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It takes time and lots of practice to become confident in listening to native audios. It’s not just a question of the speed of the dialogue –“Help they speak so fast!” – but also a question of vocabulary, pronunciation, accent and, yes, of how interesting the topic is.

Here are a few things for you to consider:

1. Choose a topic that interests and stimulates you in some way. Never listen to something just because you feel you ‘should’ listen to it. If you are bored, you won’t learn from it – it then becomes a waste of time.
2. Choose short audios or videos – under 3/5 minutes. If the audio text is too long, you’ll lose your concentration and probably give up – it’s self-defeating.
3. Know that listening to the audio text various times is normal practice.
4. Even a native speaker can have a some difficulty understanding immediately a new accent. It takes time for the ear to adjust to new sounds.
5. Actively try to expand your vocabulary by writing down some of the key vocabulary in the audio text.
6. Remember that continuity is key to effective learning, so listen as often as you can to videos and audios in English.

Here is an example of an audio I used with some of my students this week. You can adapt the instructions to use with any news video or audio.

Title: Turkey protests in 90 seconds: How the crisis has escalated
Source: BBC news
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22794580
Length: 90 seconds
Instructions:
a. Click on the link and listen to the video. Write down any words you hear without stopping the video. Don’t worry if you only write down 2 or 3 words the first time.
b. Listen again and add more words to your list. Do it a third time, if you want to.
c. Here are some keywords and expressions from the video:

31st May – tear gas – environmentalists – provoke – anti-governmental movement – acting like a dictator – fair elections – a strong leader – hold talks – two key demands

Listen again. What do each of the words or expressions refer to?
d. Write brief sentences using the keywords.
e. Write a paragraph describing what you heard (this is also good practice for your writing skills!).
f. Review the new vocabulary you have found by searching for and reading an article related to the topic.

Enjoy learning!