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EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Listening and Communication

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EFS 693B
Week 6 Notes
 

CLASS OBJECTIVES

I. Groundhog Day - continued

II. Discussion of dictation as an aid to processing. Remember the following:

  1. the objective is to get as close to the exact vocabulary and grammar as possible and then identify what you're missing;

  2. you can work on two levels--easy material you're trying to get 100% right and harder (for example accented or especially fast) to challenge yourself

  3. you can focus on chunks smaller than a full sentence: ultimately you're going for speed, accuracy, and capacity;

  4. spelling isn't critical as long as you know you have the right word (though try to learn from mistakes);

  5. only go through a chunk twice (three times at most) before moving on;

  6. do this with just 1-2 minutes worth of speech to avoid boredom/overload: even 30 seconds can be helpful;

  7. normally, do dictation last, after you've already listened to a piece well enough to understand it and looked up vocabulary;

  8. you need to have an accurate transcript (or accurate subtitles) to check your answers;

  9. at the end of a segment, after you've noted and thought about your mistakes, listen again to hear what's really there;

  10. finally, as an option, you can try "oral dictation", repeating rather than writing; in that case you should record yourself to check your answers.

III. Homework: impressions of www.ted.com; www.englishbaby.com.

Discuss in groups. What did you watch? How did you like them? What is a good way to use one or both to help your language learning?

IV. Practicing vocabulary: www.flashcarddb.com; (see also www.ichi2.net/anki; www.wordchamp.com). Concept of spaced repetition: Leitner system --- http://flashcarddb.com/leitner. You can also consider mobile apps like MyWordBook International for the iPhone.

V. Movie support materials:

www.script-o-rama.com has many movie transcripts: you can also try putting the movie title plus "transcript" into Google

www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/index.html has examples of movie clips--scenes from movies--and "trailers"--advertisements that preview scenes from the movie to interest you in watching it. Includes comprehension questions but no transcripts.

www.eslnotes.com/ has movie guides for a number of good films (including Groundhog Day). It has a summary of the movie and extensive vocabulary support

VI. Revisiting the speed control: Quicktime 7. Use ctrl-k (PC) or cmd-k (Mac) to bring up the speed control slider

VII. Groundhog Day continued.

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Homework: A reminder--the material below in 2-3 is in addition to your independent project work. This week I am only requiring two hours for that because of midterms and completing Groundhog Day.

NOTE--we'll be having individual meetings this week again. Be sure you've reviewed all your vocabulary! Come prepared with questions for Phil.

1) This week the assignment is a minimum of just 2 hours total. Email your report (available here) through Coursework or to efs@stanford.edu by Monday, February 20 at 8:00 PM.

2) Explore www.flashcarddb.com, www.wordchamp.com, and www.ichi2.net/anki. Pick your favorite and put in the 25 words from this week's independent project work (or Groundhog Day) divided into two lessons. Practice these on at least two different days. Come prepared to discuss your experience in the next class. You can also consider mobile apps like MyWordBook International for the iPhone.

3) Groundhog Day. Get your own copy of Groundhog Day and watch the rest of the movie. Come prepared to discuss what happened next week. Note that you do not need to watch this intensively, but should pause and rewind as needed when you get lost. I recommend toggling the captions on and off as needed (if available). Here are some options for getting it. I encourage you to download the vocabulary support at www.eslnotes.com.

Last modified February 14, 2012, by Phil Hubbard