How to improve your listening skills

FORWORDS - Global approach x Speci ic approach to !nglish " - Global approach 1. Minimize both internal and external distractions headache, intrusive thoughts... adapt external conditions to study 2. Adjust your listening to the situation 3. Determine the most important points and develop a method to remember them . !ry not to interrupt "hat you#re listening to $. %tay &ocused on the subject. !rain your mind to concentrate. '. (emain clearheaded, even i& the topic is emotional.

"" - #eaching $istening to stu%ents Strategies or Developing $istening Skills )anguage learning depends on listening. )istening provides the aural input that serves as the basis &or language ac*uisition and enables learners to interact in spo+en communication. ,&&ective language instructors sho" students ho" they can adjust their listening behavior to deal "ith a variety o& situations, types o& input, and listening purposes. !hey help students develop a set o& listening strategies and match appropriate strategies to each listening situation.

$istening Strategies
)istening strategies are techni*ues or activities that contribute directly to the comprehension and recall o& listening input. )istening strategies can be classi&ied by ho" the listener processes the input. Top-down strategies are listener based- the listener taps into bac+ground +no"ledge o& the topic, the situation or context, the type o& text, and the language. !his bac+ground +no"ledge activates a set o& expectations that help the listener to interpret "hat is heard and anticipate "hat "ill come next.

!op.do"n strategies include listening &or the main idea predicting dra"ing in&erences summarizing Bottom-up strategies are text based- the listener relies on the language in the message, that is, the combination o& sounds, "ords, and grammar that creates meaning. /ottom.up strategies include listening &or speci&ic details recognizing cognates recognizing "ord.order patterns %trategic listeners also use metacognitive strategies to plan, monitor, and evaluate their listening. !hey plan by deciding "hich listening strategies "ill serve best in a particular situation. !hey monitor their comprehension and the e&&ectiveness o& the selected strategies. !hey evaluate by determining "hether they have achieved their listening comprehension goals and "hether the combination o& listening strategies selected "as an e&&ective one.

$istening or &eaning
!o extract meaning &rom a listening text, students need to &ollo" &our basic steps0 1igure out the purpose &or listening. Activate bac+ground +no"ledge o& the topic in order to predict or anticipate content and identi&y appropriate listening strategies. Attend to the parts o& the listening input that are relevant to the identi&ied purpose and ignore the rest. !his selectivity enables students to &ocus on speci&ic items in the input and reduces the amount o& in&ormation they have to hold in short.term memory in order to recognize it. %elect top.do"n and bottom.up strategies that are appropriate to the listening tas+ and use them &lexibly and interactively. %tudents2 comprehension improves and their con&idence increases "hen they use top.do"n and bottom.up strategies simultaneously to construct meaning. 3hec+ comprehension "hile listening and "hen the listening tas+ is over. Monitoring comprehension helps students detect inconsistencies and comprehension &ailures, directing them to use alternate strategies.

"""- Opportunities to learn !nglish 1. %o&t"ares on the 4nternet0 i!unes, 5indo"s, 5inamp, etc. (adios, etc. 2. %imple vocabulary pages0 listen and repeat0 basically the lexical approach 3. Dictation pages on the 4nternet0 )isten 6 listen and "rite 6 listen to veri&y . )isten to songs and read the lyrics $. 5atch movies in ,nglish "ith ,nglish subtitles on, then subtitles o&& '. Audio boo+s0 )istening "hile reading0 site0 7ave &un "ith ,nglish and site0 4nteresting 1acts 8. 5atch the ne"s o& &acts you#re already a"are o& on //3, &or example.

'O('$)S"O( /y remaining calm, allo"ing yoursel& to not un%erstan%* an% not translating while listening, your brain is &ree to concentrate on the most important thing0 Understanding what it really is: understanding English in English