1. Where are you from?
   
2. Why did you create this site? Was it hard?
   
3. What software do I need to use your site?
   
4. Is your site really free? How do you pay to develop and maintain it, in addition to other related activities? Why do you have ads on the site?
   
5. Are there any legal restrictions on the use of your site?
   
6. May I download any or all of the materials and then sell or distribute them for either educational or for profit?
   
7. May I download the listening materials so I can use them offline?
   
8. Do you plan on adding other kinds of activities, like grammar, reading, and writing?
   
9. Which quiz do you like best?
   
10. How did you create the sound and video files?
    
11. I can't hear any audio? What should I do? Is your site down?
    
12. How did you decide on the content for the quizzes? Is it all original material?
    
13. Are you planning to add more video quizzes to this site?
    
14. May I add a link of your site to my homepage?
    
15. Are you available to give workshops or presentations on language teaching or online materials development?
    
16. What should I do if I find mistakes in the quizzes, scripts, or sound files? You won't get upset, will you?
    
17. Who are the voices in the listening quizzes?
    
18. Where do you find the time to work on your site? Do you ever take a vacation or sleep at night?
    
19. How many hits to you have each month?
20. Do you sell the rights to use your materials in other commercially-prepared teaching materials?
    
21. Do you accept advertisers, sponsors, or donations?
22. How often do you update the site?
23. How did you decide on the audio format and quality of the sound files?
24. Do you have any suggestions for starting an educational Website?
25. How can I learn English better?

1. Where are you from?
Take a look at my welcome page for this answer.

2. Why did you create this site? Was it hard?
Basically, I wanted to create something on the Web that would help enhance language learning beyond the static page (i.e., just the printed word) and would focus on listening skills----a relatively underdeveloped area on the Internet at that time. (Now, this is one of several listening Websites I develop including www.ezslang.com, www.trainyouraccent.com, www.dailyesl.com, and others.) My EFL students were constantly asking me for ways on improving their listening skills outside of the classroom, and it dawned on me that online materials for autonomous learners would be real boon to students worldwide. I want to point out that the main objective of the site isn't to test students listening skills; rather, by doing the variety of pre-listening, listening, and post-listening activities, students can discover ways to learn how to develop their listening skills. Listening and speaking skills must be developed together, and working together with other students in groups and discussing the content of the listening activities help learners improve their overall communication skills by focusing on specific tasks.

Although the site was originally designed for learners of English as a second language, I have been surprised at the number of Websites, audiologists, speakers at conventions, and physical therapists who have recommended my site to those with cochlear implants and to parents of autistic children. I am pleased that so many have benefited from my site.

The site has been designed with the specific goal and narrow focus of providing easy-to-use listening activities that can be used on almost any Internet connection. Of course, many more kinds of interactive listening activities are possible, and I look forward to seeing others launching their own sites with these features in mind. In my case, I wanted to give depth, not breadth (rather than snippets of this and that), to my original concept, one reason being the large time commitment just to create one activity.

Was (is) the site hard to create? Well . . . . ., yes and no. It does take time to put all of the pieces together, but it's fun and rewarding. It might take two weeks in my "free" time to create one listening quiz: racking my brain to come up with a good script, writing the test items, developing the text completion and explanation pages, taking a needed break to play with my kids, modifying the HTML and JavaScript, creating the sound file(s), adding sound effects, encoding the files, passing the quiz by my evaluation panel (my children and colleagues), fixing problems, and uploading all of this to the server. Video quizzes take more time. Many times visitors ask me how big my development team is to do all this. The answer: It always has been a simple operation. No plush office and no large supporting cast of developers. However, for me, the most difficult part of the whole process is coming up with interesting dialogues and conversations for the quizzes. I like trying to create scripts that are educational, natural, and enjoyable to listen to. I take all of the blame and credit for what you see here.

