This resource provides a variety of listening texts for advanced level students. The texts include casual conversations, complex transactions and texts from educational and media contexts. They are based on authentic discourse offering students highly realistic Australian langauge.
The workbook is divided into five units based on topics of human interest which contextualise the listening tasks. The audio recording is available on cassette or CD.
The workbook
The workbook is divided into frve units, each loosely following a topic. Each unit presents a range of activities which focus student attention on the social purpose and language elements of spoken discourse. Students are asked to think about the contexts of language use, to predict what they will hear, to listen globally to the texts and to listen for specific meaningful chunks within the discourse. The workbook also contains an answer key and transcriptions of the recorded texts.
The audio recording
The recorded texts cover a range oftext types including casual conversations, complex transactions and texts from educational and media contexts. The texts have been recorded onto cassette tape and CD.
To the teacher
This resource has not been designed as a course book but to supplement class work and each unit stands alone. The learners are encouraged to listen to the text as many times as they need to.
Each activity in this workbook has been signposted to mark the focus of the particular exercise. The learners will also have an opportunity to learn about the strategies used in casual conversations such as turn-taking, topic shifts and useful idioms and colloquialisms. The topics have been carefully chosen and designed to reflect the issues in our lives and society. The learners should be encouraged to follow up the listening activities with group discussions based on the relevant topics.
To the student
If you use this book to practise your listening, follow these instructions:
- Choose a unit you are interested in.
- Listen to the tape or CD as many times as you need to.
- Do the activities.
- Check the answers in the back of the book.
You are advised to listen to the way people talk in real-life situations. For example, speakers may stop and start the sentences again or repeat things. The strategies you learn from this workbook may help you to understand how conversations work in English.
