Tutor reads (or tape plays):

We were married in 1958. I met Rick two years earlier when I was working in a factory. Oh... the factory... the smell was intolerable. All day long, standing on the line, picking the bad potatoes out from the good potatoes. My word! Uh... yeah... I saw him one day. He had just started managing; I guess that made him my boss, didn't it? He was wearing black pants and the cleanest white shirt I'd ever seen in that factory. Usually, everyone was covered in food, dirty from work on the assembly line. Rick really stood out. He seemed like a kind, gentle man. Hmmm...

Notice how some of the questions can be answered using material directly related to the content of the listening exercise. Other questions, such as "Alice really liked her job" cannot be answered directly but we can infer, or make an assumption based on evidence in the speech, that she did not like her job since she thought the smells were intolerable and that she had to stand all day.

Complete the Grid

In Session 4, we took a look at information grid exercises and how they can be used to develop listening, reading, writing and speaking skills simultaneously. However, when used with prerecorded speech samples, grids can provide a framework for listening and writing practice.

An example of a grid for higher-level learners is provided in the listening lesson below for Akbar.

Circle the Main Idea

Even at a more basic level of language proficiency, it is important that learners are asked to look at the "larger picture" and are not given listening exercises that focus solely on specific information (such as dates and names).

To ask a beginning learner to write the main idea without any additional support may be too difficult for the learner to do. It may be better to give your learner some options from which to choose. Have your learner circle what she considers the main idea out of the three or four options you have prepared for her. Ask follow-up questions where she justifies her decision.