First, listen.
1. koala method
In many previous articles, I have written many times about how I practice listening (see here). But let's be more specific this time. Therefore, you should always ask "koala, how did you practice your listening before?" Please see here for such questions.
My overall method: intensive listening step by step, extensive listening to VOA and BBC.
Let's talk about extensive listening first: I began to practice listening when I was preparing for the fourth grade in Senior Two. The previous exercises were irregular and unplanned, so they were not called methods. But since my sophomore year, I began to have my own set of methods. The method is as follows. Get up at 6: 30 in the morning and start listening. I've never heard of VOA Slow, because I really feel that if I get used to it, I will form a great dependence on it. So when I started practicing, I listened to the VOA constant speed. Every morning from 6: 30 to 8: 00, when classes start at 8: 00, VOA finishes broadcasting on time. After VOA, the frequency was turned down a little, and it was BBC. Around 8 o'clock, the BBC just started a talk show. It spoke quickly and didn't understand for a long time. It took a long time to understand. When listening, I listen like this: listen carefully, don't chat with others while listening, don't read while listening, and don't watch pedestrians walk while listening. Be careful. Intention means that after an announcer utters a sentence, he should try his best to reflect what words and sentences he is saying as quickly as possible. Don't be depressed because you can't do it now. It's normal not to do it. If you can respond to every sentence correctly and quickly at the beginning of practice, then you are not human. Wash and sleep. If you can't do it now, you should be happy, because you have a lot of room for improvement. At first, because I couldn't do it, it was tantamount to listening in vain, and it was very depressing for a while. But then I found out: if I can do it, don't I have to practice? Since I want to practice, it's because I can't. In order to do it well as soon as possible, you should practice more frequently. So I listened attentively at that time. At first, I could only understand a few words after people had n long sentences. Later, I can understand a series of words. Finally, I can understand the meaning of the whole sentence. When you don't understand, do this: let it go. . Really, when listening to the live broadcast, if you don't understand it, you can only let it go. . At that time, my condition was not good, I didn't have a notebook, and I couldn't download it from the internet and listen to it repeatedly. I could only use it whenever I wanted. . You think, when you listen, you have been listening very carefully, staring at the motionless tree, so serious that you think that the pages of the tree are made up of words you hear. . If you don't understand, don't let yourself go, then you will be forced to die. . Don't push yourself to death. . How long: At that time, I basically listened to the radio for nearly 2 to 3 hours every morning. It seems that there is basically no interruption from sophomore year to graduation. Sometimes at five o'clock in the afternoon, the BBC has some special programs, so I listen to them occasionally.
Then I said intensive listening: the materials used for intensive listening are step by step. Some people say no. If the bookstore doesn't have it, you can check it online. Published by East China Normal University, there are four volumes, including books for students and books for teachers. I bought them all. This step by step is the only material I have ever heard. When listening, I heard the words: from the first volume to the fourth volume, the speed is getting faster and faster, and the difficulty is getting bigger and bigger. Students have questions in the book. Listen first and then do the questions. Listen again and check the answers. Yes, the answer. Yes, put it in the past; Wrong, listen again. Listen to why it is wrong. Put it here. I still can't hear why it's wrong. Listen to it again. If you find that you can't hear it, read the original text. I found it really fucking abnormal to listen to the original text. It turned out to be those words, and then I studied why I didn't hear them. Do this when you don't understand: the reasons for not understanding may be: I don't know the words, the meaning of the phrases is misunderstood, I don't know much about the listening content, and I don't understand the pronunciation because of the wrong pronunciation. . After all the right and wrong answers are understood, close the book and listen to this passage again with your eyes closed. When listening, the method is the same as listening to the radio: listen attentively (don't read the original text before listening carefully, don't read it, practice reading after listening carefully, and don't practice listening). You must be very careful. When you listen to a sentence, think of it in your mind and put that English sentence in your mind. Until I can understand every word clearly. This kind of exercise strongly recommends buying a repeater. At that time, I listened to N repeaters, and sure enough, glad you came. I did this listening intensive exercise that night. Because I study poorly, reading at night makes me fall asleep easily, so I usually put what I am good at at at night. At that time, intensive listening practice lasted for 2.5 hours every night, which lasted for three years like extensive reading.
