Self-assessment of online listening to podcast 2

The second podcast I listened to was "Featuring Egypt and Uzbekistan". I found this podcast in this website address http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fooc/fooc_20071103-1249.mp3. Although this one was very long about 29 min., I found it interesting, because here was talking about real events happened in the world recently. In this podcast was talking about Natalia Antelava, who remembers the life and death of Uzbek journalist Alisher Saipov, whose outspoken criticism of the government cost him his life. In Sydney, Phil Merces discovers that for many expatriates a life "down-under" is not for them, and Jenny Cuffe discovers love blossoms despite the shadow of conflict in Iraq's northern autonomous region. The level of English was advanced and the rate of speaking was fast. I think that the speakers accent was British. I listened this podcast once, because it was very long. But it was enough for me to understand the main point. I did not find a transcript of this podcast, so I can't look to a whole text. In this listening was a lot of unknown words for me. During listening I marked some of them:outspoken, expatriates and blossoms.After listening I looked up the meaning of this words in a dictionary. I suppose that I have still practice to be completely prepared for my exam listening paper.

Self-assessment of online listening to podcast 1

I have listened to podcast "Study of college athletes finds exercise-induced asthma is common". The website address where I found this podcast is http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/2007_10/Audio/mp3/se-sin-2456-digest-10-30-07.mp3 I found this listening very interesting, because speakers spoke about the winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine and about a health problem resulting from physical exercise. The level of English was intermediate and the rate of speaking was average. I think that the speakers accent was American. I listened this podcast only once because words was not difficult to understand. After listening I looked to a transcript. In this text was some words unknown for me: knockout, lung and induced, so I looked up the meaning of these words in a dictionary. I suppose that I am not completely prepared for my exam listening parer. I will improve my listening skills if I will listen to podcasts as often as possible, listen to my friends in English classes and after watching English films on TV looked up the meaning of unknown words in a dictionary.