3.What software do I need to use your site?
For the basics, everything you need can be found for free on the Internet: a browser and a media player. First, you need is an Internet browser, like Internet Explorer, Opera, and Firefox. All of these are free. Next, you will need a free media player like Windows Media Player or RealOne. Click HERE for some options. Be sure to check this page to learn how to control the software for better learning options, including the audio playback speed.

4. Is your site really free? How do you pay to develop and maintain it, in addition to other related activities? Why do you have ads on the site?
This is always a very common question, and I hope visitors can understand the background behind my approach, from an expense and even pedagogical viewpoint.

For about the first two years, I financed the entire site on my own without the help of funding from any source. Back then, the site was small, the visitors were few, and thus, the demands weren't too taxing. Now, I run my Websites on a dedicated server with mirrored drives and backups, and besides these expenses, I take care of costs related to content production, computer hardware, audio recording/editing equipment, software, domain registrations, bandwidth usage, supporting web-based software applications, and personnel resources. In addition to developing Websites, I give presentations on developing similar materials, and teachers are often surprised when I have given away audio equipment, MP3 players, USB devices, and other items at such regional and international conferences. My reasons for sharing this background are not meant, in any form, to sound self-serving; rather, I only want to help visitors understand the evolution of a Website and the other activities I am involved in to support teachers worldwide.

Now, some Website developers receive financing or compensation in different ways, for example, people who are allowed to create and maintain their sites during their regular working hours at a company or educational institution, where the sites might be housed on company servers. However, in my case, I do everything outside my real teaching job, and thus, I depend on other sources. Fortunately, I now raise funding for the site by using targeted and relevant advertising matching the content of each listening activity. Such advertising allows me to continue to maintain and expand the site completely free for visitors, something I have done since 1998. I am very concerned about the needs of learners and teachers in educational environments, and I try to balance the needs of users with those of maintaining a site.

From a pedagogical standpoint, I have tried in the past to include relevant links in my materials that allowed students to visit external sources and develop their critical-thinking skills as part of my pre-listening activities, if students so choose. In the world we live in today, I think it is important for students to learn how to analyze data from various sources, make conclusions based on the information they find, and accomplish all of this using the target language. By reviewing the questions, ideas, or links presented in the pre-listening section of my quizzes, students can better anticipate and prepare themselves to deal with similar content presented in the actual listening activity, and the ads try to match each page's content. However, in following policies of use, I leave the option of visiting the ads completely up to visitors.

Thus, in structuring my site in this way, I can provide the content for free. Take a look at my Terms of Use for complete details.

Finally, most of the Internet is based on goodwill and free exchange of ideas and information. Making a learning tool available to all free of charge is one of the best tools to spreading the message of goodwill. I've benefited from works of others, and this is one way to giving something back. Sending your comments about the site always helps support my site.

5. Are there any legal restrictions on the use of your site?
Glad you asked. I have added this section at the specific request of visitors who want to respect my work, but also want to use the site as part of their study and teaching. My site is free to use online, but there are several limitations on how the material can and cannot be used to protect the intellectual properties, copyrights, and licensing agreements related to this site.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to purchase the rights to use the materials beyond the limitations stated below. Any variations to these restrictions must be approved by Randall S. Davis:

Legal Use:

Individual Users:

1. the contents of this site may be used online for personal use either at home, at an educational institution, or at a company;
2. the quiz questions or scripts may be printed for personal use offline. In other words, the quiz questions and a script can be printed and then used in a student's free time away from the computer.

1. the materials may be used online at educational institutions, either for individual or teacher-guided instruction;
2. teachers are permitted to make copies of a limited number of pages for students for incidental use, and the following copyright notice must appear on each copy:

   Copyright © 1998-2008 by Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (www.esl-lab.com). All rights reserved.

3. making reference to the site and its activities in workshops or other presentations may be done without permission (I always encourage people to get the word out about my sites); however, permission to do so is requested if original graphics, screen shots, quizzes, or transcripts are used as part of that presentation (which I usually grant).

