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Carol D. CampellESL
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Kean University (Campell) Speaking/Listening Practice
Strategies for improving listening and speaking English. A. Real time listening/speaking . 1. Call for directions, information on a specific program, information to purchase something. Write down what you hear. Call back and verify what you heard and recorded earlier. Review specific compensation strategies you used to get through the conversation. Distinguish like sounding words such as fifteen and fifty 2. Listen to a conversation at the library, or in class. Record what you hear. 3. In the elevator, ask for the time, directions to a building. What did you do to get through the conversation? Did you smile as if to convey confidence? Use gestures? 4. Select an article from The New York Times or Wall Street Journal. Read it aloud. Attend to paralanguage such as pitch, rhythm, intonation, pace and r stress. Read it several times so you can hear fluency. 5. Tape record a conversation with a friend. Listen and compare voices, gaps, pronunciation, other paralanguage. How did the conversation begin and end? What grammar point are you currently working on? See if you can monitor that point on the tape. For example, if you are working on number agreement (singular vs. plural or third person singular) how many times did you hear S? 6. Evaluate a tape recording of a friend’s voice against the Bilingual communication checklist or a similar evaluation form. 7. Listen to a professor talking with/to another student in class. Record what you hear.
B. Other listening/speaking 1. Take a book with audio tape (unabridged, that is the complete book). You can do several things: · Read text and then listen. · Listen and then read. · Read and listen together. 2. Prepare a speech on a topic you are interested in or feel passionate about (the more controversial, the more passionate). Decide in advance you are going to attend to for example, S. Record the speech and when you play it back, listen for S. 3. After listening to a lecture and taking notes, give the lecture back. 4. Watch a movie. Prepare a talk about how the movie relates to your life, career, etc. 5. Using the LASSI handout, talk about anxiety, concentration, information processing, attitude, etc. especially as they relate to language learning 6. Drill aloud minimal pairs or a grammar pattern. Ship/sheep; 7. Prepare a lecture on how to present a lecture or any topic! |