Practise listening
As a pilot you must be able to hear and understand numbers. The listening activities below will help you practise listening to many kinds of numbers in everyday situations (time, telephone numbers, dates, heights, weights, volumes). This will develop your overall ability to recognise any numbers.
Practice listening to numbers and write them down
Short dialogues focused on listening to numbers
Listen to the ICAO phonetic alphabet. Record yourself saying it
In a dictation, you will listen and write down/say what you hear. You should listen as many times as you need to. Dictation can really help you in many ways. You will improve your:
Pronunciation - listen and repeat
Ability to hear individual sounds in English
Ability to hear word stress, sentence stress and intonation
Writing skills - note taking, punctuation, spelling and editing skills
Grammatical accuracy
Short term memory (essential for readback of ATC instructions)
Dictations on many common topics: numbers, letters, places
Elementary level: Practice listening and writing down what you hear. Many different everyday topics
Elementary level: Very simple dictation exercise on general travel with vocabulary focus
Intermediate level: Practice listening and writing down what you hear. Many different everyday topics
Longer dictations where you can practice writing as you listen and then check your spelling and punctuation. Helps you to increase your general vocabulary
Watch these videos below to become more familiar with the layout of an aircraft cockpit and the checklists you will use to startup and shutdown your airplane. They will also help you develop your vocabulary associated with cockpit instruments and parts of an airplane as well as your listening skills.
Preflight inspection of a C172. North American accent. He speaks very quickly, but there are subtitles, so put them on! Length: 14'18''
Preflight and start-up checklist of Cessna 152. Includes ATIS and ATC calls and explanations. Very clear audio with North American accent and subtitles. 28’57’’ minutes
Start-up of a Cessna 172 on a simulator for the flow – from memory not a checklist. Very clear audio with subtitles. North American male 18’33’’. It’s OK, but not great. He comments on the frame rate – I might have to trim this video.
Basic startup and then basic shut down of a C172R. Clear audio. North American accent (5 Minutes).
Startup checklist of a C172. North American accent (2'25 minutes).
Listening to North American pilot training students and flying in a C172 (hundreds of videos)
Watch and listen to preflight briefings (North American woman)
As a student pilot, you need to know many words associated with parts of an airplane. The listening and reading exercises below help you to develop this vocabulary. Make sure you look in the 'Vocabulary' section as well. There are MANY other activities to help you develop vocabulary.
Listening, reading and vocabulary exercise on the parts of aircraft (Part 1)
Listening, reading and vocabulary exercise on the parts of aircraft (Part 2)
Listening, reading and activities on grammar, spelling and vocabulary for this lesson on Airplanes)
Talking on the radio to air traffic control and other pilots is difficult at first. Listen and watch the resources below to get more exposure to radio calls with air traffic controllers and build your confidence and phraseology vocabulary.
Air Traffic Control Basics: Radio Call Structure
Listen to hundreds of real ATC-pilot conversations in routine and non routine situations
A video tutorial on the basics of Talking to Air Traffic Control. North American accent with subtitles
Video made from within the cockpit with the real ATC calls when transiting busy airspace in England near Gatwick airport. English accents.
Video made from within the cockpit with the real ATC calls when doing touch and goes and ground movements at different controlled aerodromes and entering the circuit area from the training area. American accents.
Video taken from the cockpit that records all of the ATC radio calls on a 150 mile cross country flight. Russian accent pilot and North American ATC and other pilots in the area. Great to get a sense of what it sounds like on a cross country with all the calls.
Video shows you how you can create your own study cards for radio calls to practice with and become more confident.
For those who want a real challenge…Aviation Listeners Approach - listen to authentic different arrivals in an Airport with a downloadable exercises – this is very difficult and you need to buy the answers or keep listening to hear them!
The activities below help you to develop listening skills in everyday situations as well as travel related situations. You need a range of everyday language to be able to communicate in the many different contexts you will experience while you study overseas.
Practice listening about checking in to a flight at an airport – simple with some vocabulary
This site has many different listening and vocabulary lessons about getting ready to travel
Listening test with a quiz. Focus on everyday listening and numbers/details
Being able to understand ATIS announcement is crucial when taking off and coming into land. Practise listening to ATIS announcements and writing down the information you hear.
58 ATIS announcements from all over the world
12 ATIS announcements from all over the world
Practise speaking
You will interact with a wide range of people during your practical flight training. For all of these interactions you will need vocabulary and strategies to build and maintain relationships with your instructors, lecturers, fellow students, administration staff, accommodation officers and many more others. The activities below will help you to develop the confidence to speak with anyone!
Practice listening to and repeating 50 common English expressions you can use in everyday situations
Exercises to practice social English in many situations such as introducing yourself, talking about family members, talking about colleagues and friends, saying goodbye, talking about politics
Audio Lessons that will lead to speaking skills. Starting a conversation with a specific lesson, functions and notes.
