Monday 28 October 2013

Week 9 - Improving your listening



Easy listening:
Some students have asked me how to improve listening and note-taking, and how to remember new words. This listening website can help you do all of this.
 
Look at the  video stories and find a story that interests you.
 
Listen to the report 2 or 3 times and take notes as you listen. Don't look at the script yet - remember you are concentrating on your listening.
 
When you are happy with your notetaking, look at the script to check you haven't missed anything important.
 
Then do the vocabulary exercise at the bottom of the page. Add any new words to your vocabulary book.
 
Finally, use your notes to write a short summary of the news report. This will help you with your paraphrasing (writing in your own words).
 
If you find this exercise difficult, you need to do a lot more work on your listening. Choose another story and repeat the process above.
 
If you find the exercise easy try ......
 
A bigger challenge!!
 
Go to TED talks and listen to Jason Pontin talk about some of the challenges of using technology effectively to solve the world's big problems.
 
Listen to the report 2 or 3 times and take notes as you listen. Don't look at the script yet - remember you are concentrating on your listening. Add any new words to your vocabulary book.

When you are happy with your notetaking, look at the script to check you haven't missed anything important.
Finally, use your notes to write a short summary of the news report. This will help you with your paraphrasing (writing in your own words).

(You can find some more interesting/challenging talks at TED)
 
Show me your summaries.

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