revision of my comment on the 7 websites

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
BBC LEARNING ENGLISH is designed as a subcategory of the website of British Broadcast Company. The copyright belongs to BBC. It is a comprehensive & complete source providing plenty of activities including listening, grammar & vocabulary, quizzes, entertainment, and other aspects concerning English learning.
As my main concern is with listening, I particularly like the section Watch & Listen which is very useful for both teachers and learners. The materials are updated frequently. It is obviously visible that the latest update is Wednesday, February 28th 2007. It is easily accessible so long as the internet is connected.
This part is special in that when users click the listening program, they will be provided with a briefing on the background information of the audios concerned. New vocabulary is provided. After the vocabulary users can download the program audio as well as the script. In the meantime the comprehension questions are there for use. That is what few other websites of learning English are able to supply.
Even if teachers are not aware of the detailed website of this page, they can easily find it after they enter the front page of http://www.bbc.co.uk/ and find “Learning English” below. Then there it is!

www.voanews.com/english/index.cfm
Just clicking “VOA English”, users will reach www.voanews.com/english/index.cfm, a branch of the website http://www.voanews.com/ for Voice of America, to which the copyright belongs to. On the top of the website, it is highlighted that VOANews program enjoys a long history since 1942. As it is a news website, the programs cover a wide range of fields, provide free downloadable MP3 version of the news and are updated every day, or even every hour. The page is easily accessible.
On the left column of page for VOA English, users will see POD Podcasts. Listening materials are mainly accumulated here. Clicking it, users will find detailed use instruction. Beside the program title is a several-word introduction to the program, which may inform the users of the usage or relevance of the program to their current interest. When clicking the titles, users are beginning to download the materials which are updated by hours.
This website is useful for practicing extensive English listening as well as getting informed of the world news. But as it is not a learning program, no exercise or listening comprehension is provided as BBC LEARNING ENGLISH does.


http://www.elllo.org/
This is an interesting learning website for users who love to have visual input when they are practicing English listening.
It mainly consists of Interview, Listening Game, Mixer, and so on, which cover different topics and are put in the central part of the page. On the right side of the programs are listed links like “Slide Show” “Slide Quiz” or “Play Game” and the like. Clicking on any of them, users will be brought to the listening practicing page.
The listening programs have multiple resources to help users to complete a practicing program. Clicking on Slide Show, users will see relevant pictures, “Play Audios” bar, character photos, and a one-sentence introduction to the contents. Quiz and text are also provided.
Compared with BBC, VOANews websites, ELLLO is more direct for the purpose of practicing listening. Just after entering the front page, users can choose and begin their practice. Considering the difficulty of the programs, it is particularly appropriate for intermediates.
The latest mark of update is February 19th, 2007. At the bottom of the front page, it can be seen that the copyright belongs to Todd Beuckens.


www.esl-lab.com/index.htm
This learning website is started by Randall Davis, who has degree of education and MA in TESL, years of experience of teaching language, and special interest in CALL. At the bottom, users can see that the copyright of the website is reserved from 1998 until 2007. In the meantime, any latest information uploaded will be marked with "new".
The website is inclusively useful in that it covers listening quizzes for users of different levels, and for users for different purposes, like taking TOEFL, TOEIC.
In addition to audio materials, long conversations with Realvideo are provided so that learners may get used to various ways of stimuli.
Along with each listening program, exercises are designed: pre-listening exercises, listening exercises, and post-listening exercises. This best demonstrates the practice of repetition of listening tasks, which is effective to help learners to duplicate the listening practice in different forms, for example, by searching internet for further information about the same topic.


http://www.learnenglish.de/dictationpage.htm
www.learningenglish.de/ is a comprehensive English learning website. At the left bottom the website states that its copyright is reserved from 1999 to 2007. It is free since September 1999 and revised in February 2007. The URL is in association with the Learning English Network.
As my concern is with English listening, I will particularly recommend the English Dictation section which is in the central part of the website.
One click on the block will bring users to http://www.learnenglish.de/dictationpage.htm. On this page, very specific user instructions and procedures are given to take dictations. It is useful for beginners, intermediates and advanced learners to practice intensive English listening, speed writing, and improving spelling. It is also helpful to develop temporary memory. One special thing for this section is the “computerized version”, under which users can listen and “write” directly online into the computer and have the computer “check” the product automatically. This part can help the people who more often use computer instead of paper and pen to work.


http://www.abc.net.au/radio/listenlive.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/ is the Corporate Communications website of Australian Broadcasting Corporation, under which there is the section Listen to ABC Radio Online: http://www.abc.net.au/radio/listenlive.htm. The copyright is reserved for 2007.
Under Listen to ABC Radio Online there is Podcasting, in which users may choose to download the materials in mp3 version or to listen live. But make sure that internet is not blocked when listening online. When either choice is made, users just follow the instruction and then have the materials. When users like to listen online, Windows Media Player is recommended as it seems to work faster than Real Player.
Usually there are seven sections, ABC Radio National, ABC Local Radio, ABC NewsRadio and others. Under each title is a brief introduction of the theme of the section to save users’ time in choosing things to listen to.
Like VOA, ABC website provides hourly updated news covering various themes, and no exercise is available. It is useful for extensive English listening practice. This website is recommended in that users may in need of familiarity of different variety of English, not simply confined to British English or American English.


http://www.rsi.sg/english/main/index/.html
This is the website of Radio Singapore International (RSI), with other three supportive languages: Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian. The copyright has been reserved since 2003. The news and programs are updated daily, and the latest revision is on March 1, 2007.
RSI has various programs, including Business & Market Report, Current Affairs, Info-Education and others.
Again like VOA, and ABC, RSI is more information- than learning-oriented. But two sections are particularly recommended for language teachers who want to collect data for research, comparison or analysis in teaching: AUDIO ARCHIVES and PODCAST. With AUDIO ARCHIVES, users can access “yesterday’s news”. With PODCAST, users may even select the news for the whole previous year.
As this is an Asian news website, proportionally more news concerning Asian issues and people will be included in RSI than in VOA, ABC, or BBC. Therefore, it is useful if teachers want to introduce more cultures to students, not merely European or American English cultures. However, as these audio programs are only available online, the requirement for internet facilities is demanding for common universities in China if teachers want to use the materials in class.