Friday, June 23, 2006
Improving Listening Comprehension Easily and Cheaply
Last night I made some comments about listening improving comprehension which are worth posting. Of all language skills, listening comprehension should be one of the easiest. After all, even dogs can learn to understand things we say! But many people continue to find problems, and to struggle vainly. What do we need to be successful with our listening comprehension?
We have to know what we want.
We have to have good materials.
We have to use them well.
Let’s review these below.
1. How to Choose What to Study? With such an overwhelming variety of material, the question is frequent: how to find something worth listening to? First, start with your professional requirements: in the next five years what will you need to discuss? This will answer many questions. So, for example, if you want to go into sales, you might liten to something by Napoleon Hill or Zip Ziglar, or listen to the audio version of the Harvard Business Review. This will give you the best value. And since more repetition will always be better than less repetition, is preferable to have something shorter, like an interview or article, than something longer which you will be able to review less.
Once we know what we want to learn, the next question is inevitable:
2. What to Use?
We must have material which is close to our own interests, not too expensive, and easy to use. Fortunately there are three good sources for this.
2.1. www.audible.com (or other comparable sites). For fifteen dollars a month, you can download two books a month. Audible partners with other audio producers to give you awesome access to hundreds of titles, in history, business, current events, self-help, chicklit, and best sellers. They even have programs and versions of magazine, such as the Harvard Business Review. So their resources are fabulous. With a subscription, you can download two books a month for no extra charge. These can be saved in many different formats. You can listen to them on mp3-players or your car stereo or your computer or a stereo. This gives you immediate and convenient access to great materials.
2.2. www.npr.org (among others). At the National Public Radio site, you can download mp3s of interviews, news, and current programs, for free. These range from a few minutes to 45 minutes or length. Again, once you have these, you can listen to them on mp3 players, computers, etc. These are better than books on tape in that since the programs are shporter, you can more easily repeat them twice or thrice a day. And obviously the more you repeat and practice, the more progress you will make.
2.3. Public/University library. Find books on tape which look relevant for your learning needs (book catalogs, web sites, and Amazon are excellent sources for this). Then borrow these from your library. When it is not available, you can often get it through inter-library load. These are available on cassette or CD; I favor the latter for its extreme electronic portability.
3. Time
But once we know what we need, and we have identified some materials to use, how can we find the time for this? Happily, this is possible for almost everyone.
Fortunately we all have slices of time during the day which can harnessed for listening comprehension improvement and review. When you have your material on an mp3-player, you can listen while cooking, while driving to work, while folding clothes, while waiting on the phone, while walking, while standing in line, while shopping, etc. And listening to a short section (say five minutes) ten times a day is better than listening to it repeatedly for one sitting. So your busy schedule can work to your advantage here.
Thus, assess the need, design the solution, and master the logistics. You will definitely see real progress in your ability to listen. Work on it every day, and you will be sure to see progress, and maybe sooner than you think.
N.B.: I do not encourage blindly watching TV for this. If you hear words once, with no elaboration or repetition, you will grow slowly, if at all. Look for something you can repeat. In my experience, after watching Chinese news programs with my wife for several years, I can only think of a few phrases I have learned. So the Return on Investment is dismal.
We have to know what we want.
We have to have good materials.
We have to use them well.
Let’s review these below.
1. How to Choose What to Study? With such an overwhelming variety of material, the question is frequent: how to find something worth listening to? First, start with your professional requirements: in the next five years what will you need to discuss? This will answer many questions. So, for example, if you want to go into sales, you might liten to something by Napoleon Hill or Zip Ziglar, or listen to the audio version of the Harvard Business Review. This will give you the best value. And since more repetition will always be better than less repetition, is preferable to have something shorter, like an interview or article, than something longer which you will be able to review less.
Once we know what we want to learn, the next question is inevitable:
2. What to Use?
We must have material which is close to our own interests, not too expensive, and easy to use. Fortunately there are three good sources for this.
2.1. www.audible.com (or other comparable sites). For fifteen dollars a month, you can download two books a month. Audible partners with other audio producers to give you awesome access to hundreds of titles, in history, business, current events, self-help, chicklit, and best sellers. They even have programs and versions of magazine, such as the Harvard Business Review. So their resources are fabulous. With a subscription, you can download two books a month for no extra charge. These can be saved in many different formats. You can listen to them on mp3-players or your car stereo or your computer or a stereo. This gives you immediate and convenient access to great materials.
