A very interesting discussion on lingusitic aspects. When I prepared to teach English in China I went through a rough 30-day boot camp to earn a "CELTA" certificate from Cambridge University and recall that they would establish different learning objectives for listening exercises. Usually the first listening exercise was "Listening for Gist" with the objective not being to understand every word but just to determine the general subject of what was being discussed. Now, this allows for being able to feel that an objective can be accomplished and also to feel stretched as one pushes into more expanded subject areas and faster talking speeds. A later repetition of the listening exercise would then be used as an exercise to listen for selected vocabulary words or to listen for the answer(s) to pre designated questions about the subject matter. I am sure Ken is familiar with these approaches. The main point is to estabish achievable yet challenging objectives. Are you listening as a fluency exercise (throw me in the deep water at street speed to see if I can accomplish a functional objective, e.g. get my hair cut) or are you listening as an accuracy exercise (e.g. did I understand every word? --Can I answer questions to display my comprehension?
My two cents
Great Site CP!
user28623 aka Mandarin Moose
Posted on: Chinese Wedding Customs
May 18, 2007 at 7:08 PMA very interesting discussion on lingusitic aspects. When I prepared to teach English in China I went through a rough 30-day boot camp to earn a "CELTA" certificate from Cambridge University and recall that they would establish different learning objectives for listening exercises. Usually the first listening exercise was "Listening for Gist" with the objective not being to understand every word but just to determine the general subject of what was being discussed. Now, this allows for being able to feel that an objective can be accomplished and also to feel stretched as one pushes into more expanded subject areas and faster talking speeds. A later repetition of the listening exercise would then be used as an exercise to listen for selected vocabulary words or to listen for the answer(s) to pre designated questions about the subject matter. I am sure Ken is familiar with these approaches. The main point is to estabish achievable yet challenging objectives. Are you listening as a fluency exercise (throw me in the deep water at street speed to see if I can accomplish a functional objective, e.g. get my hair cut) or are you listening as an accuracy exercise (e.g. did I understand every word? --Can I answer questions to display my comprehension? My two cents Great Site CP! user28623 aka Mandarin Moose