🎙️ S5E2 — OET Listening: Where Strong Students Still Struggle

Listening is often the part of OET that catches even capable students off guard — and for teachers, it’s usually where the real work begins. In this episode, Jay and Nichole dig into the OET listening section, why it consistently causes problems, and what teaching medical English actually looks like behind the scenes.
This isn’t a breakdown of test sections or strategies you can Google. It’s a real conversation about what happens when speed, accent, context, and terminology collide — and why “knowing English” isn’t always enough.
In this episode, we talk about:
Why OET listening feels fundamentally different from IELTS or TOEFL
What medical professionals struggle with most when English becomes high-stakes
How cultural context and real-world speech patterns affect comprehension
The process of creating OET-style listening scripts (yes, AI is involved — and no, it’s not magic)
Teaching medical English without being a medical professional — and learning fast when pronunciation matters
Why we intentionally keep this work live, imperfect, and occasionally chaotic
Why this matters:
OET isn’t just another test. For many students, it’s a gatekeeper to real jobs, real responsibility, and real consequences. Teaching listening at this level requires more than drills — it requires judgment, adaptability, and an understanding of what students will actually face outside the classroom.
And yes, sometimes it also requires laughing at yourself mid-lesson.
Join the conversation:
What part of teaching listening do you find the hardest — speed, accent, context, or content? Have you ever had to teach technical English far outside your original comfort zone? Drop your thoughts in the comments. If you caught any of the Easter eggs or bloopers along the way, we won’t stop you from calling those out too.

#OETListening #MedicalEnglish #TeachingESL #OnlineTeaching #TeacherLife #EducationPodcast #TestPrepReality #TheLearningLab