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The ESL Aloud podcast lessons are designed for people who want to increase their abilities in speaking English as a second language (ESL).

Basic Method
The basic method of these lessons is listen-and-repeat. It is much like learning to play a musical instrument by watching someone play a tune and then doing your best to play the tune yourself. In each lesson you get to practice sentences that are very close in meaning to each other. Learning similar sentences will enable you to express the same thought in different ways, just like a native speaker of English. The more you practice, the more you improve your speaking skills. It's that simple.

Where to Find the Lessons
Click here or on the Lesson List tab at the top of this page to access the links to the lessons. You should begin with Podcast #1, which describes how the lessons are structured. You can also use any number of software programs, such as Itunes, to have podcasts automatically downloaded to your computer or mobile listening device.

The Audio Flashcards

Starting with Podcast #30 you will be able to have further practice with a free online audio flashcard program called BYKI(r) which stands for Before You Know It(r). The flashcard set for the podcast contains the same sentences you worked with in the podcast itself. BYKI is published by Transparent Language(r) .

Here are the instructions for accessing BYKI .

1. Go to http://www.byki.com.

2. Click on List Central near the top of the page.

3. In the search box type "ESL Aloud" and press the red Search button. This will bring you to a list of the ESL Aloud flashcard sets. If the content for a podcast have been divided into two or three parts, choose Part 1 to begin.

The program has four learning modes: Review It, Recognize It, Know It, Produce It.

Review It: The program automatically opens in this learning mode. In Review It, you see and hear a sentence. No scoring takes place. Use the Previous Card and Next Card buttons at the bottom of the window. Review as much as you want to, then press Done. On the menu that appears are buttons for all four activities in the program.

In the other three learning modes, every card appears several times during a learning session. The repetition gives you practice that places the sentences and their patterns very deep in your memory. This will help you (1) to produce these and similar sentences and (2) to understand similar sentences that you read and hear.

The BYKI program keeps track of your correct and incorrect responses. It uses this information to guide the repetition of the cards. The program also keeps score based on your responses. It does not consider an activity complete until the material has been mastered. You may press Done at any time you wish to leave an activity.

Recognize It: You see a blank card and hear a sentence. Repeat the sentence and press the Flip button at the bottom of the window. Look at the sentence and press either Yes or No to tell the program whether you think you heard and repeated the sentence correctly.

Know It: You see a blank card and hear a sentence. Type the sentence in the box at the bottom of the window. Then press the Check button. The program shows you the sentence and tells you whether you matched the sentence exactly. If you had error you are immediately given the same sentence when you press Next.

Produce It: You see a sentence. Read the sentence aloud, then flip the card to hear the sentence and see it once again. Press Yes or No to indicate whether you think you spoke the sentence acceptably.

About BYKI

In addition to using the online BYKI program, you have two additional options. You can download to your computer a free version of the program called BYKI Light. This version has all the functionality of the online version. You can also purchase the full program called BYKI Deluxe, which has several valuable additional features. You can read about these on the BYKI website. If you download either of these programs, you can then download the ESL Aloud flash card files onto your own computer. With BYKI Deluxe you can also run the flash card lists on Palm and PocketPC devices.

When you order BYKI Light or BYKI Deluxe you are asked what language you want. The flashcard sets currently provided with these programs are meant for English speakers who are learning another language. One exception is the English flashcards, which are for Spanish speakers who are learning English. The ESL Aloud flash card files can be used no matter what language you specify when you download.

Feedback Please

I would like to know if you find the flashcards helpful. Please write to me at <info@esl-aloud.com>.

Sherman Rosen