Listening Lesson Based On Conclusions

Upper level listening tasks often depend on the student's ability to make assumptions and
conclusions based on a listening comprehension selection. This lesson focuses solely on
some of the most common forms of this task, it includes example exercises with RealAudio
streaming audio which can be used in class - or used as models on which to base further
exercises.

Aim: Making conclusions based on what student's hear

Activity: Awareness raising concerning some of the most common forms of statements on
which assumptions or conclusions are based followed by two listening exercises

Level: Upper-intermediate to advanced

Outline:

• Introduce exercise by asking students to make conclusions based on the sentences

on the worksheet.
• Call attention to the fact that certain types of formulations are especially useful for
showing the relationship between situations on which assumptions and conclusions are
based. These include: conditional sentences, paired conjunctions, confusing phrasal
verbs, time clauses and slight changes in verb conjungation, non-committal verbs, etc.
• Ask students to take another look at the example sentences and identify the type
of formulation.
• Give students the first set of listening assumption questions and play the first
exercise (RealAudio from the Internet, or sentences read aloud by the teacher).
• Correct exercise in class.
• Give students the second set of listening assumption questions and play the first
exercise (RealAudio from the Internet, or sentences read aloud by the teacher).
• Correct exercise in class.
• Arrange students in small groups of four to five and ask them to create their own
sentences and questions based on the exercises.
• Have students from different groups pair up and read their questions aloud to their
partners - asking them to make conclusions based on what they hear.

Making Conclusions and Assumptions Based on What You Hear

Make assumptions and conclusions based on the following sentences

• As I knew that the entrance fee was expensive, I managed to lower it

considerably.
• Since finishing his Thesis, he has been enjoying a little time off.
• All I know is that I will have to put up with the exam preparation.
• Before talking to Jack, she had had problems understanding the concept.
• Difficult times ahead worried everybody as, up till that point in time, there had
been relatively few problems.
• You will find that his ideas are rather unconventional.

English Listening Quizzes: Conclusions

Choose the correct conclusion based on what you hear. You will hear each of the 10 sentences.
Once they have all been read you will hear the 10 sentences a second time.
1. Did he
2. A) already understand the problem when he spoke to her? B) not understand the problem
when he spoke to her?
3. Was I
4. A) surprised by how kind the Germans were? B) shocked by how rude they were?

5. Did Alice

6. A) have someone clean house for her? B) clean the house herself?
7. Has he taken a job?

8. A) yes B) no )c maybe
9. Someone with a score of 55 usually ...

10. A) doesn't pass the test. B) passes the test.

11. The weather two days ago was probably ...

12. A) stormy B) sunny

13. The settlers brought ...

14. A) valuable gifts. B) cheap objects.

15. Which statement is true?
16. A) I am certain I am going to leave. B) I might leave C) I probably will

leave
17. What will I do when I finish dinner?
18. A) pay for dinner B) ask my friend to pay for me C) put the bill on my

credit card
19. Did Jack when the prize?

20. A) no B) yes

1. How did he do on the test?

2. A) Well B)Average C) Badly

3. What is the best recipe for success?

4. A) Work hard B) Be intuitive C) Make important contacts

5. Why did they not go to the store?

6. A) They got lost. B) They didn't want to go. C) They didn't have enough time.

7. In which case would an agreement be possible?

8. A) If he improves his offer B) If he changes his mind. C) If they accept his offer.

9. What must you finish before you go out tonight?

10. A) Homework B) Housework C) Dinner

11. In which case will I not accompany you?

 12. A) If Rob doesn't come. B) If Rob comes. C) If you are robbed.

13. Why was it not a good idea to go to Rome?

14. A) Because the flight was too expensive. B) Because costs in Rome were
too expensive. C) Because Rome is a dirty city.

15. Which sport does he enjoy?

16. A) Tennis B) Chess C) Both

17. What could change the improving value of stocks?

18. A) a low inflation rate B) a very high inflation rate C) the value of the
dollar

19. Are you sure of the outcome in this situation?

20. A) No B) Yes C) Maybe

Making Conclusions and Assumptions Based on What You

Hear

Make assumptions and conclusions based on the following sentences

• As I knew that the entrance fee was expensive, I managed to lower it

considerably.
• Since finishing his Thesis, he has been enjoying a little time off.
• All I know is that I will have to put up with the exam preparation.
• Before talking to Jack, she had had problems understanding the concept.
• Difficult times ahead worried everybody as, up till that point in time, there had
been relatively few problems.
• You will find that his ideas are rather unconventional

Making Conclusions and Assumptions Based on What You

Hear
English Listening Quizzes: Conclusions

Choose the correct conclusion based on what you hear. You will hear each of the 10 sentences.
Once they have all been read you will hear the 10 sentences a second time.

1. Did he a) already understand the problem when he spoke to her? b) not understand the

problem when he spoke to her?

2. Was I a) surprised by how kind the Germans were? b) shocked by how rude they were?

3. Did Alice a) have someone clean house for her? b) clean the house herself?

4. Has he taken a job? a) yes b) no )c maybe

5. Someone with a score of 55 usually ... a) doesn't pass the test. b) passes the test.
 6. The weather two days ago was probably ... a) stormy b) sunny

7. The settlers brought ... a) valuable gifts. b) cheap objects.

8. Which statement is true? a) I am certain I am going to leave. b) I might leave c) I probably will

leave
9. What will I do when I finish dinner? a) pay for dinner b) ask my friend to pay for me c) put the
bill on my credit card

10. Did Jack when the prize? a) no b) yes

1. How did he do on the test?

A) Well B)Average C) Badly

2. What is the best recipe for success?

A) Work hard B) Be intuitive C) Make important contacts

3. Why did they not go to the store?

A) They got lost. B) They didn't want to go. C) They didn't have enough time.

4. In which case would an agreement be possible?

A) If he improves his offer B) If he changes his mind. C) If they accept his offer.

5. What must you finish before you go out tonight?

A) Homework B) Housework C) Dinner

6. In which case will I not accompany you?

A) If Rob doesn't come. B) If Rob comes. C) If you are robbed.

7. Why was it not a good idea to go to Rome?

A) Because the flight was too expensive. B) Because costs in Rome were too expensive. C)
Because Rome is a dirty city.

8. Which sport does he enjoy?

A) Tennis B) Chess C) Both

9. What could change the improving value of stocks?

A) a low inflation rate B) a very high inflation rate C) the value of the dollar

10. Are you sure of the outcome in this situation?

A) No B) Yes C) Maybe

Conclusions 1

Choose the correct conclusion based on what you hear. You will hear each of the 10
sentences. Once they have all been read you will hear the 10 sentences a second time.
 • Before he talked to her, he had never understood the problem.
• While I was travelling through Germany, I could not help being put off by the lack
of helpful people.
• Because she had never lived alone before, Alice was surprised and a little
overwhelmed at the amount of cleaning she had to have done.
• Since he completed his Master's Degree, he has had three job offers.
• Because I knew that the test was difficult, I managed to lower the passing mark to
55.
• Rough seas began after the third day of what, up till that point in time, had been a
very pleasant crossing.
• According to the indigenous population, the first settlers brought treasures that
they have only recently realized were worthless.
• I am planning to stay for another two years, after which I imagine I will return
home.
• I had noticed that I didn't have enough money before I came to the restaurant so I
made a stop at an ATM.
• Jack almost fainted when he heard that he come so close to winning first prize.

Conclusions 2

• Considering his natural talent, his scores were surprisingly low.

