Using authentic materials to motivate students to listen to english

TÊN CHUYÊN ĐỀ: USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS TO LISTEN TO ENGLISH PART 1: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE Of the four major areas of communication skills and language development listening, speaking, reading, and writing - the one that is the most basic is listening When students first learn a language, they generally have to listen to the words several times before they are able to recognize and pronounce those words Listening can also help students build vocabulary, develop language proficiency, and improve language usage Not only are listening skills the basis for the development of all other skills, they are also the main channel through which students make initial contact with the target language and its culture In Ha Long High School for Gifted Students, English major students here are exposed to a variety of listening materials However, most of these materials are graded listening materials or materials that are specifically designed for testing purpose These materials may help students boost their scores in listening exams like IELTS or TOEFL but not prepare them for the real life communication challenges To solve this problem, one effective way is to apply real listening materials in the classroom With the growing availability of podcasts and audio materials on the Internet, both teachers and students have easy access to a broad range of authentic listening materials However, many teachers feel that such recordings are too difficult to be exploited for listening activities in the classroom Therefore, in this paper, I would like to suggest some ways to devise activities which will help motivate English language learners to listen and achieve a satisfying understanding Page of 28 of authentic listening texts These activities are particularly helpful for English major students, whose English proficiency is around B2 level and above AIMS OF THE STUDY The study aims at - Giving a brief overview of authentic materials and sources from which authentic materials can be obtained - Designing activities for a sample 45-minute listening lesson using authentic materials - Suggesting several ways for motivating English language learners to listen and develop their listening skills with authentic materials TIME AND PLACE OF THE STUDY This study results from my own experience of incorporating authentic listening materials into my teaching at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students during school year 2013 - 2014 I use these materials in selective lessons, which is once a week in my class My students are in grade 11, all majoring in English and having language competence around B2 level I also use authentic listening materials as a kind of listening practice for the selective group of excellent students who take part in the Provincial or National Contest for Excellent Students SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY So far there have been a number of studies on developing students' listening skills using authentic materials However, these studies often focus on students at tertiary level as their main subject, and not much attention has been paid to high school students This is certainly a disadvantage against high school students when they come into contact with native speakers By suggesting some ways to incorporate authentic listening materials in the teaching curriculum, the study will be helpful to acquaint high school students with real-life communicative situations Accordingly, their language competence will certainly improve Page of 28 The study would like to suggest several sources from which aural materials can be adapted Thus, it may serve as a useful guideline for teachers who wish to explore the use of authentic materials in their everyday teaching PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW THEREOTICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Definition of Authentic Listening Materials In the literature on second language acquisition and learning, the term "authentic listening materials" has been defined in a different ways The most common definition is by Nunan (1999), who defines authentic listening materials as "spoken language data that has been produced in the course of genuine communication, and not specifically made for purposes of language teaching and learning." Gebhard (1996) clarifies the above definition by giving examples of authentic materials that teachers have used in teaching foreign languages Some of his examples, which may serve as source material for lesson planning, are: TV commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally audio, taped short stories and novels, radio ads, songs, documentaries, and sales pitches 1.2 Advantages of using authentic listening materials in classroom The use of authentic materials in the classroom has become common practice during the last 20 years, and the need for and usefulness of authentic materials have been increasingly acknowledged In fact, using authentic listening materials has several advantages According to Brinton (1991), authentic listening materials can reinforce for students the direct relationship between the language classroom and the outside world Gebhard (1996) sees authentic listening materials as a way to "contextualize" language learning When lessons are centered on comprehending a Page of 28 menu or a TV weather