2.2. www.npr.org (among others). At the National Public Radio site, you can download mp3s of interviews, news, and current programs, for free. These range from a few minutes to 45 minutes or length. Again, once you have these, you can listen to them on mp3 players, computers, etc. These are better than books on tape in that since the programs are shporter, you can more easily repeat them twice or thrice a day. And obviously the more you repeat and practice, the more progress you will make.
2.3. Public/University library. Find books on tape which look relevant for your learning needs (book catalogs, web sites, and Amazon are excellent sources for this). Then borrow these from your library. When it is not available, you can often get it through inter-library load. These are available on cassette or CD; I favor the latter for its extreme electronic portability.
3. Time
But once we know what we need, and we have identified some materials to use, how can we find the time for this? Happily, this is possible for almost everyone.
Fortunately we all have slices of time during the day which can harnessed for listening comprehension improvement and review. When you have your material on an mp3-player, you can listen while cooking, while driving to work, while folding clothes, while waiting on the phone, while walking, while standing in line, while shopping, etc. And listening to a short section (say five minutes) ten times a day is better than listening to it repeatedly for one sitting. So your busy schedule can work to your advantage here.
Thus, assess the need, design the solution, and master the logistics. You will definitely see real progress in your ability to listen. Work on it every day, and you will be sure to see progress, and maybe sooner than you think.
N.B.: I do not encourage blindly watching TV for this. If you hear words once, with no elaboration or repetition, you will grow slowly, if at all. Look for something you can repeat. In my experience, after watching Chinese news programs with my wife for several years, I can only think of a few phrases I have learned. So the Return on Investment is dismal.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
ESL Classics 07: Lexicarry for the Win with Vocabulary!
Blog: ESL Classics 07: Lexicarry, Patrick R. Moran, Pro Lingua Associates, ISBN 0-86647-032-8
Many students love words. They seem to associate vocabulary with wealth, and thrill in learning as many as possible. I once had a student in Taiwan who every day memorized one page from a dictionary! But in reality, we don’t need to know every word in English, only the words we need. That’s what makes Lexicarry so valuable.
The book has two huge sections. The first one covers dozens of types of interaction: offering refusing, complaining, suggesting, etc., with simple cartoons. The teacher then can explain what to say in these situations, using model dialogues in the back or providing alternates. The range of situations is breath-taking.
The second section covers vocabulary, pure and simple: farm animals, parts of a car, types of fabric, cooking paraphernalia, air travel verbs, etc. Each page has a content theme, with drawings. No words are seen here; the relevant vocabulary is in the back of the book. Almost anything for daily interaction in the US is included right here!
And that is it! For new immigrants this is a fabulous resource. It can be used for self-study, and can be used (with some imagination) in classes and pair work. Few other books successfully cover as much useful vocabulary as Lexicarry. I just with I had a book like this for Chinese or Russian.
Recommendation: Must-have for tutors and teachers of immigrants. And, unlike so many ESL classics, this one is still in print!
Many students love words. They seem to associate vocabulary with wealth, and thrill in learning as many as possible. I once had a student in Taiwan who every day memorized one page from a dictionary! But in reality, we don’t need to know every word in English, only the words we need. That’s what makes Lexicarry so valuable.
The book has two huge sections. The first one covers dozens of types of interaction: offering refusing, complaining, suggesting, etc., with simple cartoons. The teacher then can explain what to say in these situations, using model dialogues in the back or providing alternates. The range of situations is breath-taking.
The second section covers vocabulary, pure and simple: farm animals, parts of a car, types of fabric, cooking paraphernalia, air travel verbs, etc. Each page has a content theme, with drawings. No words are seen here; the relevant vocabulary is in the back of the book. Almost anything for daily interaction in the US is included right here!
And that is it! For new immigrants this is a fabulous resource. It can be used for self-study, and can be used (with some imagination) in classes and pair work. Few other books successfully cover as much useful vocabulary as Lexicarry. I just with I had a book like this for Chinese or Russian.
Recommendation: Must-have for tutors and teachers of immigrants. And, unlike so many ESL classics, this one is still in print!
