Elaine tugs the hem of her miniskirt down and leans against the edge of a scuffed desk. “Culips ELS Podcasts is targeted at beginners and students. You can become a paid member or simply listen to a variety of podcasts free. Members get transcripts, explanations, examples, and quizzes for all the episodes. The instructors are both Canadians and Americans who speak more slowly than normal. The intermediate or advanced learner may find this annoying, however. Also, if you wanna acquire an American accent through what Emma Jakobi of mmmEnglish calls the Imitation Technique, this podcast won’t help you.
“Type ‘The English We Speak Podcasts' in Google and you’ll be taken to the BBC website. Its homepage contains podcasts that teaches a word or phrase in the form of a conversation. Try using a few of these to your Malaysian friends or co-workers and, very likely, you’ll be rewarded with a blank stare. Click See All Podcasts on the right of the page and you’ll be whisked to a selection of podcasts that are divided into Pre-school, Primary, Secondary and Adults. The English at Work episodes under the Adults section should be useful to all of you.
“All Ears English Podcasts is based in Colorado, USA, so the free podcasts are interviews or conversations with native American —I don’t mean Red Injuns—speakers. They’re pigeon-holed into English Fluency, IELST and Business English. Each section is further divided into sub-sections. For instance, under Business English, the sub-sections are Business Meetings, Business Small Talk, Cultural Differences in Business, Job Interviews and Presentations. To get transcripts of the podcasts, you’ll have to pay. This is a fantastic website as I learned interesting things about the goddamned Yanks through the American Culture podcasts under the English Fluency section.
“This is my favourite podcast: Voice of America -- Learning English. Choose from Beginning Level, Intermediate Level and Advanced Level and US History at the top toolbar. Under Advanced Level, there’re American Stories videos where a narrator reads a story with the script shown. The reading speed is normal and pronunciation is impeccable. The rhythm and melody of American English are showcased in their finest glory. Words and Their Stories—also under Advanced Level— explains the meaning of words and their related expressions. For formal lessons, go to Everyday Grammer. However, I don’t like the male narrator’s dry voice which I find boring.
“Lastly, Luke’s English Podcast sees Londoner Luke Thompson offering both free podcasts and also premium content for a subscription fee. More than seven hundred episodes are found in his archive. But it’s hard to navigate around as the episodes are not grouped under topics or subjects. Luke speaks with an enthusiastic tone and manner which is a plus. This podcast won the Macmillan Dictionary Award four times and was nominated once for a British Council English Language Teaching Innovation Award.”
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