My very first English task in college was to find English native speakers to talk to. I was so excited to finally be able to use my English to speak with a native and I was confident as it was my 7th year since I learned English from the elementary school. My friend and I went to places where we got to see some native speakers. I smiled with great anticipation as I approached, I believe, an American guy. We shook hands and introduced ourselves and it was fine until he asked me questions. There it came when I could not make sense of any single word he said. I kept asking him to repeat what he just said, but I got confused. I started to sweat and get totally nervous. I ignored some of his questions and instead, I kept asking him the list of questions I got with me. He looked a bit surprised, but probably noticed that I could not understand him so he stopped asking me questions and only gave his answers. Thank God I brought a recorder with me so I planned to listen to it again at home because I could not even get what he said. Once it finished, I thanked him and he patted me on my back while probably saying “You should listen a lot.” I felt guilty because I could not respond to that and just smiled grimly.

That supposedly good day turned into a bad one. I kept wondering why I could not catch what the native just said since I learned English from elementary school and I should at least get 50% of what he said. But it didn’t. Later I realized that the English I used was only the classroom English, not the real one.

Real daily English

For those years I spent learning English, it was only for classroom use whose materials were made up for the class only. From that day on, I kept looking for English materials/websites that offered English in the real daily situation. Because the native speaker I met just told me to listen a lot, I tried to find websites that offered me a range of daily topics and common expressions to use in daily conversations. Fortunately, I came across two recommended websites, which I would share here, that helped me improve my listening skills, as well as my vocabulary, and I hope they would do you the same.

Here are the two websites you could surf to help better your listening skills and vocabulary.

1. Esl-lab.com

This English website is considerably recommended for you because it is easy to use and gives many choices to increase your listening skill with a variety of topics given. It starts from the easiest topics to the most difficult ones. What makes this website great is the usage of learning guidance to help you know what to do. You will know how to begin the learning process and test your comprehension in every topic you do by following the guidance.

2. Dailyesl.com

This is the second website I recommend you to surf. You could get a variety of daily topics, along with the audio and the script to improve your vocabulary, vocabulary quiz to test the vocabulary, questions to discuss, and role plays to perform. The daily topics will make you familiar with common vocabulary and expressions you can use in many situations.

There are of course countless websites out there to help you to learn English better. For starters, you can use the above websites and see for yourself.