Most high school students in Taiwan are required to listen to English learning programs, such as LIVE, Studio Classroom, and Ivy League. A freind of mine, an English teacher at TFG then, once told me that her daughter, when in her third year of high school, wrote better English than she and that her daughter attributed her good English greatly to Studio Classroom. ESL Podcast, produced by the Center of Educational Development in Los Angeles, California, is an English learning website for intermediate and advanced learners where the text in each episode is first read out very slowly and then explained in English clearly at a slow speed, followed by a normal-speed reading of the text again.
http://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html
There are 1422 podcasts so far, categorized into different topics: entertainment, business, health/medicine, daily life, relationships, travel, shopping, English cafe, etc. Those who are interested in literature can check English cafe. I came across an episode about E. B. White tonight! The talk lasts around 15 minutes.
See http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_all.php?cat_id=-59456&low_rec=40# (In the middle of this page)
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Introduction on http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=119518
Welcome to our first English as a Second Language Podcast!
In this podcast, we are going to introduce you to the format of our podcast, as well as the people who record it.
ESL Podcast is designed especially for people who are intermediate or advanced speakers of English, but want to improve their listening and speaking skills. We plan on providing a new podcast every day, Monday through Friday. The daily podcasts are always free.
There will be many different topics for our podcasts. We will try to talk about topics that you will find interesting. All of our podcasts use “real English”—the normal, everyday English you will find among native speakers in the United States. ESL Podcast is not a textbook or a course. It is a way to listen to real native speakers talking as they do every day in English. ESL Podcast tries to provide you with English you can understand. We speak at a slightly slower rate, but always use normal, native speaker English to help you improve.
There are two parts to every podcast: After a brief introduction, there is a discussion or dialog on the topic of the day. This usually lasts 3-6 minutes. In part 2, there is an explanation of the vocabulary and expressions used during part 1. We explain how certain words and phrases are used by native speakers, including both formal and informal expressions.
My comments: The explanation is very useful!
ESL Podcast is currently produced by a team of volunteers. It is a production of the Center for Educational Development, located in Los Angeles, California. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, and I’m the host of ESL Podcast. I have been teaching English as a Second Language for many years both here in the United States and in other countries. I received my Ph.D., my doctorate, in applied linguistics from the University of Southern California. I taught as a university professor for several years here in California and in Arizona. I have written many articles and books on the teaching of English.
All of the voices you will hear on ESL Podcast will be native speakers. We suggest that you listen to the entire podcast at least once. Then re-listen to the first part until you feel you understand most of it. You will find that your listening comprehension will increase after each listening.
My comments: The speaking rate is much slower than what students hear from Studio Classroom.
The text or script of Part 1 of each podcast can be found on our website, www.e-s-l-p-o-d.com. That’s www.eslpod.com. Click on the “Scripts” link in the upper, right hand corner. We would love to hear from you, the listener. Please email us to tell us where you live and what topics you would like to hear on future ESL Podcasts. Our email address is e-s-l-p-o-d@e-s-l-p-o-d.com. That’s eslpod@eslpod.com.
Thank you again for listening. We hope you enjoy these podcasts and that they help you in your goal of improving your English.
My comments: Thank you, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, for your dedication to English education.
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