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 Ahmed Abdi on Fri, 28/08/2020 - 10:45

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Listening is used to be my big challenge. I tried to improve my lestening skills all the time but unfortunately l was struggled by new bans l could not know them in aim to solve them like the accents. l arrived to understand most of British words then l realized that there are more accents quite different and the spelling is tottaly changed. I was really lost. Then some of my friends told me don't panik. There is one English language the ways of speaking are accent. Focus on one accent practice it and try to learn more vocabulary and grammar skills. Is that true?

Hello Ahmed Abdi,

That's a difficult question to answer well without knowing more about what situations you need or intend to use English in. If, for example, you are going to use it to do business with people from a particular country or region of the world, then I'd recommend focusing on the accent from that region. But in most other cases, I'd encourage you to listen to different accents. It won't hurt to focus on one accent for some time, but be sure to listen to others.

There are some minor variations in the grammar and vocabulary that people use in different varieties of English, but in most cases I doubt these differences will be a serious problem for you.

I hope this helps.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you Mr Kirk! Very good advice! Well, l have to change my way. l know it is hard but nothing is impossible with perseverance. Best regards!

Submitted by Rinaa on Mon, 24/08/2020 - 21:30

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I have to admit that also for me listening is the most difficult area. I try to go the miles away to improve it by listening to audio books and watching movies without subtitles as much as I can. In real life when I have a conversation, when I can't understand some sentences I ask in a polite manner the person who is included in conversation if he/she can repeat it or speak slowly, and sometimes I just pretend to understand and change the topic. its really challenge for me, but I think its just a matter of time and i will master it soon with hard work

Submitted by Gema25 on Sat, 22/08/2020 - 21:50

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Dear Peter M., I really want to improve my listening skills because I often get in trouble when I speak with other peole. Nowadays, I try to do more and more listening practise to learn new vocabulary and the English slang to sound more natural. Even if I can't understand the audio I repeat it twice or three times and one more time with the transcription just to look at the correct spelling of new words I've listened. Other thing I've been doing is watch videos or series without subtitles. Sometimes it's kind of difficult but I want to challenge me. Best regards!

Hi Gema25,

It sounds like you're doing the right things. Remember, that when you're improving step by step over time it can be hard to see the progress, but that doesn't mean you aren't improving. Practice makes perfect, so keep it up!

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by ikhay on Thu, 13/08/2020 - 18:25

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Listening is also difficult for me. When I spoke to someone, I request to speak for repeating. I can't concentrate on conversation and couldn't catch up some vocabularies well. Now, I practice listening exercises on British Council website everyday. I trust I'll improve my listening. Thanks.

Submitted by Asni on Sun, 09/08/2020 - 00:08

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Listening is the most difficult part for me. I confess that even when people speak my language, I find it hard to concentrate and focus especially if they are talkative or they speak fast. So, you can imagine what happens to me when I'm listening to audio recordings, particularly when speakers are native, it is like trying to understand a physicist explaining some nuclear theory. While I'm writing down some important point of the conversation, I miss the following part. I try to go the extra mile by doing more listening exercises, but it is still a huge challenge for me. I think that it is just a matter of time, with perseverance and hard work, I'll eventually master it. Obviously, I'm talking about listening in exams, in real life, I can manage, I'm not really that bad!
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Submitted by Hennadii on Thu, 30/07/2020 - 09:58

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I think there are not so many options in this case. You have to practice, practice and again practice. You can't escape this even if want to. I know it's difficult at first when you start to listen to different records in your target language. People there speak fast and non-understandable. But, some time later you start to catch some separated familiar words. Then - phrase. That adds to speeches more sense. After several months you can find that the task you found difficult later became easier. That's it. That's how it works

Submitted by fahri on Wed, 29/07/2020 - 15:29

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Dear team. From the lesson above: The are two questions. First of all. Gabriella: Thanks for having me! Is that mean 'thanks for inviting me' ??? Because the sentence 'thanks for inviting me' it's more simply and clearly. The second question: Presenter: I get you ... What's the different from 'i get you' and 'I got it' ?? Because the presenter had got the 'idea of Gabriella' not the Gabriella her self. Thank you very much for your explanation and answer.