Learn English FAST: The Essential Podcasts for Learning English

A lot of you are here because you  love learning English on Youtube  

but you also know the more ways you  expose yourself to English, the better.

Podcasts are a great resource and today,  I’m going to introduce you to 13 Podcasts  

that I think is absolutely  fantastic for learning English.

We have two different categories. First, Podcasts  created by English teachers for learners like you,  

non-native speakers. Then, we’ll get  into some Podcasts in American English  

created for native speakers that  you could also learn a lot from.

Let’s head to my computer  to go over these Podcasts.

The first one I’m going to talk about is  “All Ears Podcast”. I love their tagline,  

“Connection not Perfection”. Just do it, don’t  worry about mistakes, get yourself out there. It’s  

a daily podcast, all sorts of topics. Vocabulary,  Idioms, Business English and as you can see,  

they’re not too long. Ten, twenty minutes,  you can definitely take that on a daily basis.

The next on I want to recommend is “The  In Fluency Podcast”. It’s weekly and again  

the episodes are pretty short. It’s not a big  commitment, I mean they’re short as three minutes  

but there are also some longer episodes too. She  covers topics like pronunciation and grammar.

Speaking of podcasts something that I did not  know, you can now get podcasts on Audible, you’ve  

heard me talk about Audible before, it’s where I  get all my audio books and I think audio books,  

in addition to podcasts, are a great way to learn  English and increase your vocabulary and listening  

comprehension, so huge thanks to Audible for  sponsoring this video and supporting my channel.  

We’ve just discussed two podcasts you can use for  learning English, and we’ll cover eleven more.  

But first I want to recommend a title that I just  finished and tell you how you can get it through  

audible. They’re offering a free 30-day trial  to new members, visit Audible.com/rachelsenglish  

or text rachelsenglish to 500-500. So visit  the site, send the text, because the title  

I want to recommend, it is one of the most  riveting stories I’ve heard in a long time,  

it was recommended to me by my colleague Tom, who  listened to the audiobook with his wife, and it’s  

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s a true story  about Louis Zamperini whose bomber, in World War  

II crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Sharks are  circling, he survives at sea for weeks. The story  

is just incredible and it’s so well told. Every  night I would sit down with David and be like,  

oh my gosh, this is what happened. So please,  get it, listen to it – Audible.com/rachelsenglish  

or text rachelsenglish to 500-500. It’s a  new year, a time to start making new learning  

goals. I strongly encourage you to add audiobooks  and podcasts to the resources you use to learn  

English, and audible has the most extensive  offering that I know of. Find something you’re  

really into, like me with ‘Unbroken’, and  you’ll want to listen to it every night.

I also want to mention my podcast. Now, I’m not  making new episodes so it’s discontinued but there  

are twenty-five episodes there worth listening  to if you haven’t already. These episodes are a  

little bit longer usually around a half hour  and we’re discussing pronunciation topics,  

my favorite topic but also things like  vocabulary and idioms and some cultural stuff.  

Most of these episodes are with my husband  David where we’re just discussing our lives  

so it’s just a good way to get to know me  and us better as well as you learn English.

Breaking news! If you miss my podcast,  I’m going to start sharing audio lessons  

again. I’m so excited about this way  of communicating with my students,  

and I’m launching it next week, Tuesday,  January 18, through the YouTube membership,  

that’s the join button you’ve seen next  to the subscribe button here on YouTube.  

So look for a video next week, and for  the button on my channel, to sign up.

Next we have “Espresso English”, updated almost  every week and again these are short episodes,  

easy to take in, one tip or trick when  it comes to speaking English at a time.

The “Real Life English Podcast” is great  because you get exposure to both American  

accents and British accents. Now you can see  that these episodes are a little bit longer,  

there are multiple episodes each week  and they focus on all sorts of topics.  

Conversation, vocabulary and general tips for  learning a new language. One time,  

I sat down with Ethan from this podcast for an  interview, so be sure to check out that episode.

