This post could have gone in Technology or Teaching English, maybe.
A friend has recently lost a lot of her sight and is at home alone a lot. Being the wonderful person she is, she’s not getting down about it and has decided to practise her English listening skills by listening to BBC radio.
I thought it would be nice to get her some English audiobooks so she might have something different to listen to. Her level is a high-ish intermediate. I had a look at the Gutenburg site (that’s moved on since I last looked at it, 10 years ago at uni!) but I think a lot of that stuff would be difficult/boring for her.
I’m looking for fun, engaging stuff with authentic yet not too complex language for an intelligent 28 year old. English teaching tapes are generally inauthentic and boring. I’d like to find something she really likes, not just feels obliged to listen to for 'learning English. Free would also be good, but not vital.
Any recommendations from our Taiwanese or English as a second language readers about what you have enjoyed reading or listening to? Or teachers, partners, what do you students or bfs/gfs/spouses like? Where did you download or buy?
[quote=“Buttercup”]Her level is a high-ish intermediate.[/quote]The Oxford Bookworms series goes to a fairly high level. There are CDs available for some of those. And they’re pretty well done (at least I find myself reading them in the staffroom sometimes).
You’ve probably already thought of this, though.
[Edit: Sorry, my mistake. Looks like the CDs are only available for Stages One and Two. Still, she could try the Stage Two ones anyway if she can’t find anything more advanced. oup.com/elt/catalogue/isbn/5937 ]
Regarding authentic stuff, lots of commercial audiobooks are available in abridged format, though the abridging is more for time considerations than to simplify the language.
And of course certain genres such as romance and thrillers tend to have a lower word count than others.
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“Buttercup”]Her level is a high-ish intermediate.[/quote]The Oxford Bookworms series goes to a fairly high level. There are CDs available for some of those. And they’re pretty well done (at least I find myself reading them in the staffroom sometimes).
[/quote]
Wanted to stay away from graded readers if poss. I use them at school. Some are ok but they take all the poetry out of the stories; many of them are as fun as reading shopping lists! (Try ‘Heat and Dust’!) Also, it’s all on cassette. I could probably copy them at school (shh) but who has a cassette player, these days? Thanks for the thought, though.
I know the more advanced kids at my school love stuff like Roald Dahl and just ignore the readers, even though the Roald Dahl is a bit difficult. Was hoping to find stuff like that that is interesting enough to try with, even if some parts are tough.
There are a number of podcasts that may be very good.
If you’re looking for places to download books, [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/the-torrent-thread/33977/1 thread[/url] is a good place to start.
But, if this is for a woman who has recently lost her sight, I’ll do what little I can.
I’ve collected a bunch of audio books for myself, younger cousins, students, chance… Below are links to a partial list of what I can make available… if there’s something you’d like, but don’t see, ask and I may have it, just not on the list. A few of these will be etexts or films though, not audio books… and I can’t guarantee that all of these are on hand.
Have a look and let me know if there’s anything that appeals.
I’m a big fan of audio books. That goes back to growing up with radio instead of TV
-story for another time.
I’ve bought good audio books here at Lai-Lai on Roosevelt Road and Bookman opposite NTNU. The selection isn’t that wide, but wide enough so you may find something that would do–while you wait for your Amazon.com shipment.
There are many audiobooks available in the online store, you can listen to their samples online to figure if you like it or if it is right level for you.
The price of a audiobook is much cheaper and you can download it to your computer or MP3 player immediately after you close a deal.
I recommend Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Good story, good narrators, good performance and good directing.
This series is in filming process. New Mr. Bond will be one of the main roles.
