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Online English Listening and Podcasts

Online Listening Opportunities and Podcasts ESL Lab This has a ton of Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced English conversations with questions and activities. English Central -- listening, spelling, vocabulary, speaking -- although a short trial, it requires you to pay for most of the services. Eng Vid --  Great material on grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and you listen to it to get the lesson! Modern Family on ABC and on Hulu   (this is the TV show we started watching together) BBC Learning English -- If you want some exposure to a British accent PBS Learning Media   has a variety of subjects for any interest. These Podcasts are favorites of mine.  They are more advanced than the listening above: Radio Lab is an excellent NPR show from New York that specializes in fascinating, unusual scientific stories.  In class, we have listened to this episode about technology , and I like this long one one about the environment and ...
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Places to see art and beautiful sunsets: I think seeing beautiful places and art is valuable for its own merits, but I would also highly recommend these activities to someone who is visiting or living in Austin and working on their English. These can be inspirational and they can lend themselves to meeting people, making friendships, and engaging in stimulating conversations! - Mozart’s Cafe (nice coffee, snacks, and sunset!) - The Blanton’s Ellsworth Kelly installation (new art space/building.  Closed on Mondays) - The Oasis (beautiful sunset at this restaurant… I’ve never been there; it’s a little far northwest on Lake Travis, but people recommend it highly) - The MexicArte Museum displays Mexican art and culture in Downtown Austin - “Skyspace” art installation by James Turrell on UT Campus in the Student Services Building (location) .   Go at sunrise or sunset for a really amazing light and color experience. - More Art recommendations ...
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Revisiting Improvisational Group Story Telling and TPRS

One of my first posts was on collaborative story telling as used in language classrooms under the name TPRS.  I shared  Blaine Ray's site about TPRS and TPRStories.com and mention how people promote it as relating to Dr. Stephen Krashen's Input Hypothesis, which suggests that we learn languages receptively through high-interest, meaning-focused input that is just a little more difficult than we can produce (i + 1). Since then, I've come across this series of blog posts about TPRS , and here's a link to my colleague and friend Nancy Meredith's blog with a great video of a second rehearsal of a story that her students composed together using aspects of TPRS. Try it out in your class!  It's good stuff, especially when combined with other styles and techniques of teaching!
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