tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post1227414685489806310..comments2023-05-23T18:49:07.638+08:00Comments on The Daily Ptefldactyl: Why everyone in listening texts is a moronpterolaurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154178163356390930noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-56131040426219383422015-01-16T02:06:12.458+08:002015-01-16T02:06:12.458+08:00Hi Laura,
I've been meaning to reply to this f...Hi Laura,<br />I've been meaning to reply to this for ages. I was nodding all the way through when you wrote it. I recently had some listening materials published which I wrote based on recordings my friends sent to me (with their permission). The most frustrating thing was hearing the final version at C1 and thinking "That's not C1 level listening!" :( Apart from the level of the language used, there doesn't seem to be any real difference between listenings from B1 upwards - they're all just as slow as each other, perhaps with the odd interruption or unfinished thought to show willing. Listening and writing seemed to be the two skills my students in Newcastle had most trouble with at every level, particularly at advanced, where they had really spiky profiles.<br />I've got some recordings on my computer which will one day make it on to my blog, and I hope that between us all, we can try to move towards more realistic listening in our materials.<br />I think there are some books out there which are starting on this route. Speakout takes video and audio from the BBC for at least some of its content. The Collins English for Life is also based on much more authentic recordings. Slowly but surely, things may be changing.<br />By the way, I'll be in Chiang Mai for the next few months, so I really hope we can meet!<br />SandySandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08424295554789548012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-74846169644826669732014-10-20T16:27:06.803+08:002014-10-20T16:27:06.803+08:00Hi Pterolaur,
My name is Tony Itsaracheewawat. I&...Hi Pterolaur,<br /><br />My name is Tony Itsaracheewawat. I'm part of an exciting start up named Seeties. We are already available in INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE, PHILIPPINES and TAIWAN. And now we are thrilled to expand it to THAILAND! To learn more about us, please visit www.seeties.me.<br /><br />We are coming to Chiang Mai to host a blogger/reviewer networking event on Saturday Nov 1, 2014. I am wondering if you would be interested in joining the event.<br /><br />If you find this exciting and would like to know more information, please do not hesitate to contact me at tony@seeties.me. I will then send you a proper invitation to our FB event page and hopefully you could share the invite to your friends. <br /><br />Hope to hear back from you soon.<br /><br />Thanks much.<br /><br />TonyPhisut Itsaracheewawathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11665596812514002306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-11800046112587935072014-09-15T05:56:17.316+08:002014-09-15T05:56:17.316+08:00I'm going to have to check out Real Talk now :...I'm going to have to check out Real Talk now :) <br /><br />For a while, I've had me a notion to start a podcast in which I interview an interesting native speaker or proficient non-native on some topic or other - maybe each week a different stupid EFL exam question, or whatever - and then use the material to craft some listening exercises.<br /><br />Comments, suggestions, encouragement, ideas from the TEFL hive mind? :)Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10956677628998211499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-51831367729701693902014-09-15T05:25:44.515+08:002014-09-15T05:25:44.515+08:00Music to my ears. Bravo! The inauthentic conten...Music to my ears. Bravo! The inauthentic content and sound of ESL audio materials have been driving me crazy for as long as I’ve been teaching and writing listening texts. (and that’s a looong time) My publishers (with the exception of one) claim that overseas markets demand carefully graded and enunciated audio materials. My hope is that with all the easily available authentic recordings online (and tools to create one’s own), teachers will start asking publishers to create materials reflecting real language in the real world.<br />And speaking of real, have you heard of the text Real Talk? I think this may be the only text out there with authentic recordings or real people. Pearson Ed. was forward-looking enough back in 2006 to allow my coauthor and me to record conversations, phone calls and lectures by friends, family and acquaintances. No shoehorning, just building the activities around the language that was actually used. And miracle of miracles, the publisher used the actual recordings – nothing redone by actors in a studio. The book is still very much in print and highly praised by adopters. Our only regret: accompanying videos would have been lovely. Maybe the next edition…<br />JThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14433072491972359337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-24263424156732732432014-09-12T15:51:14.124+08:002014-09-12T15:51:14.124+08:00such a great post, so refreshing :)such a great post, so refreshing :)Teresa MacKinnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14439853587132749365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-78468111011287636692014-09-12T15:37:04.528+08:002014-09-12T15:37:04.528+08:00Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Paul. Y...Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Paul. Your listening classes sound awesome (and I recognise that experience of having B1/B2 learners look at you in utter disbelief when you expose them to natural native-speaker English). The thought that we might all start talking like coursebook characters is a terrifying and also highly amusing one. I might spend the rest of my day trying.pterolaurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06154178163356390930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-8921681326490964372014-09-12T15:32:39.876+08:002014-09-12T15:32:39.876+08:00Anna thanks as always for your support! It's r...Anna thanks as always for your support! It's reassuring, isn't it, that students know how odd the dialogues are? 'I try to avoid moronic listening' - there's a mantra to live by :)pterolaurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06154178163356390930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-36816747518249653692014-09-11T06:14:05.331+08:002014-09-11T06:14:05.331+08:00Awesome post. Seconded. I think that the abysmal...Awesome post. Seconded. I think that the abysmal quality of course book listening texts is right up there along with the needless ring-fencing of "phrasal verbs" as a scary and toxic form of vocabulary, or the inexplicable mystification of the present perfect when it comes to features of EFL that appear to benefit nobody in real life. <br /><br />In addition to all the excellent points you make, there's one other thing about listening that gets my goat. <br /><br />I've taken to running extra listening classes after school, where I play my students some samples of me or friends saying things in a natural way, and making gap fills from the text.<br /><br />B1 / B2 students of my acquaintance are utterly hopeless at things like " _____ _____ know what you're talking about" [you don't] when this is spoken in an unaffected way, as you might say it to me in a pub somewhere. <br /><br />It gets me to wondering how B1+ students have got this far without being able to recognize "you don't". After all, I don't say it much differently... my /u:/ is shortened to a schwa, more or less, and the /t/ is pretty much dropped, but still. <br /><br />Which begets which? Do I overenunciate to my students because that's what they're used to from all their course book audios, or do the course book audios prissily pronounce their /u:/s because that's what EFL teachers do? In either case, why?<br /><br />No doubt, in the fullness of time, someone somewhere will find it propitious to change something, and things will be less weird. Maybe Scott Thornbury will save us. Until then, I do rather enjoy a little bit of impotent fist waving!Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10956677628998211499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1204283899681350172.post-62337367024882389322014-09-11T01:44:37.432+08:002014-09-11T01:44:37.432+08:00I wouldn't think your favourite film was anyth...I wouldn't think your favourite film was anything other than the one it is.<br /><br />As for the post, it's just excellent to me. Those listening texts make me at the very least smile, but more often openly chuckle together with my students. At the weirdness of sounds they make (in the track), the stiffness of reactions, absurdity and theatrical feeling. Writers, actors, requirements, norms and levels - whatever that is, it's just too often too dumb. It's even worse when assigning a task to students to come up with their own dialogue, you get good imitations (that sound so artificial). <br />I try to avoid moronic listening.<br /> <br />I like your grumble, for its idea and good reasoning)) And I love your writing. Thanks! <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com