How to use podcasts to improve your English

I believe the most important advice for improving your English by listening to a podcast is this… don’t listen in the background while you’re doing another task (like making dinner).

Sit still and listen closely for just 5 minutes.

If you put the podcast on in the background, you’ll quickly stop paying attention. It will just become background noise.

You could listen while on a train or a plane or just sitting on your sofa. The most important thing is that your attention should be completely focused on listening.

It’s hard work to listen like this, so you probably only want to listen for about 5 minutes each time.

After the 5 minutes, if you think there was a lot you didn’t understand, go back and listen to the same 5 minutes again.

Some podcasts that are especially for English learners come with transcripts, so the second time you listen, you could follow the transcript.

Here are my recommendations for podcasts for English learners and native speakers.

But, there is ONE reason it’s useful to listen in the background

Pronunciation! If you’re trying to improve the rhythm and stress that you use when speaking English, I believe that constantly listening to English in the background could be useful.

Native speakers use a very particular stress rhythm when using English. (In short, they stress the content words to a regular beat). In order to do this when you speak, it will be helpful if you’re familiar with hearing this rhythm.

But if you want to learn new vocabulary and improve your listening skills, don’t just listen in the background.

You need more than listening practice…

Listening is great but remember that, to improve, you also need to write or speak English sometimes. You can use Go Correct to write a short English text every day, which is checked by a qualified teacher. Or use Twyn for speaking practice with AI videos that feel like real live conversations.

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Photo credit: racool-studio

Suggested links: Twyn, Go Correct