The adaptation of authentic listening materials for promoting listening skill in classroom and the provincial contest for gifted students

TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Participants of the study 4 The scope of the study PART B CONTENTS I Theoreotical background .5 What are authentic materials? Why should we use authentic listening materials? Benefits of using authentic listening materials II Ways of using different types of authentic materials Radio Video clips: The Internet III Designing listenimg tasks using authentic listening materials for students partaking in the Provincial English Contests .11 Exercise 1: 11 Exercise 2: 13 Exercise 3: 14 Exercise 4: 15 Exercise 5: 16 Exercise 6: 17 Exercise 7: 17 Exercise 8: 18 Exercise 19 10 Exercise 10 .20 11 Exercise 11 .21 12 Exercise 12 .22 13 Exercise 13 .23 14 Exercise 14 .23 15 Exercise 15 .23 16 Tapescripts 24 IV Performance results 43 V Implications for teachers when applying authentic listening materials into language classroom .44 Learner’s language proficiency level: 44 Learners’ interest of the topic: 44 Cultural appropriateness 44 Preparation .45 Staging the lesson .45 Exploiting the listening text .45 PART C: CONCLUSION 45 Page | PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Listening, the most frequently used form of language skill, plays a significant role in daily communication and educational process In spite of its importance, listening ability development has received only slight emphasis in language instruction Nevertheless, English classrooms, where comprehensive listening serves as a primary channel for learning, require that students function effectively as listeners It is therefore important for English teachers to prepare students for successful by implementing authentic listening materials in the classes The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills brings attention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our learners to The aim of all listening lessons should be to allow learners a greater degree of independence when confronted with listening to the foreign language in a real world context, and that means using authentic texts Authentic texts are any spoken texts which have not been specially prepared for language learners, and they are often delivered via technologies like radio, television/video, and the Internet or CD-ROM In the age of globalization today, preparing students for real life situations is of great concern for many English language teachers and for students and their parents as well For a motivating high level course for English major students at high school, using authentic materials is one of the mainstays which can help meet the expectations In addition, authentic materials will bring students closer to the target language culture, and therefore will make the learning process overall an even more enjoyable and thus, motivating Moreover, the use of authentic listening materials in the test paper of the Provincial Contest for Gifted Students in recent years can both challenging and be rewarding for high school teachers and students In the teaching context of our High School for Gifted Students, English major students here can get access to a variety of listening materials However, most of these materials are specifically designed for testing purpose and may help students enhance 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 the Internet, TV programs 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 English language learners achieve an Page | understanding of authentic listening texts These activities are particularly helpful for English major students Aims of the study The study aims at: - Giving an overview of authentic materials and sources to obtain them - Suggesting some ways to design exercises from the authentic materials so as to help English language learners develop their listening skills - Introducing some websites and programs for teachers and students to exploit authentic materials Participants of the study This study is based mainly on my teaching experience when applying authentic listening materials into my teaching at our High School for Gifted Students during school years from 2016 to 2021 I use these materials in the morning lessons for 11 th form students majoring in English I mainly use authentic listening materials as a kind of listening practice for excellent students who take part in the Provincial Contest for Gifted Students The scope of the study As the main aims of this study is to suggest some ways to adapt authentic listening materials into the teaching curriculum, it will be helpful to acquaint high school students with real-life communicative situations Accordingly, their language competence will certainly improve The study would like to suggest several sources from which 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 The study also gives some suggestions for teachers to design some forms of exercises so as they can use in their every day lessons The topic is: The adaptation of authentic listening materials for promoting listening skill in classroom and the provincial contest for gifted students Page | PART B CONTENTS I Theoreotical background What are authentic materials? Authentic materials are print, video, and audio materials students encounter in their daily lives, such as change-of address forms, job applications, menus, voice mail messages, radio programs, and videos Authentic materials are not created specifically to be used in the classroom, but they make excellent learning tools for students precisely because they are authentic There are two main categories of authentic materials—print and auditory English as a second language (ESL), adult secondary education (ASE), and adult basic education (ABE) students all can benefit from using authentic print materials ESL students often use authentic auditory