ADMC HD Common Year English

Listening

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Listening

Short or Easier Listenings

This is the famous www.esl-lab.com site. Do two every day!

Longer Listening

If you are fed up with short, easy listening exercises, listen to these longer passages.

  1. This one from a travel program on National Public Radio talks about how women still prefer to wash clothes in the traditional method in a town in Portugal 
    http://www.savvytraveler.org/show/features/2002/20020913/feature2.shtml
     
  2. This one is about the world's biggest tomato fight. 
    http://www.savvytraveler.org/show/culture/2000/20000825.shtml   
    While you listen, you can try the Gap-Fill exercise. (If the site does not open, listen here).
     
  3. This passage is about a Rose Festival in Bulgaria and the history of roses and perfumes 
    http://www.savvytraveler.org/show/culture/2000/20000603.shtml. You can download an mp3 here if the link above is slow, and a question paper here. 
     
  4. This Savvy Traveler radio passage is about eating insects in Thailand. Click here for the program (Mp3, 6 mins), and here for a question paper.
     
  5. Lots more here from the Savvy Traveler. Some have scripts, some don't.
     
  6. Finally, listen to these sounds, and identify the animal! Answers here.
     
  7. Here are two exercises from IATEFL's 'Learner Independence Worksheets.
                Watch the news and make notes, then report back. (also downloadable in Word)
                Watch TV or a video and make notes, then report back. (also downloadable in Word)
     
  8. Try this exercise from the excellent Holmesglen Institute of Technical and Further Education IELTS prep site, in Australia. http://international.holmesglen.vic.edu.au/ie_list.htm. (If the bandwidth is slow, you can download the audio file here -  right-click and save).
     
  9. Listen to this BBC passage about water problems facing the world, and complete the worksheet. After you complete the worksheet, download a transcript here.  New! (Teacher answer key is here). Problems listening? Download a copy here.
     
  10. Listen to this passage from NPR about the tallest tower in the world.
     
  11. Print the worksheet  (Acrobat, and listen to the 10-minute passage about changes in New Delhi by an American expatriate revisiting the city after 40 years. From NPR.org. 
    (Alternative audio MP3 download here (8 mb) , and worksheet in Word, 75kb)
     
  12. Biodiversity listening from BBC. Fill in the gaps.
     
  13. Longer Listening and online gapfill on Wilhelm Rontgen. Worksheet also available in Acrobat
     
  14. Longer listening and online gapfill on Guglielmo Marconi. Worksheet also available in Acrobat
     
  15. Organ donation listening. For comprehension questions, click here. If you have trouble opening the listening, right-click here and save.
    For a version for teachers, click here.
     
  16. Children and Television. What are the effects of watching children on their development? VOA Special English broadcast. Very easy gapfill exercise and some comprehension questions. Download Microsoft Word worksheet here -  (right-click and save). Teachers click here.
     
  17. Lions vs. People in Tanzania. Voice of America article with gapfill exercise. Click here to listen to the passage: click here for the gapfill exercise. After you listen, click for questions on the passage.
     
  18. An air traffic controller talks about her work and life. Listen here and answer the questions (*.pdf). From the SavvyTraveler.com website   
     
  19. Bird Flu and the Tower of London's Ravens. National Public Radio talks to the raven master of the Tower of London about the birds. Download the reading and questions,(pdf, or Word) and then click here to listen, or download (4mb mp3).  
     
  20. BBC: Listen and Read. A selection of 26 exercises with short readings, listenings and teacher worksheets with answers. Thanks Frankie and Roger!
     
  21. Lots of IELTS listening practice materials, with Smartboard answers. Grateful thanks to James McLaughlin.
     
  22. Waltzing your way to Health: Worksheet (Word or PDF) and Audio (MP3 or Playlist). From VOA Special English.
     
  23. Being a working wife and mother. Listening from Glasgow Caledonian University (mp3 or playlist) and worksheet (PDF or Word)
     
  24. A listening passage, questions, and transcript on alternative fuels in Australia.

Spelling Dictations & Activities

Students often lose marks in IELTS listening tests for words that are spelled incorrectly. #1-10 below are grouped by subject/theme and move from easier, more common word groups to less common, more difficult ones. new from TJ!

  1. Days of the week and abbreviations for the days.
     
  2. Months of the year and abbreviations. Match the months with their origins.
     
  3. Titles and common male/female names. Do you know what Ms. means?! 
     
  4. Nations and nationalities. A fun one you can do with a partner.
     
  5. School subjects. Another pair work dictation.
     
  6. Roads, streets, and map words. Write the words, decide how common they are.
     
  7. Time periods. Take turns saying and spelling words with/to your partner.
     
  8. Education-related words. Write a word and a synonym (e.g. teacher, lecturer).
     
  9. Abbreviations: distance, mass, temperature, & time. Metric and imperial measurements are highlighted.
     
  10. Other commonly misspelt words. A long but useful list from the Cambridge IELTS website.
     

Global Warming Listening Activities

  1. Inconvenient Truth: Extracts: Exercise 1: Fact or Theory?: Gapfill. Click here for the online gapfill exercise and listening, or click here for a printable PDF or Word version and the mp3 listening file.
     
  2. Inconvenient Truth: Extracts: Exercise 2: Continental Drift. Gapfill. Click here for the online gapfill exercise and listening, or click here for a printable PDF or Word version and the mp3 listening file, and answers
     
  3. Inconvenient Truth: Extracts: Exercise 3: The Process. Gapfill. Click here for the online gapfill exercise and listening, or click here for a printable PDF or Word version and the mp3 listening file, and answers
     
  4. Global warming listening. Click here for exercise. (Microsoft Word, right click and save to your desktop), or Acrobat For original MP3, click here, and for answer key, click here.

  5. From AmericanRadioWorks.com -  six very interesting listening passages about different aspects of global warming. Click here for the transcript. Each listening is about 4-6 minutes long. No questions yet - just enjoy the stories!
  1. BreakingNewsEnglish.com Listening Activities:

You can find many more activities related to Global Warming here.

An Inconvenient Truth: Tapescript

If you have the DVD for Inconvenient Truth but no subtitles, you can find the entire transcript at http://forumpolitics.com/blogs/2007/03/17/an-inconvient-truth-transcript, or you can download it in Microsoft Word here (20-page 680kb download) or in PDF (500kb).

 

Video

Practice Tests

Here are some links to Microsoft Word versions of some of the listening files above. A password is required.

An extensive list of audio files and accompanying texts and answers, for teachers. Click here first before you click the links below. New!

 

Listening Documents

 

MP3 and OGG players

To play these files, you may need to download and install a copy of an MP3 or Ogg player onto your computer. Right-click and download

 

 

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