Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab

I am in love with Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. Randall's got listening exercises on topics ranging from UFO sightings to cancer treatment and all organized according to their difficulty. Even better? They play right off the site. You don't have to bother with downloading (but you can by clicking on the links below the clip)

If you don't love him enough already, each topic is also accompanied by pre-listening exercises great for schema activation in the classroom or at home. For example, on the section Car Accident, the student is asked what some common causes of car accidents are and how they can be managed.

The topics are accompanied by related idioms that could prove troublesome to learners. A crash course is not necessarily synonymous to a course you failed or a driving course that ended in disaster! They have quizzes to check comprehension, transcripts for visual learners, and several interactive vocabulary-building activities.

My favorite touch, though, is Randall's integration of the post-listening exercises with his blog, so students feel like their learning and opinions are meaningful and can discuss the exercises with Randall himself or with other ELLs:

Car accidents are often a part of life, and getting the right car insurance should be part of owning a vehicle. Choose a type of car in which you are interested. Then, select two in car insurance companies and compare insurance rates for each. Which company seems to provide the best coverage and the best price? Do the companies provide cheaper rates for good students? Do the rates go up for younger drivers?

Please write your opinions on a similar topic at Randall's ESL Blog HERE.

What a practical exercise! This would be a great one for American teens, not to mention a Russian buying a car. I don't know about Australia and New Zealand, but I know you can't get away with driving like a Russian in America or Britain unless you buy a radar detector, too!

All in all, I think Randall's site is one of those rare Internet gems. I'd like to use these in class as springboards for cultural discussions. Randall's particular expertise is in Japanese ELLs, so many culture clips are directed toward those students, but the activities open a door on American culture. The Car Wreck episode paints an interesting family dynamic-- an angry, expectant teen who blames her father's carelessness on what she ultimately decides will be the end of her social life.

Drawing from this and the mention of the father's golfing hobby, this could easily lead to a discussion of American child-rearing practices, particularly among the wealthy. Most adult Russians don't have the privilege of owning their own car, let alone teens, so I would be really interested to discuss this particular episode with students and ask how they feel about the daughter's behavior. As a follow-up activity, I would have them re-write the scene from the perspective of a poor family. What if this is the only car the family owns? What if it were the daughter's fault?

In a pinch, these short listening clips could easily blossom into a full hour-long lesson. The transcripts could be altered, so students could discuss what they believe will happen before listening to the full clip, or they can simply provide extra at-home practice to support themes covered in class.