materials, although ABE and ASE students also may find them useful Why should we use authentic listening materials? In the age of globalization today, students need to be exposed not only to varieties (not just one) of English such as British, American, Australian, Japanese or Singaporean English but also to the ‘real language’ in order to be able to cope with different versions and real challenges awaiting them in the outside world There are several reasons why teachers should use authentic materials, especially for higher-level English major students at high school First, authentic materials texts will have a number of features that cannot be found in textbooks In fact, there is a considerable gap between authentic language and textbook language Gilmore (2007) claims that the language presented to students in textbooks is ‘a poor representation of the real thing’ The textbook language is modified from authentic language sources to encourage learning and accomplishment for the student Also, designed materials lack several elements present in authentic spoken English such as realistic intonation, natural rate of speech, or background noise, etc Therefore, students become better prepared for the real world when authentic listening materials are used in classrooms as textbook supplements Another important reason is the students' motivation and interest Authentic language helps students get closer to its speakers, and understand them better It seems exotic and exciting with its flavour of everyday life Authentic materials are also specially relevant for English major students many of whom have the aim of studying overseas So for students to actually be able to communicate and interact socially in the target language environment, the use of authentic materials seems an essential preparation Page | Benefits of using authentic listening materials Many teachers and students realize the role of authentic materials in language teaching and learning They believe that authentic materials scaffold students' learning of a target language more sufficiently (Guariento & Morley, 2001; Wilcox & Oaks, 1999; Weyers, 1999 cited in Al Azri & Al-Rashdi, 2014) Authentic resources offer great advantage over materials created for the purpose of language teaching and learning, both linguistic and non-linguistic Linguistic Advantages Studies concerning the use of authentic materials have shown that they have a positive effect on learners' achievement Otte (2006, cited in Al Azri & Al-Rashdi, 2014) found that authentic materials successfully help develop students’ listening skills and also their motivation Following are some benefits of authentic materials discussed in various research papers and studies Authentic materials: • guide learners toward the language they need for their particular context; • provide exposure to real language • relate more closely to learners ' needs • help learners to produce better language • help learners to acquire the language faster • motivate learners to communicate, because they help make communication ‘real’ • provide words and constructions that students probably never see in nonauthentic formal materials • encourage teachers to adopt creative teaching approach 3.2 Non-linguistic Advantages In addition to the linguistic advantages, authentic materials also have some nonlinguistic benefits They make a positive contribution in the field of language teaching and learning in that they: • have a positive effect on learner motivation and encourage them to learn better • makes learners more confident to deal with real life situations • Help prepare learners for the ‘real’ world of communication; • boost their confidence Page | • improve the learners' cultural awareness Students will learn better and benefit greatly from the use of authentic materials Teachers can adapt their use of authentic materials to suit the language proficiency level of the students Drawbacks of using authentic listening materials Although the use of authentic materials is beneficial to students and their learning of a foreign language, there are many difficulties that teachers face in making use of such materials Even when they see it as desirable, many teachers are discouraged from using authentic materials due to the practical difficulties they encounter Finding appropriate authentic texts or audio recordings and designing tasks for them can be an extremely time-consuming process It takes time to look for an appropriate text or audio recording in terms of relevant knowledge, language or interest, etc Authentic materials may contain difficult structures and lexical items that students have not been exposed to before or some cultural references uninteresting or irrelevant to students (Jennie, 2015) What’s more, using authentic materials in developing listening skills is even more difficult and time-consuming when the teacher need to listen to the recordings and check the transcripts (if any) or even worse, when there is no transcript available, they need to listen again and again (if necessary) to make sure they can catch the content, the important details and the language used before actually designing tasks Many teachers just avoid using material from an authentic source because they lack knowledge of how to select an appropriate recording or how to exploit the material All these pitfalls discourage teachers and make them stick to the safer and less time-consuming course book From the literature and overview, it is obvious that the advantages of using authentic materials outweigh the disadvantages Therefore, we teachers should consider them seriously as a successful aid in teaching a foreign language II Ways of using different types of authentic materials Radio Using real-time radio in class is one of the more easily accessible forms of authentic listening practice we can give our learners The airwaves are filled with programs