report, students tend to focus more on content and meaning rather than the language itself This offers students a valuable source of language input, so that they are not being exposed only to the language presented by the text and the teacher Also, there are some researchers who point out that more authentic listening materials are needed in the classroom because of the wide disparity that is often found between materials developed specifically for English language teaching and authentic conversation Porter and Roberts (1981) show several differences between authentic materials and non-authentic materials in terms of spoken language For example, conversations recorded for language texts often have a slow pace, have particular structures which recur with obtrusive frequency, and have very distinct turn-taking of speakers Also, hesitations (such as “uh’s” and “mm’s”) are often missing, and sentences are very well - formed with few if any mistakes In other words, what the language learners hear in class is different from the language in the real world In many cases, the language heard in classrooms is a stilted use of spoken language, and authenticity is lost because of a need to teach specific language points in a way that some teachers feel would be more understandable for learners Brosnan et al (1984) justify the importance of the use of authentic listening in the classroom in this way: a Language is natural Authentic language offers students the chance to deal with a small amount of material which, at the same time, contains complete and meaningful messages b Students need to be able to see the immediate relevance of what they in the classroom to what they need to outside it, and real-life material treated realistically makes the connection obvious Page of 28 PRACTICAL BACKGROUND In Vietnam, English is the most popular foreign language and a compulsory school subject However, English teaching and learning have, for a long time, been influenced by traditional methods with a great focus on grammar and vocabulary The implementation of new English textbooks for high school students since the school-year 2006 – 2007 has created a shift toward communicative teaching and learning Listening has gained much more attention, and different ways to enhance students’ listening ability have been sought and implemented However, most listening materials are test-based with not so natural recordings and may be a hindrance for students when they come into contact with native speakers Moreover, some students, especially excellent ones, are keen on self-study listening activities; they want to explore the authentic materials themselves but have no clue how to begin and where to find appropriate materials It is necessary that teachers act as an instructor to guide them through the process of self-study so that their listening skills will be enhanced Therefore, I would like to give some suggestions as to how authentic listening materials can be used and how teachers can help students in their self-studying process in this study Page of 28 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY REAL SITUATION As indicated above, the use of authentic listening materials in teaching English is quite limited in the scenario of high schools in Vietnam At Ha Long High School for Gifted Students, English major students may listen to a lot of listening sources, but not many of them are exposed to real - life situations Therefore, the fact that some students get high score in listening exam does not necessarily mean that they will well in actual communication This calls for the adoption of more authentic teaching materials into everyday teaching As a matter of fact, teachers of English at my school are enthusiastic about applying authentic materials into their everyday teaching However, the exploitation of real-life listening is, to some extent, a process of experimenting to see what is appropriate and what is not, and sharing hands-on experience This situation demands a more systematically designed materials with a view to enhancing students' listening skills as much as possible Therefore, I would like to suggest several solutions to these problems from my own experience SOLUTIONS In this part, I am going to describe briefly some of the ways that I have adopted to devise listening activities for my students All in all, I have exploited the following sources of authentic materials in my teaching: - Radio podcasts - Video clips - Songs - TV programs/ movies Each of these materials and how to exploit them is described as follows 2.1 Using radio podcasts In order to make a radio podcast suitable for classroom teaching, I usually go through several steps: Page of 28 - Select the recording - Prepare pre - listening activities - Prepare while - listening activities - Prepare post - listening activities 2.1.1 Select the recording To prepare for a lesson of 45 minutes centred on an authentic audio recording, I usually search for a radio programme that would either interest my students or be topically related to the unit or lesson I am currently teaching The recording may vary in length, and it is best to find one from which I can extract about 5- minutes of listening For example, I choose a recording from BBC Radio programme called Excess Baggage This recording is about Daniel Everett, a linguist at Illinois State University, who has spent much of the past three decades living in the remote and little