Introducing The New Reading and Listening Labs Loaded with Free English Practice Lessons!
- Thomas
- Dec 22, 2025
- 3 min read
I know it has been a while since my last blog post, but I have some major site updates to share with you. I've been hard at work redesigning the all-new Reading and Listening Labs that are loaded with free english practice lessons. These new labs are a major improvement over their original iterations. I'm so excited for you all to try them out!
Below are some of the new features of the redesigned labs. You can also find a full breakdown along with images on the updated Home page!
All labs:
Lesson-specific vocabulary from the all-new dictionary that was custom-built for EWT.
Custom-built quizzes with more targeted practice for vocabulary, grammar, and listening.
A comment section to ask lesson-specific questions and receive answers from Thomas and the whole EWT community.
Listening Lab:
Film and series information provided by TDMB.
Character cards to help you learn the names and faces of characters.
Video transcripts that are hand-typed by me (Thomas) and verified for accuracy.
Clip context to help you understand why something is happening or who the characters are before you start watching.
Along with the updated labs, you will notice the old 'Free Courses' page has been removed. This is temporary as all labs and their contents are being migrated to the new 'Labs' page. The 'Free Courses' page will return later with longer, more in-depth course materials, so stay tuned for updates.
Still to come
Currently, I'm hard at work making more lessons for the Reading and Listening Labs to offer you as much content as I can. New labs are in the works as well such as the Grammar Lab, Games Lab, Writing Lab, and more! Make sure you are subscribed to the blog newsletter so you don't miss the launch of each new lab.
Volunteers Needed
In this current day and age, AI content is flooding every corner of our lives, and when I started this website, I had every intention of never utilizing AI-generated content. That being said, designing and building this website, creating lessons, planning future expansions, running the social media accounts, and more, all the while I am actively teaching and planning for private one-on-one lessons every day, is just too much for any one person to tackle on their own. That is why I have decided to use AI to assist in the Reading Labs creation, but in a very limited capacity and with very clear 'made with AI' indications throughout the site.
Each Reading Lab features an audio reading of the story. Originally, I was recording the audio all myself, but this was quickly becoming challenging to maintain as the scale grew. Furthermore, finding the time to write out every single story myself was taking away valuable time from other tasks. Because of this, I have made the decision to start using AI-generated audio in addition to also having AI write select Reading Lab lessons. These lessons are specifically marked as 'written by AI' and every lesson is proofread by me and verified for accuracy. I really would love to return to recording everything myself and writing each and every story; however, at the end of the day, I am just one man working alone.
My goal is to return to human-recorded audio, whether from myself or from others, but I simply have too much on my plate right now to do everything on my own. If you enjoy the content this site provides and you want to support me in building out additional free study materials, you can do so by sharing this site with friends and family or on social media. Every share helps.
Additionally, I am seeking volunteer help. If you want to see the return of 100% human-made content, and you enjoy writing or doing voice-over work, there are opportunities for you!
Volunteer needs:
Writing Reading Lab stories at the level of your choosing.
Recording Reading Lab audio.
Writing blog posts with quick tips and study tricks.
If you are interested in volunteering, send me an email at thomas@englishwiththomas.net and we can discuss it further.
Thank you to everyone who has used and tested this site in 2025. It's been a long road full of twists and turns, but your feedback has been invaluable to me and has helped this site grow into what it is now. I look forward to creating more content and feeding your English learning goals in the new year.
Enjoy your Christmas (to all who celebrate) and have fun on New Year's Eve. Here's to a spectacular 2026! Cheers!
