Welcome to part one of a series of blog posts on how to improve your listening skills. I do hope that you find this mini lesson helpful.
Practice is essential as we all well know. One has to be disciplined and put in effort/make an effort... You do not have to spend hours each day in order to improve. Start with ten minutes per day and devote those minutes to listening to a short clip, the news or watching a short film. Try not to cram ( Do too much.) , essentially - you want to practice in short bursts - each day. Do your future self a favour ! Start now. Listening to clips two or three times a week will not help - again : what we do daily, essentially matters most.
Bad habits are easy to create - why not nurture healthier habits?
Here is a fabulous link to get you started:
https://www.englishlistening.com/listen
Why this website ? Well, all activities are filtered by accent, levels and topics - you are also able to choose the speed of speech. ( Most helpful for lower level learners / if you are starting out with practicing your listening skills. ) Try a free trial and see how you feel !
Free listening practice :
http://www.elllo.org/
Let's begin :
English words confer meaning based on whether they are content or function words. Knowing the difference will help with both understanding and pronunciation:
Content = information, meaning
Function = necessary words for grammar
Function words and their role in speech = purely there for grammatical purpose - such as : Articles ( a,an,the), Prepositions ( at/in/over.) , Auxiliary verbs ( do, has, will etc.) and Pronouns ( He, she, ours etc.)
Content words and their role in speech: - conjure up an image /a mental picture of something such as Adjectives/Nouns/Verbs and Adverbs
NOTE:
Content words are always enhanced/spoken louder - the function words are glided over.
( This is apart from word stress itself where for example, words of two syllables : a noun is stressed on the first syllable and a verb,on the second. Eg: NOUN: OBject / Verb: obJECT.)
See more about word stress:
http://www.english-at-home.com/pronunciation/noun-and-verb-syllable-stress/
Let's try to practice : Read this aloud:
The man ate the apple while sitting at the sea,it was a beautiful day and he was content !
Which words did you say louder ? Which words give you a mental image?
Can you point out the content words ? Which words do you think provide a word picture ?
( Remember : Nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs are usually content words. Auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, and prepositions are usually function/grammatical words.)
Now, read this : Man ate apple sitting sea, beautiful day - content !
( We are still able to understand the meaning/gist of what is being said - this is why content words are spoken louder - they are the most important because they convey the message to our listener.)
Tip when listening /watching movies :
Start watching films with subtitles - this will help fine tune your ears to naturally spoken English. By following with subtitles - you will understand better when the following happens:
- Contractions ( It is = It's/ They are = They're/What is = What's.)
- Varied accents ( i.e : American vs British/ Regional dialectical accent.) - where more elision/linking is used.
Examples of linking: What are = whaddah / could have = couldiv / where are you going / wherayagoin ? A lot = ahlod
Two main types of linking:
consonant ⇔ vowel
We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound.
vowel ⇔ vowel
We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound.
How do I improve? You ask... well = more listening !
Instead of listening to English “when you have the time”, do it whilst driving home, cleaning the house and even when doing some exercise. Download podcasts on your mobile phone - easy as pie !
Take a lesson or ten with me ! :) :) :) Movies with subtitles and short films are also reasonable. You have to do the work and train your ear ! Trust me, in time - it gets easier and soon, you will be able to get used to the way native speakers ''run through'' sentences.
LET'S PRACTICE :
Try this exercise sourced from ThoughtCo.com :
https://www.thoughtco.com/
Exercise
Decide which words are function and content words in the following sentences.
- Mary has lived in England for ten years.
- He's going to fly to Chicago next week.
- I don't understand this chapter of the book.
- The children will be swimming in the ocean this time next week.
- John had eaten lunch before his colleague arrived.
- The best time to study is early in the morning or late in the evening.
- The trees along the river are beginning to blossom.
- Our friends called us yesterday and asked if we'd like to visit them next month.
- You'll be happy to know that she's decided to take the position.
- I won't give away your secret.
Check your answers below:
Exercise Answers
Content words are in bold.
- Mary has lived in England for ten years.
- He's going to fly to Chicago next week.
- I don't understand this chapter of the book.
- The children will be swimming in the ocean at five o'clock.
- John had eaten lunch before his colleague arrived.
- The best time to study is early in the morning or late in the evening.
- The trees along the river are beginning to blossom.
- Our friends called us yesterday and asked if we'd like to visit them next month.
- You'll be happy to know that she's decided to take the position.
- I won't give away your secret.