twenty-four hours per day, and the low cost of radios means that most language teachers can obtain a radio and take it to class Radio stations such as BBC World Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air Meanwhile, many non-English speaking countries also broadcast some programs, or even have dedicated stations, in English Although radios are easy to access, they are perhaps the Page | most difficult of aural text for language learners to listen to The reason for this is that all non-verbal information is missing, information which can aid in helping understand the message, and the learner has to focus on the skill which is most difficult for him or her listening In order to use radio programs with learners, teachers need to select a program at a suitable time for their class and decide on some global listening tasks for the learners For instance, with an intermediate group of learners about to listen to a radio program on travel we might adopt the following procedure: * Stage 1: Pre-Listening Today we are going to listen to a program on the radio for ten minutes about Harvest festival Before we listen answer my question: - What can you see from the picture? What are people doing with those festivals? When is it held? The radio guide tells us in that this program is about Havest Festival around the world * Stage 2: While-Listening Activity 1: Fill in the blank with words or phrases: Teacher gets students to listen and the tasks designed Somewhere in the world a farmer plants many (1) into a field The farmer waters the fields Soon, after sun, water, and time, the seeds grow into _(2) They are fruits, or vegetables or grain The plants are full and ready to be used It is time to take the fruit or vegetable or _(3) from the plant It is time for the (4) Activity 2: Decide whether the following statements are True or False: People have been celebrating the harvest for millions of years During the festival, people celebrate and drink They wish to have better crop next year * Stage 3: Post-Listening Groups of three have a short discussion about what you heard from the program Then each group make a presentation on what they have taken notes of the listening Why or why not? In using the radio in the way suggested here we allow learners access to native speaker models, something which might be missing from their normal classroom experiences Also, we place the focus on extensive listening for pleasure and take the emphasis off testing what the learners hear (that is why we ask the learners not to write while they listen) Page | Video clips: Using video clips in the classroom allows the learners access to more information when listening That is, the learners can now see what is happening as well as listen to the text and learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context For example in the lesson Unit 8: Celebrations ( English 11), I show a video of about minutes about The Story of Thanksgiving day by SteelehouseMedia.com what they think about those people in the video This listening activity is used as a post step in a lesson The Internet There has been a rapid increase in the development of Internet facilities This has been prompted, partly, by the more powerful computers we have these days and has been partly driven by the users' demands for more interesting and innovative applications of the technology We are able to direct our learners to sites on the Internet where they can practice their listening as long as they have access to the appropriate computer software Below are some websites that can be used for the teachers tocreate listening tasks as well as for students to study themselves 3.1 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 I often download the One Minute World News for my advanced students as the speed of the listening is often a challenge for them Moreover, this is the lastest news all over the world so students are so motivated and enthusiastic when listening to it 3.2 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 3.3 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 Page | offers transcripts for some of these shows, giving students an additional resource to improve listening skills with 3.4 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 terms Regarding educational purpose, the extracts also help students become aware of protecting the environment 3.5 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 3.6 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 3.7 NPR: http://www.npr.org/ Provincial 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 3.8 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 3.9 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 Page | 10 following being hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 Tepco started the removal of the nuclear fuel on Monday, five years behind schedule The work to remove and relocate the hazardous rods was delayed because of a whole series of malfunctions of the devices that had been designed for the removal operation Another factor that caused delays was high levels of radiation observed in the area Tepco said this posed a "significant challenge" for engineers Tepco said it is removing seven unspent nuclear fuel rods from the reactor's pool There are a total of 1,573 spent and unspent fuel rods stored at the power plant The rods will be transferred to safer storage pools at the plant Tepco said the work would be completed by the end of March 2021 A company spokesman, Tomohiko Isogai, said: "I believe everything is going well so far We will watch the progress at the site as we put safety first Our goal is not to rush the process but to carefully proceed with the decommissioning work." Another spokesman said: "Safety is our priority We will carefully continue this work." