Developing Your Listening Skills, Introduction

Introduction

I’ve been working with some advanced ESL students here in the USA on their listening skills, pronunciation, idioms, and so on, and I thought I’d post some of the materials here on ebaby so that anyone who’s interested in them can use them.  Of course, this won’t be quite the same as attending the class, where I give my students the individual attention needed to really improve, but it still should be interesting and useful!

The classes are generally divided into two parts:

1) First we watch a video (either on youtube or youku);

2) Then we read what they say in the video using a transcript that i’ve written for each video clip (my students can ask questions about words and phrases they don’t know);

3) After we’re done reading one section, we watch the video clip for that section;

4) When we’re through with all of the sections, then we watch the entire video once more.

The video clips are taken from american movies, tv shows, interviews with celebrities, and so on. 

To illustrate what we do, here are two short lessons, one taken from The Simpsons and one taken from Ghost Whisperer.

A. Bart on the Road:

1) First read the transcript.  Learn all of the words and practice your pronunciation (hopefully you have a native speaker to help you):

If you kids can’t keep your hands to yourself I’m gonna turn this car around and there’ll be no Cape Canaveral¹ for anybody!   [slap!]  That’s it!  Back to Winnipeg²!

¹ Cape Canaveral is a city in Florida. The USA launches humans into space from the Kennedy Space Center, which is near Cape Canaveral.

² Winnipeg is a city in Canada.

2) Then listen to the following video clip on youtube or youku:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJEcqxgbbJU

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzgxNzQ4ODA0.html

B. Ghost Whisperer, Intro Season 2:

1) First read the transcript.  Learn all of the words and practice your pronunciation (hopefully you have a native speaker to help you):

My name’s Melinda Gordon.  I’m married.  I live in a small town.  I own an antique shop.  I might be just like you, except that from the time I was a little girl I knew that I could talk to the dead.

[Background:]  It’s alright, honey.

“Earth-bound spirits” my grandmother called them.  They’re stuck here because they have unfinished business with the living and they come to me for help.  In order to tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.

2) Then listen to the following video clip on youtube or youku:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSeFQagtZHE
v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzc4NzY3Mzcy.html

And that’s all there is to it!  Usually the transcripts are longer than these (as you’ll see in my subsequent posts), but at least this short “lesson” will give you an idea of what we’re doing.

I should add two other comments. 

First, blog entries 4, 5, and 6 have some notes on pronunciation.

Second, there are several ways that you can work with these materials.  For example, if you want to make this task a little harder, then, after you read the transcript, wait a few days before listening to the video clip.  Listening to the video clip immediately after you read the transcript will be less useful because the transcript will be fresh in your mind so you won’t be relying just on just your listening skills to understand what they’re saying in the video clip. Of course, there are other ways to work with these materials.  For example, you can also listen to the video clilp without even reading the transcript.  Here you might also want to try to write out a transcript of what they say, just as I have done, but without looking at my transcript until you’re done writing yours, then compare the two.  In any case, the materials are here for you to use in whatever way you want to use them!  

Suggestions?

If you have any suggestions for video clips that you would like to see here, please let me know.  It’s best if the clip contains about 2, 3, maybe 4 minutes of speech. 

Also, do you find this blog useful?  How can I improve it?

Would you like to see longer video clips?  Shorter ones?  Funny ones?  Movie movie previews?  Are there any topics that you want me to cover?  Please let me know.

Enjoy.