I was reading recently that using audio resources made by native speakers could put language learners off because they are too fast and use too much unknown vocabulary. That it is better to use your own voice or computer generated voice recordings.

Of course, it’s great to use your own voice in class - I voice texts in class when we are doing dictation exercises or listening exercises. There’s nothing wrong with that, except it can be tiring. I am conscious of over-using my voice after an operation a few years ago which meant that I lost the range of sounds, so I am wary of over use.

It’s also just nice to be able to relax (even if only for a couple of minutes) and hit play on a recording and let your students listen and do the work instead of you!

I’ve tried computer generated recordings. I even signed up and paid real cash money for some software that seemed great. However, it took time to get it sounding anywhere close to real and I wasn’t convinced it was the way forward.

This is why I’ve worked hard recently on bringing audio recordings to the site. You’ll find over 50 great recordings made by native speakers in both the shop and the Resource Centre.

And don’t worry they aren’t at a superfast speed that your students won’t be able to follow. The recordings cover all levels from beginners to advanced level and some come at different speeds.

Why have I done this? Isn’t there a lot of free audio out there? Podcasts galore? Of course there are, but, however great the podcasts are, they are sometimes too long and don’t come with the exercises that really allow you to work with them in class (without breaching copyright). You may have to tweak them, amend them, add to them.

But not with Grab & Go recordings.

There are lots of exercises which accompany the audio recordings. There are simple missing word exercises or missing words and no gaps. Another type of exercise includes filling the gaps with the words / phrases supplied, where you could ask the students to read the text first and then try to drop the words into the text. You then play the recording and get them to check their answers.

And of course, you are free to amend the exercises to suit your students or your learning objectives as all documents are supplied in an adaptable Word format.

If you’re not sure how to exploit audio recordings further then take a look at the Worked Well section on the website, there are lots of great ideas there to inspire you.

If you’d like a sample resource, go to the shop and download the worksheet and audio recording on the theme of television. It’s free, what have you got to lose?