The Lessons

The ESL Aloud podcast lessons are designed for people who want to increase their abilities in speaking English as a second langiage (ESL).

Basic Method
The basic method of these lessons is listen-and-repeat. It is much like learning to play a musical instrument by watching someone play a tune and then doing your best to play the tune yourself. In each lesson you get to practice sentences that are very close in meaning to each other. Learning similar sentences will enable you to express the same thought in different ways, just like a native speaker of English. The more you practice, the more you improve your speaking skills. It's that simple.

Where to Find the Lessons
Click here or on the Lesson List tab at the top of this page to access the links to the lessons. You should begin with Podcast #1, which describes how the lessons are structured. You can also use any number of software programs, such as Itunes, to have podcasts automatically downloaded to your computer or mobile listening device.

The Audio Flashcards

Starting with Podcast #30 you will be able to have further practice with a free online audio flashcard program called BYKI^® which stands for Before You Know It^®. The flashcard set for the podcast contains the same sentences you worked with in the podcast itself. BYKI is published by Transparent Language^®.To download the free program, called BYKI Express, click here.

Choose any language from the list that appears. The ESL Aloud flashcard files can be used no matter which language you specify.

Fill in the required information and click the  Download button at the bottom of the screen that appears. Follow directions to install the program on your computer.

Here are the instructions for downloading individual ESL Aloud flashcard sets or for using the online version of the flashcards.

1. Go to http://www.byki.com.

2. Click on the List Central Community tab near the top of the page.

3. On the next screen, type "Podcast #31" into the search box at the top of the screen, then press the Enter key. This will bring you to a scrolling screen that lists all the ESL Aloud flashcard sets. If the content for a podcast has been divided into two or four parts, choose Part 1 to begin.

4. Click on the name of the podcast you wish to download or use online.

5. To download, click either Windows or Mac/OSX under Download This List. The list will automatically be added to the contents of your BYKI program.

6. After you start BYKI, click the List tab and choose Change List. The ESL Aloud programs you downloaded will be listed in the English section. Doble-click the list you wish to work with.

About BYKI

In addition to using the free version of the BYKI program, you have two additional options.

a) You can use the flashcards online.

b) You can also purchase the full program called BYKI Deluxe, which has several valuable additional features. You can read about these on the BYKI website.

After you download either the Deluxe or Express version, you can then download the ESL Aloud flashcard files onto your own computer. With BYKI Deluxe you can also run the flash card lists on Palm and PocketPC devices. You can sign up to be on the BYKI mailing list and be informed of new capabilities as they appear.

Feedback Please

I would like to know if you find the flashcards helpful. Please write to me at <info@esl-aloud.com>.

Sherman Rosen