by Melanie on August 21, 2010
You have been studying English for a
long time. You have a good knowledge of English grammar and you know lots of
words. You can read things in English and you can communicate well in writing.
You have trouble understanding what people are saying, however, and it’s
impossible for you to watch English movies or TV shows without subtitles. Does
that describe you?
You are not alone. Listening is usually the slowest skill to improve. For most
language learners, listening is their weakest skill. There are two reasons for
this:
- You may be pronouncing a word incorrectly, and therefore you can’t understand the word when it’s pronounced correctly.
- You are listening for the wrong words and sounds. Natural spoken English is a mixture of stressed & unstressed words, linked words, contracted words, and reduced words. Many words are not fully pronounced.
Here’s an activity that you can do
to improve your listening skills and get used to the sounds of natural spoken
English. I learned this activity fromCarl Kwan, and I’ve expanded on his method.
Choose
a short audio clip at your level.
If you are a beginner or low
intermediate, choose something that is about 1-2 minutes; more advanced
learners should choose longer clips that are about 3-5 minutes. Make sure you
also have the words to the audio clip. You need to be able to check your work!
Here are some suggestions:
Beginners
Read Theory
Super Easy Reading
(These are reading websites, but there are listening clips for each passage.)
Read Theory
Super Easy Reading
(These are reading websites, but there are listening clips for each passage.)
Intermediate & Advanced
The English Teacher Melanie Podcast (American accent)
BBC 6-Minute English (British accent)
BBC Words in the News (British accent)
ESLPod (American accent)
The English Teacher Melanie Podcast (American accent)
BBC 6-Minute English (British accent)
BBC Words in the News (British accent)
ESLPod (American accent)
Activity
1. Listen to the whole audio clip
once without looking at the words. Relax. Take a deep breath. Don’t panic.
2. Listen to the entire clip again.
It’s easier to hear and understand what you’re listening to when you’re relaxed
and not panicking.
3. Listen to the clip, but pause the
clip every 5 seconds.
- After you pause the audio, write down a word, phrase or anything you can remember from the clip.
- When you have finished and listened to the entire clip, read through your notes completely.
- It’s OK if you don’t understand every word, but can you understand the general theme of what the speaker is saying?
4. Repeat step 4. Check your work.
Correct your work. Add any new words you heard.
5. Read through your notes
completely again. Try to finish the sentences. If you wrote down one or two
words, can you figure out the sentence from those words? Use your knowledge of
grammar to try to complete the sentences.
6. Hide your notes. Listen to the
clip again, but this time stop after 10 seconds. Again, write down the main
words you hear. Check your work compared to what you wrote down in step 5.
7. Listen to the clip completely one
last time while reading your notes.
8. Compare your notes to the actual
words.
- What words did you get right?
- Did you have trouble hearing certain words?
- Are there any words that you should have heard [words that you already know] but did not? Why? Is your pronunciation wrong? Was the word unstressed in the sentence? Was it linked to a word before or after it?
- Look up any new words that you don’t know.
9. Listen to the clip while reading
the words. Check your pronunciation of words you know but didn’t hear or
understand when you were listening.
10. Hide all your notes and the
words. Listen one final time to the clip. It should be easier now to understand
what the speaker is saying.
11. After about a week, come back
and listen to the clip again to refresh your memory.
NOTE: Your listening skills will not improve overnight. Like
anything in life, it takes a lot of practice! If you practice consistently 3-4
times a week, soon you will start to see an improvement in your listening
skills.
Good
luck and happy studying!
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