Listen to the recording of the story "The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde. It is a very popular children's story by the famous Irish writer. He wrote a number of other children's stories, which you can find and by searching on the internet. This recording is ten minutes long and there are some questions for you to answer below, which will help you to understand the story. Click on the "Podcast" logo to start. 1. What type of fruit trees did the giant have in his garden? 2. For how long did the giant go to stay with his friend the ogre? 3. How did the giant react to the children playing in his garden? 4. Why didn't the children like playing in the road? 5. What happened in the selfish giant's garden when spring came? 6. Who invited the North Wind to stay in the giant's garden? 7. Why did the winter stay in the giant's garden? 8. Why did the spring eventually return to his garden? 9. Why was the little child crying in the corner of his garden? 10. How did the giant react to the little boy crying? 11. What did the giant do to the wall around his garden? 12. When the child grew old, who did he see again in the corner of his garden?

Here is a good song for younger learners and lower level students. It is about getting out of bed in the morning. Read the lyrics (the words to the song) below and see if you can fill in the gaps - the words you need are given before the song starts. Click on the "Podcast" button to listen. Get out of bed! Missing words: hair, socks, ten, head, day, know, o'clock, bread, sleep, say. Lyrics: Get out of bed! Get out of bed! It's time to wake your sleepy ______, have some tea and toasted ______, get yourself ready for school - you ______ what you gotta do! Get out of bed! Get out of bed! Brush your teeth and comb your ______, put on your clean underwear. Come on now it's eight ______, don't forget your shoes and ______. Get out of bed! Get out of bed! Wouldn't it be nice if I could ______ in and not have to wake till quarter past ______. I'd wear my pyjamas all of the ______ and not have to wake when I hear my dad ______ - Get out of bed! Get out of bed!

Here is a story about a bus ride and a dog. Listen to the narrator and check your comprehension against the questions below. Remember you can download the mp3 file to improve your listening - it should fit very easily on an iPod or other mp3 device. Where was the speaker getting the bus from? Why didn't he walk? What kind of bus was it? What did the dog do when it got on the bus? What type of dog was it? What happened when the dog tried to get off the bus? What did the woman say to the bus driver? Why did the narrator think that this incident was strange?

Listen to this podcast in which you can hear someone talking about genealogy. The speaker, who was born in England, talks about tracing his ancestors, some of whom came from a different country. See if you can answer the questions below; write your answers in the comments area (click on "comment" below). Which country did the speaker's father come from? What was his dad's attitude towards him finding out about his ancestors? How old was he when he went on the trip? In what year was his great grandfather born? What historical tragedy does the speaker refer to his ancestors as having lived through? Who does his father claim that they are descended from in the first millenium?

Listen to this description of a walking holiday in the Himalayas. It is longer than the other podcasts (about 5 minutes) so you may wish to download it to your mp3 storage device to listen to later. What did she stop doing that made her interested in the idea of walking? What problems did she and her friend encounter when they arrived in Kathmandu? Which drink comes from the place they decided to go to instead? What did a typical day consist of when they were walking? How does she describe the food? What effect does all this walking have on the body? Which animal was she looking forward to seeing? What are these animals like? How long did they walk for? Don't forget you can also get a feedreader such as "BlogMatrix Sparks" or "iPodder" to look out for additions to this podcast or others that can help you practice your listening. You can set them to automatically download content to your desktop.

Listen to this speaker talking about running in a marathon. If you want you can download the mp3 file to listen to later - just follow the instructions at the top of the page. You can also listen now and answer these questions - just add your name and answers to the comments box. Why did the speaker start training for the marathon? Why did she get ill? Where and when did she run her first marathon? What helped her to finish the race? What are her plans for the future?

Can you tell when someone is not giving you correct information? In this podcast, you will hear someone giving three pieces of information, only two of which are true. Can you tell which one is false? Listen to the podcast and post a comment saying which you think is not true - remember to add your name to your comment.