English-language Learning: Listening to Academic Lectures

This came from a Ryerson site, suggested by Irene Kosmas. 

English-language Learning: Listening to Academic Lectures appears to be a Canadian site. It begins with a significant overview of listening strategies. Then there are five lectures to work on. Each with a series of steps and exercises to work through. All have downloadable transcripts, MP3 audio files, and downloadable video files (all together in one large (over 100MB) zip file, which needs to be expanded) for flexible delivery. Although there is a copyright notice, all materials on the site are expressly free to download. The media also has click-to-listen links, but they wouldn't play on my MacBook. 

The speaker, at least in the first lecture, is competent, but rather dull. He reader from cue cards, and the video/audio quality is degraded by darkness and a constant buzz.

These are longer lectures, the first being 23 minutes: definitely for higher-level learners.

Focus on English

This is linked to from a Ryerson site, suggested by Irene Kosmas.

Focus on English is a set of basic situational-functional conversations. Topics include emotions, fashion, health, and shopping, and the conversations are very short. Perhaps suitable for levels 1-4 with most in the 2-3 range. Transcripts are sometimes available. The files all use the RealAudio format, so they're streamed--you can't download them. It looks like they don't want you to copy their stuff.