In addition, movies: besides intensive listening and extensive listening, I also had the opportunity to practice listening and watched many movies, so I practiced listening in this way at that time. But when watching movies, it is absolutely extensive. Because I didn't find a movie to practice listening repeatedly, it was too boring, I think. But different people have different methods, as will be said later. Besides my favorite movies, I have done a lot of listening and translation of movies and trailers, so listening is also an indirect exercise. So the ear was unconsciously ground into this appearance. So it turned out that it was not something that was practiced overnight, but a process of slowly practicing and accumulating in N years. Let's see, I vowed to improve my listening one afternoon in my second year of high school. Now it seems that I have accumulated it alive for six years. .
2. About listening materials
There is really nothing to recommend about listening materials, because I know very little. I only used step by step from beginning to end. In addition, Intermediate English Listening seems to be called Listening, which is published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, which is the kind in He Shenshen. Apart from these two materials, I know nothing about listening and can't recommend more. As for the website of practicing listening, I only know that there is a legend called Pute Listening, but I have never downloaded anything from it. Because I didn't have a computer when I was in college, I knew very little about listening websites. Later, I learned about many websites (those listed on the right side of the blog), but because my listening was good at that time, I didn't really go to those websites often, so I didn't care about recommendations. The one on the right of the blog is not bad. If you don't like step-by-step or intermediate listening, you can download some interesting paragraphs from those websites on the right and listen according to the above methods.
One thing to say about materials: no matter what materials are used, the gap is really not big. As long as native speakers speak pure English (British or American), as long as you practice hard, listen carefully, persist for a long time and accumulate slowly, you will eventually achieve the same effect. Didn't we often hear this kind of news before? Children in poor places can't afford all kinds of simulation books for the college entrance examination. They only have one textbook, so they chew and chew, and learn everything in the textbook. Finally, people win the college entrance examination. The reason is the same. No matter what material you use, as long as you thoroughly understand this material, you will certainly be able to practice it. Don't ask this kind of material in the future. If that set of questions doesn't work, practice. Those who are picky about the material and don't want to practice, listening to this for three days and listening to that for two days, are all excuses. If you have a little time to choose materials online, you can listen for half an hour more.
In addition, if listening practice is purely for an exam, such as CET-4, TEM-8, Postgraduate Entrance Examination and TOEFL IELTS GRE, then the materials should be as close as possible to the listening materials of the exam. Needless to say, it is necessary to listen carefully, but at the same time, you can choose more things related to the theme when you have time. For example, the listening of TEM4 and TEM8 is cut from BBC and VOA, so you must practice news listening, so you must find some news listening materials to practice.
3. About listening methods
The first part only introduces my own method, but my own method is not suitable for everyone, just as not everyone will like step by step. Actually, I think we should try more methods. When we begin to practice listening, we can try many methods to find out the most effective and efficient method that suits us best. My method is actually silly when I think about it now, especially when I spend almost 5 hours on listening every day. I understand that many non-English majors don't spend so much time practicing listening every day because they have to study specialized courses. In this case, the solution is: listen widely and listen attentively. It's a big deal not to listen to opinions widely. But intensive listening must be practiced. As mentioned above, if you want to test news listening in the exam, then you should practice news listening as intensive listening; If the test is a teacher's lecture, then you can practice the teacher's lecture on the Internet. In short, you should concentrate on what others are taking. If you practice hard and accumulate, you will certainly improve.
Yesterday, two packages left messages on facebook asking whether dictation was helpful for listening. I have never tried this method of dictation myself, but I practiced it a little when I took the TEM-8 exam, because TEM-8 had that question type. I didn't use dictation because I was lazy and didn't like writing. I'm just listening. I don't know if dictation has any effect and how to practice. However, as mentioned in the last paragraph, as long as you think it is suitable for you, as long as you stick to it, it will be effective. Be sure to find a way that suits you and stick to it. This is basically the so-called "shortcut". There is really no shortcut.
4. About English and American Voice
If it's for an exam, it's best to practice whatever sounds you have in the exam. For example, TOEFL is generally a beautiful sound, so listen to it. IELTS is generally in English, so listen to English. If the exam materials have both beautiful and English sounds, you can only admit that you are unlucky and have to practice all kinds of sounds. Actually, it's nothing. The more you listen, the more you will know, which is good for you. If you just want to improve your listening instead of preparing for the exam, don't complain, and I suggest you listen to both English and American sounds. There is no harm in listening more.
