1.
Practice listening to something in
English every day and gradually increase the amount of time that you listen.
§ Listen to different kinds of materials.
o
Listen actively. Try to answer the
"wh" questions.
·
who
·
what
·
when
·
where
·
why
·
how
o
Listen passively to get the general idea
of what's being said.
§ Keep a listening log (a list of everything you listen to each day/week).
o
Write a one-sentence summary to remember
the main idea of what you heard.
o
Write down new expressions, idioms, and
vocabulary that you hear.
§ Use dictations and other exercises to help your listening ability.
o
Ask an English speaker to dictate an
article to you. Good sources of material are newspapers, magazines, and
textbooks.
·
First, write down exactly what you hear
·
Then only take notes on the important
points that you hear
o
Do information gap exercises, using
unfamiliar content and complex structures.
2.
Use the resources in your community to
practice listening to English.
§ Visit places in your community where you can practice listening to English.
o
If possible, enroll in an English class.
o
Go to a museum and take an audio tour in
English.
o
Follow a guided tour in English in your
city.
o
Call or visit a hotel where tourists
stay and get information in English about room rates, hotel availability, or
hotel facilities.
o
Call and listen to information recorded
in English, such as a movie schedule, a weather report, or information about an
airplane flight.
§ Watch or listen to programs recorded in English.
o
Watch television programs.
·
CNN, the Discovery Channel or National
Geographic
·
Watch movies, soap operas or situation
comedies on television
·
Do this with a friend and talk about the
program together
o
Rent videos (turn off the captions!) or
go to a movie in English.
o
Listen to a book on tape in English.
o
Listen to music in English and then
check your accuracy by finding the lyrics on the Internet (e.g.,
www.lyrics.com).
o
Listen to English language recordings
that come with a transcript. Listen to each recording at least three times.
·
The first time, take notes about the main
ideas you hear.
·
The second time, read the transcript and
listen for the ideas you wrote down.
·
The third time, write down any words and
phrases that you didn’t understand and look them up.
§ Go to Internet sites to practice listening.
o
National Public Radio (www.npr.org)
o
CBS News (www.cbsnews.com)
o
Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab
(www.esl-lab.com)
o
BBC World Service.com Learning English
(www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish)
§ Practice speaking English with others.
o
Exchange language lessons with an
English speaker who wants to learn your language.
3.
Begin to prepare for academic
situations.
§ Visit academic classes in English.
§ Record lectures or presentations and replay them several times.
o
Listen to short sections several times
until you understand the main points and the flow of ideas.
o
Stop the recording in the middle and
predict what will come next.
§ Become familiar with the organization or structure of
academic lectures.
o
Pay attention to the difference between
main ideas and details presented.
·
Listen for the general (main) ideas
·
Pay attention to details
·
facts
·
examples
·
opinions
o
Pay attention to the structure.
·
lecture or presentation — introduction,
body and conclusion
·
narrative story — beginning, middle and
end
o
Learn to recognize different styles of
organization.
·
theory and evidence
·
cause and effect
·
steps of a process
·
comparison of two things
§ Think carefully about the purpose of the lecture.
o
Try to answer the question, "What
is the professor trying to accomplish in this lecture?"
o
Write down only the information that you
hear. Be careful not to interpret information based on your personal
understanding or knowledge of the topic.
§ Take notes while you listen to a talk or lecture. This will help you
identify the main ideas of the talk.
o
Practice doing simple dictations to work
on your ability to listen and write at the same time.
o
Work with a partner. Listen to a talk
and take notes individually.
·
Compare your notes with your partner’s
and check for differences (and similarities)
·
Use your notes to tell your partner what
you heard
o
Use your notes to write an outline or
summary.
o
Gradually increase the length of the
talks (and your summaries).
4.
Listen for signals that will help you
understand the organization of a talk, connections between ideas and the
importance of ideas.
§ Listen for expressions and vocabulary that tell you the type of information
being given.
o
Think carefully about the type of
information that these phrases show.
·
opinion (I think, It appears that, It is
thought that)
·
theory (In theory)
·
inference (therefore, then)
·
negatives (not, words that begin with
"un," "non," "dis" "a")
·
fillers (non-essential information) (uh, er, um)
o
Identify digressions (discussion of a
different topic from the main topic) or jokes that are not important to the
main lecture. [It’s okay not to understand these!]
§ Listen for signal words or phrases that connect ideas in order to recognize
the relationship between ideas.
o
Think carefully about the connection
between ideas that these words show.
·
reasons (because, since)
·
results (as a result, so, therefore,
thus, consequently)
·
examples (for example, such as)
·
comparisons (in
contrast, than)
·
an opposing idea (on the other hand, however)
·
another idea (furthermore,
moreover, besides)
·
a similar idea (similarly, likewise)
·
restatements of information (in other words, that is)
·
conclusions (in
conclusion, in summary)
o
Pay attention to the connections between
examples.
·
When you hear two details, identify the
relationship between them
·
Write a sentence connecting the examples
using the appropriate connecting word
§ Pay attention to intonation and other ways that speakers indicate that
information is important.
o
Important key words are often
·
repeated
·
paraphrased (repeated information but
using different words)
·
said louder and clearer
·
stressed
o
Pay attention to body language and
intonation patterns used to express different emotions.
·
Emotions are often expressed through
changes in intonation or stress
·
Facial expressions or word choices can
indicate excitement, anger, happiness or frustration
o
Listen for pauses between important
points.
o
During a lecture, pay attention to words
that are written on the board.
·
Listen for numbers that you might hear
in prices, times or addresses
·
Listen for verbs and other expressions
that show if an event is happening in the past, present or future
