{"id":2567,"date":"2015-12-08T13:43:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T21:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2567"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:44:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:44:39","slug":"toefl-tuesday-practice-listening-with-documentaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-practice-listening-with-documentaries\/","title":{"rendered":"TOEFL Tuesday: Practice Listening with Documentaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Documentaries might be the easiest way to learn about a new topic. They\u2019re relaxing and pleasant to watch, and for many students, they\u2019re more engaging than books on the same topics. But they\u2019re also good for TOEFL preparation in particular, because there are many documentaries available on academic topics. Basically, you can learn about the same types of topics that you might see on the TOEFL, but by watching TV instead. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Granted, it\u2019s not as good as actual <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-practice-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TOEFL practice questions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if you are new to the TOEFL. But if you are studying for a longer time and need a lot of general English practice, you\u2019ll need some authentic listening material. These recommendations are a good place to start!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"TOEFL Tuesday: Practice Listening with Documentaries\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xTl_QHpIAgE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/show\/how-we-got-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How We Got to Now<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>This short documentary series describes important inventors and events that helped create the modern world, including many technologies we take for granted or don\u2019t think about much. For example, one of the episodes is about the invention and improvement of glass.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is particularly helpful for the TOEFL because the topics of each episode are similar to topics of some TOEFL reading passages. In particular, some parts of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How We Got to Now<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> explain the lives of important inventors\u2014but most of them are not at all famous. Similarly, most TOEFLs will include a reading passage about an important inventor or historical figure who most test-takers have never heard of before. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Attenborough<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you don\u2019t know David Attenborough already, I highly recommend his nature documentaries. He has been creating them for many decades and has covered almost every topic on plants, animals, and the natural world that you can imagine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that\u2019s great for TOEFL listening and reading because, similar to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How We Got to Now<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Attenborough\u2019s documentaries have topics that are close to real TOEFL topics. The TOEFL loves nature: animal biology, evolutionary history, and environmental sciences appear often.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Possibly the best known documentary that Attenborough narrated was BBC\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/b006mywy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planet Earth<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you haven\u2019t already seen it, then don\u2019t hesitate!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ken Burns<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Burns, much like Attenborough, has created many documentaries, and I recommend almost any of them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whereas Attenborough focuses on the natural world, Burns creates documentaries on Americana: histories of particularly important events in U.S. history or certain aspects of American culture. Two of his best known series are on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kenburns\/baseball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">baseball<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/kenburns\/civil-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the U.S. civil war<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, for example. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But to be honest, unlike my previous two recommendations, Burns\u2019s works are not similar in topic to the TOEFL. The test will generally not include modern American history or culture. Still, it\u2019s very good listening practice: Burns has very clear pronunciation, and the guests that he films have a range of American accents. It\u2019s also a great way to get some background in U.S. culture and history\u2014helpful if you\u2019re going to study at an American university!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Documentaries might be the easiest way to learn about a new topic. They\u2019re relaxing and pleasant to watch, and for many students, they\u2019re more engaging than books on the same topics. But they\u2019re also good for TOEFL preparation in particular, because there are many documentaries available on academic topics. Basically, you can learn about the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13616],"tags":[13621],"ppma_author":[13628],"class_list":["post-2567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-listening","tag-video"],"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>TOEFL Tuesday: Practice Listening with Documentaries - 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\/toefl-tuesday-practice-listening-with-documentaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TOEFL Tuesday: Practice Listening with Documentaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Documentaries might be the easiest way to learn about a new topic. 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