Practicing your listening skills
Continuing on from the last post earlier this week on improving your listening skills, here’s another video for you to watch and listen to. It’s a very short video from the BBC on Michelle Obama addressing a gathering of school children in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She tells them “We expect great things from you.”
The aim is not to understand every single word but to understand the gist of what she is saying, build your vocabulary and continue practicing your listening skills.
Remember that continuity is key to effective learning, so listen as often as you can to videos and audios in English. The more you practice, the more you’ll improve!
Here we are!
Title: Michelle Obama tells Northern Ireland teens ‘we expect great things’
Source: BBC news
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22934790
Length: 1 minute 52 seconds
Instructions:
- Click on the link and listen to the video. Write down any words you hear without stopping the video. Don’t worry if you only write down 2 or 3 words the first time.
- Listen again and add more words to your list. Do it a third time, if you want to.
- Here are some keywords and expressions from the video:
An open mind – find solutions – a choice to make – advantages and opportunities – the kind of world – never felt more optimistic – conflicts and prejudices – a brighter future – great things.
Listen again. What do each of the words or expressions refer to?
- Write brief sentences using the keywords.
- Write a paragraph describing what you heard (this is also good practice for your writing skills!).
- Review the new vocabulary you have found by searching for and reading an article related to the topic.
Enjoy learning!
