Why are TED Talks great for learning English?

TED Talks feature remarkable people communicating passionately and persuasively about ideas they want to share with the world, and are a unique source of engaging and up-to-date real language. The talks are intrinsically interesting, and are watched by tens of millions of people around the world. In the ELT classroom they provide:

• motivating content that learners choose to watch in their leisure time for entertainment, inspiration and to satisfy their natural curiosity about the world around them
• educational content (students learn about important ideas in the world as well as learning English)
• authentic listening input
• exposure to different language varieties (Keynote has a mix of TED Talks given by British English, American English, and Australian speakers; each lesson includes a glossary to compare and contrast language varieties).
• exposure to different accents (native: British, US, Australian as well as non-native)
• up-to-date language
• ideal material for developing critical thinking skills
• engaging models of world-class presentation skills