• You will find that the quickest way to success is by following your instincts.
• Despite their desire to go, they didn't find their way to the store due to lack of
time.
• Unless he reconsiders his position, we won't be able to come to an agreement.
• You can go after you have finished your homework, you needn't worry about the
housework.
• I'll be happy to accompany you unless Rob desides to come along.
• If he had been aware of the cost once he had arrived, he wouldn't have booked the
flight to Rome.
• Not only does he enjoy a good game of tennis, but he is also quite a keen chess
player.
• Depending on the rise in the current rate of inflation, stock rates will probably
continue to improve.
• I'll let you know by the end of the week.

Daily English Lesson

Lessons by English, baby!

Alice in Wonderland
Apr 21 2010

Intro

There are certain directors whose style is so unique, you can recognize one of their films
the minute you see it. Tim Burton is one of those filmmakers. His movies all have a dark,
quirky look to them that has earned him a lot of fans. You can also recognize a Tim Burton
movie by the actors who star in it. Burton loves to work with his friend Johnny Depp and
his wife, Helena Bonham Carter.

Burton’s latest creation is Alice in Wonderland, a continuation of the original story about a
girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a strange new universe. Johnny Depp plays the Mad
Hatter in Burton’s film, and Helena Bonham Carter plays the evil Red Queen, who wants to
destroy Wonderland. Find out if Devan and Ella are fans of Tim Burton’s work.
Dialogue

Ella: So with this Alice in Wonderland movie is it basically just like another, “Oh, here’s this
story, let’s just redo it again with more cooler effects,” same story though?

Devan: I don’t think it’s the same story. I think Tim Burton’s smart enough to know that
the first one is so good that you just don’t touch that, you know?

Ella: OK.

Devan: And this one is like returning, Alice returning after like now she’s 19 years old and
she’s going back to the rabbit hole. And I have to say, like, you know, Tim Burton, I just
feel like he’s gotten too into all the special effects and, you know, like the CGI and all that
kind of stuff that’s not really my cup of tea. But I just went and saw an art exhibit of his,
and I have to say, he really is a talented guy. He really has a unique point of view.

Ella: Yeah. His style is very particular. You don’t even have to know who made the movie
or what it’s about, and you can tell it’s a Tim Burton movie.

Devan: So, yeah, I think that even though I loved the first Alice in Wonderland exactly
the way it was, just because Tim Burton’s so unique and so captivating, it’d be interesting
to see what he does with the story and those characters that we know one way in our
minds, to see how he transforms them into Tim Burton characters, you know?

Ella: Yeah. And Johnny Depp’s in it, you know. That’s always a plus.

Discussion

Ella asks Devan if the new Alice in Wonderland is just a remake of the original Disney
cartoon, but with more special

Ella asks Devan if the new Alice in Wonderland is just a remake of the original Disney
cartoon, but with more special effects. Devan explains that Burton’s movie uses the same
characters and setting, but it is a new story that takes place when Alice is 19 years old.

Devan feels that Tim Burton has gotten too obsessed with using computer animation and
CGI. She prefers his early films, when he did not use as many special effects. But she still
thinks that Burton is a unique artist, and she likes his original style. She is curious to see
Tim Burton’s take on the characters of Alice in Wonderland. Ella is also excited to see the
movie, because she likes anything with Johnny Depp in it.

Are you a fan of Tim Burton’s movies? Do you remember when you first heard the story of
“Alice in Wonderland” as a child?

Grammar Point

Adverbs

Devan says Tim Burton really is a talented guy. He really has a unique point of view.
Really is a commonly used

Grammar Point

Adverbs

Devan says Tim Burton really is a talented guy. He really has a unique point of view.
Really is a commonly used adverb. Adverbs are words that modify, or describe, other
words.
Usually adverbs modify verbs, as in, “He speaks softly.” Or they can modify adjectives, as
in, “This room is really messy.” Or they can even modify other adverbs, as in, “He walked
very slowly.”

Common adverbs like really and very are used to add emphasis to an idea. Devan wants
to emphasize how talented Tim Burton is and what a unique point of view he has.

Which is correct, “I love really Tim Burton’s films” or “I really love Tim Burton’s films”?

Quiz

1. Devan recently saw…

o ...the original Alice in Wonderland.

o ...Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

o ...an exhibit of Tim Burton’s artwork.

o ...a play based on Tim Burton’s life.

2. How old is Alice in the new Alice in Wonderland?

o 6

o 9

o 13

o 19
3. Devan doesn’t really like…

o ...a unique point of view.

o ...the story of Alice in Wonderland.

o ...too many special effects.

o ...the work of Tim Burton.

4. Which of these is NOT correct?
5. Which of these is NOT correct?

o I quickly ate my dinner.

o I ate quickly my dinner.

o I ate my dinner quickly.

o Quickly, I ate my dinner.

6. Which of these sentences has an adverb in it?

o I’m quite happy with my grades this term.

o Chris was amazed when he saw Tim Burton’s new movie.

o I don’t think I can go dancing with you tonight.

o I would love to hike to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Submit
Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start
the lesson.

Go Super to Listen

• not my cup of tea

• remake
• into
• touch

• redone
• quirky
• a plus
• transform

• captivating
• point of view

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear

the audio.

Go Super to Listen

There are certain directors whose style is so unique, you can recognize one of their
films the minute you see it. Tim Burton is one of those filmmakers. His movies all
have a dark, quirky look to them that has earned him a lot of fans. You can also
recognize a Tim Burton movie by the actors who star in it. Burton loves to work with
his friend Johnny Depp and his wife, Helena Bonham Carter.

Burton’s latest creation is Alice in Wonderland, a continuation of the original story

about a girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a strange new universe. Johnny Depp
plays the Mad Hatter in Burton’s film, and Helena Bonham Carter plays the evil Red
Queen, who wants to destroy Wonderland. Find out if Devan and Ella are fans of Tim
Burton’s work.

Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the
same time.

Log in to Listen
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are
used.

Devan Ella

Ella: So with this Alice in Wonderland movie is it basically just like another, “Oh,
here’s this story, let’s just redo it again with more cooler effects,” same story though?

Devan: I don’t think it’s the same story. I think Tim Burton’s smart enough to know
that the first one is so good that you just don’t touch

that, you know?

Ella: OK.

Devan: And this one is like returning, Alice returning after like now she’s 19 years
old and she’s going back to the rabbit hole. And I have to say, like, you know, Tim
Burton, I just feel like he’s gotten too into all the special effects and, you know, like
the CGI and all that kind of stuff that’s not really my cup of tea. But I just went and
saw an art exhibit of his, and I have to say, he really is a talented guy. He really has a
unique point of view.

Ella: Yeah. His style is very particular. You don’t even have to know who made the
movie or what it’s about, and you can tell it’s a Tim Burton movie.

Devan: So, yeah, I think that even though I loved the first Alice in Wonderland
exactly the way it was, just because Tim Burton’s so unique and so captivating, it’d
be interesting to see what he does with the story and those characters that we know
one way in our minds, to see how he transforms them into Tim Burton characters, you
know?

Ella: Yeah. And Johnny Depp’s in it, you know. That’s always a plus.

Grammar Point

Go Super to learn Grammar from this lesson

Discussion

Go Super to Listen
Ella asks Devan if the new Alice in Wonderland is just a remake of the original
Disney cartoon, but with more special effects. Devan explains that Burton’s movie
uses the same characters and setting, but it is a new story that takes place when Alice
is 19 years old.

Devan feels that Tim Burton has gotten too obsessed with using computer animation
and CGI. She prefers his early films, when he did not use as many special effects. But
she still thinks that Burton is a unique artist, and she likes his original style. She is
curious to see Tim Burton’s take on the characters of Alice in Wonderland. Ella is also
excited to see the movie, because she likes anything with Johnny Depp in it.