understood Amazonian tribe of the Pirahas The reason for this choice of recording is that I find it very interesting and can help students acquire some useful knowledge about life of some tribes in the Amazon Jungle The recording can be obtained from this online source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f8zp7 2.1.2 Prepare pre-listening activities In this step, I introduce the topic and activate background knowledge of what students are about to hear I provide students with a picture which can trigger general discussion around the topic A Look at the photos and discuss with a partner: What can you guess about Dan Everett and life in the Amazon? Page of 28 Then I also provide them with a short reading text which gives some general background information The reading text could include, for example, some information about the programme which answers some of the following questions: Is it an interview or discussion? Was it recorded in the studio or outside? What about the speakers - how many there are? Where are they from? How they feel about the topic? The reading text could also contain key, new or potentially problematic vocabulary and or phrases from the text B You are going to listen to part of a BBC radio programme called Excess Baggage Read the information about the programme and write T (True) or NG (Not Given) next to the sentence - Excess Baggage is a weekly BBC Radio programme on which people who have spent time travelling are interviewed about the places they have been to and things they have learnt In this programme Dan Everett, who now works at Illinois State University in the United States, talks about his experience with the Piraha tribe in the Amazon jungle He has spent much of the past thirty years living with them, studying their language and culture Excess Baggage is a holiday programme Dan Everett wasn't working at the university when he first went to visit the Piraha Dan Everett teaches the Piraha language 2.1.3 Preparing while-listening activities The activities designed at this stage are largely determined by the content of the recordings The activities may be in the form of multiple choice questions, Page of 28 open questions, ticking True or False, ordering the statement etc When I devise an activity, I always turn to the audio script highlight precisely what a listener needs to be able to understand to successfully complete the task At this point, I might modify the wording of questions and information in the activity to adjust the difficulty level of the task according to the level of my students In this BBC radio interview, Dan Everett told the presenter about the first time he travelled to an area of the Amazon jungle where a certain tribe he went to meet lived The three different activities below are based on the second and third part taken from the programme C Listen to the next part of the interview and answer questions - What does Dan say about travelling in the Amazon jungle? A It's better to travel overland B It's better to travel by plane C It's better to travel as a group When Dan and his family arrived, how did the Piraha react? A They were friendly B They wanted presents C The asked him lots of questions How did the Piraha react to Dan learning their language? A They thought he was silly B They were surprised he understood them C They thought it was interesting What travelling experiences had Dan had before he went to the Amazon? A He'd travelled from Southern California to Mexico B He'd travelled a lot in Southern California C He's travelled around Mexico D Listen again and put the phrases a - d in the order you hear them a a sort of highly - trained parrot Page of 28 b in the early days c a really tough expedition d your little tribe E Listen to the third part of the interview and answer questions - When is Dan planning on going back to visit the Piraha? What does he take them when he visits? Why wasn't the Piraha man interested in seeing the president of Brazil? When can you listen to "Don't sleep, there are snakes" on Radio 4's "Books of the week"? Before listening, I usually work on how the words in the phrases are linked in fast speech, thus helping students recognise them in context when they listen In the third exercise, the wording of the questions closely resembles the actual words used by the speakers, so making it easier for students to more easily locate the information they need to listen closely for The level of challenge increases in the second and third exercise Some of the questions demand that students listen for synonyms and antonyms or paraphrased sentences 2.1.4 Prepare post-listening activities To finish the listening lesson off, I think it is a good idea to give students the opportunity to talk more generally around a topic The task below provides examples of the kinds if questions students could talk about, which provide further opportunity to indirectly review the listening experience, and help them remember features of authentic speech F Work in pairs or small groups and discuss questions - below What else you think Dan learnt on his visits? _ Would you like to read Dan Everret's book or listen to the Radio Book of the week programme? Why or Why not? _ What's the most unusual place you've ever visited? Would you like to visit Page 10 of 28 b Choose the correct option Listen to the second paragraph and choose the correct option Tropical PAIN/RAIN falls on tropical trees, Tropical rainforest, won’t