How Podcasts Can Help You Prepare For The IELTS Exam

These days there are plenty of ESL podcasts hosted by professional teachers online. Although many of these podcasts are intended to entice students to enroll for a more comprehensive course that is being offered by the host. However, there are still some ways in which these podcasts can be put to good use for your IELTS preparation, even if you don’t intend to enroll in any of the host's courses or services.

What Is A Podcast?

A podcast is basically an updated version of a radio program. You can subscribe to a podcast and be notified whenever a new episode is available. You can listen to a podcast on any device that has internet connectivity, like your mobile phone, or laptop.

Why Podcasts Can Be Useful

More often than not IELTS candidates suffer from burnout from staring at textbooks and screens during their IELTS study time. Listening to a podcast can be a refreshing change from typical preparation methods and it's something you can do while relaxing, taking a walk, or on your way to work. It’s a good way to immerse yourself in the English language as spoken by qualified native speakers.

With a little bit of dedication and commitment, you can use these types of podcasts to improve not only your listening skills but your speaking and reading skills as well.

How Can Podcasts Improve Your Language Skills

Speaking Skills

Why you listen to an ESL podcast you have the opportunity to hear how the English language is spoken by a native speaker. You should pay attention to how certain words are pronounced. Focus on how words are pronounced. This is a great way to aid in your IELTS preparation is to familiarize yourself with how native English speakers speak. This will also help acclimatize you to the sounds and unique pronunciations used by multiple speakers with different accents.

You can also read along with the script as you listen to the recording. Make sure to note down unfamiliar words, and keep a record of these for future use. During the podcast, you will be able to hear how these unfamiliar words are used and pronounced in a natural conversation, you can also use the transcripts to learn about the spelling of these new words.

Listening Skill

You can also use podcasts to improve your listening skills. You can greatly improve how well you focus on what is being said during a conversation. Try to follow the conversations as much as possible. You could even try listening to a podcast in chunks, and then try to summarise every ‘small chunk’ Go back to the transcript to see if you missed out on any important details.

It would be even better to practice doing this in a busy or noisy area so that you can mimic the conditions of a busy test center. By doing this you will be able to listen attentively without being distracted by background noise.