Are you a fan of Tim Burton’s movies? Do you remember when you first heard the
story of “Alice in Wonderland” as a child?

Comprehension Quiz

Go Super to take Quiz

English Listening Quizzes: Conclusions

Choose the correct conclusion based on what you hear. You will hear each of the 10
sentences. Once they have all been read you will hear the 10 sentences a second time.

1. Did he a) already understand the problem when he spoke to her? b) not

understand the problem when he spoke to her?

2. Was I a) surprised by how kind the Germans were? b) shocked by how rude they
were?
3. Did Alice a) have someone clean house for her? b) clean the house herself?

4. Has he taken a job? a) yes b) no )c maybe

5. Someone with a score of 55 usually ... a) doesn't pass the test. b) passes the test.

6. The weather two days ago was probably ... a) stormy b) sunny

7. The settlers brought ... a) valuable gifts. b) cheap objects.

8. Which statement is true? a) I am certain I am going to leave. b) I might leave c) I

probably will leave

9. What will I do when I finish dinner? a) pay for dinner b) ask my friend to pay for
me c) put the bill on my credit card

10. Did Jack when the prize? a) no b) yes

English Listening Quizzes: Conclusions

Choose the correct conclusion based on what you hear. You will hear each of the 10
sentences. Once they have all been read you will hear the 10 sentences a second time.

1. How did he do on the test?

A) Well B)Average C) Badly

2. What is the best recipe for success?

A) Work hard B) Be intuitive C) Make important contacts

3. Why did they not go to the store?

A) They got lost. B) They didn't want to go. C) They didn't have enough time.

4. In which case would an agreement be possible?

A) If he improves his offer B) If he changes his mind. C) If they accept his offer.

5. What must you finish before you go out tonight?

A) Homework B) Housework C) Dinner

6. In which case will I not accompany you?

A) If Rob doesn't come. B) If Rob comes. C) If you are robbed.

7. Why was it not a good idea to go to Rome?

A) Because the flight was too expensive. B) Because costs in Rome were too
expensive. C) Because Rome is a dirty city.

8. Which sport does he enjoy?

A) Tennis B) Chess C) Both

9. What could change the improving value of stocks?

A) a low inflation rate B) a very high inflation rate C) the value of the dollar

10. Are you sure of the outcome in this situation?

A) No B) Yes C) Maybe

English Listening Quizzes: Making a Dinner

Reservation

You will hear a man who is making a dinner reservation. Choose the correct
answer from the multiple choice questions and write it down. You will hear the
listening twice. After you have finished, click on the answer to see if you have
answered the questions correctly.

1. What is the name of the restaurant?

 A) Apple Tree Restaurant B) Apple Inn Restaurant C) Appeal Restaurant

What day would he like to make a reservation for?

A) Saturday B) Friday C) Thursday

What is the date?

A) 12th B) 2nd C) 22nd

What time would he like to make the reservation for?

A) 18 o'clock B) Eight o'clock C) Nine o'clock

How many people does he make a reservation for?

A) 5 B) 4 C) 3

What is his surname?

A) Leavens B) Liavens C) Leavins

Continue Learning for Beginners Unit 7 Future with Will, The Weather, Listening
Comprehension Practice

English Online Course for Beginners - Unit 7

The seventh unit focuses on the future with will which is used to make predictions. You will
also learn about the weather so you can make future weather predictions. The unit ends
with two listening comprehension exercises about people making plans for the evening.

Unit 7 - Future with Will, The Weather, Listening Comprehension Practice

The Future with Will - Talking about the Weather

• The Future with Will

Learn the structure and use of the future with 'will'.
• What will the weather be like?
Using the future with will to predict the weather.
• It was rainy and cold.
Learn weather vocabulary forms.

Listening Comprehension Practice

• Making a Dinner Reservation

Listen to a man making a dinner reservation and choose from the multiple choice
answers the best answer to the questions.
• Listening: Making Plans
Listen to John, Sue and Mary deciding what to do this evening. Choose the correct
answer from the multiple choice questions.

English Listening Quizzes: Making a Dinner

Reservation

You will hear a man who is making a dinner reservation. Choose the correct
answer from the multiple choice questions and write it down. You will hear the
listening twice. After you have finished, click on the answer to see if you have
answered the questions correctly.

1. What is the name of the restaurant?

A) Apple Tree Restaurant B) Apple Inn Restaurant C) Appeal Restaurant

What day would he like to make a reservation for?

A) Saturday B) Friday C) Thursday

What is the date?

A) 12th B) 2nd C) 22nd

What time would he like to make the reservation for?

 A) 18 o'clock B) Eight o'clock C) Nine o'clock

How many people does he make a reservation for?

A) 5 B) 4 C) 3

What is his surname?

A) Leavens B) Liavens C) Leavins

English Listening Quizzes: Making Plans

You will hear a Mary, Sue and John talking making plans for this evening. Choose
the correct answer to the questions and then click on the arrow to see if you have
answered correctly. You will hear the listening twice.

1. Where does Mary suggest?

A) Going to the disco B) Eating in a restaraunt C) Going to the cinema

ANSWER

2. How often has Sue been to the cinema?

A) Three nights B) Twice C) Six times

3. What does John suggest?

A) Going to the disco B) Eating in a restaraunt C) Going to a concert

ANSWER

4. What do they decide to go?

A) to the pub B) to a concert C) to a disco

ANSWER

5. Why can't they take Mary's car?

A) It's been stolen B) Her brother has taken it to Scotland C) It's not
working

ANSWER

6. Why can't they walk?

A) It's raining B) It's too far C) It's too dark

ANSWER

7. Why can't they take the underground?

A) It's not on the underground B) It's too far C) It's too expensive

ANSWER

8. Why do they not take a taxi?

A) It's not that far away B) It's too far C) It's too expensive

ANSWER

9. How do they decide to go?

A) By bus B) By train C) In John's car

ANSWER

10. When does the concert start?

A) At six thirty (6.30) B) At seven thirty (7.30) C) At a quarter to seven

(6.45)

ANSWER

11. When do they decide to meet?

 A) At six thirty (6.30) B) At seven thirty (7.30) C) At a quarter to seven
(6.45)

ANSWER

12. Which number bus do they decide to take?

A) 53 B) 65 C) 75

ANSWER

13. Where does the bus stop?

A) Opposite the park, next to the pub B) Worchester Street C) Opposite the
pub, next to the park

ANSWER

Continue Learning for Beginners Unit 7 Future with Will, The Weather, Listening
Comprehension Practice

Learning English for Beginners - Beginning ESL EFL

English learning materials for beginning level English learning including grammar,
listening, vocabulary, reading, writing, reference, quizzes and a free online course as well
as free lesson plans for ESL EFL teachers.
English Listening Quizzes: Do you believe in UFOs?

You will hear John and Sue talking about UFOs and whether or not they believe in them.
You will hear the selection twice. Choose the correct answer from the multiple choice
answers.

1. How did Sue hear about the UFOs yesterday?

A) on the TV B) on the radio C) in the newspaper

ANSWER:

2. Who believes in UFOs?

A) John B) Sue C) Neither

ANSWER:
3. What does John believe about UFOs?

