Practise English listening with 5 free audio lessons and transcripts, on relationships, families, birth order, and adventure, plus a simple 5-step method to train your ears.
You can read grammar books for years and still freeze the moment a native speaker opens their mouth. That is because listening is a skill of its own, and no book can teach it. You have to hear real English, real voices, real rhythm, again and again, until your ears catch up. That is exactly what this English Listening Practice lesson is for. Each one is a real conversation from daily life, with a full transcript, so you can listen, read along, and train your ears at your own pace. Best of all, they are free to download and keep.
তুমি বছরের পর বছর grammar বই পড়তে পারো, তবু একজন native speaker মুখ খোলামাত্র থমকে যেতে পারো। কারণ listening একটি আলাদা দক্ষতা, আর কোনো বই এটি শেখাতে পারে না। তোমাকে বারবার সত্যিকারের ইংরেজি, সত্যিকারের কণ্ঠ, সত্যিকারের ছন্দ শুনতে হবে, যতক্ষণ না তোমার কান তা ধরে ফেলে। এই পাঁচটি audio lesson ঠিক সেই কাজের জন্য। তাহলে চলো, শুরু করা যাক।
Why Listening Comes First
Listening is one of the four basic skills of English, along with speaking, reading, and writing, and in real life it comes first. Before you can reply, you have to understand. Good listening feeds your speaking, sharpens your pronunciation, and gives you the natural expressions that textbooks rarely show.
Listening হলো ইংরেজির চারটি মূল দক্ষতার একটি, speaking, reading ও writing এর সাথে, আর বাস্তব জীবনে এটিই আগে আসে। উত্তর দেওয়ার আগে তোমাকে বুঝতে হবে। ভালো listening তোমার কথা বলাকে সমৃদ্ধ করে, উচ্চারণ শাণিত করে, আর বইয়ে কমই পাওয়া স্বাভাবিক অভিব্যক্তি শেখায়।
It also helps in real, high-pressure moments: the viva board, a job interview, or an IELTS listening test. So the time you spend here pays off far beyond these five tracks.
এটি বাস্তব, চাপের মুহূর্তেও সাহায্য করে: viva board, চাকরির ইন্টারভিউ, বা IELTS listening পরীক্ষা। তাই এখানে দেওয়া সময় এই পাঁচটি track এর বাইরেও অনেক কাজে লাগে।
How to Use These Audio Lessons
Do not just play the audio in the background and hope. Use this simple five-step method for each lesson, and you will improve far faster. This is the same active approach we explain in our lesson on how to improve English listening skills.
শুধু ব্যাকগ্রাউন্ডে audio চালিয়ে আশা কোরো না। প্রতিটি lesson এর জন্য এই সহজ পাঁচ-ধাপের পদ্ধতি ব্যবহার করো, তাহলে অনেক দ্রুত উন্নতি করবে।
- Step 1: Listen once without reading. Just try to catch the main idea. (না পড়ে একবার শোনো, শুধু মূল ভাব ধরো।)
- Step 2: Listen again while reading the transcript. Match each sound to its word. (transcript পড়তে পড়তে আবার শোনো।)
- Step 3: Shadow it. Play a sentence, pause, and repeat it exactly, copying the speaker’s rhythm and tone. (একটি বাক্য শুনে থামো, হুবহু বলো।)
- Step 4: Note the new words and natural expressions you hear, and learn them. (নতুন শব্দ ও অভিব্যক্তি টুকে রাখো।)
- Step 5: Listen one last time without the transcript, and notice how much more you understand. (transcript ছাড়া শেষবার শোনো।)
The 5 Audio Lessons (with Transcripts)
Each lesson below has a download link and its transcript. Download the audio to your phone or computer, then practise with the five steps above.
নিচের প্রতিটি lesson এ একটি download link ও তার transcript আছে। audio টি তোমার ফোনে বা কম্পিউটারে download করো, তারপর উপরের পাঁচ ধাপে অনুশীলন করো।
Audio Lesson 1: Relationships
In this lesson, three people describe the relationships that shaped them: a helpful colleague who taught them the job, an admired boss, and a difficult but inspiring younger brother.
এই lesson এ তিনজন মানুষ তাদের জীবন গড়ে তোলা সম্পর্কগুলোর কথা বলেন: একজন সাহায্যকারী সহকর্মী, একজন প্রশংসিত বস, আর একজন কঠিন তবু অনুপ্রেরণাদায়ী ছোট ভাই।
Transcription – Lesson 1
Part-1
I’ve learned a lot from so many people, but I suppose the person that stands out is my colleague Lin. When I started working at the firm, my employer didn’t give me a lot of formal training so I had to learn on the job. I was given the desk next to Lin and she explained everything to me. She was incredibly efficient. She knew the job so well, and she made it look so easy.