I also love “Learning English News Review” from  BBC World Service. They have new episodes once  

a week and they go deep on one topic. The  podcasts are each around ten minutes long  

and they have quizzes on their website, you can  really test your listening comprehension here.

“Grammar Girl” is for all you language nerds  out there. She goes over some pronunciation and  

vocabulary but also the “why” of language.  And I find it a really fun way to explore  

different aspects of English. Now this podcast  isn’t necessarily made for non-native speakers.  

It’s also made for native speakers who  just enjoy learning more about English.  

Each Episode, about fifteen minutes long  and just a place to learn along little  

interesting tidbits and facts about  the English language and grammar.

Now, moving on to podcasts that are  in English, not about learning the  

language but about interesting things. My  biggest tip: Follow something you love.  

Something that already interests you, maybe  something that you already know about.  

My friend Stacy, who has been on this channel is  a master knitter. And she has a podcast for people  

who love knitting. Or look for podcasts that  are relevant to what’s happening in your life  

now. Really you name it. Gardening, cooking,  wrestling, religion and spirituality, anything. My  

husband listens to a podcast that’s just two guys  talking about the Philadelphia 76ers. He loves the  

team and keeping up on news and people’s opinions.  Whatever you’re passionate about, find a podcast  

in English on that topic, it’s going to draw you  in you’re going to learn so much more from that.

There are a lot of different podcasts that I like  listening to and I’m just going to go over some  

of them here. First “The Moth”. I love this one  because it’s an episode of many people telling  

shorter stories maybe around 8 minutes about their  lives, some sort of transformative experience.  

So they’re really interesting from that  perspective and they’re live. They’re  

often shot Infront of an audience. So you get  very authentic English here. People can’t edit  

something out. And it’s a great way to  study how to tell a story in English.  

What are some of the phrases that you could  use to connect one thing to the next? What’s  

some of the vocabulary that you could use to  talk about an event in your life and so on.

Next, “This American Life”. As you  can tell here from the time stamps,  

I’ve been listening to a lot of these  lately. This is probably the podcast  

that I’ve been listening to the longest. New  episodes each week about an hour. Sometimes,  

it will be someone sharing a personal essay but  more often it’s interviewing and back and forth  

different ideas on different topics. And I just  love the variety of voices that you get here.  

One of my favorite episodes that I listen to  recently is number 218 and it’s called “Act  

V” and it’s about a theater company that  brings theater to high security prisons  

and lets the people in the prisons act. It was very powerful, very moving, a great story.

Another one I love is Radiolab. Again, about an  hour, weekly episodes covering a range of topics  

often focusing on Science. It’s sometimes  challenges me to think about something  

differently. I like that challenge. For example,  in an episode about killing endangered species,  

the Rhino hunter made it clear that  things aren’t always what they seem.

If you don’t have an hour to devote,  what about ten or fifteen minutes.  

I recommend “NPR Up First”. This  is a daily podcast and they cover  

three of the most important  news stories of the day.

If you love news, you also want to follow the New  York Times, “The Daily”. Guess what? It's daily.  

Each episode is about thirty minutes  and they go deep on one news story.

I also like to podcast, “Being Boss”. This  is a great podcast to listen to if you’re  

interested in business topics and you want to  study some of the vocabulary that people use  

when talking about these things. Interesting  interviews, weekly, about an hour.

If you have a favorite podcast in English,  please put it in the comments below.

Now, we’ll take a little bit one of my Podcast  

and we’ll use it to learn some  English. I’ll study with you.

Um, so okay, so you’ve been  making New Year’s resolutions.  

What it will, what are you resolving to do?

The verb resolve is related to resolution. If  you resolve to do something, you make a definite  

decision to do it, you commit to doing it. It’s  stronger than decided. “I decided to train for  

a marathon.” versus “I resolved to train for a  marathon.” If I decide, I may change my mind. But  

if I resolve to do it, I’m going to do everything  I can to make that happen. At the beginning of a  

New Year, we make resolutions. That would be  commitments for things to do in the New Year.

