Elllo -- English Language Listening Library Online

Website of the day: Elllo

What is this?

Elllo is a really fantastic website with over 1000 free listening practices and activities with pictures, videos, downladable MP 3 and much more. These practices are extremely helpful for students and teachers. What makes the listening resource unique is that the speakers of these listening practice come from all over the world with different accents. Besides, the genres of listening practice include interviews in audio or video format, conversation, casual talk or speech.

Why is it good for language use?

•  There are 7 categories of listening practice in the website which suits English learners of various proficiency levels and  meets different needs:

         1. Views: Natural and authentic conversation between speakers from around the world.

         2. Mixers: Featuring 6 speakers talking about the same topic. Students can compare how the same topic can be elaborated!

         3. Games: Perfect for beginners: learners only have to click on the pictures according to what they have heard in the listening practice.

         4. Videos: Short video clips in which two people discussing a topic or doing an interview.

         5. Songs: Learners can decide to singing the songs with or without the lyrics.

         6. News: Animated listening practice with more academic words. Perfect for students who want to prepare for standardized listening tests like TOEFL, IELTS.

         7. Points: Listening practices featuring mini lectures or brief presentations with more academic words. Perfect for students who want to prepare for standardized listening tests like TOEFL, IELTS.

• The free site contains hundreds of listening activities with downloadable files and short quizzes to test your comprehension.

                    

• Users can choose different mode to listen or to watch the video according to their individual learning styles.

• While listening, learners have the option to show or hide the text depending on their levels.  

• The text version also offers audio explanations of difficult words and phrases.

    

•  The website might help build up learner autonomy since learners can decide their own learning progress and the topics they would like to explore.
• Learners can choose the listening practice more suitable on their own because there are labels of difficulty next to each listening practice.  

Classroom use

• Teachers can introduce to students the skills of note-taking. Then teachers have students listen to the same listening practice without subtitles, doing the note-taking for the first time. Then students discuss with their partners what they have written down and answer some general comprehension questions. Afterwards, teachers can have students listen again with subtitles and click on the highlighted words for further information.
• Teachers can make use of the listening practice of MIXER, in which 6 different speakers talk about the same topic. Teachers can have students talk about the same topic first and listen to those talks to make comparison or listen to the talks first to obtain more input, generating some ideas before output.
• Teachers can only be the supervisor and facilitator! Students decide what they want to learn and listen and do it!  

Limitations

• There are many ads in the website, which makes the layout of the website less attractive.