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The aim of this topic area is to practise listening for specific
information to improve listening skills.
The other area that might help learners improve their listening
skills is 'In
the news'. Each of the news stories in this section
has an audio reading and there is a whole section devoted to quizzes
based on news audio and video stories.
In this section you'll find:
Listening for specific information - activity
This is a simple telephone answer machine interface. There are
6 messages on the answer machine and learners can move between
them using 'stop', 'play', 'pause' and 'arrow skip' buttons. The
activity can be played in two different ways - learners can listen
for specific information to answer questions, or they can choose
to listen for the words to fill the gaps.
Learners will need to print out one of the question sheets before
starting the game. This can be done from the activity index page,
or from the activity itself. Answer sheets also need to be printed.
The link to access the answers will appear once learners have
heard the last answer machine message (message 6), or you can
print them out from the link below.
Transcript
of answer machine messages
Answers
for question sheet
Answers
for gap-fill sheet
Please do tell us what you think of this activity at  skillswise.feedback@bbc.co.uk.
Listening for specific information - quiz
There is no quiz in this section as we felt that a quiz wouldn't
significantly add to the learning.
Listening for specific information - factsheet
There is one factsheet in this section, which looks at some hints
and tips to improve listening skills.
Listening for specific information - worksheets
There are 4 worksheets in this section, based on 2 separate pieces
of audio. Worksheets 1 and 2 are based on a cinema information
loop, while worksheets 3 and 4 are based on small-ads from a local
paper.
Transcript
for cinema audio
Transcript
for small-ads audio
Tell us what you think of these worksheets at skillswise.feedback@bbc.co.uk
and do let us know if you have any ideas for other worksheets
that we can develop for this area.
How does this tie in with the basic skills curriculums?
- England
 |
SLlr/L1.1 -
'Listen for and identify relevant information.' |
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SLlr/L1.2 -
'Understand the importance of sustaining concentration
and listening to the end to get overall understanding...'
'understand the different listening demands when
.....on the telephone' |
- Wales
As England
- Northern Ireland
As England
- Scotland
Awaiting publication of Scottish Curriculum at time of print
Technical help:
All the 'plug-ins' you need to use this topic area are included
on the CD-ROM or should be already on your computer bundled with
your operating system.
If you are new to the web, why not try BBC WebWise's Becoming
WebWise online course? It's free and will take
you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully
in your teaching.
Taking it further:
Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you
might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching listening
for specific information.
As you might expect, the BBC website is an enormously rich resource
of audio / video material that you could build listening activities
around. There is a special page on the site to access the best
of BBCi's
audio-video content, but below we have listed a few of the
areas we felt would be particularly useful for level 1 activities.
Inexhaustible amount of audio and video material, from video
reports and the latest TV and radio news, to archive clips
from 'On this
day' and the best of audio and video in the handy, pop-up console.
Particularly useful for activities on gathering information
and
particular viewpoints for group discussions.
On
this day
Launch the audio
/ video console from the news homepage.
Access all the BBC's radio stations, including the digital ones,
from this single page. Find news, comedy, music, sport. The curriculum
recommends listening to some stories to experience listening for
pleasure, you'll find some on Radio 4's 'Listen
again' page.
No audio or video here, but this is a handy two-page guide to
how to talk and listen to your baby and toddler. There's quite
a lot of text and you will need to up the font size, but it's
well laid out and good information.
Would you like some gardening tips direct from Alan Titchmarsh?
The BBC has an online course called 'How to be a gardener'.
You
don't have to do the course, you can dip in at any point. Along
the way there are useful audio and video clips about how to
spot
healthy plants, how to combat slugs and growing your own veg
etc. You could ask learners to listen to the practical information
and then explain it to a colleague.
Sir David Attenborough, Vinnie Jones and Barbara Windsor are
amongst the stars who have appeared in live video chats for
BBCi. Now you can read the transcripts and watch the videos.
If you prefer the less famous, there are hundreds of video clips
from ordinary people across the U.K in 'Video
Nation'. You can find clips by subject, region or contributor.
Every week BBC English, from the World Service, bring you a different
song. Listen to the clip and search out the words, find out about
the artist and read the definitions of tricky words and phrases
used in the song. Or why not find out more about some British
towns? For example, watch the videos and answer the quiz questions
on Winchester.
The BBC English site is designed for an adult TEFL audience.
No reason why listening always has to be a serious activity. Watch
the gruesome David Brent from 'The
Office' in action, or print out the David
Brent interview to read aloud in class. If 'Only Fools and
Horses' is more your style, watch the video
clips of the author talking about the characters, his favourite
scenes and his inspiration.
The curriculum specifically mentions listening for specific information
to form an argument. In the BBC Science 'Court of Opinion' you
can listen to several audio and video clips presenting many different
viewpoints about privacy, genetics and DNA, then make up your
own mind.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible
for the content of other websites and all links were correct at
the time of going to press.
Do you know of any great online resources for practising listening
for specific information? Tell
us
about them!
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