you PLEASE/ SEE, Help us SAY/SAVE it now, Help us save it NOW/KNOW c Gap filling Listen to the chorus and fill in the blank Oooh! it gives us to breathe Oooh! the animals call it Oooh! its help you and me Oooh! us save it before it’s gone d Matching Listen to the fourth paragraph and match a half in A with a half in B A B They burn and a for their family But we all know it's doing harm b to go There's no place c somehow Monkeys rush from tree to d cut it down to farm Calling out for e coming now Fire is f to the animals Must escape g tree e Reordering the sentences/ phrases Listen to the last part and number the sentences in the correct order Page 14 of 28 Here’s what we must _ To let the forest just burn away Got to say it proud All the birds in all the trees Got to say it loud Every insect and every leaf is important, too 2.4 Using English movies/ TV programs at home As a matter of fact, many language learners watch English TV programs, including movies outside of class time, but few of them consider this as an opportunity to develop their listening skills Teachers, however, in the language classroom, can give some recommendations about the English movies/ TV programs that students should watch to develop their listening skills For example, in classroom, I sometimes assign students to watch a movie on a specific channel as homework: "This weekend there is an English movie on TV Does anyone know what it is? What time is it on? Which channel is it on? Please write the name, time and channel down as this is your homework task." I then clarify what students have to focus on by giving out some orientating questions: "I would like you to watch the movie this weekend, or try to watch as much as you can Focus on listening to the movie instead of reading the subtitles Try to collect the following information: kind of movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters (male, female, animal), where does the movie take place (inside, outside, on land, at sea, country), what is the main idea in the movie?" When the next lesson comes, I collect students' ideas on the task "Who watched the movie last weekend? What can you tell us about it?" then the whole class can have a friendly discussion on the plot of the film 2.5 Where to obtain authentic listening materials? Page 15 of 28 There are some great places to look for ESL listening material From my own experience of using authentic materials, these are some choices for sites that offer authentic listening material that is ideal for English Major Students - BBC (Online): http://www.bbc.co.uk/ The news broadcasting site offers a lot news articles and reports Both teachers and students may take full advantage of the BBC’s World News TV service, with hundreds of short videos and programs to watch The video page has one-minute world news reports, plus plenty of other short videos on business, science and entertainment - BBC (Radio): http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/ BBC Radio is a separate service that allows users to listen to radio programs online There are countless radio programs to choose from, but I recommend starting with the categories page There students will be able to choose from news, sports, entertainment or documentary programs to listen to - CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/ Like its British counterpart, CNN provides an excellent video channel, on which teachers and students are able to catch the latest news CNN also offers a podcasting service with shows for a wide variety of interests CNN offers transcripts for some of these shows, giving students an additional resource to improve listening skills with - Earthwatch Radio: http://ewradio.org/ Earthwatch Radio was produced at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by staff and students at the Sea Grant Institute and the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies The stories covered a wide range of subjects concerning science and the environment, with special attention to global climate change, the Great Lakes, and the oceans Recordings from this websites are effective in both developing listening skills and providing students with a wide range of scientific Page 16 of 28 terms Regarding educational purpose, the extracts also help students become aware of protecting the environment - Repeat After Us: http://www.repeatafterus.com/ Repeat After Us was created by a high school student with a true love of literature Here, students will find a variety of recorded texts, classified into three categories: beginner, intermediate and advanced There is a lot of original material in this site, so for listening practice, students should go to recorded texts, and from there choose poetry, drama, prose or even children’s short stories if the previous categories prove to be too difficult - CBC Podcasts: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/podcasts/ The Canadian broadcasting company has an astounding variety of news, sports, and entertainment programs – and a whole lot more Teachers and students may download the MP3 file or subscribe via iTunes so they won’t miss any of their favorites - NPR: http://www.npr.org/ National Public Radio offers 24-hour Program Stream or Hourly News summaries which may be suitable for students Additionally, it offers podcasts on topics that range from animals to world news - The British Council: http://www.britishcouncil.org/ There are some great podcasts