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would its best to rebuild the area (Source: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/) Exercise 10 The Japanese government has introduced a bill to recognize the country's ethnic Ainu minority group as an "indigenous" people It is the first time for Japan's government to this It comes after decades of lobbying and campaigning by Ainu people to be recognized The Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan originating in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, north-eastern Honshu, and islands between Japan and Russia Their official number today is around 25,000, but many observers estimate a more accurate figure to be around 200,000 Many Ainu have been completely assimilated into Japanese society and have no knowledge of their ancestry or historical roots, traditions and culture The Japan Today website wrote about the hardships the Ainu have faced It said: "The Ainu people have long suffered the effects of a policy of forced assimilation, and while discrimination has receded gradually, income and education gaps with the rest of Japan persist." Japan's government spoke about the importance of passing the new legislation It said: "It is important to protect the honor and dignity of the Ainu people and to hand those down to the next generation to realize a vibrant society with diverse values." Ainu spokesman Tadashi Kato said: "It feels like we woke up now from a truly deep sleep It will lead to building a society where we cohabit together We think this is the first step." (Source: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/) Page | 33 Exercise 11 Ever since I first stepped through the door behind me as Prime Minister, I have striven to make the United Kingdom a country that works not just for a privileged few, but for everyone And to honour the result of the EU referendum Back in 2016, we gave the British people a choice Against all predictions, the British people voted to leave the European Union I feel as certain today as I did three years ago that in a democracy, if you give people a choice you have a duty to implement what they decide I have done my best to that I negotiated the terms of our exit and a new relationship with our closest neighbours that protects jobs, our security and our Union I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal Sadly, I have not been able to so I tried three times I believe it was right to persevere, even when the odds against success seemed high But it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new Prime Minister to lead that effort So I am today announcing that I will resign as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party on Friday June so that a successor can be chosen I have agreed with the Party Chairman and with the Chairman of the 1922 Committee that the process for electing a new leader should begin in the following week I have kept Her Majesty the Queen fully informed of my intentions, and I will continue to serve as her Prime Minister until the process has concluded It is, and will always remain, a matter of deep regret to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit It will be for my successor to seek a way forward that honours the result of the referendum To succeed, he or she will have to find consensus in Parliament where I have not Such a consensus can only be reached if those on all sides of the debate are willing to compromise For many years the great humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton - who saved the lives of hundreds of children by arranging their evacuation from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia through the Kindertransport - was my constituent in Maidenhead Page | 34 At another time of political controversy, a few years before his death, he took me to one side at a local event and gave me a piece of advice He said, 'Never forget that compromise is not a dirty word Life depends on compromise.' He was right As we strive to find the compromises we need in our politics - whether to deliver Brexit, or to restore devolved government in Northern Ireland - we must remember what brought us here Because the referendum was not just a call to leave the EU but for profound change in our country A call to make the United Kingdom a country that truly works for everyone I am proud of the progress we have made over the last three years We have completed the work that David Cameron and George Osborne started: the deficit is almost eliminated, our national debt is falling and we are bringing an end to austerity My focus has been on ensuring that the good jobs of the future will be created in communities across the whole country, not just in London and the South East, through our Modern Industrial Strategy We have helped more people than ever enjoy the security of a job We are building more homes and helping first-time buyers onto the housing ladder so young people can enjoy the opportunities their parents did And we are protecting the environment, eliminating plastic waste, tackling climate change and improving air quality This is what a decent, moderate and patriotic Conservative Government, on the common ground of British politics, can achieve - even as we tackle the biggest peacetime challenge any government has faced I know that the Conservative Party can renew itself in the years ahead That we can deliver Brexit and serve the British people with policies inspired by our values Security; freedom; opportunity Those values have guided me throughout my career But the unique privilege of this office is to use this platform to give a voice to the voiceless, to fight the burning injustices that still scar our society That is why I put proper funding for mental health at the heart of our NHS long-term plan Page | 35 It is why I am ending the postcode lottery for survivors of domestic abuse It is why the Race Disparity Audit and gender pay reporting are shining a light on inequality, so it