to. For this option, those podcasts are very suitable, understanding of which makes it difficult for you.
2) You listen to podcasts and at the same time do some work, such as driving to work, cooking, or studying in a gym. You listen to what is being said, but do not concentrate fully on speech. Of course, there is less sense from this option than from the previous one, but it is there. Your brain, regardless of you, fixes words and expressions, and when you meet these words in any text, they will seem familiar to you. For this option, suitable podcasts that you enjoy listening.
At first it seemed strange and unusual to me - to learn English without departing from the usual listening methods. It was a bit unusual, as if you were listening to the radio ... It seems that you are doing a serious job, it seems like entertainment. Anyway. It became interesting to me, I was 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 level of complexity, that is, let's go from easy to complex.
1. The easiest podcast in my opinion - grammar girl
Description: In this podcast, you can hear different stories, small lectures on grammar, animals, how to do something. In general, quite interesting, easy to listen to.
Difficulty: easy. Measured, slow speech, fairly 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 bit harder, for me, this is VOA (Voice of America)
Description: In this podcast, you can hear news discussions, the latest achievements of mankind, fairy tales, world history, reading classical literature, analysis of grammar and much more. Of course, it is more difficult to listen to the news than fairy tales, this is compensated by the vocabulary.
Difficulty: easy. Clear, medium speed, speech. Pretty understandable. Simple sentences.
Duration of episode: 5-40 minutes
Recommended English level: intermediate
Price: Free
Link: americanenglish.state.gov/node/1374
3. Even more difficult - BBC.
Description: An educational podcast that includes news, grammar lectures, stories, training lectures, and more.
The difference from VOA is small, except for the British accent ...
Difficulty: easy. Academic, correct English with perfect pronunciation. Normal speech speed. Medium difficulty sentences.
Duration of the episode: 10-40 minutes
Recommended English level: intermediate, upper intermediate
Price: Free
Link: www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
4. In fourth place in terms of complexity, I had Luke's English podcast. By the way, my favorite podcast.
Description: One English manA podcast that simply describes events from your life. He does it quite nicely. Sometimes he explains something from grammar. Also actively involved in political activities. Gives comments on the latest significant news, talks about his travels, about his new sensations and about many other things.
Difficulty: easy. Academic British English. Very nice to listen to. Speech rate, as in normal conversation. Pretty complicated sentences. Phrasal verbs are used.
Duration of the episode: 40-60 minutes
Recommended English level: intermediate, upper intermediate
Price: Free
Link: teacherluke.co.uk
5. In fifth place I have this podcast: Startalk. One of the most interesting podcasts.
Description: Scientific lectures on various topics. The two presenters are quite fascinatingly discuss atronomy, physics, chemistry, all sorts of interesting cases from the lives of people and not only.
Difficulty: difficult. Spoken American English. Speech rate, also as in normal conversation. The use of phrasal verbs and idioms.
Duration of the episode: 50-60 minutes
Recommended English level: upper intermediate
Price: Free
Link: player.fm/podcasts/startalk
6. In sixth place I placed - Radiolab
Description: Interesting stories from the life of people and even the history of entire peoples and settlements, rather unusual, forcing them to penetrate and think about them.
Difficulty: difficult. Use of idioms and phrasal verbs. Pretty quick 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: Very high quality podcast. It tells about the scientific facts, the achievements of mankind, about the meanings of the word, tells fantasy stories. In general, listening is very interesting.
Difficulty: difficult. Scientific terms, fast 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: Brian Cox and Robin Ince English podcast podcast. They tell funny stories, make jokes, make fun of each other. They talk about the news in a very joking way.
Difficulty: difficult. Fluent spoken academic English. Many 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 on the 9th place.
Description: Greg Proops makes reviews of movies, TV shows. His reviews reflect all English humor and irony. Difficult to understand for non-native speakers, but if you understand, you can appreciate the beauty of English humor.
Difficulty: difficult. Fluent conversational British. A large number of idioms, rare words, very complex speech turns.
Duration of episode: 40 - 70 minutes
Recommended English Level: upper intermediate, advanced
Price: Free
Link: www.gregproops.com/blog
10. One of the most difficult for my personal understanding of the podcast - 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 quick speech.
Duration: 60-70 minutes
Recommended English level: advanced
Price: Free
Link: www.wtfpod.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/370139/
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