Welcome to the Leo Listening Blog
Regular articles, tips and advice on understanding spoken EnglishRead by topic:
Understand native speakers: hard to understand aren’t they? Here’s why & what to do about it
Understand English movies: understand movies and TV shows without subtitles
Listening tips: improve your English listening skills with these tips
Podcast: improve your listening in English with my podcast episodes from the archive
Interviews: expert interviews on listening skills, language learning, living abroad and more
Motivation and Mindset: boost your motivation to understand fast English
Latest posts:
How To Get Started With Voscreen In 5 Minutes
Updated October 2021. Have you sat down before to watch a movie in English? You know the feeling. You’re excited to immerse yourself for a couple of hours in the language and culture. But after a couple of scenes, your dreams of watching an entire film in English are...
4 Lessons I Learned The Hard Way When I Tried To Learn English Through Movies
I'm excited to feature a guest post from felow language blogger Diego Cuadros who teaches at Spanishtomind.com. In this post, he shares his experiences of learning English through movies - and failing, and trying again, and failing, to eventually becoming proficient...
How to Deal With Stressful Listening Situations
Updated September 2021 Let’s face it - listening is one of the most difficult skills to master when you’re learning a language. When you read and write, words are on the page in front of you. They don’t go anywhere. You feel secure and comfortable. When...
How To Communicate Confidently In English Thanks To Community: Cinzia’s Movie Club Experience:
What's the secret to communicating confidently in English? Is it... ...downloading the perfect app? ...finding the right teacher? ...applying some kind of magic method? What if it was as simple as this: using language is being human. We forget this important point,...
9 Thought-Provoking Discussion Questions To Spark Meaningful Conversations About Movies In English
"So, did you like the movie?" "Yes" [pause] "So, shall we go get a drink or something...?" Have you ever had a conversation like that one after coming out of the cinema? Movies immerse you into the authentic language and culture of English-speaking countries. But, to...
How To Travel With TV Series: An Interview With Elfin Waters From All About Italian
I'm thrilled to introduce you to my long-time friend and fellow online language teacher, Elfin Waters from All About Italian, where she helps Italian learners stay connected to the language, country and themselves by watching popular Italian TV shows. Elfin was one of...
5 Reality TV Shows To Help You Understand Conversational English
Updated July 2023. Do you ever wonder what you should listen to in English? Thanks to the Internet, you can choose from thousands of resources. But which ones are the best for your listening skills? One big listening issue that no-one is talking about is the...
The 11 Best Advanced English Podcasts To Help You Listen And Speak Like A Native
Looking for the best advanced English podcasts to improve your English? The good news is that at an advanced level, you can listen to any podcast you want, including podcasts for native speakers of which there are millions. All you need to do is type a topic that...
5 Simple Ways To Make Your Listening Active, Not Passive
Wondering if passive listening works? I hate to disappoint you but if you want to understand fast-talking native speakers and sound more like a native speakers yourself, then you'll need to become an active listener. It's Cara here from Leo Listening where I help...
What Happened When I Tried To Understand Italian TV?
Updated June 2021 How many TV channels do you have? Thanks to digital TV, we have hundreds, if not thousands of channels. We can watch: Turkish channels Armenian channels Latin American channels You name it, I think we’ve got it. When it comes to Italian TV, we’re...