Part-2
The person I admire the most is probably my boss. She really knows what she wants to achieve with the organization, but at the same time she is so flexible and open to new ideas. She really takes an interest not only in her clients but also in her employees. She really listens to what they have to say.
Part-3
I suppose the relationship I’ve found most difficult – but ultimately most rewarding – has been my relationship with my younger brother. He’s different from me in almost every way you can imagine. I’m the kind of person who likes to get things done, but he is a real dreamer – so idealistic. It used to drive me crazy, but over the years, I’ve come to really admire him for following his dreams.
Audio Lesson 2: Children and Families
This is a short talk about only children, that is, children without brothers or sisters: why families are getting smaller, the old stereotypes about only children, and what newer research actually says.
এটি only children, অর্থাৎ ভাইবোনহীন সন্তানদের নিয়ে একটি সংক্ষিপ্ত আলোচনা: কেন পরিবার ছোট হচ্ছে, পুরনো ধারণাগুলো কী, আর নতুন গবেষণা আসলে কী বলে।
Transcription – Lesson 2
Part-1
I’m going to begin this section of my talk by saying something about only children, that is children without siblings. Historically, only children were relatively uncommon. However, these days, as families are becoming smaller, being an only child has become relatively more common. There are many reasons for this trend – social, economic, and political, which I won’t go into at this point. However, I will say that having an only child generally means that parental resources can be concentrated on the one child. And I would add that, by parental resources I mean not just money but also care and attention.
Part-2
Only children have frequently been seen as different from children with siblings and subjected to negative stereotype. They are often considered to be less tolerant of others – i.e. less able to accept differences, to allow those with different points of view to say and do as they like. Not surprisingly, they are sometimes said to be less co-operative than other children – in other words, less able to work effectively with others. On the other hand, only children are often highly regarded for their autonomy, that is to say, their ability to make their own decisions without being unduly influenced by others. In short, the picture that’s emerging is of children who are rather unconventional, that is not quite ‘normal’ in social terms.
Part-3
I think it’s important to say here that many of these views have been challenged. In fact more recent research has found that only children are in fact very similar to children with siblings…
Audio Lesson 3: Birth Order and Personality
Here a speaker explores whether the order of your birth shapes your personality: Alfred Adler’s ideas about firstborn, middle, and last-born children, and why many modern scholars are sceptical of them.
এখানে একজন বক্তা আলোচনা করেন জন্মক্রম ব্যক্তিত্ব গড়ে কিনা: প্রথম, মধ্যম ও শেষ সন্তান নিয়ে Alfred Adler এর ধারণা, আর কেন আধুনিক অনেক গবেষক এতে সন্দিহান।
Transcription – Lesson 3
The subject of my talk today is the relationship between birth order and personality. By birth order I mean whether an individual is the firstborn child in the family, a middle child, an only child, and so on.
The belief that birth order has a lasting impact on personality is widespread and frequently referred to in popular psychology literature. Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychotherapist, was one of the first to suggest that there was a connection between birth order and personality. He noticed that firstborn children experienced a loss of status with the birth of siblings. According to Adler, this made eldest children more likely to be anxious than other children. However, on the positive side, they also tend to be conscientious and achievement-oriented, perhaps because they want to regain a position of primacy within the family.
Since Adler, there have been many attempts to establish links between birth order and a range of personality traits. Some studies have found that last-born children tend to be more extrovert and agreeable, that is, they not only seek out the company of others but also tend to get along well with other people. Middle children, on the other hand, are more likely to be rebellious, perhaps in an attempt to define themselves as special’ in relation to their more conscientious elder siblings and agreeable younger siblings. Some studies, for example, have found that middle children are more likely to choose unconventional careers and hobbies.
However, whilst these views are widely held among the public, scholars have more recently cast doubt on their validity. Many studies have been found to employ a flawed methodology, for instance failing to adequately consider variables such as the family’s socio-economic status. Large-scale meta-analyses of studies have proved inconclusive with no single trait consistently associated with a given position within the family. Nevertheless, most people are intuitively drawn to the idea that birth order has an effect on the sort of people we become.
Audio Lesson 4: Excursion and Adventure
This lesson is a set of short clips in which six different travellers talk about their excursions and adventures, in places like Thailand, Jamaica, and the Amazon rainforest.
এই lesson এ কয়েকটি ছোট ক্লিপ, যেখানে ছয়জন ভিন্ন ভ্রমণকারী তাদের ভ্রমণ ও অভিযানের কথা বলেন, Thailand, Jamaica ও Amazon এর মতো জায়গায়।
Transcription – Lesson 4
Speaker 1: We had booked an excursion to the beach but chose to venture into the hills instead, hoping to see some of the local wildlife.
