Listening Page 2

Level 100 = beginner/advanced beginner
Level 200 = intermediate
Level 300 = upper intermediate
Level 400 = advanced

Level 300 and up	American RadioWorks Documentaries - Over 50 online documentaries providing background, original photography, interactive elements and streaming audio. The documentaries cover a fascinating range of topics. The combination of text and visuals helps the English learner to understand the audio content. Examples include: Witness to Terror (9/11), Mandela: An Audio History, and Global Politics of Food. http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/documentaries.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Breaking-News English (Sean Banville) - Ready-to-use EFL / ESL lesson plans based on current affairs. All of these current events lesson plans contain a news article, listening (MP3 file), communication activities, pair work, discussion, reading and vocabulary exercises. Classroom handouts are reproducible in Word and PDF. Updated daily. Now see Sean Banville's other sites: Listen a Minute (easier listening), Business English, ESL Discussions, ESL Holiday Lessons, Famous People Lessons, News English Lessons (easier than Breaking-News) http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio® or QuickTime®,
Level 300 and up	CNN Student News - CNN Student News is a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program for middle and high school students produced by the journalists and educators at CNN. This award-winning show and its companion website are available free of charge throughout the school year. Where can I find CNN Student News? You can record the program on HLN from 4:00-4:10 a.m. ET Monday through Friday. You can also see it as a streamed video on our website (CNNStudentNews.com), or download it as a free podcast. The program is free and accessible to anyone who wants to watch; there are no subscription charges or contracts to complete. Click here if you need to download RealAudio® or QuickTime®,
Level 300 and up	English, Baby! - Requires you to sign up for free membership.   Once a member, you have access to some (but not all) of the material free of charge.  The lessons help you study English slang, basic English, business English and have streaming audio to listen to natural conversations. Authentic, entertaining material geared toward teens and twenties. Great for advanced students but can be daunting for lower levels at http://www.englishbaby.com/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	English Bites - This Australian site provides interesting interviews on a wide range of topics accompanied by videos, transcripts, vocabulary explanations, comprehension exercises and more. There is a huge amount of material here and the quality is very high. http://australianetwork.com/englishbites/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	English Listening Room (Charles Kelly) - Listen to the songs (they are fast!) and fill in the blanks for the missing words. This is part of the larger site, "Interesting Things for ESL Students." http://www.manythings.org/pp/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Favorite Poem Project - At this fascinating Web site, click on the title of one of 50 poems. You will then see a video of the person who will be reading that poem. However, before the poem is read, the video will explain why this poem is particularly important to the reader at http://www.favoritepoem.org/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Fire Fighter Protective Clothing Tour (Davis, California Fire Dept.) - Ever wondered how fire fighters can survive inside burning buildings? They have to wear very special clothing to protective themselves. At this site you can read about, look at, and listen to information that shows some of this protective gear. You'll need Flash v. 6 or later. http://www.ci.davis.ca.us/fire/pct/ Click here if you need to download Flash®.
Level 300 and up	Light Up Your Brain - Classic children's stories (though loved by us older people too), such as "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "How the Leopard Got His Spots." mp3 files download to your computer or play directly. You can also read the text while you listen, which makes this site accessible to intermediate level ESL/EFL students. There is also a games section when you're finished listening to stories! at http://lightupyourbrain.com/stories.html
Level 300 and up	LingualNet (Michael and Keiko Rost) - According to the founders, "Lingual Net builds on the central theme of 'learning English through movies'. Why movies? Movies-- from home made videos to full length feature films-- represent the essence of communication." When you visit the site, you can watch videos/films in the following categories: Narrative, Animation, Commercials, Cine-Poetry, Homemade, Documentary and Travel. Learners can view the materials with or without subtitles, and can also answer quiz questions as they view. Finally, learners can submit a review of the materials they've watched. There's a lot of creative and engaging media here so give LingualNet a visit at http://www.lingual.net/index.php
Level 300 and up	Listen and Write - Superb dictation tool that the students can work with alone. Really popular with students and great for developing their listening and writing skills. Listen to a whole passage or just a segment.  Hint will give you first letter of correct word.  Type the wrong letter and you cannot keep typing.  Very intuitive and very savvy.  (TTV video tutorial) Short and sweet blog post (Nik Peachey article).