Prohibited Use:

1. copying, modifying, or redistributing the quizzes and scripts for students beyond the limitations mentioned above whether it be for non-profit or profit purposes. In other words, you cannot republish the materials in any format whether it be for educational or commercial purposes, even if you cite this Website;
2. modifying the materials without written permission from Randall S. Davis. Of course, please contact me if you have any particular suggestions about improving the material;
3. saving the sound files by any means to a local computer or electronic media (cassettes) for either personal, educational, or commercial use or uploading of html, sound, and graphic files to any server either for storage or redistribution (e.g., you cannot create your own site and upload my files there, regardless of whether you identify my site as the original source);
4. converting the sound files to any other format including .wav, mp3, .avi, .mov, and .aiff;
5. installing the media files in any format to portable electronic devices including MP3 players and mobile phones;
6. uploading and storing the html and sound files to a local network, such as a computer lab, whether it be for educational or commercial use;
7. creating a CD of my materials either for personal, educational, or commercial purposes;
8. embedding the sound files in any other application is not allowed.

6. May I download any or all of the materials and then sell or distribute them for either educational or for profit?
No. You cannot copy, reproduce, redistribute, or disassemble any of the code, text, or audio files for any purpose (for print or the Web) regardless if it is for educational or commercial use. The only time copying of the quizzes or scripts (not sound files) is allowed is for personal use or for a classroom activity, but they should not be mass copied and then given out as the text for a class. Contact me for more details.

7. May I download the listening materials so I can use them offline?
I completely understand the situation some visitors face in using the Internet. For this reason, I have prepared the files specifically for slow-Internet connections, so they should play well for most users. However, I do not allow visitors to download the audio files, either for personal, educational, non-profit, or commercial purposes for reasons of intellectual property rights and licensing agreements. The listening materials on this site are currently available for online use only except for the conditions mentioned above.

8. Do you plan on adding other kinds of activities, like grammar, reading, and writing?
The primary aim of my site has been to focus and develop a niche, with a large amount of content, in one specific area, rather than try to create an "all-in-one" site that just contains snippets of this and that. Developing and maintaining a Website can be a huge undertaking, and working specifically with listening has helped me customize materials for a specific audience. I'm content and excited to see other educators develop materials in these other areas.

10. How did you create the sound and video files?
Magic . . . I wish. Seriously, I do my current work on a PC, but sound files can be created using almost any computer as long as you have the right software.

I have encoded the final audio files using two main formats: RealMedia (www.real.com) and Windows Media (www.microsoft.com). Both companies offer free basic authoring tools. I first used RealMedia because it was the standard back in the 1990s, and I also use Windows Media because it comes preinstalled on Windows computers, and thus, users don't have to download software to use my site. Many companies, Internet cafes, and schools restrict what the computer user can install, but since the Windows Media Player is already an inherent part of the system, users can listen without installation issues. Furthermore, the Windows Media Player also has a speed control setting to vary the playback of the audio files which is ideal for learners wanted to listen intensively to the recordings.

11. I can't hear any audio? What should I do? Is your site down?
There are several possible reasons and a couple of options for solving this problem.

First, be sure you have a the appropriate media player installed on your computer. Often, visitors have no idea whether they have the software installed or not. Read about the Players here. Actually, you don't need the newest player of these software because I created the audio files to work on older players so more people (even those with older computers and slower Internet connections) could hear them.

Next, be sure you have your computer speakers turned on. Sounds simple, right? Yes, but people still forget to check.

Finally, when people say that a site is down, it actually could be unrelated to the Website they are trying to access. In other words, when data files travel from the Website's server to your computer, they must pass through any number of hardware devices called routers. If one of these routers is experiencing problems, your request for a Webpage could be delayed, rerouted, or stopped, even though the Website server is functioning fine, and other people from other locations might be able to view the page without a problem. So, before attributing the problem to the Website, just remember that not being able to view a Website could be due to other issues with the Internet unrelated to any one site.

