Mostly I have focused on extensive reading, both in my research and practice. This is obvious from my DELF results, where listening, and especially speaking, were much worse than my reading and writing results in French. To build skill in listening requires suitable comprehensible input. There are various podcast and youtube channels that are recommended. Some have beginner content, others intermediate, and others cater to multiple skill levels. Partly for my own benefit and partly as a resource for others, I thought I’d list those I have found out about.
I should also mention that if something is too hard to comprehend because of the speed, you can always slow it down. If it is too hard because you are unfamiliar with most of the words, it is best to start with something easier and/or do more reading first. (Also, if it is too easy, you can speed it up).
Beginner channels.
- https://www.youtube.com/@FrenchComprehensibleInput – starts at A1 but also has content for higher levels. An engaging personality.
- https://www.youtube.com/@FrenchHappens – a small set of complete beginner comprehensible input
- https://www.youtube.com/@Frenchinmotion – slightly faster than French Happens, with lots of concrete nouns introduced both written and spoken.
- https://www.youtube.com/@Dreaming-French – a mixture of easy French videos and some more intermediate. There are a few Canadian French videos here, which can be useful. I like Audrey’s beginner videos.
- https://www.youtube.com/@aliceayel – start from story no. 1. Alice Ayel also has more advanced content.
- https://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr starts at A1 but is at full native speed. It’s good to do these in addition to the slower examples above, particularly if you are going to be assessed. However, they may only feel comfortable after listening to some of the intermediate channels below. The A1 content seems to be aimed at children.
- https://francaisfacile.rfi.fr/fr/ is similar to TV5Monde, in that it is at native speed but has more content aimed at adults at A1. The speed can be altered.
There are also a few easy songs you can listen to (based on repetitiousness and vocabulary size).
Intermediate channels
For the intermediate channels, you may need to have developed your vocabulary a bit more via extensive reading with graded readers and the like.
At the intermediate level, the innerfrench.com is the most recommended. It starts slowly and has many episodes, which generally become gradually more difficult, apart from a few exceptions. There are some interesting topics amongst the series.
Another that has some interesting comprehensible content is Français avec Fluidité. There is an A2+ playlist (start here) as well as various interesting topic playlists. I feel as though it is slightly more difficult than the innerfrench podcasts but still quite comprehensible for an intermediate.
Little Talk in Slow French is beginner-intermediate level but has some words translated into English during the podcast.
Lingua.com has recordings that are labelled with CEFR competence levels, from A1 to B2, with questions to test your comprehension. They also have resources for other languages.
Gnomeville 