5. About words in listening
I understand that if you encounter many unfamiliar words in your listening, it will be a great blow to yourself. . Words are basically the basis of all abilities in listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating, so words must be memorized (sweated). I suddenly feel that I should write words first, and then start writing, listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. . Not in the right order. Anyway, I will write about memorizing words in the future (not soon, just for a day or two). We assume that the number of words is at the level of level 6. If you encounter a few unfamiliar words in the listening materials, the solution is: let nature take its course. . Listening is the same as reading. If you encounter a few unfamiliar words, you must put them in the past at that time and cultivate your ability to guess unfamiliar words. Don't fantasize about what this word means, and then at the same time n sentences have passed. . Even if you want to know the meaning of this word again, you must look it up at the end of listening. Remember, check one by one, and the number of words will gradually expand. If you encounter many unfamiliar words in the listening materials, the solution is: you have to re-examine your vocabulary. . If they are all majors, it is not bad to accumulate a few occasionally. . If all the words are very CET-4 and CET-6, you can't learn them yourself, so you should memorize them well.
6. About listening to the radio
Thank you for asking a question about the radio. I remembered what I wanted to say yesterday, but I forgot when I wrote it. Thank you for reminding me. I was using Desheng Radio. At that time, it was very expensive, it seemed to be 160. I don't remember the price. Actually it doesn't matter which brand. When you buy it, you must make it clear to the waiter that you are specially used to listen to foreign broadcasts. Ask which one you can listen to, and they will get you one that can listen to foreign broadcasts. The Desheng radio I bought is very big, twice as big as the ordinary small radio we use, and I can hear it clearly. I am in Hohhot, and the bands of VOA and BBC are different all over the country. Check the specific band in Baidu and you will know. Don't ask about the band, I don't really remember it now. . Baidu will know it at once.
7. About how to concentrate on listening
Strangely, in the whole process of practicing listening, I never seem to fall asleep while listening. I feel that this is largely a matter of mentality. I like reading. If I study politics at night, is it easy to fall asleep? But if you read martial arts novels or romance novels at night, you may not fall asleep so easily. So I think it's a matter of mentality and interest. At that time, I practiced listening and imagined myself as a soldier trying to capture the enemy's fortress every day. I dare not relax every time I listen to a word. I am very happy when I understand a sentence, but I dare not relax and be more serious when I don't understand a sentence. Therefore, I seldom feel sleepy. Therefore, it is suggested that when practicing listening, you should not feel burdened. Although you really don't like it and want to smash the repeater, you should also psychologically defeat the enemy (the enemy refers to the sandman! )。 If you are physically and objectively really sleepy, it is strongly recommended that you simply lie down and go crazy, and get up for ten minutes before practicing, which is more efficient. Don't force yourself to listen in a daze, which will not only affect efficiency, but also ruin your health. Anyway, play when you should play and learn when you should learn. We must study and play efficiently.
8. Some suggestions
(1) It varies from person to person whether it is best to practice listening in the morning, afternoon or evening. Don't ask such questions.
(2) Whenever you practice, please stick to it. Don't fish for three days and dry the net for two days, and don't change the material often. Grab a tree and chew it. Workbook A listened to 17 pages, Workbook B just started, Workbook C listened to half, and Workbook D listened to one third. . This is not good. . It wastes resources, but it can't be upgraded according to the difficulty of others' workbooks. .
Please don't fantasize about the speed of your progress. If the foundation is not very solid, don't expect results just because you have practiced for a month or two. If you really want to improve your listening, you must be prepared for a long-term tug-of-war. Listening is a stubborn thing because it is unstable. Even a standard pure American has a different pronunciation. So hold on, hold on, hold on. Accumulate, accumulate, accumulate again.
(4) In addition, the key is not to measure your progress by days, which will easily lead to two bad results: one is quick success and instant benefit; Second, it was hit hard. For example, when you listened to VOA yesterday, you thought you didn't understand 80%, so you decided to practice hard at night and almost heard the eardrum at night. You think, shit, I'm really serious now, and I feel like I know a lot. I'll try VOA tomorrow and see how it works. Tomorrow, I found that 8 1% didn't understand it, so I immediately became dejected and arbitrarily thought that it didn't work, so I gave up this method. This is seriously wrong. In our dormitory, Chuanchuan does experiments and watches the results once a week, so listening is even slower. So we must be patient and practice hard, and firmly believe that as long as we practice hard, we will make progress in the end. Believe in yourself, believe in your ears.