A) They are likely B) They are fictional C) They are improbable

ANSWER:

4. What does John first think Sue was when she saw the UFO?

A) She was drunk B) She was ill C) She was hallucinating

ANSWER:

5. What was Sue doing when she saw the UFO?

A) she was playing in the yard B) she was riding on a bus C) she was walking to
school

ANSWER:

6. What shape was the UFO in?

A) a saucer B) a silver airplane C) a cigar

ANSWER:

7. Why does Sue think that it couldn't have been an airplane?

A) It was shaped like a saucer B) It was hoovering C) it was moving sidewards

ANSWER:

8. What does Sue think the UFO might have been?

A) a helicopter B) a bright light C) a weather balloon

ANSWER:

9. Who did Sue tell?

A) her parentsB) her classmates C) She isn't sure

ANSWER:

10. Why does Sue think the people in a UFO are like?
 A) aggressive B) little and green C) nervous

ANSWER:

11. What does Sue think might be a reason for the aliens be hostile?

A) If they were frightened B) If we attacked them C) If we were frightened of them

ANSWER:

12. What proof does Sue provide that UFOs exist?

A) An army general has seen them B) They've been seen by ordinary people C)
There is a lot of evidence

ANSWER:

13. What might convince John that UFOs exist?

A) more evidence B) If he saw one C) If Sue saw another one

ANSWER:

English Listening Quizzes: A Trip to London

You will hear a man talking about a trip to London that he has just returned from. You will
hear the selection twice. Write down the answers to the questions and then click on the
arrow to see if you have answered correctly.

1. How long did he stay in London?

2. When did he leave?

3. When did he arrive?

4. How did he get to the hotel?

5. What did he get for free in the hotel?

6. When did he have dinner?

7. What did he have for dinner?

8. What tour choices did he have on Saturday morning?

9. Which tour did he choose?

10. Where did he have lunch?

11. What did he do in the afternoon?

12. Where did he have dinner?

13. What kind of food did he have for dinner?

14. Where did he dance?

15. When did he get back to the hotel?

 16. When did he leave London?

More Listening Comprehension

English Listening Quizzes: The Local News - 1

You will hear a man reading the local news. Write down the answers to the questions
below. You will hear the listening twice. After you have finished, click on the arrow to see if
you have answered the questions correctly.

1. What time is it?

2. What was Jason Stone's Job?

3. Where did he die?

4. How old was Jason Stone?

5. Which two schools did he study at in Oxton?

6. Where did he travel to work?

7. What time is the tribute to Jason Stone?

8. How long has it been since it last rained?

9. What is the water level?

10. How often are people allowed to water the garden?

11. What can people NOT do?

12. What was the temperature yesterday at 2 p.m.?

13. What has the hospital reported?

14. Who is most at risk?

15. How long should the hot weather continue?

16. Where did the fire take place?

17. How many patients had to be evacuated?

18. How long did it take to extinguish the fire?

19. When will the next edition of the news be?

English Listening Quizzes: A Policeman Asking Questions

You will hear a policeman asking a woman questions about a robbery. Choose the correct
multiple choice answer to the questions. You will hear the listening twice. After you have
finished, click on the arrow to see if you have answered the questions correctly.

1. What is the investigators name?

A) Mr Brown B) Mr Oxton C) Mr Please

2. Who does he want to speak to?

A) The manager B) The manageress C) The director

3. Who does he speak to?

A) The manager B) The manageress C) The director

4. Where do they speak?

A) In the shop B) In her office C) In a cafe

5. Why does she excuse herself?

A) The shop is a mess B) She is nervous C) she doesn't have her glasses

6. What time did the robbery happen?

A) 12 o'clock B) At lunch time C) Quarter past one

7. Was the post office closed?

A) No B) Yes C) Only for lunch time

8. What was she about to do?

A) Go to lunch B) Do an errand C) Buy some stamps

9. How many thieves were there?

A) 2 B) 4 C) 3

10. What did the woman look like?

A) Tall, brown, skinny B) Tall, dark, heavy C) Tall, blond, skinny

11. What was the woman wearing?

A) Sunglasses B) Glasses C) Earrings

12. What was special about the man she saw?

A) Dark, beard, 30 B) Tall, blond, 40 C) Tall, brown, skinny

13. How much did they take?

A) 540 pounds B) 5,400 pounds C) 514 pounds

14. How did they escape?

A) On foot B) By bike C) By car

 15. Who does he want to speak to?

A) Her husband B) Her colleagues C) Her boss

A framework for planning a listening skills lesson

Submitted by Anonymous on 10 February, 2010 - 11:34
Listening is one of the most challenging skills for our students to develop and yet also one of the
most important. By developing their ability to listen well we develop our students' ability to
become more independent learners, as by hearing accurately they are much more likely to be
able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and develop their own
vocabulary.

In this article I intend to outline a framework that can be used to design a listening lesson that
will develop your students' listening skills and look at some of the issues involved.

• The basic framework

• Pre-listening

• While listening

• Post-listening

• Applying the framework to a song

• Some conclusions

The basic framework

The basic framework on which you can construct a listening lesson can be divided into three
main stages.

• Pre-listening, during which we help our students prepare to listen.

• While listening, during which we help to focus their attention on the listening text and
guide the development of their understanding of it.

• Post-listening, during which we help our students integrate what they have learnt from
the text into their existing knowledge.
Pre-listening
There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text.
These are motivation, contextualisation, and preparation.

• Motivation
It is enormously important that before listening students are motivated to listen, so you
should try to select a text that they will find interesting and then design tasks that will
arouse your students' interest and curiosity.

• Contextualisation
When we listen in our everyday lives we hear language within its natural environment,
and that environment gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic
content we are likely to hear. Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is a very
unnatural process. The text has been taken from its original environment and we need
to design tasks that will help students to contextualise the listening and access their
existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text.

• Preparation
To do the task we set students while they listen there could be specific vocabulary or
expressions that students will need. It's vital that we cover this before they start to
listen as we want the challenge within the lesson to be an act of listening not of
understanding what they have to do.

While listening
When we listen to something in our everyday lives we do so for a reason. Students too need a
reason to listen that will focus their attention. For our students to really develop their listening
skills they will need to listen a number of times - three or four usually works quite well - as I've
found that the first time many students listen to a text they are nervous and have to tune in to
accents and the speed at which the people are speaking.

Ideally the listening tasks we design for them should guide them through the text and should be
graded so that the first listening task they do is quite easy and helps them to get a general
understanding of the text. Sometimes a single question at this stage will be enough, not putting
the students under too much pressure.

The second task for the second time students listen should demand a greater and more detailed
understanding of the text. Make sure though that the task doesn't demand too much of a
response. Writing long responses as they listen can be very demanding and is a separate skill in
itself, so keep the tasks to single words, ticking or some sort of graphical response.

The third listening task could just be a matter of checking their own answers from the second
task or could lead students towards some more subtle interpretations of the text.

Listening to a foreign language is a very intensive and demanding activity and for this reason I
think it's very important that students should have 'breathing' or 'thinking' space between
listenings. I usually get my students to compare their answers between listenings as this gives
them the chance not only to have a break from the listening, but also to check their
understanding with a peer and so reconsider before listening again.
Post-listening
There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take. These are reactions to the
content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features used to express the content.

• Reaction to the text

Of these two I find that tasks that focus students reaction to the content are most
important. Again this is something that we naturally do in our everyday lives. Because
we listen for a reason, there is generally a following reaction. This could be discussion
as a response to what we've heard - do they agree or disagree or even believe what
they have heard? - or it could be some kind of reuse of the information they have
heard.

• Analysis of language
The second of these two post-listening task types involves focusing students on
linguistic features of the text. This is important in terms of developing their knowledge
of language, but less so in terms of developing students' listening skills. It could take
the form of an analysis of verb forms from a script of the listening text or vocabulary or
collocation work. This is a good time to do form focused work as the students have
already developed an understanding of the text and so will find dealing with the forms
that express those meanings much easier.

Applying the framework to a song.

