Radio and English learning

 podcasts can improve your listening skill

by | Jul 17, 2019 | Listening, Tips

For listening practice, nothing compares to English radio programs. Today, thanks to the Internet, English learners can have easy access to high quality podcasts instead of listening to the actual radio. Here are four recommended places where you can listen to English radio programs.

1.BBCLearningEnglish.com

This is the oldest English learning radio (70 years old, to be precise) on the planet! They produce radio programmes accessible for free in the form of podcasts. You can find a great deal of listening material from BBC Learning English.

Exam skills: The importance of learning vocabulary

by BBCLearningEnglish.com

Words in the news: Flying foxes

by BBCLearningEnglish.com

BBC World Service Hardtalk: An inspiring woman

by BBCLearningEnglish.com

BBC The English we speak: How to use the word

by BBCLearningEnglish.com

2. Voice of America

As an American broadcasting institution, VOA produces news, human interest, and short fiction in Special English which is spoken more slowly and with a smaller vocabulary than regular programming, so it is easier for intermediate learners to understand. Here are two samples:

VOA Science report: Learn about "bats"

by Voice of America

Words and their stories: Money, money, money!

by Voice of America

3. ABC Radio National

IELTS consists of different English accents. Three of them are more common than the others: British, American, and Australian. Do you have difficulty understanding Australian speakers? Then don’t miss this radio channel and its podcasts. Here’s a sample:

ABC Radio National: Science show

by ABC Radio National

About the Author

About the Author

CEO and Co-founder of Juice Academy

Mehdi Safavi is a Cambridge certified English teacher (CELTA Grade A), IDP-trained IELTS expert, Sussex Downs College TESOL with 17+ years of teaching & teacher training experience. More about him →

2 Comments

  1. Waleed Ahmed

    Thanks for helping people to improve their English language for free, I appreciate what you have been doing for years.

    Reply

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