Listening Skills

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 2

Listening skills

How to listen strategically

I think listening is the easiest skill / Listening tests are easy to pass

TRUE

FALSE

Which types of questions do you know?

Content of this lesson

• Types of questions in a listening test
• How to answer each question type
• Extra tips
• Practice

Types of Questions

There are 5 main question types that you may encounter:

• Short answer questions
• Multiple choice questions
• Matching
• Complete the sentences or summary

Short answer question

Write a short phrase or sentence to answer the question.

For example: "Which reason did Mary give for her choice?"

• Do's : Pay attention to your spelling, answer with information from the audio.
• Don'ts: Answer with your opinion, go over the number of words you can write (if they specify it).

Multiple choice question

Select one of the answers given. Example: "Why did Mary make that choice?"

A. Because she felt pressured to do so
B. Because her friend did it too
C. Because she had always wanted it

• Do's: Read the question carefully. If you struggle with finding an answer, look at the ones that cannot be the answer first.
• Don'ts: Guess, or choose the "longest" answer.

Matching

Example: Match the item in the store with the person who wants to buy it:

A. Mary               ... Apples                   

B. Eric                 ... Toothpaste

Do's: Read the instruction really carefully. What are they really asking you to match? Make sure the letter is readable! 

Don'ts: Make lines or other symbols. 

Complete the sentences or summary

Example: Complete the sentences with no more than two words

"Mary decided to go to the supermarket because ....... told her to. She needed to buy ..... and ..... ".

Do's: Pay attention to your spelling, answer with information from the text

Don'ts: Add your opinion, exceed the number of words indicated.

In your opinion, which type of question is the most difficult one? Why?

When answering a listening test I need to add my own opinion

1. Yes
2. No

I can write as much as I want when completing a sentence in a listening test

1. Yes
2. No

I always need to read the instruction very carefully, because some questions are tricky

1. Yes
2. No

Time to practice! 

Answer the questions as they appear in the video.

Do this task on your own!

00:30

What is the intention of the video?
Multiple answers can be correct.

1. Complain about the addiction to mobile phones
2. Inform about how addictive mobile phones can be
3. Help people overcome addiction to mobile phones
4. Convince people that they are addicted to their mobile phones

01:04

What is the man's job?

1. He works for Google
2. He has a foundation that helps people be aware of phone usage
3. He helps Google make better devices
4. He makes videos

01:42

Complete the sentences:
- You should turn off all your notifications, unless a ... is trying to communicate with you

02:25

Why are slot machines so addictive?

1. Because they are unpredictable
2. Because they are predictable
3. Because people earn money
4. Because they are similar to phones

03:27

Why should you greyscale your screen?

Info

The correct answer represents the idea only. If you wrote the same but in other words, it is also ok!

04:32

Why is it said that those apps have "infinite scrolling"?

05:45

Exc. Direct Messages

Instruction

Drag and drop the items where they belong. According to the video, should you have the notifications "on" or "off" for that app?

Notifications ON

Notifications OFF

04:32

Which apps should you NOT have in your home screen?
Multiple answers are correct

1. Instagram
2. Snapchat
3. Calendar
4. Calculator

Well done!

Now you should ace your next listening test.

Remember that it is not always possible to read the questions before, but as long as you know the types of questions and what to do, it will be fine!

If you need more help or practice, these are helpful links:

British Council - Listening B1

British Council - Listening A2

Cambridge - Short Practice