Listening practice for beginners

So…let me suppose you read my post about importance of listening practice in learning English. But what should you do if you just start your English way and don’t understand nothing by ear …or almost nothing?

Don’t despair! I know two great web-resources which help you train your ears with using of special English.

Special English? Let’s see in Wikipedia :

"Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959 and still employed by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America in daily broadcasts. The news is read slowly, using a limited vocabulary (about 1500 words) and simplified grammar. There is a short pause between adjacent words so that word boundaries are easily discerned. The intended audience of Special English are people who have studied English in school, but do not speak it in daily usage."

Is not it interesting? So...test it!

First of all you can listen to VOA special English radio. Here is the schedule .

As for me, my favorite programs were:

American stories - a short story written by an American writer and rewritten into VOA Special English.

Explorations - a fifteen-minute feature report about outer space and the world around us.

This Is America - a program about life and issues in the United States.

Another resource I want to tell you about is Spotlight. It is a daily 15 minute radio program, which also uses a special English method of broadcasting. This makes Spotlight easier for many people to understand, no matter where in the world they live. Spotlight programs are about many different subjects from around the world. They cover many topics including arts, culture, science, technology, health concerns, relationships, human rights, and world issues. List of recent programs are here.

By listening VOA and Spotlight, you’ll prepare your ears for more serious listening practice and real English speech. So good luck in learning English!

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