For Teachers | Free ESL Listening Activities by Level

Listen in English is a free listening practice site with over 800 hand-crafted lessons designed to work on both mobile and desktop browsers. It is not an app. There is no login required, and no cost — for you or your students. Ads pay for the site. Please don't use ad blockers.

26/06/01 [ For Teachers ] page added. Explains how to use the site in class, level alignment, and printable worksheets.

26/05/30 TOEFL 2026 Listening: [ Choose a Response #5 ] added to the Skills section.

26/05/25 [ Advanced Search ] updated. Filter lessons by level, accent, category, and topic.

26/05/20 PDFs added to American English File series. (B.1, B.2, B.3, B.4, B.5)

26/05/10 Timed Reading series launched. Read against the clock, then answer comprehension questions. [ Little Women ] [ Street Food ] [Video Game Histroy ]

Levels and CEFR Alignment

All lessons are tagged with a level from 1 to 6. The table below shows how these correspond to standard proficiency frameworks.

Content Categories

The site is organized into four main categories. Each suits a different classroom context.

LIE Level	Description	CEFR	IELTS	TOEIC
Level 1	Near beginner	A1	2-3	200-250
Level 2	High beginner	A2	3-4	250-350
Level 3	Low intermediate	B1	4-5	350-500
Level 4	High intermediate	B2	5-6	500-650
Level 5	Advanced	C1	6-8	650-850
Level 6	Near fluent	C2	8+	850+

Easy TV (Levels 1-3): Graded content designed specifically for ESL and EFL learners. Slower speech, simpler vocabulary, clear sentence structure. Good for beginners who are not yet ready for authentic native-speaker content.

TV & Movies (Levels 3-6): Clips from real TV shows and films — Friends, Wednesday, Modern Family, Frozen, and many others. Natural speed, authentic language, and content that students already know and enjoy. The Friends (easy) lessons are meant as a bridge between Easy TV and TV & Movies.

Language Skills (Levels 1-4): Focused practice activities including TOEFL 2026 listening preparation, speech reductions (gonna, wanna), Listen & Draw, and timed reading. Useful for test preparation classes or skill-focused lessons.

Academic (Levels 3-6): Documentary-style video and audio lessons with science and nature content as well as evergreen news focused content. Well suited to academic preparation and higher-level classes.

You can browse all lessons by level, accent, category, and topic using the [ Advanced Search ] page.

What Each Lesson Includes

Every lesson follows a consistent structure that works well as a self-contained classroom activity, online class, or homework assignment:

Vocabulary: Key words and phrases from the clip, with context-specific definitions. Designed to be read before watching.

Background: A brief scene-setting section that gives students only what they need to understand the clip.

Comprehension Questions: True/false and multiple-choice questions. These are not test questions. They are only meant to check comprehension. If the listener understands the clip, they should be easy.

Script: A full transcript of the clip. Students are encouraged to read and listen simultaneously — a technique with strong research support for listening development.

Language Activities: Depending on the lesson, these include Listen & Repeat pronunciation practice, vocabulary review, grammar cloze, and a guided summary writing section.

Discussion Questions: Open questions that move from literal comprehension to personal response and critical thinking. Ready to use as a conversation warm-up or speaking activity.

Suggested Classroom Workflows

As a self-study homework assignment: Assign a lesson before class. Students watch the video, answer the questions, and read the transcript at home. Use the Discussion Questions to open the following class.

As an in-class listening activity: Start with interest-generating questions. Scaffold with background and vocabulary. Play the clip and have students work in pairs to answer the comprehension questions. Then move into either the discussion questions or language activities. Most lessons have too many activities to be done all in one class. But each lesson has enough activities to meet different student needs (grammar, pronunciation, fluency-building) and keep classes from getting too repetitive.

As a weekly routine: The BBC Headlines lessons are published three times a week and follow an identical format every time. Once students know the format, they can work through a lesson independently. Good for building a consistent listening habit.

For TOEFL preparation: The TOEFL 2026 series includes structured listening tasks modelled on the actual test format — conversations, announcements, and academic talks — with answer checking built in.

A Note on Design

The site requires no login, no account, and no student registration. There is nothing to install. Students open a URL and start the lesson. This is a deliberate choice — the fewer steps between a student and the content, the better.

If you have questions about using the site in your class, or suggestions for content that would be useful, you can reach me at listeninenglishinfo@gmail.com. I read every email.

For Teachers 교사용 Para Profesores Para Professores

Levels and CEFR Alignment

Content Categories

What Each Lesson Includes

Suggested Classroom Workflows

A Note on Design