ESL Listening Activities: What are your favorites?

Many students use the Internet to learn English, and finding appropriate materials for improving listening skills is often one thing learners are searching for most. Thus, which Websites do you go to most to help you improve your listening skills, or if you are a teacher, which sites do you suggest to your students? Please share your ideas and post a link to some of your favorite sites that should help all visitors here.

As a side note, I've just created two new listening activities on my own site, and I hope you enjoy them:

Budget Hotel Rooms
http://esl-lab.com/hotelreservations/hotelreservationsrd1.htm

Grocery Shopping
http://esl-lab.com/supermarket/supermarketrd1.htm

Classroom Cheating: What would you do?

If you saw a classmate cheating during an important English test, what would you do and why? Share your ideas and any similar experiences on this topic? How does cheating affect us all? What consequences are there for cheating at your school?

Randall

Best ESL/EFL Teacher: How did this person influence you?

Having a great language teacher (whether it be English or some other language) can influence students on whether or not they improve and use their communication skills in and out of the classroom. So, please share your experiences and feelings about a language teacher that helped you learn and describe what exactly the teacher did to motivate you. What is your image of the ideal teacher?

Randall

Memories: Time Travel to the Past

Often, as human beings, we reflect on our past and wish that certain things had been different in our lives. So, if you could relive a single day of your life again, which would it be? Then, explain your reasons. Personally, there are many days I might relive again, good and bad days, and those days that were especially discouraging or disappointing. Being a father of children---one adult child, teenagers, and a younger child---there are times when I wish I could have spent more time with them, particularly when they just needed time to talk. Fortunately, we can learn from our past to make things better, and this is what I try to do everyday. Now, share your feelings on this topic.

Randall

iTunes Movie Rentals: Can such services help English Students?

Apple recently started its own movie rental service to provide downloadable movies that users can view for a short period of time. My question is how useful such a service will be to students and teachers learning ESL or EFL. Currently, the service is only available in certain areas and you can only view the movie during a 24-hour window. On the plus side, you can download these movies to newer-generation iPods, so a learner or teacher could view the movie away from the computer.

Personally, I'd probably buy the movie from iTunes (or other places) instead of renting one, but the idea of its portability is interesting. As a teacher, I can imagine showing parts of the movie to help students improve their listening, vocabulary, and better yet, their discussion skills because I wouldn't just watch the movie (a very passive skill with popcorn), but I'd have students discuss the movie content as a way of building thinking skills.

So, what is your opinion on using movies to improve your language skills? Share your experiences and ideas.

Randall

Three Wishes: What would you change?

If you were magically given three wishes, what would you wish to change in your life or in the lives of those around you? Personally, I would use one wish to heal a friend of a serious illness. My second wish would be to have more time and compassion to spend with my family. And finally, I'd wish to have some more time to myself to exercise, hike, and relax in the mountains in my state of Utah. So, how about you? Share your wishes with us.

Randall

Common Names in Your Country

What are at least two common names for men and women of people your age? Of course, popular names change from year to year, but having an idea about names from specific countries can help familiarize ourselves with the culture and people. Please tell us where you are from and at least two popular names for men and women and share any interesting cultural information or meaning behind these names.

Current, some popular boy's names are Jacob, Michael, and Joshua, and popular girl's names are Emily, Madison, and Ashley. However, in the year I was born (in the early 1960s), popular names included Michael, David, John, and Robert for boys, and Lisa, Mary, Susan, and Karen for girls. My name, Randall, was most popular in the 1950s and 60s, but isn't very popular any more. It is German in origin and traditionally meant "wolf shield", but I'm sure my parents didn't have any of that in mind when they named me. Here is a link on name popularity:

http://www.behindthename.com/top/

Best,

Randall