Hearing, Part 3: My Top 5 Favorite Podcasts

Use your headphones, don't let them get moldy like mine!
(Although mine are moldy because of the climate, not neglect)

Hello! It's Friday, so you know what that means: party! But when you get a chance to look at this blog again on Sunday evening, I wanted to share my suggestions for my Top 5 Favorite Podcasts. All the podcasts in this list are produced in the USA and are therefore fairly advanced, but you may like them and learn something even if you're not a native speaker. 

You can find all of these podcasts for free through iTunes (that's what I do), or you can go to each podcast's webpage for more information about getting the episodes. So, here's my list!

5. On The Media - This is a weekly NPR (National Public Radio) program that investigates news stories and how they are reported. We have a TV in my house, but we don't have an antenna or cable, so we don't get any channels. Listening to programs like this help me keep at least partially connected to reality. 

4. Stuff You Should Know - I talked about this podcast a while back, and you can read my comments here. The main idea: I still like and recommend this podcast.

3. This American Life - Same as number 4; I mentioned this on the blog here, and I still think it's a great weekly podcast that you should check out.

2. Freakonomics - I've still never read the book with the same title, but I've become a big fan of this podcast, which comes out at least once a week. It's motto is "the hidden side of everything," and it does have quite a variety of topics. It does talk about numbers and statistics, but it still makes economics seem interesting.

1. The Complete Guide To Everything - This is still one of my favorite weekly podcasts, if not my absolute favorite. It's hosted by Tim and Tom, two guys who live in Brooklyn. They mainly just talk about (or around) a new topic every week. It's very funny, and I like their humor. Have a listen if you've not already.

So, that's it for today. Have a great weekend or if you are indeed reading this on Sunday evening like I suspect, then have a nice week!

Podcast: Stuff You Should Know

Good afternoon, and welcome to Fun Friday! Today's post is short but sweet. I want to recommend a podcast called "Stuff You Should Know." It's part of the site called "How Stuff Works," which has a large selection of podcasts, programs, and other interesting information. 

Every few days "Stuff You Should Know" posts a new program about a different topic. You can follow them through iTunes (that's what I do) or another podcast manager, their Facebook page, or you can also get the podcasts directly from the website. 

Some recent programs that I liked included one about tipping (definitely appropriate for people traveling to the US) and one about how dueling works. Check out the podcast and the site if you want listening and vocabulary practice.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Vocabulary: Podcast About "Like" Expressions

Welcome to Word Wednesday! It's getting late, I'm still having computer problems, and it's almost Thursday, but I wanted to be sure to put up a post about vocabulary. So today's post will be fast.

Hmm, an interesting group of musicians. What do they look like? What do you think they like? What do you think they're like?

If you've ever confused the phrases...

What do you like?

What are you like?

What do you look like?

...then don't worry, you're not alone. I'll try to write more about these types of phrases soon, but I noticed that a podcast called ESL Aloud recently did a whole episode on this topic. You can listen to the episode (or download it) and read many examples of sentences like these here on their page. It's a great way to practice and learn some new vocabulary.

Thanks for reading, and have a great night!

Great Website and Podcast: ESL Pod

I use iTunes to organize my podcasts,
then I put them on my iPod.

Good afternoon! Today I wanted to mention a great podcast that I recently discovered. It's called ESL Pod and even though I recently discovered it, it's been around for a long time. 

There are different types of listening programs on the site, but all of them are designed for people learning English. There are dialogues that are very good, clear, and slow, for example. In these dialogues, the speakers talk very slowly, then identify important vocabulary, and then repeat the vocabulary at "natural" speed. 

They also have what they call "English Café," which are longer programs featuring special topics. For example, English Café recently talked about Star Wars, my favorite movie, so you know it must be good! 

You can go to the site (ESLPod.com) to see what kinds of things they offer, or you can also download the podcast through iTunes or any other program you use to download and listen to podcasts. I personally use iTunes to organize podcasts, since it downloads them automatically for me when there are new episodes.

So, that's it for now. I hope you have a great weekend, full of relaxation and enjoyable podcasts!

Some Sites for English Listening Practice

This weekend, "get a grip" on your English!