has nowhere to hide And that is why I set up the independent public inquiry into the tragedy at Grenfell Tower - to search for the truth, so nothing like it can ever happen again, and so the people who lost their lives that night are never forgotten Because this country is a Union Not just a family of four nations But a union of people - all of us Whatever our background, the colour of our skin, or who we love We stand together And together we have a great future Our politics may be under strain, but there is so much that is good about this country So much to be proud of So much to be optimistic about I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold - the second female Prime Minister but certainly not the last I so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=) Exercise 12 A BRIEF HISTORY OF DOGS Since their emergence over 200,000 years ago, modern humans have established homes and communities all over the planet But they didn’t it alone Whatever corner of the globe you find homo sapiens in today, you’re likely to find another species nearby: Canis lupus familiaris Whether they’re herding, hunting, sledding, or slouching the sheer variety of domestic dogs is staggering But what makes the story of man’s best friend so surprising is that they all evolved from a creature often seen as one of our oldest rivals: Canis lupus, or the gray wolf When our Paleolithic ancestors first settled Eurasia roughly 100,000 years ago, wolves were one of their main rivals at the top of the food chain Able to exert over 300 lbs of pressure in one bone-crushing bite and sniff out prey more than a mile away, these formidable predators didn’t have much competition Much like human hunter-gatherers, they lived and hunted in complex social groups consisting of a few nuclear families, and used their social skills to cooperatively take down larger creatures Using these group tactics, they operated as effective persistence hunters, relying not on outrunning their prey, but pursuing it to the point of exhaustion But when pitted against the similar strengths of their invasive new neighbors, wolves found themselves at a crossroads For most packs, these bourgeoning bipeds Page | 36 represented a serious threat to their territory But for some wolves, especially those without a pack, human camps offered new opportunities Wolves that showed less aggression towards humans could come closer to their encampments, feeding on leftovers And as these more docile scavengers outlasted their aggressive brethren, their genetic traits were passed on, gradually breeding tamer wolves in areas near human populations Over time humans found a multitude of uses for these docile wolves They helped to track and hunt prey, and might have served as sentinels to guard camps and warn of approaching enemies Their similar social structure made it easy to integrate with human families and learn to understand their commands Eventually they moved from the fringes of our communities into our homes, becoming humanity’s first domesticated animal The earliest of these Proto-Dogs or Wolf-Dogs, seem to have appeared around 33,000 years ago, and would not have looked all that different from their wild cousins They were primarily distinguished by their smaller size and a shorter snout full of comparatively smaller teeth But as human cultures and occupations became more diverse and specialized, so did our friends Short stocky dogs to herd livestock by nipping their heels; elongated dogs to flush badgers and foxes out of burrows; thin and sleek dogs for racing; and large, muscular dogs for guard duty With the emergence of kennel clubs and dog shows during England’s Victorian era, these dog types were standardized into breeds, with many new ones bred purely for appearance Sadly, while all dog breeds are the product of artificial selection, some are healthier than others Many of these aesthetic characteristics come with congenital health problems, such as difficulty breathing or being prone to spinal injuries Humanity’s longest experiment in controlled evolution has had other side effects as well Generations of selection for tameness have favored more juvenile and submissive traits that were pleasing to humans This phenomenon of selecting traits associated with youth is known as neoteny, and can be seen in many domestic animals Thousands of years of co-evolution may even have bonded us chemically Not only can canines understand our emotions and body language, but when dogs and humans interact, both our bodies release oxytocin; a hormone commonly associated with feelings of love and protectiveness It might be difficult to fathom how every Pomeranian, Chihuahua, and Poodle are descended from fierce wolves But the diversity of breeds today is the result of a relationship that precedes cities, agriculture, and even the disappearance of our Neanderthal cousins And it’s heartening to know that given enough time, even our most dangerous rivals can become our fiercest friends (Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch) Page | 37 Exercise 13 Nick Schifrin: National polls show Americans believe health care prices and drug costs are among one of their top pocketbook concerns Today, President Trump took aim at hospitals and insurers, with executive orders requiring more transparency around what patients actually pay But there are questions about the extent to which the orders will help patients, and whether they could have unintended consequences The president's announcement today comes as the public is increasingly angry about surprise medical bills Right now, hospitals and insurers keep patients' costs for procedures as secret proprietary information Today's executive order would require health care providers to disclose before treatment what patients will have to pay The hope is that patients could shop around for better prices Surprise medical bills come when