Free Listening, Reading, and Video Materials

Hello everyone,

here you will find a list of free online resources for practising your English at home.

Listening Materials

For all Levels:

English songs with their lyrics -- find your favourite songs, listen and sing :)

For Beginners:

Easy, short texts you can listen to and read -- part 1. Very slow speaking, which is good for focusing on grammar and pronunciation. These are mostly in Present Simple tense.
Easy, short texts -- part 2. The reader speaks also very slowly. The texts are mostly in Past Simple tense.
Short conversations from everyday life. You can read and listen to them. The speaking is also slow. You will hear new vocabulary and a lot of questions in Present Simple and Past Simple tense.

For Intermediate Level:

Here is a wonderful list of listenings and their scripts to read. The topics cover interviews with celebrities, such as Tom Hanks and Bill Gates, as well as articles on everyday topics: relationships, success, Egypt's political power struggle, etc. Also a nice feature: you can choose if you want the listening faster or slower (at the top of the page).
Short stories you can hear and read simultaneously
Words in the News: short videos and listenings including typical words from the news. This English learning service is offered by the BBC. You can watch or listen and read the articles, as well as find explanations of the 10 or so new words per article.
English at Work is a BBC series with middle-sized office-related conversations. You can listen to them while reading the scripts and so learn a few new phrases.

For Advanced Level:

Audiobooks: listening and text. Be careful -- these are original books, which means they aren't adapted to lower levels.
Another great list of listenings with scripts. They have slow and fast speed of listening you can choose from. The topics are also up-to-date: the secrets of a cegarette, Obama's speeches, "Everything is amazing and nobody is happy", etc.
Harvard Business Review is one of the very best websites worldwide (along with its paper magazine) which can provide you with innovative, creative, and efficient work-related ideas. You will find thousands of blogs, videos, audios, and articles (some articles are for free, while others need a free subscription). If you are interested in self-development and learning how to be a successful employee, a motivating leader, and a valued colleague, as well as how to discover and follow your passion and contribute to your community -- that's the place to learn from the best minds of our times.

For Intermediate and Advanced Level:

Zen Habits is one of my favourite blogs about living a happy life. It is full of short to medium-sized articles with inspiring and practical Zen ideas about finances, success, child-raising, motivating yourself, dealing with stress, and just how to enjoy life more.
World Business Culture includes short informative texts about different countries' special ways of doing business, making meetings, team work, women in business, dress code, successful entertaining, and top 20 tips, which you need to know if you don't want to experience a culture clash when you work with people of foreign nationalities. These short articles help you get to know the culture of the specific country and their expectations of you, as a business partner or visitor.

TED: Ideas worth spreading is a popular website offering hundreds of free 18-minute video presentations by prominent people who have discovered something new, inspiring, or thought-provoking in the areas of technology, design, business, science, psychology, and global issues. Extras: you can turn on and off the subtitles in English, German and many other languages. You can test it by watching Brene Brown's "The Power of Vulnerability" -- this is how I discovered this treasure box.
TED: 3-minute videos. Here you will find some shorter videos where you can still activate English or German subtitles to help you understand them better.
Philosopher's Notes is the free video section of a website, in which Brian Johnson, a modern-day philosopher, reads the best-sellers of our times and tells you in short what they are about. His videos are 5-10 min. long. He also offers 6-page summaries of hundreds of really great books and 10-min audio recordings of his book-summaries. You can get 3 book summaries for free, and then you can buy the others, if you like. I have discovered some amazing books through Philosopher's Notes summaries.

BBC News is a website where you can watch short 2-3-minute videos about the current affairs in the areas of: the world, business, science and technology, entertainment, the UK, and the US and Canada. The reports usually speak clearly and not too fast -- give it a try!

BEC Preliminary (Level B1 Business English exam): here is a link to a free BEC Preliminary sample test. You can either download and print out the paper version (then you can do it without the time limit) or you can do the same test online (it takes about 2 hours altogether).
It includes the complete Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking sections. The answers for the Reading and Listening are provided. The Writing has no answers, but you can send me your texts to check and give them a note. The Speaking can only be done in class and I can give you a note when I hear you.
Results: in general, you need to have over 82% correct answers for level B1. To get the lower level A2 on your certificate, you need minimum 71% correct answers. And if you manage over 94% correct answers, your certificate will indicate level B2.

PET Exam (Level B1, everyday English): here is a link to a free PET Exam sample test. You can either download and print out the paper version (then you can do it without the time limit) or you can do the same test online (it takes about 2 hours altogether).
It includes the complete Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking sections. The answers for the Reading and Listening are provided. The Writing has no answers, but you can send me your texts to check and give them a note. The Speaking can only be done in class and I can give you a note when I hear you.
Results: in general, you need to have over 82% correct answers for level B1. To get level A2 on your certificate, you need minimum 71% correct answers.

B2 First (FCE): here is a link to a free B2 First sample test. You only need to download "Reading and Use of English -- See sample paper". This zip file contains all the exam parts and the answers.
You can print all parts and also check your answers. The audio file for the listening part is also included. The writing part you need to send me to check.
Results: You need to have an average of 84% correct answers on all 4 parts to get level B2. With a minimum of 74% correct answers, your certificate will say you have level B1, and should you have over 95% correct answers, your certificate will be graded C1.