that can be downloaded from the British Council’s website All of which feature native speakers and come with a script that can be exploited by both teachers and students - Newsy: http://www.newsy.com/ Of all of the websites that offer news reports on video, Newsy is my favorite because they offer the transcript directly below the video, a big plus for ESL students Still, students may choose to display the transcript or keep it hidden for more challenging listening practice - The Weather Channel: http://www.weather.com/video/ Page 17 of 28 The Weather Channel provides a lot more than just the weather forecast on video The clips are short and the audio that is difficult to hear due to weather conditions is subtitled - Schackne Online: http://www.schackne.com/ For additional sources of authentic listening material, students may visit Schackne Online This website offers a very comprehensive list of listening resources, including links to video sites, like YouTube and UStream, and podcasts, like CBS Radio Mystery Theater, a show that students who enjoy a good mystery will enjoy Schackne Online also lists podcast directories like Podbean The number of video sites and podcasts is staggering OUTCOMES OF THE STUDY After one year applying authentic listening materials into my teaching, I have achieved some preliminary success The first notable change is in students' motivation Authentic listening materials, especially ones such as clips from media, deal with topics that are familiar to students and relevant to their personal experience Some even capture the interest and stimulate their imagination Therefore, most of my students found them appealing and they are more motivated to learn The second thing is the authentic listening materials that I choose contain quite an amount of information covering almost every field of human life Therefore, the use of such materials provided students opportunities to accumulate their knowledge about the world They can also widen their vocabulary range, especially words concerning technology, sociology, politics and environment Above all, the most remarkable success is the improvement of students' listening skills Initially most of my students had reservations about whether or not they would be able to understand the radio podcasts or a clip, but gradually they gain confidence as their listening skills accumulate Authentic listening materials have, in fact, narrowed the distance between the learners and the actual social Page 18 of 28 reality There is still a long way to go, but as long as students find these materials effective and necessary for their learning, I also feel motivated to explore more SOME RECOMMENDATIONS From my own teaching, I have accumulated some experience that needs to be taken into consideration when selecting authentic listening materials as follows: - Teachers should always bear in mind the language proficiency level of their students and choose appropriate materials For example, the materials chosen should neither too difficult nor too easy, should not contain vocabulary and structures that are too challenging The materials may cause students a little difficulty, but overall it must be comprehensible to them - Learner’s interest is another important factor that should be taken into consideration when selecting authentic listening materials The materials chosen should respond to students' interest, or familiar to them So it is necessary for teachers to know students’ likes and dislikes on listening materials and it may be wise for them to make a survey among students before the selection Some topics that most students find interesting are: music, movies, environment, education, jobs, tourism etc - Teachers should consider whether the material chosen is culturally appropriate A material that can potentially cause cultural offence should be avoided Also, if there is some element of culture that is not familiar to students, teachers may clarify or explain to the students before they listen - There is a variety of ways to devise listening activities from authentic materials It depends on the teacher's choice to choose this way but not the other, provided that the teacher feels it is effective for their own teaching However, teachers should not too rigid in their choice of listening activities For some part of the listening, multiple choice questions may be helpful, whereas in others, Page 19 of 28 answering questions or reordering sentences is effective In a lesson, they should begin with very simple tasks, and progress to the tasks that are more demanding - Teachers should play the role of helpful instructor Not all students are familiar to listening to authentic materials in the first place It may take time and effort to help students establish their listening habit PART 3: CONCLUSION The study has shown that listening, compared with speaking, reading, and writing, is the most frequently used language skill in both the classroom and daily communication In a language class, comprehension of aural input plays a critical role in second-language acquisition and learning It is, therefore, important that listening be emphasized and given priority The study has also indicated that listening comprehension in ESL students appeared to have improved after they had experienced authentic listening materials in class Besides, the application of authentic listening materials also triggers students' interests in learning English, Page 