Speaker 2: Many young people in their twenties seek adventure; that’s why they come to places like Thailand and Jamaica.
Speaker 3: We looked all over the town and eventually found a local guide to accompany us to the nearest village.
Speaker 4: We won’t be back until the end of August. Because of the disturbances, we had to reschedule our journey for the following week.
Speaker 5: I think you’ll find your trip down the Amazon quite an adventure. You can expect to encounter some pretty strange insects in the rainforest.
Speaker 6: While backpacking around Thailand, I had to learn to overcome difficulties by myself. I can’t count the number of times I got lost!
Audio Lesson 5: Memories of an Amazing Adventure
In the final lesson, one speaker shares a vivid memory of caving with friends: the narrow tunnels, the fear of tight spaces, the teamwork in the dark, and the pride of facing a fear and winning.
শেষ lesson এ একজন বক্তা বন্ধুদের সাথে গুহা অভিযানের একটি প্রাণবন্ত স্মৃতি ভাগ করেন: সরু সুড়ঙ্গ, সংকীর্ণ জায়গার ভয়, অন্ধকারে দলবদ্ধতা, আর ভয় জয় করার গর্ব।
Transcription – Lesson 5
I had the most amazing adventure last year. I spent an afternoon exploring the caves near my village with a group of friends. None of us had ever been caving before, so we went with my friend’s brother, who’s been doing it for ages. He supplied all the equipment and showed us what to do and how to stay safe.
The route down into the earth was really narrow in places. It was quite an intense experience. At one point, I was completely wedged in between two sheets of rock. It was a struggle to stay calm. Eventually I was able to work my way free and continue the journey. After what seemed like ages the tunnel opened up into this huge space underground. It was damp and pitch black – full of echoes and other strange noises. I could hear something flapping but I couldn’t see what it was.
We had to tread carefully and hang onto each other as the ground was very uneven and there were pools of water all over the place, goodness knows how deep. We slowly worked our way around and back out the way we came in. I suppose I chose to go on this adventure because I needed a challenge. I tend to get nervous in small spaces, so this was an opportunity to try to overcome my fears. Also, this was the last summer we were going to be together before heading off to university, so it was good to do something special, something memorable.
I felt really proud of myself at the end of it. It was a valuable experience. I learned that it’s really liberating to face your fears. It also confirmed something that I suppose I’ve always known: friendship is priceless! There’s no way I could have done it on my own.
A Note on the Source
These audio files are from the well-known publisher Collins (HarperCollins). We are grateful to them for these learning materials, which are shared here only for educational purposes, so that language learners everywhere can improve their listening skills.
এই অডিও ফাইলগুলো সুপরিচিত প্রকাশনী Collins (HarperCollins) এর। আমরা এই শিক্ষা-উপকরণগুলোর জন্য তাদের কাছে কৃতজ্ঞ, যা এখানে কেবল শিক্ষামূলক উদ্দেশ্যে ভাগ করা হয়েছে, যাতে সারা বিশ্বের ভাষা শিক্ষার্থীরা তাদের listening দক্ষতা উন্নত করতে পারে।
The Grammar Behind the Audio
If you listen carefully, you will notice that most of these conversations are built on a few familiar tenses: the present indefinite, the present continuous, the present perfect, and the past indefinite. So the stronger your grasp of the classification of tenses, the more easily you will follow what the speakers mean.
মন দিয়ে শুনলে দেখবে, এই কথোপকথনগুলো কয়েকটি পরিচিত tense এর উপর গড়া: present indefinite, present continuous, present perfect ও past indefinite। তাই tense এর গঠন যত ভালো বুঝবে, বক্তাদের কথা তত সহজে ধরতে পারবে।
Keep Practising Every Day
One hour of listening today will not make you fluent, but one hour every day for a month will change your ears completely. So do not stop at these five lessons. Listen to English news, watch drama series and films with subtitles, and shadow whatever you hear. Little by little, the sounds that once felt like a blur will turn into clear, understandable words.
আজ এক ঘণ্টা শোনা তোমাকে সাবলীল করবে না, কিন্তু এক মাস প্রতিদিন এক ঘণ্টা তোমার কান পুরোপুরি বদলে দেবে। তাই এই পাঁচটি lesson এ থেমো না। ইংরেজি খবর শোনো, subtitle সহ নাটক ও সিনেমা দেখো, আর যা শোনো তা shadow করো। ধীরে ধীরে, যে শব্দগুলো একসময় ঝাপসা লাগত, তা স্পষ্ট ও বোধগম্য হয়ে উঠবে।
Related Lessons
Keep building your listening and spoken English with these lessons: