Listen to EC London student Thomas talk about his time learning English with us. This is a good opportunity to hear a non-native speaker's English accent.
Before you watch the video, take a moment to read through the 7 questions below so that you know what information you are listening for.
Have you been to London or even studied at our school there?
Sarah McLachlan is a Canadian singer/songwriter known for her emotional music.
This song 'Angel' was released in 1997 and is one of her best known songs.
First, read through the lyrics and try to guess which word fits in which gap. Then listen and check your answers.
Note: Do you ever research the meanings of songs?
Websites such as wikepedia.org and songmeanings.net can give you a really fascinating insight into what the songs were written about.
Here is another Michael Buble song for you to enjoy and learn from. In this lesson, I have removed vocabulary that is related to animals or the natural world.
I'm sure you will have come across many of these words before, but I hope some will be new.
What is the creature in the picture?
Good luck!
By Caroline
I chose this song for a listening lesson as I think it has some interesting vocabulary.
I hope there will be a mixture of words you know very well and perhaps some that are less familiar.
Listen to the song and then see if you can put the words in the correct gaps.
I've written the meanings of the missing words to aid your understanding.
Lesson by Caroline
Randy Pausch was an American professor who sadly passed away in 2008.
He was an extremely inspirational person, and through this video is very emotional I hope it will remind you of what is important in life.
Listen to the interview and try and fill in the gaps in the sentences.
I strongly recommend his lecture, ‘achieving your childhood dream’, which you can also find on youtube.
Lesson by Caroline Devane
Note: In English, 'the grim reaper' is another word for death.
I think this song by Marina and the Diamonds has a really positive message.
Sometimes it can be really difficult to be everything that society expects of you.
We need to remember that we are only human and that we cannot please everyone.
Listen to the song and try and complete the gaps with the correct vocabulary.
What message do you hear when you listen to the song?
Lesson by Caroline Devane
Drinking tea (with milk of course), is a huge part of British culture. Helen and Olly, a comedy duo who have their own podcast, went around the country learning all about it and trying to discover where they could find ‘the best cup of tea’.
Watch the video, and then see if you can answer the true or false questions.
Right, I’m off to boil the kettle.
By Caroline Devane
Can you tell I’m feeling festive?!
Tomorrow I am going for Christmas dinner with my best friends from my undergraduate degree.
I have no doubt we will be listening to this and many other Christmas songs.
In fact, I used this lesson last Christmas with a private student! Can you complete the gaps with the vocabulary, all of which is related to Christmas?
Good luck & merry Christmas!
Lesson by Caroline
Unfortunately, English doesn’t come with one standard accent.
Not only do we have British, Australian, American, South African accents etc. We also have all the regional accents that make up those countries!
The difference between Southern and Northen English accents are massive and even native English speakers sometimes have difficulty understanding them.
So it is important that as an English learner you expose yourself to as many different accents as possible, outside of the classroom.