Video lesson on a Quick and easy way to make people understand you with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Video lesson on 2 essential skills for great conversation with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Learn new words to keep a conversation going
Practice using wh- questions to make your conversations more interesting
Video lesson on using Tag Questions to show interest with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Audio lessons that will lead to speaking skills. Practise Asking for information on a telephone call in a business context with a notes and vocabulary and listening exercises.
Exercises to practice speaking on the telephone
Video lesson on asking for permission politely in English with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Video lesson on ending a conversation politely with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Video lesson on saying “no” in English politely with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Video lesson on How to say No in a very direct way (not politely) with a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Video lesson on How to deal with problems. This is in a business context, but you can apply the strategies and language to your training. There is a quiz to improve English conversational skills
Practice expressing and justifying your opinions
Practice understanding what kind of question you are being asked and how to answer it
Examples of short conversations that are full of useful language with a downloadable material. You can practice these alone or with a friend
Listen to and repeat 100 common phrases and sentence patterns
Practise listening to and copying every day conversation on 75 different topics
Professional pilots rate clear pronunciation as one of the most important skills when speaking and being understood on the radio. Make sure that your pronunciation is constantly improving with the help of the resources below.
Listen to the different words related to health and decide which syllable stress pattern they follow
Practise identifying word stress
Listen to how stressed words and intonation can change the meaning (this exercise is advanced level students)
Listen to the different words and decide which syllable stress pattern they follow.
Do a word Stress Quiz
Practice the syllable stress of verb-noun pairs
Practise spelling words from a phonetic transcription
Exercises to practice (very slow speed) pronunciation including listening and saying English names, countries, regions
You will need enough grammar to make your speaking and writing clear. Use the resources below to practice many different aspects of English grammar.
Practise how to ask questions in English (low level) with practice tests
Practise forming questions in English (exercise 1)
Practise forming questions in English (exercise 2)
Practise forming questions in English (exercise 3)
Practise many activities for the different types of questions in English
Practice choosing the correct question for the answer
Practice choosing the correct answer for a question word
Practice of past simple tense, to make and to do, to get, prepositions and the most common phrasal verbs with 20 phrasal verb quizzes
Intermediate level exercises on many different aspects of grammar
Practice irregular verbs past simple and past participle and hear them spoken
Practice linking phrases together to help you express your opinions and link ideas within sentences when writing and speaking
Advanced dictation and grammar practice - these activities are difficult, but you can slow the audio down. The answers are provided
Practice paraphrasing (1) in your writing - these tasks are difficult
Practise paraphrasing (2) in your writing - these tasks are difficult
Download the free apps below to practise your speaking and pronunciation where ever you go and when ever you want.
This Pronunciation App helps you study, practise and play with pronunciation
This app helps you to practice English pronunciation
Practise reading, listening and writing by talking with a chatbot for 10 minutes each day
This app will help you listen to English and speak English more fluently. There are many lessons divided into many levels from elementary to intermediate and advanced.
This app has more than 7000 American conversation audio files in most of the categories. It will help you improve your conversational American English.
When you are talking to your instructors, lecturers and fellow student pilots, you will often need to calrify, check and confirm information such as lesson times, places to meet. Use the activities below to help you learn phrases used to do these things and develop your confidence in knowing how to ask if you are not sure.
Read and practise saying phrases for confirming information (confirming = making sure you have understood something correctly
Listen to and read a lesson on how to ask for clarification. There are lots of different phrases to practise.
Listen and repeat phrases used to check for understanding and ask for clarification in English
Read a dialogue and answer questions to learn how to confirm and clarify information
Learn vocabulary
As a pilot, you must have an extensive range of words associated with airplane flight instruments, the external parts of an airplane and airplane maintenance. Practise these interactive flashcards below to help you learn the words you need.
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the flight instruments in a cockpit
229 words that you will learn while doing your Private Pilot Licence interactive flashcards with pronunciation
20 aircraft/flight technology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
26 aircraft/flight technology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
207 aircraft maintenance flashcard questions – these are very difficult
100 words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
62 words interactive flashcards of airplane vocabulary with pronunciation
This is like a dictionary of aviation words and acronyms from A-Z
When you start your practical lessons, you will need some vocabulary to describe the features around an airport. Use these exercises and word lists below to develop this vocab.
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the main parts of an airport
25 airport words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
11 airport and runway words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
Meteorology is a major topic in your Private Pilot theory syllabus. Use the resources below to learn some of the key vocabulary associated with this subject.
Exercises to practice environment and weather words
73 meteorology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
215 meteorology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
32 meteorology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
97 meteorology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
93 weather words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
43 meteorology words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
Navigation is a major topic in both your theory and practical lessons. Get a head start on learning some of the terms, phrases and words associated with navigation by using the resources below.
24 navigation words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
39 navigation words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
42 navigation words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
37 flight planning and navigation words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
You will fly over many geographical features that you may need to describe. Try out the activities below to develop your vocabulary of general and specific geography vocabulary.
