What advice do you have language students who want to improve their listening comprehension skills?
14 answers from our tutors
Best answer
I think Netflix is a good option.
Listen to recordings, radio, podcasts
- Angela Okeke-RamosNative Spanish speaker living in UK for 15 years with experience tutoring from A level to GCSE.
Avoid subtitles when watching netflix in another language. Really listen to what you don't know and see if you DO know...what can you pick up without the need to read subtitles?
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Short videos can work, such as tik toks. Also, videos like in youtube, movies and shows.
listening to there favourite topics on podcasts in English
There are many good answers from other teachers regarding podcasts and free resources, so I won't focus on that specifically. The goal is to intake as much content as possible in your target language. Choose something you enjoy and when listening, don't try to understand every single word. Instead, focus on picking out words you recognize from the audio to get a gist of the overall message. Each time you listen take a few new words, look up their meanings and write them down. This will gradually build your listening vocabulary and make it much easier to understand longer messages.
I would recommend them to listen to short stories in that language and podcasts for the beginning. They can also watch and listen short cartoons on YouTube.
Listen to at least 1 hour of English per day.
Hello dear Rebecca! As all skills are interrelated, I recommend you try to learn "English" as a skill. So do whatever you can to upgrade your "English" as a whole and not just the listening. Watch videos on Youtube about your favorite topics in English, read about your favorite topics in English, and any other activities you enjoy doing! 🤞
Choose a series, or a radio station that you enjoy , even a news broadcast, listen to it everyday and try to comprehend what the person is saying .
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Best answer
Not so genius, but this has worked with my Asian and Latino students: Substitute all "Th-" in words with a "D-", as it is an easier starting point e.g. instead of "The", ask them to say De(almost like a form of pidgin english: de boi VS the boy). Its a matter of throat to tongue, where sounds with "T" and "D" are easier to begin with and then you will gradually progress to the "Th-" sounds as the find confindence and comfort. You could always tell them to pretend they are blowing out candles on a birthday cake; and for the "Th" sound their tongue should gently touch their teeth, like in words like "Thin" or "This". Have them practice the not so elated soft "Th" sound-- its like their tongue is having a short siesta on their teeth! Such a mental jounery and lots of creativity will get you through a lot of pronounciation hurdles.
Best answer
The biggest challenge I faced while learning English was understanding and using different tenses correctly. It took time to get used to the various rules and exceptions.