Another possible problem could be trying to retrieve the media files through a firewall (i.e., "security devices used to protect companies from unauthorized access to their servers), and many schools and companies have firewalls to protect their networks. Check with your network administrator to see you have difficulties retrieving the audio.

12. How did you decide on the content for the quizzes? Is it all original material?
The quizzes have written for high-beginner to advanced students and focus on both basic functional language and academic, critical-thinking skills. I have received numerous requests for more advanced listening comprehension exercises, and I have added several more challenging quizzes to accommodate these learners. All of the quizzes and scripts are original material, written by me, unless otherwise noted. I must say that many people, including my children, inspired me to head in certain directions with the quizzes. Hey, life is never dull with fun and energetic kids around.

13. Are you planning to add more Video quizzes to this site?
This is an ongoing project. While this technology is far from reaching a mature form, I believe it still has much to offer in terms of language learning possibilities. The seven RealVideo quizzes presently at this site are examples of how RealVideo works. Yes, it can be a bit jerky depending upon the machine you are using and the amount of net congestion out there, but it demonstrates the potential of moving video content, once reserved for the VCR in the classroom, to the Internet. I might develop more as the technology develops to allow the future majority of visitors to view the video efficiently.

14. May I add a link of your site to my homepage?
Sure, no problem, but please be kind enough to send me a message letting me know where and how it will be used. You can simply add this code to your page:

<A HREF="http://www.esl-lab.com">Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab</A><br>
This ESL/EFL multimedia site is designed to help English learners improve their listening comprehension through a variety of audio and video conversations, interviews, and news reports.

15. Are you available to give workshops or presentations on language teaching or online materials development?
Very much so. I enjoy meeting other colleagues in person and giving presentations on a variety of topics including:

• demonstrating language teaching techniques for different language skills areas
• developing assessment tools, including classroom achievement and program placement tests
• making use of video technology to enhance language learning
• using the Internet effectively for language teaching and learning
• creating audio and video for the Internet
• developing websites for educational use
• setting up and administering computer labs
• designing web-based tests for individual and program use

Randall in Nanjing, China, giving lectures to Chinese English teachers
on language teaching, cultural training, and educational technology.

16. What should I do if I find mistakes in the quizzes, scripts, or sound files? You won't get upset, will you?
By all means, send any corrections and/or suggestions. Good or bad, I'd like to hear from you. Your ideas keep this going.

17. Who are the voices in the listening quizzes?
I must give credit to colleagues and family for their tremendous help in adding spice, life, and variety to this site: Jeff Brown, Jim D'angelo, Markus Hallensleben, Steve Ryan, Judy Venable, Jeff Davis, and my family. Thanks to them, you're not stuck listening to my voice all the time.

18. Where do you find the time to work on your site(s)? Do you ever take a vacation or sleep at night?
I've been surprised at how many people have asked me this question. As I mentioned earlier, it takes a lot of time to create and maintain one site, let alone a group of them, and I do my work on the lab outside of my regular job either on the bus to and from work, before the crack of dawn, or late at night. The difficulty comes not from just creating a site, but constantly maintaining and enhancing it to meet the needs of students and teachers.

However, I enjoy my free time which including spending most of it with my family. I love hiking, camping, canyoneering, and almost anything in the outdoors. You can see some of my adventures at my Website, Hiking in Utah.

19. How many hits to you have each month?
The word "hits" means many things to different people, and often misunderstanding occurs depending on how it is defined. When a site claims to have over 10,000 hits a day, it doesn't necessarily mean that they had 10,000 different people visiting a Web site. In basic terms, a hit is any file (document, graphic, sound, etc.) that is requested by the server when you visit that site. In other words, if you visit a page with five pictures, that could mean six hits (the page and five graphic files).