Here is an example of how you could use this framework to exploit a song:

• Pre-listening
o Students brainstorm kinds of songs
o Students describe one of their favourite songs and what they like about it
o Students predict some word or expressions that might be in a love song

• While listening
o Students listen and decide if the song is happy or sad
o Students listen again and order the lines or verses of the song
o Students listen again to check their answers or read a summary of the song
with errors in and correct them.

• Post-listening
o Focus on content

 Discuss what they liked / didn't like about the song

 Decide whether they would buy it / who they would buy it for

 Write a review of the song for a newspaper or website

 Write another verse for the song

o Focus on form

 Students look at the lyrics from the song and identify the verb forms
  Students find new words in the song and find out what they mean

 Students make notes of common collocations within the song

Conclusion
Within this article I have tried to describe a framework for listening development that could be
applied to any listening text. This isn't the only way to develop our students listening or to
structure a listening lesson, but it is a way that I have found to be effective and motivating for
my students.

Nik Peachey, teacher, trainer and materials writer, The British Council

An ELT Notebook
Hi - I've been a EFL teacher and teacher trainer for over thirty years now
and have lived and worked in a variety of European and Asian countries. I'm
the author of a number of published courses, and run a small language
training business in Italy. This blog is for EFL teachers of all levels of
experience. I hope teachers new to ELT will find some useful ideas, and that
both they and others will treat it as a forum for sharing opinions and
experiences.

Planning A Listening Lesson

In two previous articles I looked firstly at the

problems students have when listening to spoken English, and secondly
at two approaches to processing the spoken word : top-down and
bottom up listening. Briefly, bottom-up processing involves decoding
sounds to understand words, words to understand phrases and so on,
while top-down processing means interpreting the text in the light of
background knowledge – whether of the world or of the language – in
order to decide meaning, but if these terms are new to you I suggest
reading both previous articles before going on with this.
In the last article, I suggested that focusing exclusively on either a top-down
or bottom-up approach was insufficient when teaching listening, and that
listening lessons need to develop the students’ competence in both areas.
Apart from anything else, listening generally involves using both approaches
simultaneously, with each one compensating for the deficiencies of the other.

How might we do this in the classroom? In this article, I want to look at a

possible structure for a listening lesson which draws on both approaches. To
illustrate it I shall use a listening text which is available on the web and which
you can, if you wish, use with your own classes. The text comes from ESL
Podcards (1). It is a scripted monologue talking about the life of the actor,
Sean Connery and would be suitable for a class from about FCE level up. I
suggest you listen to it, without looking at the transcript, before reading on. As
soon as you finish, note down a) anything which was going on in your mind,
relative to understanding the text, as you listened, and b) what you remember
of the information given.

Listening to the text without the transcript is an essential part of planning a

listening lesson. Unless the text in question is on a topic which they know
more about and understand better than you, students are unlikely to be able
to retain any more of the text than you are. You therefore need to identify
what and how much this is. Similarly, if something causes a comprehension
problem for you, it is unrealistic to expect the students to understand it without
help. If possible listen to the recording in the same room and using the same
equipment as you will during the lesson – acoustics and equipment quality
can seriously affect the intelligibility of any recording.

As I listened to the text, I found myself first of all focusing on particular facts
which either I hadn’t known and which surprised me, or which I had known but
had forgotten. These were the details that I remembered after the first
listening. Even these however were hazy. Immediately after listening I told my
son that Connery had won the Mr Universe competition, convinced that that
was what I had heard.

As I listened, I also found myself consciously recognising that I hadn’t

understood certain words immediately, but that when I heard the following
words I was backtracking to fill in the gap. This happened for example with the
phrase And like in the first paragraph, which I initially decoded as unlike but
then corrected as I heard the rest of the sentence. It happened again with the
phrase he has been vociferous, where he has was an “acoustic blur” which I
only actually decoded after hearing been vociferous. This is the type of item
which you will only pick up if you listen to the recording before reading the
tapescript, as once you "know" what is there, you will automatically "hear" it.

Once you’ve listened to the text and analysed it in this way, you can then
listen again while you look at the transcript. This time you’re looking for items
that may not have been a problem for you, but which you know might be for
the students. This might be vocabulary items or structures which they don’t
know, pronunciation features or any of the features of spoken English which
were discussed in the first article.

As with any lesson, the activities you actually use will be determined by your
objectives. Having listened to the text I decided that my skills objectives (2) for
this text would be:

The students will :

a) use prediction of content to aid their gist understanding of the text.

b) practise extracting detailed information from the text.
c) improve their ability to understand various features of pronunciation such
as weak forms, elision and assimilation.

The first part of my lesson would focus would be Listening for Gist and would
focus on the first aim. During the Gist Listening stage the student is
encouraged to listen for overall understanding of the message of the text
without necessarily retaining all the minor details, or being able to repeat back
the exact words the speaker used.

• Warm-Up : This stage aims to activate the students knowledge of the

topic. Show the class two pictures of Sean Connery, one from the Bond days
and one more recent. Check the students recognise him, then divide them
into groups of about three and ask them to tell each other everything they
know about him. When they finish, elicit their ideas and write everything they
say on the board without commenting on its accuracy. If they have
contradictory ideas, both ideas go up.
 • Listening for Gist : Play the recording while the students listen to find
out :

a) which of the facts on the board are confirmed by the text

b) which are contradicted
c) if the text gives any other information

The students may need to hear the tape more than once to complete the
task - ask them after the first play if they'd like a repetition. Be careful
however not to accept a 'No' answer just from the stronger students. Check
with the weaker, less confident ones too and allow the listening phase to run
at their pace.

• Follow Up : After listening, the students discuss these questions in

pairs before their answers are elicited at full class level. If there is any
difference of opinion, the teacher again does not confirm the correct answer,
but writes both ideas up. S/he then replays the tape pausing after it mentions
each piece of information listed on the board. At this stage, the teacher’s
focus is (surreptitiously) on the students who got it wrong or didn’t hear the
information at all the first time. Often, once students know what they are
listening for, they are able to hear the answer accurately. If not, the teacher
puts a question mark next to the different ideas and tells the students they’ll
find out later.

At this point the students would seem to be at the same stage as I was after
my initial listening to the recording. However, there is a difference. Whilst I
may not have retained all the facts in the text, and while my memory may
even have distorted those which I focused on, as a native speaker I certainly
heard and understood all the other information which the tape contained at
the moment of listening. Understanding and retention are two different
processes, and need to be treated as such in the classroom. The next part of
the lesson therefore aims to check if the students can actually understand the
information given without asking them to retain it :
 • Listening for detailed information : the teacher gives out a
worksheet with questions such as : Connery is English; He wasn’t highly
educated; Acting was his first job; He won the Mr Universe competition; His
first job as an actor was in the theatre; and so on. Notice that the questions,
although calling for more detailed comprehension than in the first stage,
don’t call for understanding of any words, structures or pronunciation
features which I suspect the students won’t recognise – for example the
word undertaker, or the pronunciation features which I earlier identified as
liable to be problematic.

Students first discuss the questions in pairs, marking off any that have
already been answered and any that they think they remember the answer
to. The tape is then replayed once or twice and the students confirm, change
or complete their answers as they listen. The follow up is the same as for the
gist stage.

So far the lesson has focused on what the students can understand. In order
to improve their listening ability, however, I would argue that we also need to
focus on what they don’t understand, and improve their ability to recognise it
the next time. I’m not here talking about structure or vocabulary which they’ve
never met and therefore are unlikely to understand unless the text contains
clear contextual clues as to the meaning (in which case inferring meaning
from context would be a useful objective for a lesson using that text). But
rather about words or structures which they have met, but simply failed to
decode.