20 of 28 widens their general knowledge as well as language knowledge Therefore, a classroom implication for this is that authentic materials should be implemented in classroom as frequently as possible The study has offered some solutions to improving English major students' listening comprehension skills by incorporating authentic listening materials into the teaching curriculum The implementation of such real-life materials is, at present time, just preliminary and certainly needs further improvement and adjustment to become more and more appropriate for students Some implications for further study and implementation are as follows: - The study only focus on devising listening activities for 11 th form English major students Further research can be done into devising listening activities for non- major English students whose language proficiency is at a lower level so that all students can benefit from authentic listening materials - The use of authentic materials in English teaching in most high schools in Vietnam is still in its infancy and causes a lot of difficulties for teachers who wish to implement it Therefore, it is suggested that more language workshops should be held so that teachers can have opportunities to share their own experience and practice devising listening activities themselves References Adams, T (1995) What Makes Materials Authentic? (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No ED 391389) Guariento, W., & Morley, J (2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom ELT Journal, 55 (4), 347 - 353 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman Kilickaya F (2004) Authentic materials and cultural content in EFL classrooms The Internet TESL Journal, 10 (7) Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kilickaya-AutenticMaterial.html Page 21 of 28 Kim, D (2000) A qualitative approach to the authenticity in the foreign language classroom: a study of university students learning English in Korea Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, (1), 189-205 Lee, W (1995) Authenticity revisited: text authenticity and learner authenticity ELT Journal, 49 (4), 323-328 Martinez, A (2002) Authentic materials: An overview Karen's Linguistic Issues Retrieved October 25, 2006 from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/authenticmaterials.html McNeill, A (1994) What Makes Authentic Materials Different? The Case of English Language Materials for Educational Television Papers presented at the Annual International Language in Education Conference, Hong Kong Schmidt, T (1994) Authenticity in ESL: a study of requests Unpublished master’s thesis, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale APPENDIX Transcript of the video "New York City Travel Guide" on Youtube New Yorkers like to think their home is the centre of the world And who can blame them? Home to over million people, the city is loud and fast, and posed with energy America’s biggest city can be overwhelming for visitors but you’ll find the street names make navigation easy And those yellow cabs are a great way to get around Page 22 of 28 Manhattan is the heart and soul of the Big Apple And within its neighbourhoods, there’s a distinct style and pace Lower Manhattan, the city’s financial disctrict bustles from Monday to Friday The neon of Time Square and Broadway burns bright in Midtown While dominating the Upper East End West sides are Central Park, high-end boutiques and those famous brown-stone homes Make your way down to New York harbour and jump on a ferry to Liberty Island Taking the views of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, commemorating the centennial of the Declaration of Independence It’s been a peak in freedom to immigrants arriving to New York since 1886 New York is one of the cultural hubs of the world Don’t miss the city’s famous art museums: The Museum of Modern Art or MoMa, the Soloman R Guggueinheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art And look to the south Bronx and Queens, where a new wave of artists are making their mark on the street New York has always been a thriving home for music Check out the beats in the Bronx, the birthplace of hiphop Or head to Greenwich village for NewYork’s jazzy From jazz clubs to Broadway extravaganzas to the latest Chealse bar s in the city that never sleeps there are plenty of reasons to stay out late well into the night APPENDIX The Rainforest Song by J.P Taylor's Here's a song about a place That's threatened by the human race Want to let you know, want to let you know Tropical rain falls on tropical trees The tropical rain forest won't you please Help us save it now, help us save it now Chorus: Page 23 of 28 Ooh, it gives us air to breathe Ooh, the animals call it home Ooh, its medicines help you and me Ooh, help us save it before it's gone They burn and cut it down to farm But we all know it's doing harm To the animals, there's no place to go Monkey's rush from tree to tree Calling out for their family Fire's coming now, must escape somehow Chorus All the birds in all the trees Every insect and every leaf Is important, too, here's what we must Tell everybody that it's not okay To let the forests just burn away Got to say it loud, got to say it proud! Chorus APPENDIX Some listening worksheets devised from authentic listening materials Watch a video about Bonfire night and the tasks that follow A: Decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F) Guy