The voices on TAL sound much more natural, and their style is intentionally informal.

Indeed, it became popular precisely because it sounds so different from a ‘typical’ radio story. One of the most popular podcasts in the English-speaking world, This American Life offers an interesting contrast to NPR. Weekend Edition focuses more on cultural topics (health, technology, music, movies) so I recommend it to learners who prefer those topics over news and politics. You can browse through more recent stories here.Īll of NPR’s shows are worth a listen, and you can find stories that interest you by browsing the ‘News’ and ‘Arts & Life’ tabs on their website. And then in 2013, there was this juggernaut. More tourists came after a South Korean TV show was filmed there.

HOST: Hallstatt’s problem with too many tourists started about two decades ago, after it became a UNESCO World Heritage site. STOLZ: If you have one hour, you just run through the street, make a picture for Instagram and then you have to run back to your bus. Business owner Andrea Stolz says they’re not around long enough to really spend money in local shops and cafes. HOST: Many of them are day tourists, and some visit for only an hour. To sample their style, listen to the story above. Best of all, you can find transcripts of each story quite easily on their website. NPR producers are trained to speak clearly and use short sentences with simple language, making their shows a great source of listening material (as well as vocabulary for the IELTS Speaking Test). NPR produces several great programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, which offer audio of all kinds (news stories, discussions, interviews, commentary), on all sorts of topics. Weekend Edition is one of several radio programs produced by National Public Radio, a popular news organization in the United States. Many of the episode have also been made into videos with subtitles, which you can find on their YouTube channel. And I also remember you would always buy us a cup-of-noodle from the vending machine, like a snack, and then put us to bed on people’s office couches and then you’d carry us to the car when you guys were done cleaning. I remember being with my brother in our pajamas with the little plastic feet. I didn’t have a babysitter.ĬONNIE: I have memories of running into everyone’s office and eating candy from their candy dishes.

And we were cleaning offices.īLANCA: You remember that? We had the night shift cleaning that’s why you know we had to take you and your brother. CONNIE: What kinds of jobs did you have since first arriving in the country?īLANCA: We were gardeners.

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