The text contains a number of examples of pronunciation features of

connected speech such as weak forms and assimilation. Some of these, as a
native speaker, I was able to decode immediately using a purely bottom-down
approach because I expected them to be pronounced that way – in the case
of most native speakers this is, of course, a non-conscious expectation. Two
examples of this are the pronunciation of would have been with the
weakening of both have and been and the assimilation in had to which
changes the /d/ to a /t/ sound. For others, like the examples of and like and
has been mentioned above, bottom-up decoding was insufficient even for me
and I had to use a top-down approach – deciding what must have been there
based on my recognition of what came next and my knowledge of the
language.
Students need to be encouraged to use this top-down approach, but we can
also help by ensuring that they recognise these pronunciation features so that
they too are expecting them. The final part of the lesson focuses on this aim :

• Listening for language : the teacher gives out a worksheet which

contains examples of the pronunciation features which s/he has predicted
will cause the students problems. In addition, if any of the answers to the
tasks in the first two stages are still unconfirmed (those with question marks
still against them) the teacher writes that section of text on the board
gapping the words which appear to be causing problems. Here is an
example of the items I might gap from the final paragraph of this text :

Throughout ………….. career ……………. been vociferous in his support

…………….independent Scotland …………. ambassador ……………….
country. He received a knighthood ……………. Queen Elizabeth in July
2000 ……….. so now we …………………….. Sir Sean Connery.

The students look at the gapped sentences and, in pairs, predict what they
think will be the missing words, leaving any which they can’t think of. The
teacher then replays the recording, this time pausing after each gap. The
students should have the chance to hear each phrase several times – repeat
it yourself two or three times keeping the same intonation, speed and
pronunciation features while they correct or complete the transcript. Elicit
what they think and write it on the board. If everyone has understood, go
straight to the next phrase. However, if some haven’t, put up alternative
versions without confirming or correcting and then repeat the phrase again a
few times – this time gradually slowing down and progressively clarifying the
pronunciation. Then once every student has understood, progressively
speed up again adding in the reduction. Add the sentence to the board and
ask students how each element is pronounced. You can also model
alternative versions with greater or lesser reductionsWrite the words in
phonological script to give them a written model of the pronunciation. In this
way, they are more likely to “expect” those words to be pronounced in that
way the next time they encounter them, and their bottom-up processing
abilities should gradually improve. (3)

What about other features of the text that might cause problems, such as
unknown vocabulary and structure? There are various items in this text which
I wouldn’t necessarily expect students to know - undertaker, reservations,
suave, tight, tall order, tuxedo, suggested that he audition etc. But none of
them really blocks comprehension of the text and I have chosen here not to
focus on them – indeed my tasks were designed so as to avoid them. Keep in
mind that you can’t do everything every single time. Select the objectives
which seem most important and design activities to focus on those.

However, by the end of the lesson many students want to have understood
everything, and I would always finish by handing out the transcript and letting
students listen again while they follow it. They would then have the chance to
ask about the meaning of any words or expressions which they did not fully
understand.

Notes

1. A note about the choice of the text. I was not, in this instance looking for
authentic material – I’ll write another time about using authentic material in the
classroom. My first reason for choosing this text was that it is freely available
on the web and can be accessed by everyone – had I chosen a text from a
coursebook, it would have been harder for those people not using that book to
check what I was talking about. I also discarded anything from the web which
is video-based as not everyone has a computer in the classroom – podcasts
can either be listened to straight from the computer or downloaded – and
which did not provide a transcript. For the purposes of this article, I would
have preferred to use a dialogue than a monologue, but couldn’t find anything
which met all those criteria. If you know of anything suitable, please leave a
comment with the web address.

Notice also that this text has a primarily transactional purpose – its main aim
is to convey information. The features which it contains are therefore different
from those which would be contained in a text which was primarily
interactional in intent – ie which focused mainly on establishing or promoting
the relationship between the speakers.

The lesson described is therefore one which is suitable for a primarily

transactional, audio-only, monologue. Change any of those parameters and
both the objectives of the lesson and, consequently the activities used, might
change.
2. When teaching listening, which can so easily cause demotivation for
students, I think it is important that the teacher also builds affective objectives
into each sequence of activities. These will affect not only what is done but,
even more importantly, how it is done. Discussion of this aspect would,
however, make this article too long and detract from the other points. I will
therefore come back and analyses this lesson again, from this point of view, in
a future article Do they need to understand every word? For now, bear in
mind that the rationale for how the various stages are carried out will often lie
in this area.

3. This type of bottom-up work can also usefully be done in dedicated

phonology lessons and I will look at this in detail in the next article.

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Listening Lesson Plan

Getting the Main Ideas

Teacher: Paul Mason

Proficiency level: A group of advanced ESL learners who are preparing to enter
college classrooms.
Date of presentation: October 14, 1999

OBJECTIVES

• Students will be able to outline the main ideas of a lecture.

• Students will understand the importance of thinking about the topic before
hand (mental preparation)

MATERIALS:

• Video tapes of two college lectures.

• A list of pre-questions related to one of the lectures.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES:

Warm-up: Show comic strip of the classroom of students who have no idea what the
teacher is talking about but don't ask the professor. Ask the students if they have ever
had this experience or a similar experience. Discuss this topic for 5 minutes.

Presentation:

1. Pass out pre-questions. These questions go with the first lecture. First tell the
students the topic of the lecture so that they can start thinking about the topic
before they see the lecture. Read the pre-questions together. As the students
view the first lecture they will answer the pre-questions. These questions will
be aimed at identifying the important points of the lecture. You can rewind the
tape at problem areas so that the students can listen again. As a form
 evaluation, go over the answers to the pre-questions. As part of the discussion
you should write the topic and main points on the board in outline form. 20-25
minutes
2. For the second video you will not have pre-questions and you will give them a
false topic for the lecture. As students listen they will write down the main
point of the article and any important details. What happened, did the
expectation of a different topic effect how easy it was to get the main points of
the article. Why? Were they looking for different kinds of information. As part
of the discussion you should write down the topic and main points in outline
form on the board. 10-15 minutes.
3. Now it is time for discussion. Ask questions like:
o How can knowing the topic help to prepare you to get the main ideas
from a professor's lecture or a talk at church or a news article etc.?
o Were the pre-questions helpful?
o How will trying to anticipate questions about the topic help you
understand the lecture?

Stress the importance of mental preparation. Discussion: 15-20 minutes.

Evaluation:Have the students attend a specific lecture or put several copies of a video
taped lecture on reserve in the HLRC. Tell the students the topic of the lecture and
discuss possible questions related to that topic. Have the students attend the lecture or
view the video and write down in outline form the main idea and supporting ideas
from the speaker's presentation. 5 minutes.

SELF-EVALUATION:

In the original version of this lesson plan I stated that the object of this lesson was to
have the students be able to understand the topic and main points of a lecture. I then
proceeded to have the students listen to a news article on tape. The discrepancy was
quickly noted by the other students in the class when I presented the lesson. In this
revised version of the lesson I have kept the objective consistent with the type of
discourse being used. This change made several extensions of this lesson apparent. It
would be easy to adapt this lesson to different discourse styles. Instead of a lecture
you may want to have the objective be for the student to be able to understand the
main points of a news program on tv or a talk in church. These require many of the
same skills but may also have some skills specific to their genre of discourse.

One thing that might help the students as they listen to a lecture on a subject with
which they are not familiar would be to provide a list of new vocabulary. This
vocabulary will become meaningful when the students hea it in context. You may also
want to discuss how generating a list of vocabulary words might help to prepare them
mentally for the lecture they are about to hear. The students may want to include this
as part of their preparation for other lectures they attend.

