An interview about listening skills

An interview about listening skills

Listen to the English teacher talk about listening to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Presenter: So, today's expert teacher is Gabriella, a university English teacher from Leeds. Gabriella, hi and thanks for joining us today.

Gabriella: Thanks for having me!

Presenter: So, I have to confess today's topic is something I am really bad at: listening. Most people say speaking is the most stressful part of learning a new language but, for me, with my B1 German, speaking isn't so bad. At least I'm in control of it. But listening … woah … people speak so fast and it's like my brain just shuts down. Am I just really strange and bad at listening? Tell me, honestly, I can take it.

Gabriella: No, you're not strange. In fact, it's really common. You know, in exams most people do pretty well in speaking compared with listening. Of course, exams are a different situation from real life because in an exam you can't ask for something to be repeated or explained. You usually have just one or maybe two opportunities to listen to the dialogue and then it's gone.

Presenter: Right, but in real life I feel stupid always saying, 'Sorry, can you repeat that, please?', especially if I still don't understand even when they repeat it. And people out there listening, I hope you don't do this – quite often the person just repeats what they said equally as fast and I'm still lost!

Gabriella: They do, don't they? In real life, you've got two strategies. One is to pretend to understand and get out of the conversation as fast as you can.

Presenter: Yep, sounds familiar!

Gabriella: But, obviously that's not going to help if it's a conversation with high stakes. It might have important consequences. I mean, if you're just chatting with a stranger at the bus stop, it doesn't matter. But imagine you're at a government office or a bank, trying to find out what paperwork you need to get your ID or open a bank account. What can you do then?

Presenter: I hope you've got the answer, Gabriella, because I'm coming out in a cold sweat just thinking about either of those situations!

Gabriella: The other strategy is to summarise what they said.

Presenter: But how can you do that if you didn't understand what they said?

Gabriella: Ah, well, you only start the summary, so you might say, in German in your case, 'OK, so the first thing I have to do is …?' and make it a question. Or, for example, 'And which office is that again?' Break it down into smaller questions and the other person will naturally start answering them. That way you're controlling the conversation a bit more.

Presenter: I get you ...

Discussion

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Submitted by marcialopes on Fri, 25/08/2023 - 16:33

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I understand the interviewer's preference for speaking over listening, as I share the same preference. My IELTS test is scheduled for September 14th, but I am not very confident in my listening skills. That's why I am here... to improve as much as possible. To achieve this, I am using audio with transcripts to ensure accurate understanding, singing English songs with lyrics, watching TV shows and movies with English subtitles, among other methods.

Hi marcialopes,

Good luck with your IELTS test! I don't know if you know these sites but maybe they will be useful. You can find practice tests to do (with answers), including listening tests with mp3 files for download on both sites in the 'Prepare' section, plus a lot of tips, advice and information about the exam:

https://www.ielts.org

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org

 

Good luck!

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by dao nghia on Tue, 11/07/2023 - 01:17

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i am vietnamese person. when i was child, i dont focus on learning English. So my english is very terrible.

Submitted by LKARINAM on Fri, 30/06/2023 - 02:21

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I'm a native spanish speaker, to improve my English listening skills had been pretty difficult but hadn't been impossible. I had practiced listening skills reading in loud voice (I love reading in English), listening popcast and some short coversations of native English speakers. Everyday I listen one song at least on youtube that I like, after that I browse its lyrics on google website and finally I sing that song with the lyrics on hand. I feel that I'm on way to improve my listening skill and I enjoy it! (Sorry if I have mistakes in this comment, I'm also learning how to write in English).

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Submitted by elifkglx on Sat, 24/06/2023 - 09:39

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I am trying to develop my listening with doing exercises as much as i can. My listening exercises contain: this web sites listening exercises, podcasts, songs , videos etc.

Submitted by anastasiaa-02 on Sat, 17/06/2023 - 12:08

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my listening is also bad. And I`m trying to practise listening ebery day by chatting with native speakers, listening audios here and sometimes watching films and videos.

Submitted by Huyenphamhr on Fri, 09/06/2023 - 10:53

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Gabriella's strategy for managing important conversations sounds strange to the interviewer at first-True. I can't understand this one. Pls more explains everyone

Hello Huyenphamhr,

I'll copy the part of the transcript that is relevant here:

Gabriella: The other strategy is to summarise what they said.
Presenter: But how can you do that if you didn't understand what they said?

The presenter is surprised because she doesn't understand how it's possible to summarise something that you haven't understood.

Does that make sense?

All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team