insured patients are treated at a hospital by a doctor not in the same insurance network That is what happened to Andrew Hayman, who was treated by a plastic surgeon for a shard of glass in his ankle at an E.R He told Megan Thompson of "News Hour Weekend" his share of the bill was $5,000 Andrew Hayman: I'm thinking, there's no way I'm going to pay this This is insane It's kind of almost like, whatever, if you want to call it false advertising, when you get some kind of a crazy bill from someone who's not in the network, and you really had no control over the fact that that — that they would be there Nick Schifrin: A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that after treatment at a hospital in 2017, about one in six Americans were surprised by a medical bill The order issued by the president today doesn't directly address those bills, but it does require hospitals and doctors to disclose the discounted prices that they are negotiating with insurers President Trump says true cost transparency was overdue President Donald Trump: And there's no consistency, there's no predictability, and there's frankly no rhyme or reason for what's been happening for many years We believe the American people have a right to know the price of services before they go to visit the doctor Prices will come down by numbers that you won't even believe You won't even believe it Page | 38 Nick Schifrin: So, would these moves help bring down patients' costs? We explore that question with Elisabeth Rosenthal, the editor in chief of Kaiser Health News and author of "An American Sickness" about the costs of the health care system and its impact on patients Thank you very much for coming on to the "News Hour." When Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar today previewed the president's executive order, he said this: "This was one of the most significant steps in the long history of American health care reform." Is it? And will it be effective? Elisabeth Rosenthal: Well, it's important Transparency is good If you get an accurate estimate of your outof-pocket costs, you can make consumer decisions in elective surgeries, elective admissions So, in that sense, it's good I think what's more debatable is, we know now that he wants the hospitals to give us the rates that they negotiate with insurers, which are much less than the list prices So how will patients use those? And how will that be defined? I think that's a big question Nick Schifrin: So that seems to me the key, right? Will patients, will we get the actual cost that we will owe after our insurance covers whatever? Or are we going to get something different, perhaps even what the hospitals owe? Elisabeth Rosenthal: Oh, well, that's a big question, right? If I go to a contractor and say, I want my kitchen renovated, and he gives me an estimate of $1,000, and then asks for $5,000, I say no You can't that in hospitals, because you have already had the care Nick Schifrin: These numbers, these values, the costs that we're talking about that we pay out of our pockets, these are proprietary These numbers, the insurers say that they don't want to give this up So they don't want us to shop around How bad are they going to fight this? Page | 39 Elisabeth Rosenthal: Well, they are fighting it very hard And they have actually said, well, if you release these prices, these insider deals, prices could actually go up, which is very counterintuitive But in health care, we often see that if one person is charging less, and they see that the company next door is charging twice as much, they will raise the price to that sticky ceiling It's called sticky pricing So it all depends on whether there's a real consumer market where we, the patients, or our insurers can really compare prices and go for the bottom one Nick Schifrin: And will these executive orders today, will it create that market? Elisabeth Rosenthal: Not in and of itself It's a long road before that I mean, it will help I think any transparency is good Technology can help us get us to meaningful prices and competition But whether there's the will to get us there, hospitals, insurers may not want that out in the open, because, you know, they don't really want the market to work here always Nick Schifrin: And bottom line, why have these issues become such a pocketbook issue for Americans? Elisabeth Rosenthal: Well, a lot of forces are coming together right now First of all, a lot of us have high deductible plans So we're paying these bills out of pocket Another thing is, there are narrower networks So we're often more — we encounter more surprise bills And another thing is, in the old days, doctors — I was a physician — we were employed by hospitals So the hospitals could control what we charge Now most doctors in hospitals are contractors That includes the E.R doctor, the intensive care doctor taking care of your newborn And they can charge kind of whatever they want And those rates are not apparent until you get your EOB in the bill And then you're stuck, right? You can't say, oh, well, I would have taken my baby elsewhere That just doesn't make any sense So whether it can become a meaningful market, I think it's really up in the air Nick Schifrin: Page | 40 Elisabeth Rosenthal, editor in chief of Kaiser Health News, thank you so much Elisabeth Rosenthal: Thanks for having me (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVU) Exercise 14 Paul Pogba, this is set to rumble on what are the latest developments on him potentially leaving Dharmesh: Now you recall the interview he did in Tokyo at a promotional event where he said maybe this is the right time for a new challenge away from Manchester United Well we have been told today that United expect him to stay at Old Trafford next season with boss Olek gonna soldier seeing him as a key part of his plans next season in his first full season in charge So that really