ESL Podcast: a must for English learners

  ESL Podcast is definitely a great internet tool for English learners. In it, there are series listening episodes that help learners learn practical use of English. It starts with a dialogue or a monologue, followed by an explanation for the language points learners should know.Whatever the form each episode has, it makes sure that the speaker(s) speak(s) in a clear, loud voice and at an easy-to-catch space. Each episode has its own topic and the materials is practical and interesting. For example, I once heard one episode called playing a practical joke, in the dialogue, the man said he played a practical joke on someone: P"what are you doing." L: "I have set up a practical joke on Bob. I can not wait to see the look on his face." Then with regard to these two sentences, there is a carefully explanation of the use of "set up" "practical joke" and "can not wait to".  Explaining a new phrases, the speaker will spell all the key words, which makes learners very easy to understand. Like he said: "set up" "S-E-T, set. U-P, up. set up means......" This is just foolproof! And in this website, there is a section called "ESL Podcast Blog" in which learners can find the transcript of the listening and discuss with others how they think about the materials. This makes English learning a communicative progress!
  If I become a teacher, I will use all the resources in this website because it is so good for beginning and intermediate learners! For beginners I will ask them to listen to the gists of the material and then make a list of it. Then bring their summarization to the class so that I can correct them. In this way, they have got a chance to first get familiar with the language points and when I further discuss them in the class, the learners will have a better understanding. And at the same time, their listening skill is practiced! For intermediate learners, I will let them study using this website themselves, but I will give some suggestions and regularly check what they have learned from the website. For example, I will suggest them to write down their own transcription according to their own listening, and then study the language points themselves instead of directly listening to the explanation followed. At last they can post their ideas about the material in the blog section. I think in this way, their listening and writing skills will be developed at the same time. And based on my experience, by doing transcribing, one's listening skill can be largely improved!
   In a word, this website is a wonderful listening resource base a English learner should never miss!

PS: The only dissatisfaction for me about this website is that before the episode start, there is always a one-minute ads. But you can skip it anyway.