1. Write a list of listening skills that you learned about from each of the units that we studied. Find them on - page 9, page 35, page 58, page 82, page 107.
1)Identifying main ideas: when I hear those phrases like Today I'm going to talk about.... So, that means...., I can catch the main ideas following the phrase.
2)Making inferences: If I am not sure whether I catch the point, I can use those phrases to double check.
3)Listening for examples: In an interview or a lecture, sometimes I find it hard to catch the main idea only based on one sentence, so by listening for examples provided by speakers, I can understand main concepts better.
4)Recognizing appositives that explain: By recognizing appositives, I can understand the meaning of words.
5)Organizing notes with a T-chart: It's a form to take notes. Because the lecture sometimes go too fast, I can put the same things in the same categories and reorganize the note later.
2. Which listening skill (mentioned above) did you find the most valuable? Why?
I think listening for examples is the most valuable listening skill. In an interview, a lecture or a phone interview, sometimes I find it hard to catch the main idea or the concepts that speakers want to express because they go too fast or they are not clear enough. Speakers may provide some examples with different and simple explanations so that listeners can realize the idea. Therefore, I always count on this listening skill to quickly get back to the core idea and understand key points better.
3. What are some ways in which your listening in English has improved this semester?
First of all, I think the best part of improvement which is worth mentioning is that I become more aware of English. When I happen to hear English lectures, talk shows or songs, I would try to look into the details of contents instead of just going in one ear and out the other. Besides, I would also try to make the summary to see if I really understand the whole thing.
On the other hand, I think the greatest improvement is that I can usually take the efficient notes. I know what are important key points I have to pick and find out the best form for myself to take the notes.
4. What are some challenges that you still face in your English listening? How do you plan to overcome these challenges?
Obviously, I think I am not steady enough to take notes each time perfectly. What I mean is that how great my notes are depends mainly on my state. Somehow I just hardly listen to lectures and radio in interviews or I can only take the great notes in broad American English accent which speaks very clearly and not so fast. Besides, I can't switch with ease in different accents and even can't get the main idea. For example, although we have listened to the audio book of Slum dog millionaire for almost the semester, I still find it hard to get used to the Indian accent. Finally, I think I still easy to be distracted from the lecture if it lasts longer than 10 minutes.
I think the best way to learn and improve English is by keeping practicing. There is no short cut for learning English. I know that I still have to listen to different kinds of English things outside the class and try to listen to different topics of lectures so that I can enhance the familiarity with vocabularies in various fields.
5. Based on your experience with listening to many different types of activities in English this semester (listening to radio reports, radio interviews, TED talks, the audio book, a song, etc.), what is the most efficient way that you can train yourself to improve your English listening on your own? Explain your answer.
For me, I always like to train myself by listening to a song. In this way, I can remember vocabularies and the way of using words easily. However, I think this way is limited and can't count on it too much. If I want to improve English listening skill, I think I still have to listen to more formal learning materials. Among those English learning resources, I think the audio book will be my best choice. The length of it is appropriate for me and the story seems more interesting and entertaining, but sometimes I would like to listen to TED talks, for it is more like the way the English speakers speak in their daily lives and it trained a lot for listening skill.
