One of the most difficult, but important, things to help you develop your English is your listening skills. If you have never heard of Ted Talks then maybe now is the time to check it out. The web site at https://www.ted.com/talks/browse will let you search thousands of videos on hundreds of topics that you are interested in. If you would like subtitles or download the video to watch later then these options are all available.

But remember: (source: http://busyteacher.org/)

 Listening Mistakes ESL Students Make 

      

             Giving in to Mental Block

When you’re not a native speaker, listening takes massive amounts of effort and concentration. What happens after a few minutes? You simply decide you don’t understand, give up and shut the audio off. What do students do when they don’t understand a conversation in a real life situation? Of course, they can’t shut it off, but they might just decide it’s too hard, and simply tune out. Give up.

What to do:  In a real life situation, there’s nothing wrong with asking the native English speaker to slow down, repeat or rephrase. Native speakers are often polite, understanding and absolutely willing to help out. Students must be taught right from the start to lose the fear of asking for repetition or clarification.

Translating in  your  Head

Some students have the nasty habit of translating what you say, in their heads, as you speak. This is terrible tiring, it does not help you develop fluency, and in fact, it hinders it as you must constantly pause to translate before replying.

What to do: Learn early on (even if beginning) about the importance of thinking in English. Translating is hard enough as it is; it takes professional interpreters years of practice to get simultaneous translation just right. You are not training to become translators; you are learning to speak English. And if you want to speak it, you have to think it!

     Being too Ambitious

There’s nothing better than being motivated to take listening practice into your own hands. Buy audio and video CDs, listen to music or podcasts or even watch entire movies in English. The problem arises when you don’t recognize your own limitations. You buy a CD that is not appropriate for your level. Watch an entire movie where the protagonists are ‘gansta rappers’ and then feel absolutely deflated because you did not understand a single word.

What to do: Ask the teacher to recommend films where the actors speak very, clear educated English and approach the listening in steps. First: watch with subtitles in English and then turn off the subtitles. Maybe watch the movie in parts and not all of it in one sitting. Also, a short, but focused listening exercise is a lot better than a longer listening where you have more chances of getting lost.

Doing Other Things as you Listen

You must understand that sometimes it’s more important to understand the conversation in general, than the meaning of a single word. It’s not necessary to understand every single word all the time. Listening comprehension takes time to build, and you start by listening and getting the gist of a conversation. Then, you are able to listen and pick up more details. In time, there will be fewer words you won’t understand.