Over the last week or so I've come across a few sites that I thought would be helpful for my readers learning English. One is TOEIC-related, and the other two are more about current news.

The first, English-Test.net, has some good practice exercises and tests to prepare for the TOEIC or other similar, standardized tests, like the TOEFL. It seems to have a lot of information, so it's probably good to spend some time exploring it.

Next, I also came across the PBS site called NOW. PBS is the public broadcasting network in the US, and this site has longer reports and videos about current events (for example, here's one about natural gas drilling in the USA). 

Finally, here's another one from the VOA (Voice of America), which has podcasts that you can listen to. Some of them even have scripts that you can read while you listen, like this report about exercising.

So, check them out, and if you have any other links you've found lately, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Recommended Podcast: This American Life

A while ago I did a blog post about Podcasts (click here to see it), but I wanted to highlight a few of them in a bit more detail. Today I'll talk about one and in the next few weeks I'll try to mention a few others I've enjoyed and recommend for language learners.

One of the most popular podcasts in The United States is This American Life. Since it's for native speakers, it's not necessarily made for English learners, but it still can be a great resource if you're trying to learn English. 

The program comes out once a week, and each episode is an hour long. Every week they focus on a different topic and talk about normal people who have experience with the topic. For example, a few weeks ago the show talked about some people who thought they had discovered the original recipe for Coca-Cola. 

One of the best things about this podcast is that it often comes with a transcript of the whole episode (Here's one from a recent episode about people in a drug-prevention program). For an English learner, these transcripts can be an incredible resource if you read along while listening to the podcast. However, doing that could also become tiring, so it might be best to break it into smaller parts.

This American Life's website is very extensive and has past episodes in its archive, but if you go through there, you can generally only listen to old episodes for free by using streaming audio. But if you get the show through itunes, it's free and you can keep older episodes for as long as you want. So that's the way I do it.

That's it for today. I'll try to highlight more recommended podcasts in the future. If you've listened to This American Life and have comments about it, or if you want to recommend other podcasts you enjoy, then please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading, and have a great day! 

Language-Learning Site of the Week: VOA Learning English

In a previous post related to podcasts I mentioned that one of my favorite online resources was the BBC Learning English site. I still highly recommend that site, since it's almost like a little world of English-learning resources. However, just this week a student recommended the VOA Learning English site to me, and it seems like a good site if you're looking for additional English resources, without necessarily having to deal with the British accent that comes with the BBC's site (that may sound like I'm joking or being catty, but that has actually been one of the most common complaints or comments I've heard from my students who've checked out the BBC site).

VOA stands for "Voice of America," and although it's based out of the United States, it's meant for audiences in other countries. Their Learning English site has a lot of current news, cultural reports, and other information relevant to English learners. I'm still checking it out myself, but I'll post anything interesting I find on the site to Sitzman ABC's Twitter feed.

In the meantime, if you have any comments or other suggestions related to the VOA site or any other sites that you've come across, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts. Either comment in the section below, or contact us through email.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

VOA Logo Image Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VOA_Logo.jpg

Podcasts

Podcasts are one of the best listening tools available for language learners. If you've not heard of a "podcast" before, it's basically a sound file that you can listen to on your computer or any device that can play a sound file (like an ipod or a cell phone). Podcasts are convenient because they are often short and focus on one aspect of language, and they can normally give you exposure to authentic language, including vocabulary and different accents.

You can listen to or watch podcasts directly on a program's internet page, or you can manage them through itunes, like I do (it seems easier to me that way). Still, if you prefer to go to the pages, I'll provide a link to each of the podcasts below.

There are many, many podcasts out there, so if you have any additional suggestions to add to the list below, I'd love to hear them. I'll list a few language-learning podcasts below that I like to recommend to my students, as well as some that I enjoy listening to in my free time.

--Podcasts to Learn English--

BBC Learning English

In my opinion, the BBC Learning English site is one of the best overall resources for learning English. The site is produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation and is updated very frequently. There are many pages on the site to check out, but they also have a wealth of downloadable resources like podcasts, pdf files, and even videos. The whole site is like a little city full of English fun so if you're serious about practicing your English skills outside of class, be sure to check out this site.

