English Listening skills/ how to train your ear - Part one :

        Link to my old blog: http://eatingadjectivesforbreakfast.blogspot.co.za/

Welcome to part one of a series of blog posts on how to improve your listening skills. I do hope that you find this mini lesson helpful.

Practice is essential as we all well know. One has to be disciplined and put in effort/make an effort... You do not have to spend hours each day in order to improve. Start with ten minutes per day and devote those minutes to listening to a short clip, the news or watching a short film. Try not to cram ( Do too much.) , essentially - you want to practice in short bursts - each day.  Do your future self a favour ! Start now. Listening to clips two or three times a week will not help - again : what we do daily, essentially matters most.

Bad habits are easy to create - why not nurture healthier habits? 

Here is a fabulous link to get you started:

https://www.englishlistening.com/listen

Why this website ? Well, all activities are filtered by accent, levels and topics - you are also able to choose the speed of speech. ( Most helpful for lower level learners / if you are starting out with practicing your listening skills. ) Try a free trial and see how you feel !

Free listening practice : 

http://www.elllo.org/

Let's begin :

English words confer meaning based on whether they are content or function words. Knowing the difference will help with both understanding and pronunciation:

Content = information, meaning

Function = necessary words for grammar


Function words and their role in speech  = purely there for grammatical purpose - such as : Articles ( a,an,the), Prepositions ( at/in/over.) , Auxiliary verbs ( do, has, will etc.) and Pronouns ( He, she, ours etc.) 

Content words and their role in speech:  - conjure up an image /a mental picture of something such as Adjectives/Nouns/Verbs and Adverbs

NOTE:

Content words are always enhanced/spoken louder - the function words are glided over. 

( This is apart from word stress itself where for example, words of two syllables : a noun is stressed on the first syllable and a verb,on the second. Eg: NOUN: OBject / Verb: obJECT.) 

See more about word stress: 
http://www.english-at-home.com/pronunciation/noun-and-verb-syllable-stress/

Let's try to practice : Read this aloud: 

The man ate the apple while sitting at the sea,it was a beautiful day and he was content !

Which words did you say louder ? Which words give you a mental image?

Can you point out the content words ? Which words do you think provide a word picture ? 
( Remember : Nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs are usually content words. Auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, and prepositions are usually function/grammatical words.)

Now, read this : Man ate apple sitting sea, beautiful day -  content ! 

( We are still able to understand the meaning/gist of what is being said - this is why content words are spoken louder - they are the most important because they convey the message to our listener.) 

Tip when listening /watching movies : 

Start watching films with subtitles - this will help fine tune your ears to naturally spoken English. By following with subtitles - you will understand better when the following happens:

• Contractions ( It is = It's/ They are = They're/What is = What's.)  
• Varied accents ( i.e : American vs British/ Regional dialectical accent.)  -  where more elision/linking is used.

Examples of linking: What are = whaddah / could have = couldiv / where are you going / wherayagoin ? A lot = ahlod

Two main types of linking:

consonant ⇔ vowel
We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound.
vowel ⇔ vowel

We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound.


How do I improve? You ask... well = more listening ! 
Instead of listening to English “when you have the time”, do it whilst driving home, cleaning the house and even when doing some exercise. Download podcasts on your mobile phone - easy as pie ! 
Take a lesson or ten with me ! :) :) :) Movies with subtitles and short films are also reasonable. You have to do the work and train your ear ! Trust me, in time - it gets easier and soon, you will be able to get used to the way native speakers ''run through'' sentences. 


LET'S PRACTICE :

Try this exercise sourced from ThoughtCo.com :

https://www.thoughtco.com/

Exercise

Decide which words are function and content words in the following sentences.

• Mary has lived in England for ten years.

• He's going to fly to Chicago next week.
• I don't understand this chapter of the book.
• The children will be swimming in the ocean this time next week.
• John had eaten lunch before his colleague arrived.
• The best time to study is early in the morning or late in the evening.
• The trees along the river are beginning to blossom.
• Our friends called us yesterday and asked if we'd like to visit them next month.
• You'll be happy to know that she's decided to take the position.
• I won't give away your secret.

Check your answers below:

Exercise Answers

Content words are in bold.

• Mary has lived in England for ten years.
• He's going to fly to Chicago next week.
• I don't understand this chapter of the book.
• The children will be swimming in the ocean at five o'clock.
• John had eaten lunch before his colleague arrived.
• The best time to study is early in the morning or late in the evening.

• The trees along the river are beginning to blossom.
• Our friends called us yesterday and asked if we'd like to visit them next month.
• You'll be happy to know that she's decided to take the position.
• I won't give away your secret.