Foreign language students frequently request my help to improve their listening comprehension skills. Watching videos in English is one recommendation I suggest. However, the choice can be discouraging for students.

The British Queen spoke what is known as Received Pronunciation. Foreign language students find this one of the easiest to understand. Click on the link to listen to some examples. Remember, few native English speakers use received pronunciation. In fact, it has been suggested, there are around 40 different dialects in England alone.

In general English lessons, I use a mixture of audio and video from a diverse range of accents to help improve comprehension. I recommend students obtain as much exposure to English as they possibly can and ideally a little every day. Many students cannot afford a daily lesson. Between lessons, I recommend watching short videos. The BBC Learn English Shorts is an excellent starting point. All the videos are short so you won’t tire.

Choose a specific time of day and dedicate 15 minutes of your day to this exercise. You could do this while eating breakfast, after lunch, during a coffee break or after finishing work. Select a different video each day and listen to the same video three times. There are thousands to view. You’ll learn something new with each video and improve your listening comprehension.