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General Speaking/Listening
American
RadioWorks: Documentaries Index
American RadioWorks produces special radio reports
on a variety of current events topics. This page lists links to reports
produced since 1996. Each report's web page allows you to listen to the
program and follow the transcript.
Arlyn
Freed's ESL/EFL Listening Resources
As the site's author states, this site "offers reviews of ESL specific,
semi-authentic, and authentic listening pieces; advantages and disadvantages
of each site are noted. Audio material covers topics such as history, health,
science, the environment, and U.S.
culture." There are many fascinating links here; this site is highly
recommended.
CEO Exchange
Each episode features a conversation between two CEOs about a specific topic
in the business world. Topics have included Heroes and Villains of the
Computer Age, Making Lives Better Through Innovation, and How Taking Risks
Can Reap Rewards. Click on "Show Archives" for a list of past
episodes. For each episode there are video clips, podcasts, and transcripts.
CountingDown.com
On this site you can watch clips and trailers from dozens of recent films.
Click on "Theater" and "Trailers and Clips" to browse an
alphabetical list of movies for which they have video clips.
Forbes.com
The web site for Forbes magazine also includes audio and video clips
about business news stories; scroll down to Video & Audio on the left.
Frontline
Frontline airs one-hour documentaries about current issues. It has received
many broadcast journalism awards since its inception in 1983. You can browse
the archives by topic, e.g. Business/Economy, Health/Science/Technology, etc.
Each episode has its own web site, where you can watch all or part of the
documentary online and access transcripts.
International Dialects of English
Archive
If you are interested in improving your listening skills or just casually comparing
different accents of native English speakers, check
out this site developed by the Department of Theater and Film at the University of Kansas.
The Michigan
Corpus of Academic Spoken English (MICASE)
This site includes transcripts and sound files of hundreds of speech events
in academic settings: lectures, discussion sections, lab sections, student
presentations, study groups, advising sessions, and more.
NPR Online
Here you can listen to programs from National Public Radio. "Morning
Edition" and "All Things Considered," NPR's two main news
programs, include stories of varying lengths.
The Online NewsHour
This is the web site for PBS's The NewsHour with
Jim Lehrer. You can listen to and/or watch many of these stories on RealAudio
while looking at the transcript.
Paralanguage
Here you can quiz yourself on the meaning of sounds such as
“huh-uh” or “psst!” that
are commonly used by English speakers to communicate without words.
Pulse of the Planet @
nationalgeographic.com
Here you can hear 2-minute news stories about nature, culture, and science
(National Geographic Society)
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Here you will find an extensive collection of listening activities at a
variety of levels, sometimes including pre-listening and post-listening
activities (Randall S. Davis)
Small Talk
This site provides advice about small talk, an important social skill and
language skill in English (EnglishClub.net).
StoryCorps
StoryCorps is a project that records ordinary
Americans interviewing a friend or member of the family about some
significant event or period in their lives. The topic in some cases is
something relatively ordinary, such as memories of one’s first job or
meeting one’s spouse, while in other cases the person describes his or
her experience of a major historical event such as Hurricane Katrina or the
9/11 attacks. The recordings are about two to three minutes long and can be
browsed by topic, such as Friendship, Growing Up, Struggle, Wisdom, and Work.
VOA News
On this site you can listen to Voice of America news stories. You can select
stories by region (Africa, the Americas,
Asia, etc.) or by topic (Arts and
Entertainment, Economy and Finance, Human Rights and Law, Sports, etc.). Some
stories are presented only in print, but those you can listen to also include
transcripts.
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