Example:

Akbar, an upper-intermediate learner, is interested in improving his listening skills and gaining more exposure to a variety of different accents. As a member of the multicultural council, he is also interested in learning more about the stories of other immigrants and refugees.

Akbar and his tutor opted to use parts of a series from the CBC news archives, which feature stories of Vietnamese refugees in from the late 1970's to the year 2000. The video clips are between 2 and 20 minutes each and are available in the CBC archives.¹ For this particular lesson, they will be using story #10 in the series. ²

Before listening / viewing

The tutor could give some preliminary information and initiate the conversation by asking a few questions.

Today, we are going to hear an interview with Barry McCorquandale and Peter Tran. In this video clip, the situation facing refugees in the early 1980's is discussed. Before we take a look at it, we have some questions to discuss.

• What do you consider the most significant problems that immigrants and refugees face?
• Why is finding a good job often difficult for immigrants and refugees?
• Do you find that some people can feel comfortable in Canada quicker than others? Why is this? (For example: Is it related to age, education or support systems?)
• What can be done to make the lives of immigrants and refugees easier?

During the listening: Determining the Focus

There are many different ways that you can set up listening tasks while the learner is listening to the speech sample. The activity that you choose will depend upon the skills that you want your learner to develop, as discussed in B: Techniques for Teaching Listening.

¹ Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Boat People: A Refugee Crisis. In CBC Archives [on-line], Available: archives.cbc.ca/300c.asp?id=1-69-524 [July 2003]
² Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Adjusting to Canada: From ABC's to -40 Degrees. In CBC Archives [on-line], Available: archives.cbc.ca/400.asp?id=1-69-524-2715 [July 2003]