114 words for general geographical features interactive flashcards with pronunciation
31 words for navigation interactive flashcards with pronunciation
925 words for general geographical features interactive flashcards with pronunciation
40 words for general geographical features interactive flashcards with pronunciation
59 world geography words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
41 physical geography words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
You need to know a wide range of general science vocabulary in order to understand the texts in your theory syllabus. Use the resources below to improve your vocabulary.
35 words – measurements and mathematics. Interactive flashcards with pronunciation
Understanding the dynamics of flight relies on a sound understanding of physics. You need to have a wide range of vocabulary to read texts, listen to lectures and talk to your flying instructor in your pre-flight briefings. Use the word lists and quizzes below to help you develop your physics vocabulary.
72 physics words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
39 physics words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
69 physics words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
150 words and quiz questions on physics
74 physics words interactive flashcards with pronunciation
69 words on speed/velocity interactive flashcards with pronunciation
17 words on electrical circuits interactive flashcards with pronunciation
Aviation is filled with dates, numbers and technical information shown in diagrams. Practise this vocabulary with the exercises below.
Exercises to practise vocabulary to describe trends, data, charts and tables and maths calculations. All exercises are presented as conversations
Many different types of exercises to practice dates, numbers and time
The word lists and exercises below develop general vocabulary that can be used in everyday situations. See how many of the words you already know.
General English wordlist at an Intermediate level from A-Z
General vocabulary activities at an Intermediate to Upper Intermediate level
Practice tests for an Intermediate level of general English
Learning activities for all skills general
You need to develop strategies to learn new words. Try out these activities to expand your range of words.
Type in a word to get all of the related words. Click on a word to get its definition and then more related words
Learn 31 prefixes and suffixes – these are very useful for understanding different words from context
Practise reading
During your practical training, you will also be reading many texts on the theory topics in your Private Pilot Licence syllabus. You need to develop a lot of reading strategies to help you cope with the vocabulary and the amount that you will need to read. Use the resources below to help you develop your detailed understanding of texts.
Read a text about a famous mathematician and geographer (with questions and answers)
Read a text on how to make estimations (with questions and answers)
Read a text on measuring temperature (with questions and answers)
Read a text on magnetic attraction (with questions and answers)
Read a text on absolute location - latitude and longitude (with questions and answers)
Read a text on atmospheric layers (with questions and answers)
Read a text on convection currents (with questions and answers)
Read a text on converting fractions to decimals (with questions and answers)
Read a text on extreme weather (with questions and answers)
Read a text on the best ways to present data (with questions and answers)
Read a text on converting energy to motion (with questions and answers)
Read a text on where people live in the world (with questions and answers)
21 question quiz about Airport Ground Vehicle Operations with comprehension questions
Short text about an aviation ‘near miss’ with comprehension questions
Short text about airplanes and aviation in the 1920s with a quiz
Practice of common words that cabin flight crew use
Practice listening and reading this text about airline travel. Learn new vocabulary and answer comprehension questions
Reading and vocabulary exercises on the Flight instrument panel
Read the dialogues between an instructor and a student pilot to become more familiar with routine ATC radio calls as well as the language that your instructor might use when talking to you in the cockpit while you taxi to take off.
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the ATC calls to a pilot when leaving the terminal gate (pushback)
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the ATC calls to a pilot when taxing on the ground
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the ATC calls to a pilot when taxiing on the ground towards the runway
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the ATC calls to a pilot when taking off
Written dialogue and comprehension exercises of an instructor talking to a student pilot about the ATC calls to a pilot when landing
Being able to skim a text to get the overall message and scan a text to locate specific information is an essential part of your reading skills. Use the activities below to help you develop these skills.
This helps you increase your reading speed. Copy and paste a text into the box. Click “start prompter” and then choose the speed 1-9 you want to read at and click “forward”.
Practice skimming to find the main idea in a text about planets in the solar system
Practice skimming to find the main idea in a text about storms (easy level)
Practice skim reading for gist with gist questions
Practice identifying the main idea of paragraphs - these exercises are at an upper intermediate level
Practice skimming and scanning factual texts - these exercises are advanced level
Practice skimming a text about shopping
Practice different scanning exercises to locate specific information
When reading, you will understand much more if you are able to identify the main idea and then the sentences that support this main idea. Use the activities below to help you develop this skill. This will also help you in your writing.
Learn about how to identify the main idea and supporting ideas in a powerpoint.
Practice identifying the main idea from short, factual paragraphs. Hit 'submit' when you are reading to check your answers
Practice identifying the main idea from short paragraphs about robots and robotic technologies. Hit 'submit' when you are reading to check your answers
Practice identifying the main idea from short paragraphs about the money system. Hit 'submit' when you are reading to check your answers
Watch a short video on how to identify the main and supporting ideas in a text
Watch a short video lesson on supporting details and then do a quiz to test your understanding.
Watch a short video on how to organise a paragraph with main and supporting ideas in your writing