TOEFL  Listening Practice

60 Second Science
Below are some podcasts issued by the famous science magazine 'Scientific American'. They are very short, only one minute long for each podcast. I want you to do five things:
1) Listen to the podcast as many times as you like. Make a note of how many times you listened.
2) In one,  or at most two sentences, try to describe the main idea of the podcast.
3) Write down at least three details or statistics mentioned in the podcast.
4) Write down your thoughts on what you heard in the podcast. Was it interesting? Did you learn anything new? Does the information you received affect you, your family or friends in any way? Anything at all.
5) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the podcast. Write down a few sentences on what you found. Make sure you list the URL's where you found the information. DO NOT copy and paste large pieces of text from  a website. You can make quotations, but I am more interested in what you think.
Write your answers down on a piece of paper and bring them to class.

Podcast 1 Sample answer	Podcast 2	Podcast 3	Podcast 4
Podcast 5	Podcast 6	Podcast 7	Podcast 8
Podcast 9	Podcast 10	Podcast 11	Podcast 12
Podcast 13	Podcast 14	Podcast 15	Podcast 16
Podcast 17	Podcast 18	Podcast 19	Podcast 20
Podcast 21	Podcast 22	Podcast 23	Podcast 24
Podcast 25	Podcast 26	Podcast 27	Podcast 28
Podcast 29	Podcast 30	Podcast 31	Podcast 32

Dictionary of National Biography
Below are some podcasts issued by the  'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'. Each details the life of an interesting Briton. I want you to do five things:
1) Listen to the podcast as many times as you like.
2) Fill-in the mising words in the gap-fill
3) Write a 200 word summary of the article.
4) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the podcast.
5) Write a paragraph on what you found.

Charles Macintosh	Maurice Gibb	Edith Cavell
Gap-fill 1	Gap-fill 2	Gap-fill 3

Businessweek
Below are some podcasts issued by the famous business magazine 'Businessweek'. Each is an interview with the writer of one of the magazines cover stories. Both the articles and the podcasts are quite long. I want you to do five things:
1) Read the cover story article. Try to 'guess' the meaning of unknown words. Any words you cannot 'guess' , check in your dictionary.
2) Re-read the article, this time taking notes.
3) Write a 500 word summary of the article.
4) Listen to the podcast as many times as you like.
5) How did the interview add to the information you received when reading the article?  Be specific here.
4) Write down your thoughts on what you read in the article and heard in the podcast. Was it interesting? Did you learn anything new? Does the information you received affect you, your family or friends in any way? Anything at all.
5) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the article. Write a paragraph on what you found.
Write your answers down on a piece of paper and bring them to class.

Article 1	Article 2	Article 3	Article 4
Podcast 1	Podcast 2	Podcast 3	Podcast 4

BBC  History magazine
Below are some podcasts issued by the  'BBC History magazine'. One is an interview with someone who took part in an interesting voyage, the other is an interview with a British profesor of Chinese history.
For the Vikings
1) Read the article. Try to 'guess' the meaning of unknown words. Any words you cannot 'guess' , check in your dictionary.
2) Re-read the article, this time taking notes.
3) Listen to the viking podcast as many times as you like and take notes
4) Write an essay on how the information contained in the listening passage adds to the information in the reading passage.
5) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the article. Write a paragraph on what you found.

Reading passage on Vikings

Viking listening

For Chinese history
1) Listen to the 'Chinese history podcast' as many times as you like and take notes.
2) Write a 400 word summary of the professor's thoughts.
5) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the article. Write a paragraph on what you found.

Profesor Harry Gelbert on Chinese History

PBS: Nova Science
Below are some podcasts issued by the American PBS TV channel program 'NOVA'. Each one is a short, but interesting, scientific interview. I want you to do five things:
1) Listen to the podcast as many times as you like.
2) Take notes on the interview.
3) Write a 100 word summary of the article.
4) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the podcast.
5) Write a paragraph on what you found.

Talking to apes

Longevity gene

A mummy's life

PBS: American Experience
Below are some podcasts issued by the American PBS TV channel program 'American Experience'. Each one is a short description of an incident from America's past.. I want you to do five things:
1) Listen to the podcast as many times as you like.
2) Take notes on the interview.
3) Write a 100 word summary of the article.
4) Do a web-search using Google or some other search engine and try to find out more information related to the topic of the podcast.
5) Write a paragraph on what you found.

Reagan: actor to politician

Jesse James

Murder of the century