'Listening for specific information' tutor notes

The aim of this topic area is to practise listening for specific information to improve listening skills.

The other area of the site that might help learners improve their listening skills is 'In the news'. Each of the news stories in this section has an audio reading and there is a whole section devoted to quizzes based on news audio and video stories.
Learners might also like to practise listening to different types of texts (narratives, instructions and explanations) in the 'Types of listening' module.

How does this tie in with the curriculums?

• England
  SLlr/L1.1 - 'Listen for and identify relevant information.'.
  SLlr/L1.2 - 'Understand the importance of sustaining concentration and listening to the end to get overall understanding...'
  'understand the different listening demands when .....on the telephone.'.
  
• Wales
  As England.
• Northern Ireland
  As England.
• Scotland
  See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.

In the Skillswise module you'll find:

Listening for specific information - activity
This is a simple telephone answer machine interface. There are 6 messages on the answer machine and learners can move between them using 'stop', 'play', 'pause' and 'arrow skip' buttons. The activity can be played in two different ways - learners can listen for specific information to answer questions, or they can choose to listen for the words to fill the gaps.
Learners will need to print out one of the question sheets before starting the game. This can be done from the activity index page, or from the activity itself. Answer sheets also need to be printed. The link to access the answers will appear once learners have heard the last answer machine message (message 6), or you can print them out from the link below.
Transcript of answer machine messages
Answers for question sheet
Answers for gap-fill sheet

Please do tell us what you think of this new activity.

Listening for specific information - quiz
There is no quiz in this section as we felt that a quiz wouldn't significantly add to the learning. Do let us know if you disagree.

Listening for specific information - factsheet
There is one factsheet in this section, which looks at some hints and tips to improve listening skills.

Listening for specific information - worksheets
There are 4 worksheets in this section, based on 2 separate pieces of audio. Worksheets 1 and 2 are based on a cinema information loop, while worksheets 3 and 4 are based on small-ads from a local paper.
Transcript of cinema audio
Transcript of small-ads audio

You will need the free Realplayer software installed on your machine to hear the audio clips (see below).
Tell us what you think of these worksheets and do let us know if you have any ideas for other worksheets that we can develop for this area.

Technical help:

To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':

• Flash
  The game in this module uses the Flash browser plug-in. This is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
  Find out more.
  If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz and in the worksheets and factsheets.
• Realplayer
  The activity in this topic section uses Realplayer. This is software that allows you to view and hear the video clips. Realplayer is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
  Find out more

If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course, Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from any computer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching.
Find out more about WebWise.

You can find out more about the technical requirements for Skillswise in our Help - Technical Information section.

Taking it further:

Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching listening for specific information.

• BBC News
  Inexhaustible amount of audio and video material, from video reports and the latest TV and radio news, to archive clips from 'On this day' and the best of audio and video in the handy, pop-up console. Particularly useful for activities on gathering information and particular viewpoints for group discussions.
  On this day
  Launch the audio / video console from the news homepage.
  
• BBC Radio
  Access all the BBC's radio stations, including the digital ones, from this single page. Find news, comedy, music, sport. The curriculum recommends listening to some stories to experience listening for pleasure, you'll find some on Radio 4's 'Listen again' page.
• Gardening tips
  Would you like some gardening tips direct from Alan Titchmarsh? The BBC has an online course called 'How to be a gardener'. You don't have to do the course, you can dip in at any point. Along the way there are useful audio and video clips about how to spot healthy plants, how to combat slugs and growing your own veg' etc. You could ask learners to listen to the practical information and then explain it to a colleague.
• Talking heads - famous and not
  Sir David Attenborough, Vinnie Jones and Barbara Windsor are amongst the stars who have appeared in live video chats for BBCi. Now you can read the transcripts and watch the videos. If you prefer the less famous, there are hundreds of video clips from ordinary people across the U.K in 'Video Nation'. You can find clips by subject, region or contributor.
• Listening for ESOL and TEFL
  Every week BBC English, from the World Service, bring you a different song. Listen to the clip and search out the words, find out about the artist and read the definitions of tricky words and phrases used in the song. Or why not find out more about some British towns? For example, watch the videos and answer the quiz questions on Winchester. The BBC English site is designed for an adult TEFL audience.
• Have a laugh!
  No reason why listening always has to be a serious activity. Watch the gruesome David Brent from 'The Office' in action, or print out the David Brent interview to read aloud in class. If 'Only Fools and Horses' is more your style, watch the video clips of the author talking about the characters, his favourite scenes and his inspiration.
• BBC Languages - tips for better listening
  The BBC Languages site has a new section on how to be a better listener with useful steps and tips to improve listening skills. Although aimed at learners of a foreign language, this is a useful page to print out and keep for listening in general. There are links to foreign langugage quizzes in Spanish, French, German or Italian if you are feeling adventurous.
   

Do you know of any great online resources for practising listening for specific information? Tell us about them!