9. Reply to the four-point package: about the use of morning time and evening time.
I am used to getting up at 6: 30 or 6: 30 in the morning, depending on whether I went to bed at 12 or 12: 30 the night before. But in any case, it usually takes half an hour to get dressed, wash your face, brush your teeth and go to the toilet after getting up. I start going out at 7 o'clock at the latest. I walk from the dormitory to school. I walk slowly on the road, so I won't be late anyway. I walk slowly because I want to listen more. . Hehe ~ So when we walk to school from 7 o'clock, everyone is listening to the radio with a big tape recorder in their hands. Go to the canteen, go in for breakfast, sit there and listen all the time. I didn't listen until I entered the teaching building and there was no signal, so I usually stepped into the teaching building at 8 o'clock sharp.
Usually, I finish my dinner at 5: 30 in the evening, then I sleep on my stomach for ten minutes in the study room, and then I get up and start practicing my listening. You should basically start listening at 5: 45 or 5: 50 in the evening self-study and practice until 8: 00 or 8: 30. Then the whole day's listening practice is over. I haven't practiced listening since I went back to my dormitory at night. It's so noisy that I can't concentrate. Besides, I studied all day. After returning to the dormitory in the evening, everyone was basically relaxed, chatting with everyone, washing up and packing up the things for the next day.
10. Reply to Sina users: About the problem of failing to pass the exam after practicing well.
As far as I know, there may be two reasons for the contradiction between good practice and poor examination. First, the mentality problem, the exam is too tense. Second, when you practice, the materials are wrong. For example, people take the news listening test, and you practice ordinary daily conversation listening. Third, you do too little exercise. For example, people took the exam in March, and you started practicing in January, but you haven't improved enough in two months. These three factors are actually easy to solve. Regarding the first one, in fact, if you practice really hard, accumulate hard, do it in a down-to-earth way and don't deceive yourself, then you should be confident in the exam. Don't be nervous about the exam. My mother has a good saying, the model test should be taken seriously, and the real test should be a model test. Relax ~ Regarding the second one, knowing yourself and yourself is the most important thing if you want to win an exam in one fell swoop. This is why you should study the real questions when preparing for the exam. For example, if you take the CET-4 exam, you should read a set of CET-4 papers first to see what kind of articles people listen to in the original paragraph, and then you can find articles in this style to listen to, so that you won't practice western exams. Regarding the third, it is still accumulation and accumulation. Don't complain about slow progress, progress is invisible, and what is easy to see is not progress. It will take at least three months to see the progress that can generally be seen.
1 1. Reply to Sina users: the number of words about VOA and BBC.
I'm not sure how difficult the words in Band 4 and Band 6 are. I only know that VOA and BBC should have no more words than TEM4. They just occasionally pop up some technical terms when talking about a topic, such as prime minister, global warming and inflation. . This is just an example I gave casually. . These words are likely to be six levels of difficulty (? In fact, the number of words is the key to everything, because it is almost impossible to move without knowing words. So sometimes I dare not give you blind advice. . For example, I sometimes want to say, "Otherwise, everyone will simply recite TEM4 and TEM8. Anyway, the difficulty of TEM-8 basically covers all words. The more, the better. If you take the TEM-8 exam, there will be no words you don't know in the basic general materials. " But another thought, how can non-English majors have so much time to memorize TEM4 and TEM8? There are enough words in TEM-4 and TEM-8, and with specialized courses, how dare you increase your homework? . So I don't know how many words are covered by CET-4 and CET-6, so I'm not sure whether those words can cope with VOA and BBC. . I feel sorry for you. . Didn't answer your question well. . :(
12. Reply to Mu Qing: About listening to English songs and practicing listening.
First of all, please look at point "3", that is, any method that suits you and any method that you think is effective is a good method and worth trying. I didn't practice listening with English songs, but later I found that I could understand any song when I practiced listening, that's all. . I don't know how to practice listening with English songs systematically. . I feel that even if you practice this method, it should be practiced as extensive listening. If you listen attentively, it is not recommended, because what songs should you use to practice? Fast and slow, lyrical. . But English songs can be regarded as a small test of your English ability ~ hehe ~