should be the end of it Pogba says he wants to go United says they want him to stay, so he stays Not quite privately, it is law that United would actually entertain offers for Pogba so they can maximize their transfer fee if they were to that deal now That’s because Pogba has got two years left on his contract he’s gone option of a further year but it is clear the player himself gave what he said in Tokyo yesterday that he does want to leave Manchester United So Dharmesh, if they are going to entertain offers, what sort of region are we talking for a transfer fee here? Dharmesh: Right, let’s rewind three years, or let’s rewind even further back than that when Manchester United released him to Juventus for no money at all and then, what did they back in 2016? They paid Juventus 89 million pounds to get Paul Pogba back We’re told that they would take and accept around a hundred and fifty million pounds for Paul Pogba You have to say though United have to play this one very very carefully indeed The noises about expecting him to stay next season is that you would expect Manchester to say because anything else would only reduce the potential money that they could get for him in a transfer fee What’s more, Manchester United would be very interested in the fact if more than one club are interested in Paul Pogba because they can create a what we call a bidding wall during a transfer window We’ve learned that Juventus, Real Madrid, and Paris Saint Germain are all keen Add to that, Manchester United has developed a somewhat different approach in their transfer strategy this summer They want to build a younger squad, they want to build a hungrier squad moving away from the concept they they had a huge outlay and associating huge wages with those places not to say that they can’t that It’s not to say they won’t that but the intention is it seems to buy young and preferably homegrown players Daniel James from Swansea City is of Page | 41 course a case in point This brings us back to Pogba’s comments: It can be looked at in one of two ways, he’s trying to force Manchester United into selling him all perhaps when they start talking about a new contract for Paul Pogba if it gets to that stage he might be thinking “I can get a bit more money” makes no mistake though the developments recently mean that Pogba has just become front and center in this summer transfer’s window A massive story, a brilliant stuff Dharmesh, thank you very much (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIqPiAZc5Tc&fbclid) Exercise 15 A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days The idea is actually pretty simple Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days It turns out 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit like watching the news -from your life There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day I also noticed that as I started to more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew I went from deskdwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work For fun! (Laughter) Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can anything for 30 days Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel, from scratch, in 30 days It turns out, all you have to is write 1,667 words a day for a month So I did By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day You might be sleep-deprived, but you'll finish your novel Now is my book the next great American novel? No I wrote it in a month It's awful (Laughter) But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don't have to say, "I'm a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist." So here's one last thing I'd like to mention I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick There's Page | 42 nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges In fact, they're a ton of fun But they're less likely to stick When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this (Laughter) So here's my question to you: What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot! For the next 30 days Thanks (Applause) Since their emergence over 200,000 years ago, modern humans have established homes and communities all over the planet But they didn’t it alone Whatever corner of the globe you find homo sapiens in today, you’re likely to find another species ne would expeccccccccc aarby: Canis lupus familiaris Whether they’re herding, hunting, sledding, or slouching the sheer variety of domestic dogs is staggering But what makes the story of man’s best friend so surprising is that they all evolved from a creature often seen as one of our oldest rivals: Canis lupus, or the gray wolf in cccccccc (Source: https://www.youtube.com/w) IV Performance results When applying those sources of authentic listening materials in the classroom activities, especially in preparation for students partaking Provincial Contest for Gifted Students, we have found that the students really enjoy the adapted tasks as well as the above sources for self-study After over years of accomplishments (2016 – 2021), I discover that the listening skill of the choosen students has dramatically improved and they have always completed 90 – 100 % of the required listening tasks in every paper they did That is, therefore, one of the significant reasons why our students have got excellent results in the Provincial Contest for Gifted Students This table shows the results of our gifted students over the past years No Academic year Number of students Result Percentage Page | 43 2016 – 2017 2017- 2018 2018 – 2019 2020 - 2021 3 second prizes third prize second prizes third prize second prize third prize consolation prize second prize third prizes 100 % 100 % 100 % 100 % V Implications for teachers when applying authentic listening materials into language classroom Access to a wide range of authentic audio materials via mass media is getting very easy for teachers and learners with technological developments Various sources and programmes can serve as effective teaching devices to develop students’ listening skills and arouse their motivation simultaneously There are some factors to consider in selecting the most suitable listening materials that can serve the purposes of the teacher Accordingly, teachers should follow some important criteria for selecting the appropriate materials Learner’s language proficiency level: Teachers need to bear in mind the following questions:  Is the vocabulary in the recording likely to be familiar to the listener?  