Dictation

Dictation is a good way to focus students on the details of language form rather than meaning. Of course, looking at form without understanding meaning impoverishes language learning, but an unrelenting focus on meaning can distract attention from form and slow learning. One site that provides dictation practice is Listen and Write. It requires students to create an account and log in, but it is free.

It has a number of levels and a level test. The levels test is in beta, and I was placed in level 6 of 10 (based on the graph) despite doing the test in earnest (Also, confusingly, the audio seems to go up to level 22). I think the problem may be that I was hitting punctuation where none was expected and then barrelling on past the error with each keystroke counting as a further error. I'm not really sure though.

Another thing to be careful of is that not all of the tracks are English, so look at the language label. Also, the audio quality varies. All in all, it's may be a good idea to vet a number of dictations yourself before sending your students to the site.

TED Ed

For those who like TED talks but whose students might not be ready for a full-on 18 minute lecture, TED Ed is a good alternative. Many of the talks are shorter, often about 5 minutes, and they are supported with animation that helps convey the meaning. They also come with a number of multiple-choice comprehension question, two or three "think" questions, and a "dig deeper" suggestion for research.

Unfortunately, most of these are not really aimed at language learning. Fortunately, though, you can "flip" the video, which means you can make your own questions, which would be associated with a unique URL which you can give your students. TED Ed also provides tools to track the viewing of and responses to your flipped video. More info here.

When you flip the talk, sadly, you cannot edit or add multiple-choice questions; you can simply include or exclude what is already there. The "think" and "dig deeper" sections are editable, though.

Unlike TED talks, a transcript isn't provided on TED Ed, but many of the videos will have a CC box, which, if clicked, will provide closed captions.

Video Language Network

Here's another free language-learning website with videos. No time to check it out now. Please, leave comments and I'll label it later.

Real English

The Real English website has impromptu video interviews with a wide range of people, many of whom are simply folks on the street. They are often tagged and grouped around certain grammar points. Many also have exercises and pre-listening vocabulary lists.

Unfortunately, many of the interviews are quite fragmented with a very simple question-answer format and little followup or connection between the questions. (e.g., Q: What did you do yesterday. A: We shopped. Q: What do you hope to achieve before you die?...)

English Central

English Central is mainly a collection of existing videos, rather than a producer of content. They do, however, add some significant value.  First, they rank the videos for different English proficiency levels. Then, they add subtitles and provide an easy to use viewer. Next, they encourage students to record themselves speaking the lines from the video and use speech recognition software to indicate whether these have been spoken correctly or not. They also have vocabulary lists.

Overall, I think the main value is in the ranked, subtitled videos. The pronunciation check is not likely to be very effective and the glosses for the vocabulary vary a good deal in terms of how easy/accurate they are. Nevertheless, there is a large amount of material available, and it's worth checking out.

Learning English with the CBC

[If you have trouble with the videos, try a different browser.]
CBC Ottawa has started putting together some self-study listening lessons. It looks like it might be useful, but right now, the videos don't seem to be working. I've tested it on both Windows and Mac. Keep checking back and let me know if something starts working.

From TESL Canada

TESL Canada is collecting materials. Right now there are some monologues and dialogues designed by Brock University student Martin Woodyard. They include illustrations, a transcripts, and MP3s. For each transcript, the CLB level is indicated at the far right of the link, (e.g., Transcript-LateMono(for MP3 1-2-3-4)-L-4 is CLB 4). Permission is granted for classroom copying, but copyright remains with the creators.

Other non-listening resources are available here.