Top 10 Podcasts for Learning English

Learning Aug 07, 2021



Podcasts are an ideal way to learn English and build your vocabulary, even while you are doing other things. Why not also learn about interesting topics and the world while you are at it? The following 10 podcasts are ideal language tools to use when trying to increase fluency, build vocabulary and improve pronunciation.

1. Learn English with the British Council

This podcast is available on a wide variety of platforms and is aimed at language learners with varying skill and age levels. They provide instruction and material for adults, teenagers and children.

2. Voices of America

VOA is an American English podcast, that covers a very broad variety of topics, the informative show is presented as a radio style broadcast or videos. It also provides material that depends on the ESL learner’s language level, here it is split into beginner, intermediate and advanced.


3. The English We Speak

This podcast is a great tool for both ESL Educators and ESL Students, as it provides both the audio and the transcripts of each episode on their website and a variety of quizzes and activities. This podcast is aimed at a younger more tech savvy crowd of intermediate English speakers with episodes like “on Fleek”, “Noob”, and “Adulting”.

4. The History of English Podcast

The host of this podcast Kevin Stroud is an experienced speaker who has been running this podcast for a decade. He presents episodes on the history of the weird and wonderful English language and how it has come to be one of the most widely spoken global languages. This podcast is available on both Apple music and Spotify.


5. English Class 101

This podcast also provides students of varying levels with both the audio and the transcripts of each episode. They even provide important vocabulary lists for a wide variety of topics like booking holiday accommodation and ways of saying thank you.


6. Learn English Through Listening

This podcast is ideal for students who needs English lessons on the go as these podcasts are rarely longer than 15 minutes. The host Hillary Platt provides listeners with a variety of topics like common phrases that appear in job interviews and vaccines.


7. The Fearless English Podcast

The Fearless English podcast provides short punchy episodes about important topics and longer in- depth interviews with various experts. The Host Halima Salim is an excellent conversationalist.


8. Expresso English

This podcast is ideal for students who want to refine particular aspects of grammar or vocabulary. With many episodes that focus on tricky English collocations and phrasal verbs this podcast will be a great boost to any student’s linguistic ability.

9. Business English Pod

This podcast covers a wide variety of situations and topics that one may encounter in a corporate environment. The slow and clear dialogues allow students to follow along and learn how, amongst other things, to negotiate, pitch and present various things. One can also watch videos that showcase various scenarios or learn using their free app.


10. Ologies with Alie Ward

The format of this podcast follows a discussion between Alie Ward and an expert in a specific field, or the “Ologist”. Alie prides herself on asking smart people stupid questions which is the ideal attitude for any student. This presenter has also consulted on the series “Waffles and Mochi” that is available on HBO Max and Amazon Studios.



These podcasts should provide ESL students with a wide variety of opportunities for learning English from Native speakers on interesting and informative topics. Podcasts are an ideal tool for studying English as they are available on multiple platforms and can be accessed from anywhere.

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