I also realized that the lesson was somewhat general, without any specific topics for
the lectures or specific pre-questions. I felt that It was good to leave the specific topics
or questions open to the instructor. The instructor will have a good idea of the needs
and interests of his students. With this insight the teacher will be able to choose
lectures or articles that will be intrinsically motivating to the students in that particular
class.

I think that the overall Idea for this lesson is a good one that can be made relevant to
the students own situations. It could also be incorporated into a larger thematic unit. I
think that the strength of this lesson is its flexibility.

Listen for Specific Information

Teacher: Keri Slade

Date of Presentation: November 5, 1996

Objective:

• To encourage students' careful listening for specific information.

• Given directions for two listening activities students will be able to listen and
respond to pertinent details in the speech stream with 90% accuracy.

Materials:

• Numbers at Play book

• Colored picture cards
• Writing materials

Warm-Up:

• Simon Says

Intro:

• Ask Ss: How did you know what to do in the game?

• Help guide toward the "we listened" answer. Ask Ss: What did you listen
to/for?
Explain:
An important part of listening is listening for specific information (the things you
need to know to do). That's what we'll be practicing in today's lesson.

Teaching:
For example, if I ask you to find a specific number, what do you need to listen for in
my directions? (Which number.) Look at this picture (Numbers in Love). Where is the
number eight? Number four? What if I make the directions trickier? T reads: "Start at
the top and follow me down the steps to number three." What number should you
find? (Number three.) Where is the number three? What number is above the number
three?

Activity #1:

Split class into small groups (as many as 5). Pass out picture cards to each group. T
reads in non-numerical order. Ss listen for which number to find, then choose the
appropriate picture. T chooses a group (i.e. fastest group to hold up correct card) to
explain which card is correct and why. Eventually switch and have Ss read the
directions; groups continue to play.

Now that we've practiced listening for numbers, we'll practice listening for truth. I
will read three sentences. One of the sentences is true. The other two are lies (they are
not true). Choose which sentence is true by raising your hand high when you hear it.
The group who chooses the true sentence first wins. (May be played for points if
appropriate.)

Activity #2:
T gives example:
1. Apples are blue.
2. Oranges are pink.
3.Bananas are yellow.

Ss respond by raising hands. T reinforces and repeats correct answer.

Now we'll play for real.

1. Candy is sweet.
2. Ice cream is salty.
3. Chocolate is sour.

1. Spaghetti is for drinking.

2. A pillow is for driving.
3. Books are for reading.
1. The number 4 is more than 5.
2. The number 6 is less than 10.
3. The number 2 is the same as 3.

1. Birds can dance.

2. Birds can fly.
3. Birds can drive a car.

Eventually hand out 3+ index cards and have students create (write) their own lies--
and truth! Ss should write 1 truth and 2 lies each. Switch and let Ss read from their
cards: continue to play in groups.

Evaluation:T monitors Ss' responses throughout the two activities

in an on-going, informal manner. Ss should respond with
90% accuracy.

Listening Comprehension - Newspaper Articles

Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996

From: "Erik Myrup (SM 1996)"

Skill: Listening Comprehension

Level of Students: Advanced

Objectives:

1. Students should be able to understand the main points of the Deseret News article
with 80% accuracy.
2. Students should master the skill of identifying the verb(s) of each phrase to aid in
listening comprehension (with 80% accuracy).

Materials:

• Cassette tape containing a Deseret News article and a USA Today article (both
shortened and slightly modified for pedagogical reasons).
• Typed transcript of both articles.
• Tape player.
• Prepared key-word pictures and strips of paper for Deseret News article.
• Fill-in-the-blank verb activity for Deseret News article.
• Comprehension activity (on paper) for Deseret News article. Find the verb
activity for USA Today article.

Time:Main Ideas:Presentation:

:00-:08
Give students a framework in which to understand the new material. Discuss with
students the campaign which is currently going on. Ask them if they have feelings of
support for one candidate or the other. If they are unaware of the campaign and
upcoming election, tell them when the election is, who is running, what they stand for.
Ask the students to imagine that they were running against Bill Clinton for president.
Ask them what kind of arguments they would use against the president to win the
support of the people. If they don't have any ideas, suggest that they might say that he
is raising taxes too much, that he is dishonest, or that he doesn't listen to the American
people. (These are just examples.)

Tell the students that the article they are about to read gives the arguments Bob Dole
will use against the president to win the support of the people.

:08-:16

Help students to understand key vocabulary words and phrases.Use the key-word
pictures and strips of paper to teach the following vocabulary words:

to promise
to keep his word
broken promises
debate
aggressive
trailing
to head into
unethical behavior
to demonstrate
180 degrees

:16-:18

Familiarize students with the new material.State and briefly explain the title of the
Deseret News article, "Dole Vows to Get More Aggressive."

Let the students listen to the taped article one time to familiarize themselves with it.

Then, put the vocabulary pictures and strips of paper away.

:18-:24

Introduce concept of identifying verbs to students, give them some warm-up

practice.Explain to students the following:

Identifying the verbs can be a helpful skill in listening comprehension. By identifying

the verb(s) of each sentence, you have given yourself focal points for understanding
meaning. After identifying each verb(s) you can then identify the subject and the
object of the verb, or in other words, who did it, and who/what it was done to. Pass
out to students the verb fill-in-the- blanks activity for the Deseret News article.
Instruct students to listen carefully, and fill in the missing words, which are the verbs
of each sentence. Play the tape once through, pausing for 20 seconds between
paragraphs to allow students adequate time. Listen to the tape more than once if
necessary. :24-:36Give students practice in identifying the subject and object that
belong to each verb, and help them understand the main points of the article.Go
through the answers to the fill-in-the- blank verb activity. For each verb that students
identify, ask them to identify the subject and the object (they may look at their activity
(a partial transcript) to do so).

After completing each paragraph, ask students to cover their activity sheets and tell
you in their own words what the main idea of the paragraph is. (Review vocabulary
words/phrases as needed to aid students in comprehension. Show the vocabulary
pictures and strips of paper to students again as needed. Then, put them away.) Then,
have students uncover their activity sheets and proceed to the next paragraph, until the
activity is completed.

:36-:44

Check students' listening comprehension.Ask students to hand in their fill-in-the-

blank verb activity.

Pass out comprehension questions (for Deseret News article). Have students read over
the questions one time. Tell them you will play the taped article through twice,
stopping at each paragraph, and they should use what they hear to answer the
comprehension questions. Play the taped article through twice, stopping for 20
seconds at the end of each paragraph. Then, collect completed comprehension
questions from students. (These should be completed with 80% accuracy for
Objective1 to be fulfilled.)

:44-:50

Check students' ability to identify verbs to aid comprehension.Tell students that you
will now play a taped article that they have never heard before (USA Today article).
Their task is to identify and write down the verbs in each sentence.

Pass out fill-in-the-blank verbs activity for this article. (This should be completed
with 80% accuracy for Objective 2 to be fulfilled.) Play the taped USA Today article
through one time, stopping at the end of each sentence to allow adequate time.

If time, have students correct their own papers and then hand them in. If not, collect
their papers.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY FOR DESERET NEWS ARTICLE

Answer the following questions:

1. Has the final debate between Bob Dole and Bill Clinton already taken place?

2. What is Bob Dole's plan for confronting Clinton in the final debate?

3. Who is currently winning nationally, Bob Dole or Bill Clinton?

4. "He promises you one thing and then does something 180 degrees different."
Is this an example of "broken promises" or of "unethical behavior"? Explain.

