People think that when I tell them to listen in English they have to look for activity and listen and do a comprehension activity. They are important but that’s not the only thing you can do. What I really mean is that you just have to put an audio and listen. It doesn’t matter what, just listen. Do you travel a lot? why don’t you listen music in English or audios?; Are you cleaning? put some audio in English. This is the best way to open those ears. You don’t have to put your heart in the audio always, just get that English into your environment.
You know why people say that you learn more going to a English-speaker country? one of the reasons is because of this. In those countries everything you listen is English, nothing else. Well, you can do it in your country too by adapting by changing that little thing of listening to things in your language into English. You need to force you, or you are not going to improve.
Now, Podcasts. Listening to the radio helps a lot, but maybe you live in a country where the radio is not in English. Podcasts are here to save you, they are radio programs (audios) but you can download them, so no excuse that You don’t have Internet, and pause and play and speed down. The best of the podcast is that they are free!
Where can I listen to podcasts?
Apple Podcast
If you own an iPhone or iPad or iPod you can search News in Easy English / the podcast and Luke’s English Podcast, it should be already installed in your device just look for this app! In this app you can look for more! Search things that interest you, you have a lot to choose from.
TuneIn
TuneIn is a website to listen to the radio of any country! There you can find radio programs from the country you like, use it to practice if you are more of a radio-style fan. It has an Android and iOS app (Free!)
Spotify
Spotify is a platform to stream music and podcast, very popular and with lots of podcast available. Also, you can look for playlists of songs in English!
Youtube
Some podcasters upload a video-version of their podcast on Youtube, so you can listen to them and watch them like they’re in a TV program. And what’s great about youtube is since you can turn on the subtitles you can use them to help you understand better what they’re talking about on the podcast.
Podcasts to listen
1. News in Easy English / the podcast. It’s really good because they talk slow, they talk about different news, every day there is a new one. It comes with transcriptions!
website: http://newsineasyenglish.com/
2. Luke’s English Podcast. Luke is an English teacher. He might talk faster than the previous one but his voice is so 
AND is British. If you want to listen to someone with a British accent, there you go! He speaks about several topics and ways to practice English. you should give it a try! Their podcasts come with a transcript too.
website: http://teacherluke.co.uk/
3. The Fluent Show: according to her host this podcast is About Loving, Living and Learning Languages. As a language lover, this show is one of my favorites. The hosts Kerstin Cable and Lindsay Williams talk about everything related with languages, tips, ideas, stories. it’s just AMAZING! website: https://www.fluent.show/
4. Relatos en inglés con Duolingo: Improve your English and your knowledge about english-speaker world thanks to real fascinating stories, narrated in easy English with comments in Spanish to help you with the context. This podcast is new. It only has two episodes but I really enjoyed them. You should listen to this podcast I totally recommend it to you. They speak English slow so you will be able to understand what they’re saying! You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Youtube and Google Podcast.
5. Life Coach School: this podcast is for people learning how to be a life coach. But I found it so inspiring because they give us a solution to some problems we might have in our life. It’s a good podcast to listen everytime you need something to lift up your energy and also when you need to relax and turn down your mind. I really recommend to listen this podcast, the host speaks so clearly you can understand what she is saying. The episodes normally are 20 minutes long. Listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify.
6. Hyphenated with Joanna Hausmann and Jenny Lorenzo: Comedy stars Joanna Hausmann and Jenny Lorenzo present a podcast in English about the experience of living between two worlds. As latins in U.S.A, they have crafted their comedy around what it means to be bicultural. Each week, Jenny and Joanna have very funny and interesting conversations about being american and latin. I found this podcast so interesting. You listen to two people talk about latin america culture but in English! It’s an awesome show to learn phrases in English about things we normally do. And it’s an spanglish podcast (even more funnier) you can listen to some words in spanish while they’re saying a story. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast.
7. Wellness with Ella: In Wellness with Ella, entrepreneus Ella Mills and her guests candidly reveal their personal journeys of transforming times of great difficulty into times of enormous personal growth. Each episode is about 1-hour long and is an interview format with guest. Ella is british so if you want to perfect your british-english listening, you can try this one! Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcast.
8. Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown: (Advanced) Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown is a quirky, informative, and interactive podcast breaking down the myths and misunderstandings about mental health and emotional well-being. Neuroscientist Mayim Bialik combies her academic background with vast personal experience to provide listeners with valuable practical advice focusinf on removing the stigma surrounding mental health and encouraging an understanding of the mind-body connection. Nothing is off limits as Mayim break it down with an amazing collection of guests. The conversations Mayim and Jonathan have with their guests are very interesing and since they have different guests for each episode you can listen to different accents. Listen on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcast.
9. Modern Love: This is a very popular column from the newspaper New York Times, where they read into the complicated love lives of real people. The format of the podcast is one person reading a script of the episode story, so it’s perfect for practicing listening beacuse they use a moderate speed while reading and the audio quality is high. Listen on Spotify, on their website (with transcription!), Apple podcast.
10. Simple English News Daily: Daily world news in clear English. Seven minutes of the most important stories in slow, intermediate English. For English learners, teachers, and people with English as a second language. If you want to know today’s world news of politics, business, natural events and human rights in clear, easy English, then SEND7 is for you, every morning. For episodes, transcripts and more, see www.send7.org . Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
11. Harry Potter and the Sacred Text: Fan of harry Potter? This one is for you! It’s the English class you didn’t know you missed and the meaninful conversations you didn’t know you craved. Join Vanessa Zoltan and Matt Potts as they bring thought, reflection and laughter to Harry Potter; not just novels, but as instructive and inspirational texts that will teach us about our own lives. Relive the magic chapter by chapter as they explore themes such as commitment, revenge and forgiveness. This podcast creates time in your week to think about life’s big questions. Because reading fiction doesn’t just help us escape the world, it helps us live in it. You can listen in their website (with transcripts!), Apple Podcast, Spotify.
12. Perfect Person: A comedy advice show in wich Webby-Award-Winning Podcast Producer, Miles Bonsignore, answers your calls, solves your problems, and helps you achieve maximum perfection with hi talented friends. Listen on Spotify, Youtube, Apple Podcasts.
13. Make Your Damn Bed: It is a bite sized, real talk, daily motivation podcast to play while you make your bed every morning. Build momentum – better your life. Each season is 66 days long to encourage long term healthy habit integration into your daily life. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube
!!! Remember you have to listen to English even if you are not paying attention to it.
Even if you don’t understand anything, leave it. You have to get used to it, you will see that sometimes you are going to recognize any word and you can be like “OH MY GOD it said Hello and understood that!” (I do it too, so don’t worry you are not going to be the only one).
