Learning ESL Through Podcasting

By Andrew Best

Learning English as a second language is difficult but it can be done. Choosing the correct study method is extremely important. Many students study ESL in school for years but never reach a high enough level to even carry on even a simple conversation. Some students, however, are able to improve dramatically in just a few short years.

Students often spend too much time reading and learning obscure grammar rules that many native speakers don't even know. Reading is certainly important, but it essential to listen and speak as well. Listening seems to help speaking a lot more than reading does. Babies learn a language first by listening a lot. They don't learn any grammar rules explicitly. Perhaps surprisingly, many ESL English majors make more grammatical errors when speaking than does a 6 year old native speaker. The 6 year old doesn't "think", he or she just says what "sounds right". They just mimic what they hear around them.

ESL podcasts are designed to give students a lot of opportunity to listen to native English. They are slower than the news or regular TV. This allows the student to understand a lot more of what is being said. Students who spend a lot of time listening to these podcasts speak much quicker and more fluently than those who do not. Another advantage of ESL podcasts is that they can be downloaded onto an mp3 player and listened to anytime or anyplace.

Some ESL podcasts are slow and boring. Students will give up easily if they don't have one that amuses them. A good ESL podcast will often keep the attention of even "lazy" students. A great ESL lesson plan is to get students to listen to an ESL podcast on their own time, and then spend the time in class discussing the content of the lesson.

Here is a great ESL podcast

Andrew is a researcher and writer for several different Educational and information websites.