Lecture Note

#10
Listening Module-3

IELTS with AHSAN

 IELTS Listening

Common Strategies

❖ Improve your general listening skills

Don't use practice tests to improve your listening skills: it's not enough!
They will help you to become familiar with the test, but won't much improve your
listening abilities.
It is much more effective to do various listening exercises, listen to general listening
materials like,
➢ Radio reports
➢ TV-shows
➢ Documental programs
And only after that do IELTS Listening practice tests to achieve highest possible
score.
❑ Listen-Read-Listen
▪ Choose a short audio with transcript
▪ Listen the recording & try to understand the what’s being said
▪ Open the transcript and listen the audio again & collocate the audio with the
transcript
▪ Listen & try to understand the meaning of the ports multiple time which
you’ve misheard
▪ Increase the speed of the audio to 1.25x & hear the recording again without
the transcript
▪ Listen to some clips every day for at least an hour.

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❑ “BBC Learning English” Youtube Channel
▪ Transcript on the screen
▪ Interesting topics
▪ A wide range of collection
▪ Both formal & informal speech/conversation
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeD2TktQIo4&list=PLcetZ6gSk96_UR0qeay
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❑ The Queen's Corgy movie

▪ Easy to understand language
▪ Entertaining topic

❑ The Simpsons cartoon series

▪ Different topics
▪ Practical English
▪ Long series

❑ Friends series
▪ Entertaining content
▪ Regular English
▪ Long series (10 seasons)

❑ The Shark Tank series

▪ Business world focused
▪ Reality television series

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 ▪ Regular Conversation
▪ Helpful for speaking module also

❑ Sherlock series
▪ British accent
▪ Faster communicative English
▪ Wide range of sentence structure
▪ Entertaining content
▪ Huge lexical resource

❑ “Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell” Youtube channel

▪ Interesting content
▪ Wide range of topics
▪ Balance between formal and communicative English
▪ Huge lexical resource
▪ Subtitle Available
Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt

❖ Polish your lexical resource range

Try to enrich topic specific vocabulary from the beginning of your preparation. This
helps you in listening, reading as well as in speaking module.
Examples:
Education:
➢ Tertiary education – Non-compulsory education after finishing school, such
as university.
➢ To play truant - to stay away from classes without permission

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Environment:
➢ Drought - A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a
shortage of water.
➢ Sustainable - Causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore
able to continue for a long time.

❖ Follow the instructions carefully

This especially applies when it comes to the word limit.
If the question states ‘one word only’ then you can’t write any more than this. If you
think the answer should be in two words, correct your thinking!!
❖ Follow strategy for different question types
Try to follow specific strategy for each different question types while you practice.
This will help you to perform better in overall listening module. Question type
specific strategies also make the test a lot easier to you.
❖ Familiarize with different accents
Try to get used with different English accents by listening to different audio
materials regularly.
Accents might trouble you if you don’t practice listening regularly.
❖ Practice listening things only once at a time
To be familiar with exam conditions, it is important to make sure that you don’t
listening to the question audio more than once while practicing.
❖ Understanding the situation
Try to get an idea of the situation. Before each part you will be given a short
introduction:
'Now, you will hear a dialogue between…’
or 'you will hear a lecture on…’

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This information is not written on the question paper, so be attentive. Note who are
the speakers, why are they speaking and where are they. This will make
understanding the rest of the recording much easier.
❖ Don’t lose concentration
If you didn't hear some words and passed over some questions, leave them blank and
focus on the next phase.
❖ Watch out words-indicators
Listen for words-indicators, such as however, but, then, finally. They help you to
anticipate what the speaker will say.
You can also identify the change of opinion or information in advance by noticing
indicators.
❖ Check for silly mistakes
It is important to check spelling, plurals, word forms as well as the overall
grammatical correctness of the sentence.
Be extra cautious about plurals and spelling. Plurals can be much confusing at times.

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 MCQ Questions for Listening Module

Strategy:
❖ Read & mark the question
▪ Carefully read the question along with the options. Don’t worry if there are words
you don’t understand. If they are talked about, you may be able to work them out
in context.
▪ Alternatively, synonyms may have been used in the question.
▪ If unfamiliar words appear in incorrect answer options, they don’t matter so
much, although you’ll need to make an educated guess at them to eliminate the
wrong answer.
▪ Underline key words in question. These will help you to quickly navigate among
options while you listen the audio.
❖ Be cautious about synonyms and paraphrasing
In the audio, synonyms/paraphrases will almost certainly be used for some of the
keywords, so think about what these might be as you listen and try to identify the
correct answer.
Example:
1. What 3 items are you recommended to take with you to the spa?
The question is telling us that we must select 3 items that the speaker will
recommend that we take with us on the spa day, that is, things we ‘should’ take.
However, don’t expect the word ‘recommend’ to be used throughout the recording.
Synonyms and paraphrasing will be used extensively, so think of some words that
might be used instead, including negatives for things you should not take. For
example,
“You must…”, “It’s advisable...”,
or “You shouldn’t…”

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 ❖ Try to Eliminate wrong answers
The speaker in the audio will give a lot of information/opinions relating to each
MCQ question, usually 2/3 sentences for every question. You will be able to
eliminate wrong answers by carefully listening to the context of the question.
❖ Identify the difference
The options may be similar in some way to try and catch you out. Underline any key
words that will help you to work out the difference in meaning between them.
Option A: You must take a towel.
Option B: You can borrow a towel.
Option C: A towel will be provided.

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