When I first used a podcast as a learning resource for my English students, nobody in my circle of friends had any idea what a podcast was. It was 2008 and I was teaching Business English in a corporate setting and giving private lessons on the side.
One of my one-to-one students was preparing for a series of intensive interviews for an executive position with a very well-known tech company. (So well-known, in fact, that you have probably used it to find this post.)
My student was a good speaker, and very methodical in his approach to grammar, but I thought he would benefit from more authentic listening material. And back in 2008, that wasn’t easy to come by, unless you had your students listen to the news.
That’s when I decided to use podcasts in our English lessons as listening practice. I would assign an episode after every session, and my student had to listen to it and take notes on the main idea and the new vocabulary. Then we’d talk about it and I’d play devil’s advocate to help him strengthen his argumentation muscles.
It paid off, big time!
During one of his interviews, my student brought up a case study that he had heard about on the podcast. His insightful talking points helped him stand out from the competition and he ended up getting the job.
I’m not saying that listening to Business podcasts will automatically turn you into a fluent speaker or a brilliant interviewee. But here are some of the transformations I’ve noticed in English students who are avid podcast listeners:
- Great exposure to a wide range of vocabulary and grammar structures;
- A better understanding of different accents, speech patterns and tones;
- A better understanding of how to connect ideas when speaking;
- A major improvement in their summarizing skills (this is a very useful skill when you’re taking a standardized test);
- More confidence in expressing ideas that are not mainstream;
- Understanding how to back up their ideas with research.
If you are looking for Business podcasts for English learners, here are my recommendations. I’ve listened to all of these podcasts, at one point or another, and I think they’ll add value to your English learning journey.
I‘ve set all the links to open in new tabs, so you can sample a few of these podcasts or subscribe as you read this post.
1. How I Built This by NPR
Format: The host interviews company founders about how they got their business ideas and how they managed to get the idea off the ground. Often, the interviews are recorded in front of a live audience. Because most of the interviews focus around origin stories and growth stories, this podcast is an excellent resource to help you polish your storytelling skills.
Good choice for: Intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced learners of English. Some episodes can run over an hour, so pre-intermediate learners might find it hard to maintain focus for that long.
Start with this episode: Impossible Foods with Pat Brown
2. HBR Idea Cast by Harvard Business Review
Format: Conversations with experts on business strategy. Every episode focuses on one topic, and the interviewees are usually book authors who want to promote their latest research.
Good choice for: Intermediate students and above. The conversations are usually fast-paced and fairly technical, so students can acquire more advanced vocabulary.
Start with this episode: How marketers can drive social change and profits
3. Money Girl with Laura Adams
Format: Host Laura Adams gives practical advice in a bite-sized format (the podcast episodes are under 20 minutes long). However, most of the advice is applicable if you live in the United States, or if you want to know more about the financial aspects of living in the U.S.
Good choice for: Pre-intermediate students and above, especially if you’re interested in English for Finance. The language is easy to understand, and the financial concepts are explained in detail, with each episode focusing on one topic.
Start with this episode: How to create a personal finance system
4. Smart Startup English
Format: In each episode, we talk about one topic related to the startup ecosystem, with a focus on European startups in particular. Episodes are about 6-8 minutes long, and we do a quick recap of new vocabulary at the end of every episode.
Good choice for: Intermediate and advanced students with an interest in Business English and the startup business model. If you sign up to our mailing list (at the bottom of this post), we’ll also send you transcripts for every episode, and exercise worksheets for the first ten episodes.
Start with this episode: What is startup co-living?
5. TED Talks Daily
Format: Host Elise Hu gives a short introduction to the topic, followed by excerpts from TED Talks. The topics range from Artificial Intelligence to climate change, ethics, and personal development.
Good choice for: The shorter episodes are an excellent conversation starter for pre-intermediate classes. The longer episodes are suitable for intermediate students and above. Some episodes contain technical language that may be harder to understand, but generally the information is well-structured and very approachable.
Start with this episode: What happens when biology becomes technology?
6. EU-Startups Podcast
Format: This is a very new podcast by the authority site on European startups. In the first episode, you get to listen to 60-second audio pitches from startup founders
Good choice for: Startup founders and employees who want to keep up to date with what’s going on in the industry. The first episode is an excellent resource for learning how to deliver an elevator pitch in English.
Start with this episode: The Big Pitch!
7. Planet Money by NPR
Format: Various hosts and guests explain economic principles in a fun and light-hearted way. The topics are related to North American history, economics and politics, so some cultural references might be difficult to grasp for students not familiar with U.S. culture.
Good choice for: Upper-intermediate and advanced students. The episodes are fast-paced and banter between the hosts might make the topics harder to understand for students below a B2 level.
Start with this episode: Markets and pickles
8. Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders from Stanford
Format: Conversations with experienced entrepreneurs about how they built and grew their business.
Good choice for: Advanced learners. Even though the topics might not be very complicated, the length of the episodes makes it hard to keep up with the conversation for low-level students.
Start with this episode: Growing a social venture
9. BBC Business Daily
Format: News-like segments that focus on current affairs. With over 3400 episodes to choose from, it’s better if you stick to the more recent ones.
Good choice for: Intermediate learners and above. You’ll have the chance to listen to various British accents and improve your understanding of socio-economic and political topics with a focus on the U.K.
Start with this episode: How brands are born
I hope this list is a useful start to help you find podcasts to listen to when you’re learning English. I’m planning on adding even more podcasts to this list, so please bookmark this page (or sign up for our newsletter) to keep up with all the new podcasts.
Photo by Melanie Pongratz via Unsplash.
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