Practice listening to something in English every day and
gradually increase the amount of time that you listen.
Listen to different kinds of materials.
Listen actively. Try to answer the "wh" questions.
·
Who
·
What
·
When
·
Where
·
Why
·
how
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).
Write a one-sentence summary to remember the main idea of
what you heard.
Write down new expressions, idioms, and vocabulary that you
hear.
Use dictations and other exercises to help your listening
ability.
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
Do information gap exercises, using unfamiliar content and
complex structures.
Use the resources in your community to practice listening to
English.
Visit places in your community where you can practice
listening to English.
If possible, enroll in an English class.
Go to a museum and take an audio tour in English.
Follow a guided tour in English in your city.
Call or visit a hotel where tourists stay and get
information in English about room rates, hotel availability, or hotel
facilities.
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.
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
Rent videos (turn off the captions!) or go to a movie in
English.
Listen to a book on tape in English.
Listen to music in English and then check your accuracy by
finding the lyrics on the Internet (e.g., www.lyrics.com).
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.
National Public Radio (www.npr.org)
CBS News (www.cbsnews.com)
Randall's Cyber Listening Lab (www.esl-lab.com)
BBC World Service.com Learning English
(www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish)
Practice speaking English with others.
Exchange language lessons with an English speaker who wants
to learn your language.
Begin to prepare for academic situations.
Visit academic classes in English.
Record lectures or presentations and replay them several
times.
Listen to short sections several times until you understand
the main points and the flow of ideas.
Stop the recording in the middle and predict what will come
next.
Become familiar with the organization or structure of
academic lectures.
Pay attention to the difference between main ideas and
details presented.
Listen for the general (main) ideas
·
Pay attention to details
·
facts
·
examples
·
opinions
·
Pay attention to the structure.
·
lecture or presentation — introduction, body,
and conclusion
·
narrative story — beginning, middle, and end
·
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.
Try to answer the question, "What is the professor
trying to accomplish in this lecture?"
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.
Practice doing simple dictations to work on your ability to
listen and write at the same time.
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
Use your notes to write an outline or summary.
Gradually increase the length of the talks (and your
summaries).
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.
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)
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.
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)
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
Important key words are often
repeated paraphrased (repeated information but using different words)
said louder and clearer stressed. 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.
Listen for pauses
between important points. 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
Note: References to other sources and Internet sites
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