Fawkes wasn’t in charge of making The Gunpowder Plot happen T / F Guy Fawkes was arrested, tortured and he eventually confessed T / F The cellars under the Houses of Parliament are always searched before the Queen visits T / F Page 24 of 28 B: Choose the correct answer The Gunpowder plot was created by (a) a group of Catholics (b) a group of Protestants (c) Guy Fawkes How many barrels of gunpowder were hidden under the Houses of Parliament? (a) 36 (b) 800 (c) 1800 After his confession, Guy Fawkes (a) was sent to prison (b) was killed (c) was murdered The Bonfire Night tradition began (a) to celebrate the Gunpowder Plot (b) to remind people that Guy Fawkes was a traitor (c) to celebrate King James I’s survival Traditionally on Bonfire Night, people eat (a) baked potatoes, apples and drink wine (b) baked potatoes, toffee apples and drink wine (c) baked potatoes, toffee apples and drink water THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC (ABBA) Fill in the blanks I'm nothing (1) _ , in fact I'm a bit of a bore If I tell a (2) _ , you've probably heard it (3) _ But I have a talent, a (4) _thing 'Cause everyone (5) _ when I start to (6) _ I'm so grateful and (7) _ All I (8) _ is to (9) _ it out loud Page 25 of 28 Put the lines in order Chorus: a Without a song or a dance what are we? b Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty c So I say thank you for the music d Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing e For giving it to me f Thanks for all the joy they're bringing g What would life be? h So I say Fill in the blanks (10) _ says I was a dancer before I could (11) _ She says I (12) _ to sing long before I could (13) _ And I've often wondered, how did it all (14) _ Who found out that (15) _ can capture a (16) _ Like a melody can Well, whoever it was, I'm a fan Chorus: I've been so (17) _, I am the (18) _ with golden hair I wanna sing it out to (19) _ What a joy, what a (20) _ , what a chance! Chorus: This listening is adapted from BBC Words in the News Program I Vocabulary matching in the public eye gave little away succession upbringing monarch problematic a guessing what might happen without any certain information b head of state such as king or queen c did something different from what is normally done d causing problems e how a child is treated and educated by its parents f did not tell anyone any information Page 26 of 28 diminished g control in showing emotions or behaving in a certain way speculation h well known by many people broke with tradition i process in which someone automatically takes their position after someone else 10 restraint j reduced II Listen and fill in the text with ONE word from the listening What next for the Royal baby boy? The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy For the first time in British history, it made no difference if the royal child was a boy or a girl - the baby would be third in line to the throne regardless But the new law, which was changed especially for this baby, will not be put to the test The BBC's Royal Correspondent Luisa Baldini reports on the family and public life that lies ahead It was a pregnancy in the eye There was no hiding away from the cameras And royal continued for the Duchess of Cambridge until the final weeks Wherever she went, the gifts, the questions, the chat, had been of the baby She gave little away With his in her 61st year on the throne, and his grandfather and father ahead of him in the line of , it will be some time before the Duke and Duchess's son is King Suzannah Lipscomb, Historian: It is in the nature of these next few years, in his , in his childhood, in the character and values that are instilled in him at this stage, that will how the British people view their monarch In the past, there was a formality to the royal birth Much has changed After Prince William was born at St Mary's hospital, his father spoke to the media Reporter: How is Lady Di? Prince Charles: She's very well, Reporter: Was it a very painful experience? Prince Charles: Have you ever had a baby? Reporter: No I haven't Prince Charles: I should wait and see! And from the moment the new Prince on the hospital steps, it was clear his upbringing would be different, less 10 William will now be fiercely Page 27 of 28 protective of his wife and child, but 11 the level of interest from the public and the media is increasingly 12 The Duchess of Cambridge's childhood memories are of a strong family unit in 13 Berkshire Royal life appears not to have diminished that bond And there is speculation that after the birth the Duchess will return home to mum for a few weeks William's childhood broke with 14 By royal standards there was greater freedom It was more 15 , there was less restraint He is likely to want the same for his son, a little boy who one day will be King Page 28 of 28 ... usefulness of authentic materials have been increasingly acknowledged In fact, using authentic listening materials has several advantages According to Brinton (1991), authentic listening materials. .. of authentic listening materials in teaching English is quite limited in the scenario of high schools in Vietnam At Ha Long High School for Gifted Students, English major students may listen to. .. comprehensible to them - Learner’s interest is another important factor that should be taken into consideration when selecting authentic listening materials The materials chosen should respond to students'