To what extent can the task be achieved? For higher or advanced level students majoring in English, there is a wider range of choices, from TV or radio news reports, movies, or TV programs to political speeches or talks Learners’ interest of the topic: Teachers should take into consideration students’ interest when selecting authentic listening materials so that they can give their students some interesting talks, films, or programs to listen or watch and some motivating tasks to Cultural appropriateness If there is any cultural specific content in the recording, the teachers should consider whether it can potentially cause cultural shock Teacher should explain clearly if there is any difficulty or teacher can design more lead-in activities so that students can go into the lesson smoothly Page | 44 Preparation Listening activities differ from other classroom exercise in many ways such as same speed for everyone, complexity of structure and lexis, informal spoken language, or incomplete utterances Due to the special characteristics of listening, both teachers and students need to be prepared for it Teachers need to listen to the recording all the way through before class, being prepared for any problems that come up They should their best to get students engaged with the listening topic and tasks Staging the lesson There are different things to with a listening text, so it’s important that teachers design different tasks for different listening stages, beginning with something more general and then on detail, from some simpler tasks to more demanding ones Exploiting the listening text With an appropriate choice and good preparation, teachers can use the recording for various kinds of study, exploiting the listening material to the full PART C: CONCLUSION Page | 45 Authentic materials have many benefits compared with non-authentic materials Teachers should choose and use suitable authentic materials in listening teaching but to really improve students listening ability the kinds of methods adapted to exploit these materials are essential A listening text suitable for students' level and interest is vital to obtain the highest level of benefit from using authentic recordings in the classroom This type of materials then can serve as a useful means to motivate learners, arouse their interest and expose them to real language they will face in the real world Authentic materials offer a rich source of input for learners and have the potential to be exploited in different ways to develop not only learners’ communicative competence but also their confidence in a real situation They are greatly useful for advanced students, especially high school students majoring in English Exposure to authentic materials as textbook supplements would be of great benefits for students in terms of attitude, motivation and culture and language achievement An ideal listening class should use a combination of both authentic texts and textbooks Although authentic materials are a valuable part of the teacher's resource, and can have great benefits, they should be used in small doses, must be carefully selected and controlled, and need well-thought out teaching tasks to be fully exploited Through this research, we know that if we are going to improve the students’ listening proficiency, we should provide them with more opportunities to get the practice they need to use the language We believe that the present application of using authentic materials to the field of language learning is essential for promoting listening proficiency because it creates a situation where learners are exposed to real communication REFERENCES Page | 46 California Department of Education (1988) History-social science framework Sacramento, CA: Author Collier, V P (1987) Age and rate of acquisition of second language for academic purposes TESOL Quarterly, 21, 617-641 Buck, G (2000) Assessing listening Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Burely-Allen, M (1995) Listening: The forgotten skill New York: John Wily & Sons, Inc Flowerdew, J & L Miller (1997) The teaching of academic listening comprehension and the question of authenticity In English for Specific Purposes, 16 (1):27-46 Flowerdew, J & Miller, L In press Second Language Listening Comprehension: Theory to practice New York: Cambridge University Press Mendelson, D., & J Rubin (1995) A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Diego, CA: Dominic Press Nunan, D., & L Miller, eds (1995) Listening San New Ways in Teaching Listening Alexandria, VA: TESOL Rost, M (2002) Teaching and Researching Listening London: Pearson This article first appeared in the March/April 2003 issue of ESL Magazine Page | 47 ... adaptation of authentic listening materials for promoting listening skill in classroom and the provincial contest for gifted students Page | PART B CONTENTS I Theoreotical background What are authentic. .. and thus, motivating Moreover, the use of authentic listening materials in the test paper of the Provincial Contest for Gifted Students in recent years can both challenging and be rewarding for. .. authentic listening materials as a kind of listening practice for excellent students who take part in the Provincial Contest for Gifted Students The scope of the study As the main aims of this