I’m using a website called Spotlight Radio with a couple of my classes (about A2/B1 level) for their listening practice. These are radio programmes which are about 15 minutes long and each one is a completely different topic. The speaking is slow and very clear (so not very authentic) though I’m using this site at the moment because helps to build the confidence of the students. It also works well to focus on their active listening skills. There is the transcript available as well.
How do I use Spotlight Radio in class?
I have to give credit to my primary school teachers for this one. This is basically an exercise we did once a fortnight when I was in my final year of primary school.
I let the students select whatever topic they want from the pretty large archive. We play it (maybe 5 minutes at a time) and we all take notes. I then stop the programme and ask a series of questions based on my notes. Students write down their answers from their notes, compare and share answers, we discuss the answers as a class and then we listen to the same section again (just like the Cambridge exams if that is what you are teaching) to check if the answer was correct or to try to answer missed questions.
If you like Spotlight Radio then you can always “like” it on their Facebook page.
A second recommendation is Lyrics Training. A brilliant website that produces interactive gap fills from music videos on youTube. I’ve shown this to about four or five of my classes and they LOVE it. At least a couple of students from every class have come back to me the next class and told me they tried it over the weekend! There isn’t a better vote of approval in my book! 🙂
If you like Lyrics Training then you can always “like” it on their Facebook page.
Thank you to Russell Stannard for this recommendation. Check out his website as well, it’s brilliant!
So Where Did It Go Wrong? 