Scribd
Upload
243 views2 pages

Lectures

This document provides guidance on preparing for and taking notes during lectures. It includes exercises to help learn how to identify key information from lectures and practice note-taking skills. Sample lecture notes are analyzed to demonstrate focusing on main ideas. Abbreviations that students may use in notes are presented, such as "infl." for inflation. Symbols used in note-taking are explained, like upward and downward arrows. An excerpt from an economics lecture is previewed to familiarize listeners with topic-specific vocabulary before listening.

Uploaded by

Julia N
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
243 views2 pages

Lectures

This document provides guidance on preparing for and taking notes during lectures. It includes exercises to help learn how to identify key information from lectures and practice note-taking skills. Sample lecture notes are analyzed to demonstrate focusing on main ideas. Abbreviations that students may use in notes are presented, such as "infl." for inflation. Symbols used in note-taking are explained, like upward and downward arrows. An excerpt from an economics lecture is previewed to familiarize listeners with topic-specific vocabulary before listening.

Uploaded by

Julia N
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

LECTURES

During this meeting you will


• learn how to prepare to listen to a lecture or a longer speech in a foreign language
• practise listening and taking notes
1. Work in pairs. Answer the question.
How is a lecture different from other forms of speaking?
2. Listen to two lecturers speaking about lecturing, and complete the dialogue.
'Well, I've been 1) lecturing for about 40 years now, and it's changed a lot. I remember my first lecture; it was me, the
2) _................................................. and about 100 students. It was a bit of a scary experience. I've seen lots of changes
since then, mainly when 3) ……………………… were introduced. We started with 4) …………………………… where I
would project slides so that the students could see them, to PowerPoint presentations which everyone uses, and now finally
to 5) ………………………………… . I'm a professor in philosophy, but sometimes I feel like a professor of technology!'

'I lecture in pharmacy at the local university. The 6) ……………………………….. has room for about 60 students. It's
got a 7) ………………………………. at the front, but I don't like to use it. I always try to make the lecture interesting. I
bring in 8) …………………………………. to help students make 9) ……………………………….._. There isn't time for
10)………………………………….. in the lectures. Lectures are more like 11) ……………………………. , but students
can always bring questions to their 12) _______________________ instead.'
3. Choose a word from your answers and match the word to its definition.
1 discussion when people talk about something, often in order to reach a decision
2__________________ a large flat, thin, rectangular piece of wood used for writing on
3__________________ a paper containing a summary of a lecture
4__________________ a regular meeting between a member of the teaching staff and one or several students for
discussion of a subject that is being studied
5__________________ a large touch-sensitive screen connected to a computer and a digital projector, used for teaching
in the classroom
6__________________ a high sloping desk for notes when giving a lecture
7__________________ a flat vertical surface on which pictures or words are shown
8__________________ a machine that has a light inside it and makes the writing or pictures on a sheet or piece of plastic
appear on a screen or wall
9__________________ a room in a university or college where lectures are given
10__________________ something you write down to remind yourself of something
11__________________ a formal talk to show and explain an idea to an audience
4. Why can listening to lectures in English be difficult?
5. Look at the solutions in the table and match them to the problems (A-D).
A Problems with subject specific vocabulary. C Problems with losing the path of the lecture.
B Problems with general understanding. D Problems understanding sections of the lecture .
Solutions Problems
1 Record a lecture.
Swap notes with another student to check understanding.
Meet with fellow students to discuss the key point of the lecture.
2 Listen to long stretches of speech like the radio or online tasks.
Make sure you reposition yourself to keep focusing.
Sit up straight.
3 Highlight in your notes where you have got lost or not understood, then complete the
notes later with help.
Remember that you do not need to write down every word.
4 Find out lecture topic beforehand.
Find and translate key terms.
Read around the topic of the lecture before you go.
6. What is the function of the phrases below? Put them into the correct category:
A) giving example B) giving definition C) giving an explanation
X is the term for… What is meant by X is… Why is it important to…? Well,…
In other words, … Think about… such as…
How does X work? Let me explain what I mean by… for instance…
To put it another way… like…
Let me clarify… Let’s take X as an example.

Lectures, learn listening and note-taking skills


English for academic study: Listening
7. Note – taking. Listen to the recording and read the text at the same time.
So Britain’s roads, and especially those in the south-east, are overcrowded. There are too many cars, and at
particular times of the day and at particular places, traffic is either very slow or at a standstill. Now this has
a number of effects. Firstly, there is the economic affect, all the time wasted in traffic jams, which means a loss of
productivity. Then, there’s the environment effect. Cars produce a lot of pollution, which damages the local
environment, but also contributes to global warming. And there’s also the effect on people’s health. In addition to
the poor air quality and the damage this causes to people’s lungs, the stress of being stuck in traffic each day leads
to a higher risk of heart disease.
8. Look at the following notes taken by a student during a lecture. Then answer the questions below.

a)Why has the student chosen this information to note down?


b)Would you change anything?
c)Are the notes clear? When the student reads the notes a week later, will s/he be able to understand them?
d)What techniques did the student use to:
• make sure the notes are clear?
• save time?
9. Look at how this student has focused on the key ideas to produce their notes.

10. Look at the examples of abbreviations that an economics student used. What do you think they stand for?
Do you use any abbreviations?
infl. _____________ invest. _____________ recess. _____________
bus. _____________ org. _____________ min. _____________
11. What do you think the following symbols refer to?
Symbol Meaning Symbol Meaning
↑ increase, rise, go up ≠
↓ €
→ ?
← !
≥
12. You are going to hear an extract from a lecture on language learning. The lecturer is referring to a source
text (Littlewood, 1992) which provides an analysis of the purpose of general education.
Extract 1
3 purposes of education (Littlewood, 1992)
Extract 2
Vocabulary inflation anchored devalue float
early 70s econ. boom → infl. in world econ.

Lectures, learn listening and note-taking skills


English for academic study: Listening

You might also like