Excellent sites for improving EFL / ESL listening skills!

At the moment I am finishing off a summer course that had a focus on improving the students' listening skills and expanding their vocabularies. I teach at a Finnish upper secondary school, i.e. in a high school, where students generally take at least one of their A-level exams in a foreign language, and English is a very popular choice. 

The target level for high school leavers is B2.1 but many students reach a level even higher than that. The EFL A-level exam, or matriculation examination as it is called in Finland, is of a very high level which is why I had to plan the course so that the students would be well prepared for the actual exam in the autumn (A-level exams are arranged nationally twice a year). Yet, I also had to provide the students with listening material that was suitable also for those students who were struggling with the demands of the national exam.

To cut a long story short, here is a list of some excellent sites that I used as listening material. We used the videos and audios for open questions, multiple-choice exercises or for writing short summaries. Sometimes the students chose a video and after studying it, they created the listening comprehension questions with answers themselves. 

I hope you'll find the sites useful! My students surely did, the feedback I got from them was superb!

Abitreenit: Englanti *) Read more about this below

AsapScience

BBC Learning English (my all time favourite!)

BBC World Service Podcasts

British Council Learn English
Crash Course

English Listening Lesson Library Online - elllo

Indiana Public Media Podcast

LBC London's Biggest Conversation

Lyrics gaps

TED Talks

The Minimalist Podcast

VoA English @ the Movies

VoA English in a Minute

VoA Everyday Grammar TV

VoA News Words

Ykitreenit

News in English: 

ABC

BBC

CNN

CNN 10 (News explained in 10 minutes)

NEWS24

NEWS IN LEVELS: VoANEWS (slow English)

1NEWSNOW

SKYNEWS

YLE NEWS in English

*) If you are not familiar with the Finnish A-level system but would like to have a go with sample A-level exams in EFL, please don't get overwhelmed with the Finnish language on the site. The multiple choice questions are in English and you'll get the correct answers once you submit yours. Have a go and see how you would do in our national EFL test!

Ps. If you know any good listening comprehension sites, please share them in the comment section below!

Wishing you a lovely summer and see you after the holidays!

Best, Minna 

Learning a language and becoming fluent

Let’s face it, unless you are lucky enough to have been born in a multilingual family or have been exposed to more than one language in your childhood, learning a new language will take some time and effort. Anyone who has tried it in their adult years knows that unfortunately, there is no magic trick. Becoming fluent in a new language takes dedication and time. And when I say fluent, I don’t just mean that you master the structures of the language and have an extensive vocabulary. What I mean by fluency is that you start thinking in that language, you don’t translate in your mind anymore. In fact, you don’t even know how to translate something into your native language, but yet you understand 100% the meaning. You understand the small nuances, and rhythm flows easily. It’s also these kind of things I mean when talking about fluency.

My native language is Finnish and I started learning English in primary school when I was nine years old. Later on, when I was in my thirties, I started studying Spanish and that truly has taught me a lot of language learning. I wish all language teachers stepped out of their comfort zone of using only the language they master to see and feel for themselves what it is like to struggle with a new language. It is so frustrating when you have so much to say, but you just can’t put it into words. I’ve also had my go with Modern Greek, German, French and Arabic so I know a thing or two about trying to learn a new language (just for the record, all those four have so far remained at beginner’s level).

When teaching English and Finnish, I’ve noticed that some learners seem to have this natural tendency to learn by imitating. These students just know what is right because it sounds right. If you have this skill, good for you! Go with the flow. Speak, imitate and follow your intuition! If you think you don’t have this natural inclination, don’t worry, you also have the possibility to become fluent. It will probably just take a bit more time and effort, but it is there for you to achieve. With these learners I’ve noticed that the teaching of phonetics and structures has been of great help.

Fluency doesn’t happen in a snap of fingers. However, it IS possible and more importantly, with the right techniques it doesn’t have to take an eternity. All learners have their own unique backgrounds so what works for one doesn't work for the other. In my next posting, I’ll give you some practical tips based on my experiences as a language teacher for students of various language levels. 

How has it been for you, easy or difficult? What would help you in becoming fluent?

Best, Minna

Speak to you soon! Just returned from South Africa!

BBC Learning English and Google for Education in a mixed skills language class

Have I already mentioned that I love BBC Learning English? I had a somewhat long break from using this fantastic site and now that I’m back to it, I clearly remember why it is such a great resource for teaching and learning English. I have many favourites on the site, The English We Speak and 6-minute-English to name but a few (in fact, I'm a big fan of all their courses).

Presently, I teach a group of immigrants with a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Their levels of EFL vary significantly from absolute beginners to intermediate level, which is why I ended up dividing the learners in two groups. However, the lessons happen at the same time and in the same classroom, so this requires a bit of planning so that each student would benefit from the course and improve their language skills.

What to do?
Picture by Papunet

I planned a programme for both levels and this is where BBC Learning English came into picture for the intermediate level students. Together with the students we chose two items from the site: an older series called The Teacher for learning idioms and Lingohack Words in the News for learning vocabulary. Both programmes consist of videos, which ensures that the students will get plenty of listening practice. In addition to informative (and funny, in the case of The Teacher) visual and audible resources, the material also includes a script for each video. This is particularly helpful for those students who need written material to support their learning.

Solution found!
Picture by Papunet

How a regular lesson could go when the students are practising vocabulary (they also study grammar during this course but that’s another story): I normally start with the beginners’ level students while the intermediate group already know the drill. They choose a set of idioms or news item to study, watch the video, listen and study the vocabulary. They do this alone, in pairs or in small groups. They then sign in on their Google Document (shared with the teacher) and report their learning process there: What were the idioms or vocabulary they studied? What do the idioms mean? In what kind of sentences the idioms or vocabulary could be used?

When we’ve had enough time with the beginner’s group, and they are engaged in their exercises, we then go through the findings together with the intermediate students. At this point the students also get practice in speaking. 

Google Docs is a great tool for documenting and sharing learning. Perhaps now that the students are familiar with the BBC site and the more self-directed way to find information online, we could try using Google Slides to increase collaboration and information sharing between the students. 

The idioms of the day

Do your students use BBC Learning English? Or, if you’re a student, do you use the site? Which is your favourite course on the site? 

Some background information about me (updated)

Hi! I'm Minna, a language teacher from Finland with an MEd and MA. I have been teaching English as a Foreign Language for about 20 years, at all possible levels with pupils and students aged anything between 5 to 75. I have done most part of my EFL work in upper secondary schools. While working as an English teacher, I also fulfilled my long-time dream of studying to become a Finnish as a Second Language teacher. In addition to my education in languages, I am also a qualified primary school teacher. I can truly say that I love teaching and learning!

I have always been an edtech enthusiast. I was a Google Certified Educator (2019 - 2022) and a MIEE (Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert in 2020-2021). 

I am also a Kahoot! Verified Educator. These are my profiles:

• Minna Teacher: Advanced English, levels A2 - C1
• MinnaTutor: English and Finnish for Beginners, levels A1-A2

My goal is to encourage my students to become lifelong learners through meaningful learning experiences. Needless to say, I am a lifelong learner myself!

I have a YouTube channel for intermediate and advanced English language students and two other channels for Finnish learners. You can find the channels here:

• YouTube: Minna Teacher
• YouTube: Suomen kurssi (Learn Finnish in Finnish)
• YouTube: Finnish Lesson with Minna 

You can find language learning & teaching materials I have created from here.