Lingnan University



GER102 Self-Study – Listening Task

Because listening is so prevalent in language use and because listening is the primary means of L2 acquisition for most people, the development of listening as a skill and as a channel for language input should assume critical importance in instruction (Rost, 2001, p.103).

The tasks below will help you develop your listening skills, and will also help you form good learning habits to improve your listening skills. In self-access learning there is no time restriction so you can work anytime you want. You can also choose the listening material, task type and level of difficulty according to your needs and interests. This can be very motivating and should help you to improve your listening skills outside the classroom.

Choose ONE option from the following:

| |Items |

|Listening |Option 1: | |

| | |Listening Comprehension Exercises from the website : |

| | | |

| |Option 2: |Activities around a German song |

Note: a checklist is provided at the end to help you keep track of your work.

| |

|Option 1 – Listening Comprehension Exercises from the BBC German Language website |

| |

|Go to the BBC German Language website : |

|Choose a programme from German Steps or Talk German. These programmes are suitable for beginners. All the instructions for these |

|programmes are given in English. |

|Check the syllabus for each of these programmes and choose at least three topics or themes (e.g. food and drink, family, shopping).|

|Some topics are new, but some topics are similar to those introduced in GER102. You may decide to review these topics or |

|alternatively, you may want to try something new. This is up to you. A combination of both would be good. |

|Do ALL the suggested exercises for each topic/theme. For example, you might find some worksheets or some revision files to work on.|

|Check each programme carefully to find all the exercises on offer. |

|Write a reflection providing evidence of what you have learned (at least 125 words) |

| |

|Upload relevant documents into your Mahara GER102 e-Portfolio to provide evidence of learning. |

| |

|Note 1: The total listening time should not be less than one hour. |

|Note 2: The German BBC website also offers a bank of useful MP3 downloads (for example: Quick Fix. |

|). You might want to record some in your iPhone to listen to on the MTR! |

| |

|Option 2 – Activities around a German song |

|Choose a German song you want to know more about or from a singer you have heard about. |

|Before listening, consider the worksheet for this task and set yourself a learning objective (1) and a listening strategy (2). |

|Complete the Worksheet below. |

| |

|Upload the Worksheet as well as any other relevant documents (e.g. song script or a YouTube video) onto your Mahara GER102 |

|ePortfolio to provide evidence of learning. |

| |

|Possible resources: |

|YouTube |

Reference:

Rost, M. (2001). Teaching and researching listening. London: Longman.

Worksheet: Activities around a German song (Option 2)

|Learning objective (what you want to achieve). Be specific – choose ONE | |

|aim only. For example, your objective could be: improve the | |

|pronunciation of 10 words OR focus on verbs OR to transcribe a short | |

|extract, etc.) | |

|Type and name of material used to meet your learning objective | |

|Total length of the listening material | |

|Total time spent listening to the song | |

|Brief summary of content of the song | |

|Strategy used : how you made use of the song to improve your listening | |

|skills | |

|Reflection of at least 125 words (what you have learned from this exercise) |

| |

GUIDELINES:

(1) What is a learning objective?

A learning objective is the goal you define prior to doing a listening exercise. This gives you a focus so as to make your listening time more efficient and to provide you with a clear result. Usually just listening to German without a specific goal is not very satisfying because there is no clear result to the exercise.

(2) And what is a listening strategy?

A listening strategy is the approach you take to completing a listening exercise. For example, do you take notes? How many times do you listen to the same passage? Do you read the script as the same time as listening to a passage, or not? Do you pause several times or do you listen to a passage straight through first?

To fill in this category, make a note of all the steps you follow.

To help you understand what is required, consider the two examples below:

Example 1:

Learning objective: To concentrate on vocabulary and select 15 to 20 words or phrases that I want to pronounce well.

Listening strategy: While listening to the song (or to a passage of a song), I first made a note of the words/phrases to focus on. Then, I listened to these items several times and also checked their phonetic symbols in the dictionary. Finally, I made sure I could pronounce the target words/phrases confidently and accurately and recorded myself saying them. Also, I kept a record of the words/phrases I learned.

Example 2:

Learning objective: To focus on understanding the gist of a song (or of a passage in a song) without the help of a script or subtitles.

Listening strategy: I listened to the song (or a passage in a song) without support the first time. Then, I listened a second time looking at the script or subtitles, and I highlighted the areas that I understood well and those I did not understand at all or not clearly. Finally, I made a note to work further on the areas where my understanding had been very inaccurate.

Listening checklist

If you have chosen the Listening task to be part of the Self-Study module assessment, you need to have completed:

|1 |OPTION 1: Listening Comprehension Exercises on at least three different topics from the BBC German |▫ |

| |language website (+ written reflection) OR OPTION 2: Activities around a German song (see worksheet) | |

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