Level 300 and up	Marketplace (PBS) - A daily public radio show that maintains several years of audio archives. Shows prior to December 24, 2002 include transcripts. Excellent for building vocabulary because the transcripts could be run through Lingro so that the vocabulary is accessible Especially interesting to students in business and economics at http://www.marketplace.org/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	The Moonlit Road - Ghost stories and strange folk tales from the American South. Click on the "Hear the Storyteller" links to listen as storytellers read these strange tales, complete with excellent sound effects. After starting the audio, you can click on "Read the Story" to see the text as you listen. http://www.themoonlitroad.com/featurestories001.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Online PBS NewsHour  - Listen to the daily news from this respected show on PBS (the Public Broadcasting System). Some of the stories have only audio, and others have the written text so you can read along as you listen. Also, on the left side of the screen is a subject index of over 30 topics. Each contains the past NewsHour stories, again with text and audio. This is also a good place to look if you need to do a research project for class! Also, have a look at Online NewsHour Extra. This is a special resource for students. There are articles written by students and lesson plans for teachers. This is a great way to stay informed on current events. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Pulse of the Planet - Listen to short audio segments on nature, culture and science from National Geographic. Be sure and check out the new Education section with resources and activities. http://pulseplanet.nationalgeographic.com/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Radio Documentaries - These sites cover a wide range of extremely interesting topics. There is something here for everyone! All of these sites receive some support from National Public Radio. Radio Diaries (more than 30 stories - people document their own lives for public radio: teenagers, seniors, prison inmates and others whose voices are rarely heard, includes transcripts); Transom (topics that don't normally appear on radio, accompanied by articles); Hearing Voices (an offbeat collection of stories, some with illustrated articles and transcripts to accompany the audio); Sound Portraits is dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected American voices to a national audience. Audio is accompanied by a story, transcript and sometimes links to additional resources. Explore these resources to learn more about the U.S. and the world at large! Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	TED Talks - TED = Technology, Education and Design.  This site features the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 1400 TED Talks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled in English, and many are subtitled in various languages.  Browse by topics, speakers, playlists or translations.  TED Ed allows teachers (or you) to create lessons using TED talks or Youtube videos.  Check it out!
Level 300 and up	UEfAP - Using English for Academic Purposes(Listening) - Designed for English learners in academic settings, this Web site combines advice, based on current research, along with interactive exercises. The listening section includes notetaking practice too on a variety of academic topics. This site was designed by Andy Gillett, University of Hertfordshire at http://www.uefap.co.uk/listen/listfram.htm The main page of this site gives access to academic study materials in speaking, writing, vocabulary and reading. A really excellent resource. Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 300 and up	Voice of America Learning English - This is a terrific site because it combines audio material (freely downloadable) that is designed especially for English learners (slow speed, simple structures).  Leaners are connected to content that is current and very useful = motivating!  The site now has a variety of language activities that accompanies all the stories. Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	Historical Voices - The purpose of Historical Voices is to create a significant, fully searchable online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century - the first large-scale repository of its kind. Historical Voices will both provide storage for these digital holdings and display public galleries that cover a variety of interests and topics. There are two ways to use the site: 1) You can access galleries that contain audio materials and 2) You can look for audio materials on a content area of your choice using the search engine on the site. http://www.historicalvoices.org/galleries.php Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	Justice Talking (National Public Radio) - Learn about some of the most important political and legal issues in the U.S. today by hearing debates between experts. There are over 100 debates. In addition to the debates, you have access to an overview on each topic, introduction to the guests, court cases and additional Web resources, and a quote on the topic. A great way to practice your listening while learning information critical to understanding the U.S. political/legal system and the values underlying it at http://www.justicetalking.org/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	SoundLearning (Minnesota Public Radio) - Sound Learning is a launching point to Minnesota Public Radio's content on the Web. Choose from the following content areas: English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Music, Family/Consumer Science at http://www.soundlearning.org/
Level 400	Studio 360 - A new national radio show about arts and culture, hosted by novelist and journalist Kurt Andersen and produced by Public Radio International and WNYC. Current issues, events and trends in art are a jumping off point for an exploration of ideas that aren't necessarily "news," yet are provocative and offer a lens on experience that only art can provide. Studio 360 presents richly textured and emotionally resonant stories that look at art's creative influence and transformative power in everyday life at http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/index.html Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
Level 400	Talking History - based at the University at Albany, State University of New York, is a production, distribution, and instructional center for all forms of "aural" history. Our mission is to provide teachers, students, researchers and the general public with as broad and outstanding a collection of audio documentaries, speeches, debates, oral histories, conference sessions, commentaries, archival audio sources, and other aural history resources as is available anywhere at http://www.talkinghistory.org/index.html
Do you want more?	See Larry Ferlazzo's Best Listening Sites for English Language Learners http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/05/28/the-best-listening-sites-for-english-language-learners/ Click here if you need to download RealAudio®.
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