Listening

General and Business English 1

If you have little time to spend to improve your English, the BBC “General and Business English” website is a must.

Here you have a variety of interactive activities to choose from:

  • 6 Minute English:  The title says it all! Listening and Reading activities on current topics you can do in all but…6 Minutes!
  • Express English: Each week a different question. Hear what people in London say, then join the conversation!
  • Talk about English: A range of interesting Series about a variety of current topics.
  • Talking Business: This course gives you useful language and phrases to improve your spoken communication skills in English in different business situations. Each section features audio, target language and a quiz – all of which are downloadable. You’ll also have the opportunity to practise and test your understanding of the language.
  • Get that job!:
    Finding a job can be a complicated and tiring process. Sometimes you just don’t know where to start looking, let alone how to persuade a company that you are the best person for the job!
    This site is full of activities and quizzes to build on your knowledge of career-related vocabulary and offer some tips on things like how to put together a good CV or come across well in an interview.
    You can work your way through this site step by step, from ‘Job Search’ to ‘Interviews’ – just click on ‘What’s next?’ on the right of the page each time you have completed an activity. Or you can go straight to whichever units are of most interest to you by using the links at the top of the page.
    Happy job hunting!
  • Welcome to London!:

     ‘Welcome to London’ is an intermediate English language course allowing users to practise their reading, listening and pronunciation skills.

    It follows two characters, John and Fiona, through a series of situations as they arrive and settle down in the city.
    So, if you are coming to visit, or live, in London or you want to find out more about what the city has to offer – then this course may be for you.

  • Working Abroad: ‘Working Abroad’ is for those of you who’ve always wanted to get out of your chairs and go and do something else instead.
    Each unit on the left explores different issues connected with working abroad and by clicking on the photographs on the right, you can find out about people’s personal experiences.
    There are also vocabulary pages, exercises and quizzes to help you develop and test your English.
  • The Handy Guide: A series that examines the roles and teachings of Business Gurus, with text, audio and an explanation of common management terms.

Talking Business

This course from the BBC gives you useful language and phrases to improve your spoken communication skills in English in different business situations: Telephone, Meetings, Presentations and Negociations.
Each section features audio, target language and a quiz – all of which are downloadable.
You’ll also have the opportunity to practise and test your understanding of the language.

Start the course here!

Catch us on Facebook!

You can now catch the ENGLiSH CiRCLE on our Facebok page at www.facebook.com/english.circle !

You'll find there a range of web links that might just help you to improve your English.

Come and join the community!

Kind regards,

Pierre

BBC.co.uk Widget 1

The BBC World Service Widget allows you to listen to and view current BBC World Service news stories.

How-To’s….Great tips on “how to….” 1

How to...?“How-To’s” are great tips on the BBC on “how to…discuss, conversation, ask the time, instructions, explanations and advice, requests, offers and invitations, good news, bad news, complaints, apologies and excuses, hello and goodbye, etc; Check it out, it’s really worthwhile!

The Grammar Challenge… on BBC Learning English 1

Grammar ChallengeWelcome to Grammar Challenge, the programme where the BBC helps language learners use tricky grammatical structures.Every programme is downloadable as an mp3 and features an expert commentary on that week’s grammar. The website contains fun interactive quizzes, grammar tables and an area for you to practise your written English. Check it out!

Online Listening Quizzes 1

Listening QuizzesThe ESL Cyber Listening Lab is a great resource for online Listening Quizzes.The Quizzes are classified by topics and difficulty level. There are some Vocabulary Lessons as well as some Long Conversations with Real Video

Randall’s Basic Self-Study Guide 1

Self-study GuideAre you searching for listening activities based on specific topics? If so, Randall has organised many of the listening activities on www.esl-lab.com and all his other sites (www.trainyouraccent.com,www.ezslang.com, www.dailyesl.com, and www.tips4students.com) according to subject and language function. This guide can help you find the topics you want to study.

Listening Comprehension: Put Down the Grammar Book and Open Your Ears

Audio ResourcesWhen people start to learn a language, listening comprehension comes second to vocabulary and English grammar. But many beginner and intermediate learners have realised that they do not understand as much as they would like when people speak in English.Should you focus on grammar before you improve your esl listening skills?How do humans learn their first languages? We sit in our diapers and listen to it for about two years, without saying a word. Then we start to mimic, learn constructions, vocabulary, expressions etc.Why shouldn’t it be the same for adults? Some believe that the learning process is different in Children and in adults.I tend to disagree and feel that we can all learn a great deal by passive listening even as beginners.When you first start working on your listening skills it is best to do a lot of passive listening or better yet hearing. Listening to English radio stations or audio books are two great ways to start improving your English comprehension. (Download and Listen to any audiobook from Audible.com for as little as $7.49. Click here to find out more.).

  • Surround yourself with English when you are not paying attention, like when you are doing the dishes, cooking, surf the Internet or cleaning. Doing this allows your ears to get used to the sounds of English.

I am not saying that you can learn EVERYTHING just by listening but it can help you in many ways. After a while you will start to notice that you are able to find English words more easily, express yourself better and also your pronunciation will improve. It depends on the person but hearing English is the first step to improving your Listening comprehension.

Free Audio and Video learning materialLearnOutLoud.com has scoured the Internet to bring you over 2000 free audio and video titles. This directory features free audio books, lectures, speeches, sermons, interviews, and many other great free audio and video resources. Most audio titles can be downloaded in digital formats such as MP3 and most video titles are available to stream online. Enjoy!

In a hurry? Try 6 Minute English! 1

Are you in a hurry to learn English?Why not try 6 Minute English on the BBC?In just about 6 minutes you will listen to a short podcast, answer a few questions and learn a few new words. Perfect for us “busy bees”…

AGENDA WEB: Hundreds of free English exercises

On AGENDA WEBAGENDA WEB you will find hundreds of free exercises to learn English online: grammar, verbs, vocabulary, listening, reading, songs and videos…

TOEIC Test Listening Exercises 1

TOEIC Tests Litening ExercisesOn this website you will find a number of listening comprehension exercises which are based on the Test Of English for InternationalCommunication.There are over 1200 exercises covering 4 parts of the TOEIC Test: the Photographs, the Question-Responses, the Conversations and the Short-talks.These exercises will help you practise and improve your business listening skills and you will also learn many new phrases.Try it now!

Lsiten to English Podcasts

 Listen to English, the podcast website for people learninListen to English Podcastsg English.

The podcasts on this site will help you to improve your English vocabulary and pronunciation and your listening skills. There are two short (3 to 5 minutes) podcasts every week, in clearly spoken English. Many of them are linked to grammar and vocabulary notes, or to exercises or quizes.

You can download the podcasts to your computer, or subscribe using a programme such as iTunes or Yahoo, or simply listen to them by clicking the Flash player on the web page beneath each episode.

You can put the podcasts onto your iPod or MP3 player, and listen to them on your way to school or work.

The full text of each podcast is on this site (and will also appear on your iPod screen), so you can look up the meanings of words that you do not understand in a dictionary.

Then close your eyes and listen! Have fun!

CNN Video News 1

CNN News on VideoWatch CNN News items on Videos conveniently classified by categories. Click Here!

French and International Daily Video Press Review 1

France 24 Video Press ReviewLive from the newsroom of www.france24.com, James Creedon provides an overview of the world’s newspaper headlines, from Monday to Friday at 9.10 am (and at 6.20 am and 7.10 am for France’s newspapers). Watch it now!