Listening Practice

Understanding a language isn’t just about vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, but also about history and culture. Many times, understanding these will give us a better sense of the language we are learning, as many idioms, slang and other phrases can come from a cultural of historical perspective. 

These exercises were designed to improve your listening skills and vocabulary, along with teaching you about things of cultural and historical significance in the United States. Each lesson has one video, with most lessons having a PDF file with vocabulary and fill-in-the-blank listening exercises. 

We will be adding a new exercise every one to two weeks! LEVEL UP!

News Coverage of Historical Events

1963 John F. Kennedy Assassination

1986 Space Shuttle Challenger

1980 Mount Saint Helens Eruption

1987 October Stock Market Crash

1974 Super Tornado Outbreak

1969
Apollo 11 Landing

2005 Hurricane Katrina

2008
Financial
Crisis

Attacks on September 11th, 2001

1968 Robert F. Kennedy Assassination

Shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald

1995 Oklahoma City Bombing

1989 "Earthquake Series"

2011 Dixie Alley Tornado Outbreak

1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam

Historical Speeches

Day of Infamy Speech by Roosevelt

JFK's 1963 Berlin Wall Speech

Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech

2008 Sen. Obama's Victory Speech

Reagan's 1987 Berlin Wall Speech

Lifestyle and American Culture

Arcades
of the
1980s

Historical Interviews

Gore Vidal vs. William F. Buckley

The Palin-Couric Interview

Robert Kennedy vs. Ronald Reagan

Sports

The Steve Bartman Incident