{"id":2358,"date":"2015-10-28T14:18:37","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T21:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2358"},"modified":"2018-09-24T21:04:19","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T04:04:19","slug":"the-best-esl-podcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/the-best-esl-podcasts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best ESL Podcasts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For students of ESL, podcasts can be a great way to improve your English. Although it may seem that they&#8217;re only useful for improving your listening skills on the TOEFL, they can actually expand your vocabulary and comprehension in ways that translate into higher scores in the reading, speaking, and writing sections as well. Furthermore, you can listen to podcasts almost anywhere: in the car, on the subway, relaxing after work\u2014it&#8217;s completely up to you, on your schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, there are so many podcasts out there that it can be hard to know where to start. Don&#8217;t worry! We&#8217;ve gone through the pile and picked out some of the best ESL podcasts for all levels of English speakers so you can start listening as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p02pc9zn\/episodes\/downloads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BBC: The English We Speak<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>This podcast provides excellent information for non-native speakers of English\u2014and it does so in only three minutes! It covers different phrases and slang expressions. The only downside for TOEFL takers is that the language is sometimes too informal for the test, and also mainly covers British English, while the TOEFL mainly tests North American usage. Still, there are some gems here: &#8220;My mind&#8217;s gone blank&#8221; is a great expression (although one we hope you don&#8217;t have to use on test day!)<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">This American Life<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>For more advanced speakers of English, This American Life can provide an excellent way to hear different regional accents of the United States, as the podcast documents interesting stories from around the country. It may be difficult for intermediate or beginning ESL students, but the pronunciation and professionalism of the hosts\u2014as well as their varied genders and voices\u2014provides a good overview of the kind of speaking you may hear on the TOEFL.<\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.breakingnewsenglish.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Breaking News English<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>These podcasts provide you with news in basic English. Focusing mostly on feature stories, the episodes give a great overview of many different subject areas, while remaining both topical and interesting. A good bet for intermediate listeners who want to brush up on their current affairs! <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/news-in-easy-english-podcast\/id676925958?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">News in Easy English<\/a> is similar, but releases fewer episodes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Educational podcasts<\/h2>\n<p>For those ESL students looking to return to the basics, or those who want to build on their knowledge of grammar and idioms, podcasts exist exclusively for this purpose. You can study the English language at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.podcastsinenglish.com\/index.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Podcasts in English<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.englishclass101.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English Class 101<\/a> for refresher lessons in aspects of the language you may have forgotten\u2014or maybe never learned at all!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For students of ESL, podcasts can be a great way to improve your English. Although it may seem that they&#8217;re only useful for improving your listening skills on the TOEFL, they can actually expand your vocabulary and comprehension in ways that translate into higher scores in the reading, speaking, and writing sections as well. Furthermore, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13605],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13642],"class_list":["post-2358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-skills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Best ESL Podcasts - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/the-best-esl-podcasts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Best ESL Podcasts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For students of ESL, podcasts can be a great way to improve your English. 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Rachel has a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from Brown University, an MA in Cinematography from the Universit\u00e9 de Paris VII, and a Ph.D. in Film Studies from University College London.","honorificSuffix":"PhD","knowsAbout":["SAT","ACT","TOEFL","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","French"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/rachelkd\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13642,"user_id":228,"is_guest":0,"slug":"rachelkd","display_name":"Rachel Kapelke-Dale","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41228fc7acd2d2f0b74acf2ec7c4cb5bd541898142796d216cbf467d77f3801d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Kapelke-Dale","first_name":"Rachel","description":"Rachel is one of Magoosh\u2019s Content Creators. She writes and updates content on our <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/\">High School <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gre\/\">GRE Blogs<\/a> to ensure students are equipped with the best information during their test prep journey. As a test-prep instructor for more than five years in there different countries, Rachel has helped students around the world prepare for various standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, TOEFL, GRE, and GMAT, and she is one of the authors of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/ACT-Prep-Magoosh-Schedules-Strategies\/dp\/1610660692\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Magoosh ACT Prep Book<\/a>. Rachel has a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from Brown University, an MA in Cinematography from the Universit\u00e9 de Paris VII, and a Ph.D. in Film Studies from University College London. For over a decade, Rachel has honed her craft as a fiction and memoir writer and public speaker. Her novel,<a href=\"https:\/\/read.macmillan.com\/lp\/the-ballerinas\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> THE BALLERINAS<\/a>, is forthcoming in December 2021 from<a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/author\/rachelkapelkedale\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> St. Martin's Press<\/a>, while her memoir,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/315080\/graduates-in-wonderland-by-jessica-pan\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> GRADUATES IN WONDERLAND<\/a>, co-written with Jessica Pan, was published in 2014 by Penguin Random House. Her <a href=\"http:\/\/rachelkapelkedale.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">work<\/a> has appeared in over a dozen online and print publications, including Vanity Fair Hollywood. When she isn't strategically stringing words together at Magoosh, you can find Rachel riding horses or with her nose in a book. Join her on<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RKapelkeDale\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Twitter<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rachelkapelkedale\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Instagram<\/a>, or<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rkapelkedale\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Facebook<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2358"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}