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Sports lovers and English language learners are in for a treat this Summer. Right now, the Euros are on, Wimbledon starts next week and the Olympics gets started in less than a month.

Listening to sports commentary is a great way to improve your English if you love sport. Any listening practice is beneficial but if you are interested in the topic then you will be engaged and so likely to learn more.

Ways you can listen

Here are two useful websites:

BBC Radio 5 live

Wimbledon.com

Both of them offer radio commentary.

You can also watch:

• Youtube highlights
• Add on channels on amazon.com such as discovery sports
• Sports channels if you live in an English speaking country (or have a VPN!)

Here are some tips for your listening practice:

1. It’s okay to watch and listen. In fact, it could be better for some students. On TV broadcasts, pundits often discuss the sport before and after games and so you can listen while also lip reading and interpreting gestures and other body language.
2. Watch subtitles if you need to. You will be able to see the spelling of some difficult words. This is useful in English where how words are spelled can vary to how we think they should be pronounced.
3. Start slow. In my previous post, I wrote about baby steps. It’s fine to start with just 3 minutes and then build up. Any start is better than not starting and the key is to continue and be consistent.

Habits while listening

Consider keeping a notebook. In this notebook, you can write down:

• What you listened to – just a title will do
• the date
• how long you listened for
• a one sentence summary of the main event
• A more detailed summary of the main things that happened (Think about answering questions that use the key question words – who, where, when, what, why, how, etc)
• Your opinion about what happened. Try and write 150 words
• Any new words you learned (try and collect at least 3)
• What difficulties you had listening
• What you will try and do next time to help your listening. This can include:
  • researching the sports event beforehand to activate vocabulary and get familiar with key words and important information.
  • making a note of questions you have about the event that the listening experience might answer and
  • combining both listening with intention and listening for pleasure, so you could listen for ten minutes while making notes, etc, and then ten minutes just listening for the fun of it).

Next steps:

If you like the idea of this listening practice, do the following:

• Research upcoming sports this Summer and find the ones you like (you will definitely find one with the Olympics coming up!)
• Make a note of when it is on.
• Find out where you can watch or listen.
• Purchase a cheap notebook or use an existing one.
• Research the event and any players, history, etc so you have some knowledge and know some vocabulary beforehand.
• Listen and complete your notes as suggested above.
• Enjoy.

And if that looks like too much work, just sit back and listen.

Let me know in the comments how it goes or email me at Christian@learnenglishwithchristian if you’d like to work together to improve your English.

Good luck!

Also, please subscribe if you’d like more help improving your English.