Working on students' listening skills

It can be hard to know where to start  helping students to improve their listening skills and also to pinpoint the issues that are causing them problems. Here's some recent articles that I've found useful and have helped me clarify my ideas:

• on the difference between top down and bottom up listening situations by Catherine Morley http://tinyurl.com/d8fqnwh and Sue Swift http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com.es/2007/02/teaching-listening-top-down-or-bottom.html
• Developing Bottom-Up Decoding Skills for Listening by Sue Swift

Resources you can use with your students both in class and for their self-study: have you tried?

• Elementary Podcasts which you can download or access as an app for mobile devices 
• Word on the Street series which focuses on everyday language
• Big City, Small World an audio soap which is also available as a mobile app
• ELLLO short videos and questions

And if you're looking for more "authentic" resources there's:

• Voice Of America | Learning English
• VideoJug useful because many of the videos come with a transcript
• the great short films and lesson plans on Film English – Kieran Donaghy 

Another site providing lesson plans based on film clips

Looking for short film clips to liven up your class? Then Film English might be your answer. It provides regular topical lesson plans using a good choice of short film clips. Check it out!

More links from Jon Brown

• http://dictionary.reference.com/ compilation of word games to improve vocabulary and spelling. Good for higher level students B2+ and from 14+
• http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/storymaker.swf nice software for creating stories either individually or in a whole class session. Primary 3 – 5
• http://www.listenaminute.com/index.html some good listening material with useful quizzes that students can either do iindividually or in a whole class session. B1+ from 11+