A listening no-brainer! (student FAQs answered)

5 years ago

Hello everyone! 😄🌞

In this discussion post series, I answer the questions I get asked by students most often.

Question 
My listening is very poor. Can you give me some advice? 

Answer
Absolutely! The great thing about listening is that it's easy and there's lots of it. The best advice I can give you is to do more of it (which is a no-brainer because it's easy and there's lots of it). Here are 3 ways you can improve your listening right now:

Listen to YouTube. Are you crazy about ants? Icing cakes? Cleaning old tools? Barbecues? Find a couple of channels you like and watch regularly. You'll get used to the host's speaking style, vocabulary choices, and English sound. Play shows over and over again so you know what to expect. Also, I'm sure you know this, but in case you don't, you can slow down the speed of videos. If you can't catch something, slow it down and listen again.
Listen to the same English song over and over. Remember when you were a teen, and you listened to the same song over and over, until you knew all the words by heart? Well, find some great English songs, channel your inner teen, and listen to a song until you know it by heart. 
Listen to audio books. Read along, if you like (or not, the point is the listening). Amazon and other sites have audio books on just about any topic you're interested in. 
Even better, research shows that just listening to English in the background, while you do something else, plays a huge role in learning (maybe even one of the biggest roles). The important thing is listening and hearing. And the more, the better.

Looking for video, song, or book suggestions? I give out tons in my lessons, saving you the trouble of searching for great content. 

 😄 ✨💐

Dixie