Some tips for listening skills development
1. Be an active learner.
If an unfamiliar phrase or usage comes up in a listening. Actively look it up. Write it down.
2. Prepare
Before listening to something, what can you do to get some orientation?
Read the listening questions carefully - they usually tell you a lot about what you're going to hear.
3. Contextualise
Try to think about the context of the conversation you're listening to. Who is speaking to whom? Where are they? Why are they talking?
4. Slow it down
Sometimes you just need more time. Use the slower speed onYouTube videos to slow the speech down. Or just use the pause button. Stop every few sentences and think about what they're saying.
5. Recycle
Listen multiple times. It's amazing how much language there is to learn in just one listening exercise. Also, go back to something a week or two later and relisten to it. This is really satisfying and motivating in my experience because you realise you have retained a lot of information and you can manage what was a challenging listen much better.
6. Interact
Be bold. Listen and speak at the same time. Find someone who is clearly better at the language than you are and dare to have a full conversation with them. Make lots of eye contact. As you chat, keep asking them to explain words they use that you don't completely understand or find difficult to hear. Ask them to repeat things. Ask them to say something again but slower. Ask them if there's a better word or phrase you could use.
Four useful resources for self-study:
Helps you improve at hearing the individual words in each sentence.
Helps you understand things in a specific situation (family conversation, work conversation, talking to a new person etc...)
Use your musical brain to unblock your word brain.
Cambridge FCE listening exam practice
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