5. What is/are Bob Dole's argument(s) against Bill Clinton?

DOLE VOWS TO GET MORE AGGRESSIVE

--Deseret News October 14, 1996 (shortened and slightly modified for pedagogical
reasons)

As he prepares for his final debate with President Clinton, Bob Dole promises to be
more aggressive in questioning the president about broken promises and unethical
behavior.

Republican nominee Bob Dole heads into the debate trailing Clinton nationally and in
most of the big battleground states -- California, New Jersey and Missouri among
them.

"I want to demonstrate he doesn't keep his word -- he doesn't keep his word," Dole
said. "He promises you one thing and then does something 180 degrees different." Fill
in the blanks with the proper verbs as you hear them.

DOLE VOWS TO GET MORE AGGRESSIVE

--Deseret News October 14, 1996 (shortened and slightly modified for pedagogical
reasons)

As he for his final debate with President Clinton, Bob Dole to more aggressive in the
president about broken promises and unethical behavior. Republican nominee Bob
Dole into the debate Clinton nationally and in most of the big battleground states --
California, New Jersey and Missouri among them. "I want to he doesn't keep his word
-- he doesn't his word," Dole "He you one thing and then something 180 degrees
different." Fill in the blanks with the verbs you hear in each of the following
sentences.

MOTOR-VOTER LAW SIGNS UP NINE MILLION

--USA Today October 14, 1996 (shortened and slightly modified for pedagogical
reasons)

Sentence One: "Almost 9 million . . . . . . . . . . . . (effect). . ." Sentence Two: "The

League of . . . . . . (will) . . . . . ." Sentence Three: "Contrary to fears. . .(did not) . . ."
Sentence Four: "The study . . . . . . . . . . . . "

MOTOR-VOTER LAW SIGNS UP NINE MILLION

--USA Today October 14, 1996 (shortened and slightly modified for pedagogical
reasons)

Almost 9 million Americans registered to vote when they received or renewed their
drivers licenses under the motor-voter law that took effect in January 1995, according
to a recent study.
The League of Women Voters estimates that another 6 million will register at motor
vehicle agencies by the end of the year, making 1995-1996 the largest increase in
voter registration in any two-year period of U.S. history.

Contrary to fears of Republicans, the motor-voter law did not produce major
registration gains for Democrats. The study estimates that Democratic registration fell
from 50% to 49%, Republican registration stayed at 34%, and independent and minor
parties gained from 16% to 17%.

Understanding Reduced Forms of Words

Teacher: Janette Priddis

Proficiency level: High Intermediate/Low Advanced
Date of presentation: October 14, 1999

OBJECTIVES

• Help students recognize reduced forms of words.

• Help students understand and identify the words being reduced

MATERIALS:

• Tape recorder
• Tape with sample sentences, and tape with (radio) advertisement
• Chalkboard

TEACHING ACTIVITIES:

Warm-up: Bring in a radio advertisement, or an ad from somewhere else, and play it

for the class. Ask them what is being sold, and some questions about the ad you
picked. Talk about any difficulties they have in understanding it. Explain that the
lesson today will help them with their listening skills.

Intro: Talk to the class about situations they've been in where they couldn't
understand what the person has said because it either sounded different from what
they had learned, or the person spoke too quickly. If they can't think of any, give them
some suggestions to help them out.

• Djeetyet?
• Whattyaya want?
• Wanna come?
• Who'd he been to see?
• Who'd he like to see?
Discuss how difficult it is to understand native speakers when they talk using reduced
forms. Also discuss situations where contractions are used.

Instruction: Explain what reduced forms are and why they occur in English. Then get
some examples and go over some of the most common ones such as "wanna", "I'd",
"‘n", "what's". Show the areas that were reduced and then write the first few words of
the sentences on the board. Give a couple examples, and then have the students pick
out the reduced word and tell what it is. Also give examples of contractions and show
how some contractions have the same reduced sound, but are different words. For
example:

• I'd like to see him.

• I'd been to visit my friend.

Give the students a chance to get more familiar with reduced forms and then check to
see how well they understand using the following activity/test.

Activity: Have each student take out a piece of paper. Explain to them that they will
be listening to some sentences like the ones they have just been practicing. They need
to identify and write down on the paper the full form of the second word of each
sentence that they hear. For example, if they hear "Whadja do yesterday?" Then they
would write down the word "did." There are 50 sentences for them to listen to. None
of them are repeated. For this activity, the teacher can choose to either do all the
sentence and then answer them at the end, or else stop after every sentence and
discuss it. Ask one student what he got and then ask if everyone else got the same
answer. If there are any differences, discuss them and listen to the sentence over. Help
them out until they figure out the correct answer.

List of sentences:

1. Jess's gone over the accounts already.

2. Just's not right for him to work all night.
3. He's finished with the first test, isn't he?
4. This's got to be the best we've ever done.
5. Where's there a pharmacy in this part of town?
6. There's got to be a better way to do this.
7. Just's I thought; he's not coming.
8. What's been done to improve the class?
9. Whose dancing ‘ll be judged best?
10. Gonna get here for the soccer match?
11. Cup o' coffee when you have a minute?
12. Coulda been the postman ringing the doorbell.
13. Wanna rain like the one we had last week?
14. Wanna go with me to the movies tonight?
15. What a nice drink of orange juice that was.
16. What ‘n old fool he is to say such a thing.
17. Justice ‘n peace: that's what we need.
18. This ‘n ‘ll do the job all right.
19. What ‘n the name of heaven are you doing?
20. Want ‘n interesting book to read?
 21. John ‘n Nancy ‘re coming to the party tonight.
22. Give ‘em a few days and they'll be back.
23. Give ‘im five minutes and if he doesn't come, leave ‘im.
24. Ahmana see ‘im in just two weeks.
25. Where ‘m I gonna get five thousand dollars?
26. How ‘ll he ever get finished in time to go at noon?
27. When sh' we tell him to finish the schedule?
28. Izzyer brother coming for the graduation?
29. Wouldja like to have the party at my house?
30. Let cher brother take your place if you can't come.
31. So there ‘re no more books in the storeroom.
32. So they're gonna come after all.
33. Is their car the one that was in an accident?
34. What they're saying shouldn't be repeated.
35. Bill ‘r Ralph ‘ll come, but the others can't.
36. Whose ‘re those keys on the table?
37. Saw ‘er come in just a minute ago.
38. D' he say what time we're supposed to meet tonight?
39. Willy said just what I told him to.
40. Will ‘e say what I told him to?
41. Here ‘t seems like we're always busy doing something.
42. Here ‘t headquarters it seems like we're always busy.
43. How'd he ever be able to get here in time?
44. Who'd he been to see yesterday?
45. Who ‘da thought he'd ever remember her?
46. What ‘d he done that made the judge so angry?
47. What ‘d he do all day at the library?
48. Where ‘d you like to go on your vacation?
49. Whattaya think ‘ll happen to the new president?
50. 'Zat a copy of the original document?

Conclusion:Ask the students about their experience. Did they understand? What were
some trouble areas? If they had any problems, go over a couple examples for them.
Encourage them to listen to roommates, friends, TV shows, or movies and try to pick
out some examples to bring into class next time.

SELF-EVALUATION:
I tried to teach this to my classmates to practice. It went ok, but it is hard to know
exactly how it will work in a real ESL setting because they can all speak English. I
was a little intimidated during my teaching and discovered several areas I could
improve on. I also got some good feedback They suggested that I might consider
stopping between each sentence to discuss it because they were pretty fast. The speed
of talking was good, but the students might need a little more time to think about the
answer. Also, by discussing each sentence, it would help the students to see if they
were really understanding or not. I think this is a good activity to help ESL students
focus on an area they might have difficulty with in every day speech.