How to improve my English Listening?

This question (or near question) is often asked by ESL students who are new in Canada (and of course any other English speaking country).

In many cases the speed of the the English they are now hearing is faster than greased lightening on a luge run and they just can't deal with it.  The accent and speed they are accustomed to from their teachers is nowhere to be found, and this leads to confusion, self-doubt.

So, as ESL teachers we get repeatedly asked the simple question "How to I improve my English listening ability?"

The answer to this question is a frustratingly simple 3 steps.

   1. "Listen lots!"
   2. "React to what you hear"
   3. "Repeat!"

Do this regularly and listening comprehension will increase drammatically and quickly.

Ok….let's look at these in turn

Listen Lots

To improve your listening you need to listen to natural English lots…as much as you can.  Sure you can listen to ESL tapes and follow along with Made For English CDs, but these rarely match real langauge in terms of speed.  People learning English (or any langauge) need to get as much natural speed input as they can.

Great ways to do this include:

TV or radio news broadcasts, Net based audio (podcasts, audio files, video), joinging local clubs, volunteering, watching English movies, TV, going clubbing, starting a club.

React to what you hear

Listening isn't enough.  A student needs to react to what they have just listening to.  This reaction allow the communication to continue in its natural way.  The reaction is what allows a student to confirm that they heard correctly, understood correctly, and could respond appropriately to the situation.

Sometimes this is as simple as continuing a conversation by responding to a question or trying to elicit opinions/information/ideas on the topic.

Other times it may involve writing: summaries, opinions, diary entries, reviews can be used to respond to what you've heard.

Repeat

Really simple here.  Don't it once?  Great, now do it again…and again…and again on a regular schedule, in different situations and on different topics.   Listening well involves more than just understanding the words.  It involves understanding the contect (the place) and being able to understand the language being used in context.

In the end what really matters for improving English skills overall, not only English listening skills is practice and use.  Improving langauge skills always requires 2 acts  1) getting input  and 2) reacting to the input (output).  You need to get langauge into your brain and then you need to get the language out to be heard and read by others.

So, if you or your students want to improve English listening skills, just follow the three simple steps.

Listen, Respond, Do it again.

Cheers,

Eric


Source: esl-coach.com