Let's just say that if people are enjoying the site, then I am satisfied, and the site is all worth it.

20. Do you sell the rights to use your materials in other commercially-prepared teaching materials?
At times, I license the rights to use my material in other text publications such as books and magazines, or for use in listening tests. Contact me for details. Please specify how the materials would be used when writing.

21. Do you accept advertisers, sponsors, or donations?
In order to operate my site, I sometimes accept financial support of companies, schools, and individuals depending on the nature their organizations.

22. How often do you update the site?
I update the site daily (including several other listening Websites) even though some of the changes might be transparent to visitors. What visitors see most is the new material I am always working on, but I am constantly revising, changing, and trying to improve the current content to help students learn better. Although most people are not aware of this, my listening lab is only one of five Websites I am currently developing, in addition to other future projects; however, I feel it is also important to add new material as quickly as possible.

23. How did you decide on the audio format and quality of the sound files?
I recorded the original source audio files in .wav format and then encoded them for the web in RealMedia or Windows Media format, mainly because of the popularity and ease of use of these media types for many different computer platforms. And while there are other widely-used media types, the amount time that it would involve in creating media for each of these types is beyond my resources at this time.

As for the encoding rate for the media files, I have prepared the files in a format that is small and, more importantly, can play on older versions of media players so that users with older (and slower) computers can listen to them. With these smaller files, the quality is not CD audio, but I would rather prepare media files that can be heard by almost anyone in any part of the world than higher quality (and thus, much bigger files) that can only be heard by those users with high speed connections, and often, the newest versions of the software.

My goal has always been to create the site with a global audience in mind.

24. Do you have any suggestions for starting an educational Website?
Well, there are many things to consider when creating a Website. First of all, you need to decide on the objectives of your site, and I would first do a survey of existing sites to see what is out there. I suggest focusing on one specific area of language teaching and learning, and develop depth for that particular niche. Too often, people try to create an all-encompassing site only to be overwhelmed at the task. People often ask me why I don't expand my site to cover other skills areas, and the answer I give is that (1) I don't have the time and expertise to cover all of them, and (2) I realize that most people would rather have a banquet of content than snippets of this and that.

Once you have the idea, you have to determine if you have the time, skill, and financial resources to accomplish the task. Personally, I realized long ago that the area of multimedia development would take a great deal of time and progressive technology to accomplish. Furthermore, I needed complete access to servers to upload and test my projects . . . and I needed a great deal of time to do this. (I also have been blessed with a very understanding family). I could have sought professional webmasters to handle the technical aspects of the site, but I wanted to learn all aspects of managing a multimedia Website. With this in mind, I decided to learn all the skills myself so that I could develop and maintain the site exactly the way I wanted.

This has been a long and arduous process, but it has been the right process for me. The most fascinating part about the whole journey of discovery is that Webpages are dynamic, and you can constantly modify them as your own philosophies on education evolve. Traditional textbooks are static and lack this flexibility.

Personally, I believe that the greatest leaders of innovation in our field are teacher practitioners, not publishers, and I'm excited by what I see.

25. How can I learn English better?
This is probably the question I hear most from visitors to my site, and it is difficult to answer in a few sentences.

Basically, learning a language involves many things including a learner's aptitude (natural ability) for picking up a language, motivation, a learner's study skills, and exposure to the language. However, exposure to a language is not enough. The learner must become an active participant in the learning process; trying to pick up a language with a box of popcorn, a candy bar, and a drink at the movie theater could certainly lead to greater indigestion (stomachache), but just like any skill, learning means more than sitting and watching the action. In other words, you will improve your speaking AND listening skills by TALKING about what you watch. Listening and speaking go together.

If you live in a foreign country where English isn't spoken, then look for opportunities to study the language formally at a school; if that isn't possible, try visiting Websites that provide language learning material. Read online newspapers and keep a journal of new words and sample sentences with the words used in context. You don't have to go overseas to learn the language.