Listening and note taking

1. Listening and note taking First steps in undergraduate listening success

2. �Listen to the following & take notes� What�s missing here?

3. SMART approach to Pre-listening BEFORE you start � ask questions! What How Who Why

4. Pre-listening involves ACTION To listen well & make useful notes: ENGAGE YOUR BRAIN SWITCH ON APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE REFLECT ON YOUR PURPOSE BE AWARE OF TIME & PLACE CONSTRAINTS

5. Active Listening: YOUR PURPOSE/REASON for listening SHOULD INFLUENCE the type of notes, level of detail, references and key facts you record

6. Before you listen to the following Consider these PRE-LISTENING QUESTIONS/REFLECTIONS What is the topic? � New working environment at Google Zurich Why might you be interested?___________ Who might be talking? Case study, insider What type of information? General interest, promote the company, commentator with visuals. How might you make use of this info?____________

7. Now listen to this informal listening sample http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7292600.stm

8. Post-listening Briefly write notes or review your notes and highlight what you have just learnt: Date: __________ Topic: GOOGLE in new HQ Zurich uses new style architecture/office to promote creativity Features include: Food Slides Quiet zones Pets

9. Summary Pre-listening-prepare mental questions to activate your listening Listening- pay attention to key facts and to your purpose to select information to record Post-listening review your notes and produce a summary or highlight points to remember or to reuse later

10. Use free lectures to improve academic listening http://lecturefox.com/ Choose a topic that interests you Choose a topic with a transcript Note the time, place, audience, purpose, type of lecture [e.g 1st year intro to...]

11. Note-taking: Suggested approach Pre-lecture: Date and number each page/lecture title/course number During the lecture: Leave blank space to add later comments-e.g. Divide a wide margin down one side Write notes for KEY points, Supporting evidence & for REFERENCES, DATES, Amounts, Numbers Use abbreviations Post-lecture: Summarise the lecture-add diagram if useful-use highlighting to aid review for tests

12. Listening & note-taking resources See ilc.cuhk.edu.hk -resources for listening: Study Skills Success (software) available at the ILC Road to IELTS Online: http://www.ted.com TED [technology, entertainment, design] Short talks-EXCELLENT listening practice; transcripts and subtitles with some. Especially useful for keeping you up to date with global issues and matters. Video based.

13. Lectures & note-taking practice links http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/elsc/material/Listening/lisn_lecturers.htm Hints on how to cope with lectures. More note-taking tips. http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/%7ewcl8/sacll/lectures.php Authentic lectures for practice. Some lectures include transcript + Tasks. You could also make your own tasks .Try note-taking only for the �asides� or personal or class information that is not directly related to the academic topic. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/vforum/04/index.html More lectures & video press releases. For �intelligent� natural English [USA] where experts talk to the media as well as lecture to the public. Use to listen for targeted information: the main idea, key points, coherent argument, evidence, justification, key influences etc http://lecturefox.com/ Free lectures some with transcripts for university level study. Excellent for improving your listening skills-try making a cloze with the transcript. Use summary writing to test your notetaking skills. Listen, take notes, write a summary and then check against the replay of the lecture plus the transcript.

14. Conclusion Listen with active attention Prepare an organised note system Take notes that can be added to-use space Review your notes soon after the listening and prepare a summary or highlight key information KEEP your notes! Practice listening and note-taking outside of your university lectures to build your language, listening and note-taking skills.