--Podcasts to Learn Other Languages--

BBC Foreign Languages

While you're looking at the BBC, be sure to check out its site for other foreign languages. This site is great because it has news, audio, video, and even language courses for various other languages like German, Spanish, Chinese, and quite a few others. They have dedicated sites for larger languages, but also basic phrases for 36 different languages! You could spend weeks or even months browsing the pages there and becoming smarter!

German Language: Deutsche Welle

Deutsche Welle is sort of like the German equivalent of the BBC. It has a lot of news, culture, and entertainment shows that it broadcasts around the world. Also like the BBC, it has language learning resources. So, if you're tired of studying English, try German! Then you'll wish you had stayed with English!

Deutsche Welle - Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten

I've spent a good chunk of my life learning German, and it's nice to listen to the language to keep it fresh in my head. If you don't have much German experience, though, their program Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten ("Slowly Read News") could be a good place to start. As its name implies, it's a news program, but the presenters speak nice and slowly.

Deutsche Welle - Fokus Amerika

This is an almost-daily news program that focuses on stories and issues related to North and South America. It's about 10 minutes per show, and I find it to be pretty interesting, especially as something to listen to while in the car. There are also similar shows for other world regions like Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Germany.

Deutsche Welle - Deutsche im Alltag - Alltagsdeutsch

This is definitely geared to people who have interest in the German language. Each 10-minute episode focuses on a specific topic (something "Colors," or "The Cologne Dialect") and interviews people about the topic. Then they dissect the language to find idioms and interesting phrases, and also discuss etymology. I like it, but if you're not a nerd, you might not dig it.

Swedish Language: Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio - Klartext

This is sort of like a Swedish version of a news show for language learners. It's definitely not as slow as the German show from Deutsche Welle, but it's definitely clear ("Klartext," as you can probably guess, is Swedish for "clear text"). I really enjoy listening to this daily, 10-minute program when I'm driving in the car or walking around. It's also a good "confidence-booster," which is great when you're learning a language!

Sveriges Radio - SRI Radio Sweden

OK, this is actually in English, but that's OK. It's still a generally good news show, with an obvious focus on issues related to Sweden. It's normally around 30 minutes; often, I only listen around 5 or 6 minutes, when they talk about the weather. Then I exclaim something like, "Wow! Today in Stockholm, the sun rose at 8:45 AM and set at 2:45 PM! Crazy!"

--Fun/Entertaining Podcasts--

Radiolab

Radiolab? Isn't that the British lounge-pop group that sounds vaguely French? No, that's Stereolab. Radiolab, on the other hand, is an excellent podcast about science in everyday life. Its regular episodes are around an hour long, and its "shorts" are about 15 minutes. Both are excellent, educational, and highly entertaining. They're also good for language learners because the spoken English is very clear. This is probably my favorite podcast.

This American Life

If you life in the USA, you've likely heard (or at least heard of) this radio show. It claims to be the most popular weekly podcast in the U.S.
In each hour-long show, they focus on a specific theme and present three or four short stories related to that theme. It's supposedly about "normal" people, but because of the way it's presented and the high production values, it's quite entertaining. Check it out!


I've also just started checking out a couple of podcasts my brother Paul recommended to me. They seem good so far, although they're not really about learning English (but one's about Spanish):

(Update, 1/24/2011: I've checked them out now. The Coffee Break Spanish is indeed quite good for beginning to intermediate learners, and I liked it quite a bit. The other two were quite entertaining, but I should say that both --but especially the SModcast-- were pretty vulgar. SModcast was especially explicit in parts. In any case, neither of those seem very ideal for language learning, but if you're a native speaker who's into pop culture, you may enjoy them.)

The Complete Guide to Everything
SModcast
Coffee Break Spanish

If you have any luck or problems with any of these podcasts, I'd like to hear from you. Also, if you have other recommended podcasts, especially for language learning, then please comment. Thanks for reading!

(Image Credits: I took the picture of the headphones. All other images from the respective podcasts' sites, except for the black and white SR logo, which is from Wikipedia.)