Thanks. I already knew esl-lab but the rest are great, thanks a lot :)

for real conversations (70 of them) with transcripts, try-

www.englishconversations.org

�Great website for real (ETA: authentic) people having real (ETA: authentic) chats. There�s also a book with fifty simple conversations with questions and audio called, �a business trip� in one big zipped file. The good thing about this site is that they don�t slow down, it�s a natural conversation and you can actually download and burn the audio files so use it in the classroom.

@goodnesses-

�Real in this sense means, unlike the other websites that were listed, these are �real� conversations, I could put authentic (I guess I will in the future). The interviewer and his interviewee are not putting on a conversation for the benefit of an esl student, they are doing it for communication. It is not scripted. Authentic material is the bedrock of theory in the latest techniques for teaching esl. The likes of side by side or person to person (to name but a few) are of little value for listening material because the whole thing is staged. If I teach my students English (which I do), is it not better for them to hear an authentic conversation with all the ugly pauses and repetitions than for them to hear a nice but sterile conversation that they will never hear outside of the classroom?

�I like this site, the people are very nice and everyone helps each other. But, I�ve been there with the �fun� worksheets, the students don�t improve enough (I do use them as five/twenty minute fillers though). They need authentic material and attempts to make the language by themselves in an authentic fashion (ie. first give them a hint, then let them make their own conversations without tainting their ideas, after finishing, review and have a look at what a native (or high level speaker of English) would say.

�So in all, authentic material, when it can be used is usually better. Giving students a script before they�ve been able to think it through by themselves is usually to be avoided (because they�ll just copy �what the teacher wants us to say�).

�In my posted link the other day, Andrew Finch is trying to develop material based on task-based learning. Read a bit about him, he seems like a brain.

�About �modesty�- I couldn�t put together half of what these other teachers do on a regular basis. I�m well envious of their creative talent. I�m getting better at Photoshop, Illustrator and Sound Forge, but I�ll never master them to produce the likes of what Frenchfrog and Micah are capable of.

�Long post. sorry.

(I�m sorry, I don�t get the jist of your last point, "that member" is referring to who? I certainly wasn�t meaning to be rude to him)

�Thanks for the clarification. After reading my previous post I realised that some people might not take the meaning I intended.

�I�ve enjoyed the banter though!!