Um, so okay, so you’ve been  making New Year’s resolutions.  

What it will, what are you resolving to do?

I feel like there have been  some common themes for me,  

things like exercise on a regular  basis or do daily meditation practice.

So there are things that you already did  but your goal was for more consistency?

Yeah, that’s accurate. Mm-hmm.

How did you do with meeting those resolutions?

Not well. That’s not strong enough, um, horribly.

I think it’s interesting we make resolutions  to try to do things better. I wonder,  

do we ever look at why we don’t do things well?  Like why aren’t you consistent in working out?

If you’re consistent in doing something  that means you do it regularly.  

If you’re not consistent, that  means you only do it sometimes.  

A good word for that would be sporadic.  It means every once in a while.

“I don’t practice Spanish consistently.  

I only practice sporadically,  which is why I’m not very good.”

I think it’s interesting we make resolutions  to try to do thing better. I wonder,  

do we ever look at why we don’t do things well?  Like why aren’t you consistent in working out?

Well, because it gets really cold out  and you don’t like to run when it’s cold.  

Like I wonder if you came  up with looking at the why  

you haven’t been able to do it yet,  and then came up with strategies.

Mm-hmm.

A strategy is a plan or a method to use  to reach a certain goal. For example,  

“What are your strategies  for acing the IELTS exam?”

“Well, I’m going to do a vocabulary workbook  every day, I’m going to train in Rachel’s English  

Academy for 30 minutes a day, I’m going to watch  one news story in English every day.” And so on.

Strategy. Like I wonder if you came up with  

looking at the why you haven’t been able to  do it yet, and then came up with strategies.

Mm-hmm.

To count too--, to, you know,  attack that doubt or that,  

“I can’t do it today, because it’s too cold.”

If you had a list of strategies, uh,  planned as part of your resolution,  

if it would help people keep them more.

I think it probably would.

Okay, let’s come up with a strategy right now.

Exercise more in 2018. Would you say that would  be a New Year’s resolution for you this year?

Yeah, mm-hmm.

Okay. Why do you think you  don’t exercise consistently now?

Well, laziness.

Okay.

Inertia.

Inertia, meaning?

Like I’m in a pattern of not doing it,  so it’s hard to start a new pattern.

Yeah, exactly. A good definition of inertia.

Uh, a body at rest tends to stay at rest 

(laugh) Right.

if you’re doing a whole lot of resting.

Any other resolutions you’ve had as an  adult, anything not related to exercise?

No, I’m not thinking of anything. Uh, I probably  need to be more specific or, or not more specific,  

branch out into some other areas. I don’t know  exactly what that would be, but that’s about it.

You know, I, I do think  actually you’re on to something  

by saying, “Be more specific.” What  does it mean to be on to something?

It’s when someone thinks, “Okay, you’ve started  a good idea. We should take that further.”

Like if you’re brainstorming  how to solve a problem.

Oh, I think you’re on to  something. Let’s explore that.

Mm-hmm.

I think you’re on to something when talking  about being specific because if your goal  

is to exercise more, that’s very generic. It  could be three times a week for a half hour.

Specific versus generic. These are opposites. If something is specific, it’s precise, particular.  

If something is generic,  it’s general, not specific.  

For example, “You can buy any generic chocolate  for this recipe and it’ll taste great.”

That’s very different from “You have to buy  the semi-sweet chocolate chunks from Trader  

Joe’s for this recipe.” That is specific.  Only that one kind of chocolate will do.

I think you’re on to something when talking  about being specific because if your goal  

is to exercise more, that’s very generic. It  could be three times a week for a half hour.

Right.

You could set something more specific  that might help you keep the goal.

You know, you were talking  about the kind of goal to set.

Yeah.

