Are you studying reading, U.S. Citizenship, or do you think you may want to take the GED test in the future? This month I am trying out a new resource – U.S. History content from the Voice of America: Learning English website.
Lesson topics include American Presidents, U.S. Congress, The Supreme Court, The Constitution and more. You can watch videos as well as listen and read along to articles while you study.
These materials are great if you are an intermediate or advanced level learner who would like general reading and conversation practice or more information as you study the 100 U.S. Civics questions on the Citizenship test. They could also be used to prepare for the GED Social Studies test.
The first lesson that I have used with a student is U.S. Congress Explained. The video uses pictures and text to introduce concepts, with a narrator that speaks slowly and clearly. There is also an article that provides more detailed information. We printed out a copy of the article to use as we read along. We underlined new vocabulary, highlighted citizenship related words, wrote down questions that the student had and followed up with conversation practice after reading. Since the video and audio/text are available online, my student was able to listen again as homework and also read aloud and record to so that I will be able to check her pronunciation for areas that need extra practice.
When we are ready to move on, the next few lessons go more in depth – delving deeper with topics such as What is the U.S. Senate? and What is the U.S. House of Representatives?.
Voice of America has additional topics that provide opportunities for conversation practice. On the same U.S. History page, you can also find articles on America’s National Parks. Since we live in Washington State, the articles on Mount Rainer National Park and Olympics National Park will provide information about local treasures for us to read, listen to and discuss.
I highly recommend the U.S. History content from the Voice of America: Learning English. It is a quality resource that can be used to practice English listening, speaking, reading and writing in an interesting way!
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/p/6353.html