Pronunciation is just as important for listening as for speaking. In this workshop, we will look at what features make connected speech difficult to follow. We will try out a series of tasks and games for raising awareness of these features. Finally, I will suggest how teachers can prepare their own micro-listening activities.
Unscripted language is usually very different to the spoken language students encounter when doing listening activities in a general English course. Consequently, when students come to listen to spontaneous chat or discussion they are faced with many difficulties. What might these be and what can we teachers do about it?
English UK North Academic Conference 2015, Liverpool
Location:
LILA, New Barrett House, 47 North John Street
Extra info:
Plus downloads
Many students studying English want (or even need) to be able to understand the spontaneous, unscripted speech they find themselves immersed in as people chat away around them. For students schooled on a diet of scripted ELT material the challenge is truly daunting; for teachers wishing to help, the unruly nature of conversational spoken English makes it difficult to know where to start.
This song is based on a painting by Francisco de Goya in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The lyric refers to Goya as 'he', the girl in the painting as 'you' and the singer himself as 'I'. It speculates as to why the boy stands holding the parasol for the girl.
On the surface of it, unscripted language is a total mess, and it's a wonder that anybody can understand any of it. It stops and starts, interrupts and stumbles, slows and accelerates, and generally breaks all the grammar rules you’ve ever learnt. So, how can we help learners to make sense of it?
It’s nearly time for the 38th TESOL-Spain National Convention, where this year, as well as catching up with friends, I’ll be presenting on Learning Listening: The challenge of unscripted language.
This is a sample lesson from Authentic Listening Resource Pack based on a video in which Alan interviews Maria and Ning about university life in their home countries, Russia and China.
This is an authentic listening activity based on a video recording of a 3-minute lecture. Swiss scientist Bechara Saab talks about the possibility of a colony on Mars.
None of us throw our class into a listening unprepared, do we? It would be unfair - after all, in real life, we're normally listening with certain expectations. But often in ELT, our pre-listening activities are limited to a bit of discussion of the topic and maybe some pre-teaching of new vocabulary.
This is a sample lesson from our book Authentic Listening Resource Pack (Delta Publishing). You will find the photocopiable lesson on PDF below, as well as the audio material as a downloadable mp3 file.