And you were talking about a SMART goal, smart  here being an acronym, An acronym. An acronym is  

when you take the first letter of the several  words and put them together, that is an acronym.

And here, the acronym happens to spell  an actual word and that is SMART.

Yeah.

What is a SMART acronym and how did you,  or sorry, a SMART goal? And how did you  

learn about these kinds of goals? And how  did you learn about these kinds of goals?

Right, we were talking about this before  the show. Uh, so one of my friends Bradley  

brought this up when a group  of us a couple years ago,  

we were talking about New year’s resolutions  and we decided to go around the circle and  

see if anybody wanted to share what their New  Year’s resolution was. And before we started,  

he suggested that we all try to do it in SMART  format. And SMART stands for specific, Measurable,  

achievable, realistic, and what’s the T?

Timely.

Timely. So, instead of us  all going around and saying,  

“I want to run more,” you know, I was forced  that year at least at the beginning of the year  

to say, you know a little something  about each of those areas.

Mm-hmm, how you could measure it.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you would know by whether or not you ran,  whether or not it was achievable and realistic.

Right.

Getting specific with your goal.

Right. Mm-hmm. So, I remember that being  really helpful both for myself as I was  

thinking about my goal and to hear other people  putting their New Year’s resolutions into that  

format. It was just helpful to yeah, to use  that as a sort of tool to get more specific.

It does force you to be more thoughtful and  detailed about the New Year’s resolution, I think,  

when you have to say something that is specific,  measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.

Mm-hmm.

Speaking of timely, that rings me to what I have  decided to do this year, which is a little bit  

different. I find that having a goal for a ear is  not great for me. It’s just, it’s too much time.

So I decided to flip the idea of a  New Year’s resolution on its head,  

rather than making a goal to do in 2018.

I decided towards the end of 2017, I was going  to make a goal to do before the year was out  

because that provided me more of a time  crunch, more motivation to make it happen.

Now you said flip on its head.

Yeah, that means do it the  opposite way it’s been done.  

Change it around completely. So I flipped the idea  of a New Year’s resolution on its head by deciding  

I had to do it before New Year rather than do  it before New Year rather than in the New Year.

Got it.

Okay, so my goal was to before the year is out,  sign up for and take my first piano lesson.

And it looks like I’m going to be able to  do that. I have the piano getting tuned.

Mm-hmm.

Next week and the week after that,  

just in the nick of time. It’s  going to be on the 20th of December.

I’m going to have my first lesson.

Have ten days to spare. Um,  just in the nick of time.

Yup. What does this phrase mean?  This means, down to the wire.

Oops, another idiom.

These things mean just before  time runs out. Is that another...

Yeah. Yeah, it is, runs, runs out.

Okay. It becomes so hard sometimes to  describe idioms without using other idioms.

If it’s just in the nick of time,  that means you have done something  

just before the allotted time has ended.

Just before the deadline.

Just before the deadline. So, the phrases  we used were just in the nick of time.  

You could also say, it’s getting down the  wire. When it’s getting down the wire,  

that means you are really running out  of time on getting something done.

Mm-hmm.

What was the other one we  used? Oh, time’s running out.

Mm-hmm.

Almost no time left.

Right.

Those are fun idioms. So anyway,  yeah I think I’m going to.. I think  

I’m going to achieve it I’m looking  forward to having that first lesson.

We learned resolutions and resolve, consistent  and consistently, along with the opposite,  

sporadic. Strategies, inertia, to be on  to something. Specific versus generic,  

acronym, to flip on its head, in the nick of  time, down to the wire and running out of time.

To listen to this full podcast  and to download this full PDF  

or any of my other podcasts, head  to RachelsEnglish.com/podcast.

There are so many great shows being  produced, I can’t wait to hear what  

you find and what you learn from them,  put your favorites in the comments below.

Keep your learning going now with this video and of  course please subscribe with notifications,  

I make new videos on the English language  every week and I love to see you back here.  

That’s it and thanks so much  for using Rachel’s English.