EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Advanced Listening and Vocabulary Development
EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Advanced Listening and Vocabulary
Development
EFS 693B
Notes: Week 1
I. Who was Nikola Tesla, and why was he important? Video 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEJNJ0rFSe8. What did you learn? What do you have questions about? [note: this was introduced in our individual meetings]
II. Introductions: instructor, students, and course
III. Video 1 repeat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEJNJ0rFSe8. Watch again, focusing on picking up more details this time. Note the value of re-watching, just like rereading
IV. Video 2: http://vimeo.com/11441736 Introduction to listening to informational videos (history, culture, science, technology...). Note the difference between documentary and dramatized versions.
Take notes and discuss:
Who were some important people in Tesla's life?
Why is Tesla not better known?
What parts of this do you think are factual vs. speculation?
V. Three types of dedicated listening practice (in addition to listening in everyday settings for learning and entertainment)
A. Practice in comprehending more effectively
- Getting the basic meaning (preparing, using context, maintaining focus, dealing with lapses)
- Retaining important points (note taking & short-term memory)
- Interpreting and integrating (reflecting, judging, linking to existing knowledge and understanding)
B. Improving processing of language forms (sounds, words phrases, sentences) in conjunction with meaning
- Comprehending faster speech
- Comprehending a range of accents
- Making processing more automatic: improving accuracy, speed, and capacity
C. Increasing language knowledge
- Sound system (phonology): individual sounds, sound clusters and syllables, linking, reduction, rhythm, and intonation
- Vocabulary (words and phrases), including recognizing pronunciation of known items
- Grammar: recognizing the meaning in grammatical endings (like -ing), words (like prepositions and modal auxiliary verbs such as can), and structures (like passive or present perfect)
- Discourse: typical organizational structures of lectures, newscasts, discussions, etc.; how speakers introduce and shift topics and comments
VI. Importance of vocabulary - How many words do you know? How many words do native English speakers know? What do you know when you know a word?
1. New general service list; New academic word list
2. Keep a list and
review it:
a) note unknown words that 1) you've seen before, 2)
that seem important: decide whether to take time to learn them (check
frequencies)
b)
get the word, its definition, and a sentence from
the context you saw it in if possible
c) collect in groups of 10-20 and review regularly
(till you know them)
d) try actively to notice these words in other
contexts, and search online to find more examples: try
https://youglish.com/
3. Target minimum vocabulary learning for this course: 25 words/phrases per week.
To find word frequencies, go to http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/comp and paste in a transcript: this will help you determine which words to learn. The lower the frequency, the less likely you are to see the word again soon. In general focus on words at the 9000 level or below.
VII. Video 3: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/marco_tempest_the_electric_rise_and_fall_of_nikola_tesla.html
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HOMEWORK: note--I will divide this into several short assignments due on
different days this week.
1. Listen to http://vimeo.com/11441736 again. Watch it once all the way through. Try to understand as much as you can. Notice the accents--do they cause problems for you? Then, listen to it again, and this time pause when you notice an unfamiliar word or phrase. Try to find 5 to 10 new words or phrases. If you are unable to hear/spell the word clearly enough to look it up, write down the phrase or sentence it occurs in. Due by 4/9
2. Review the General Service List at New general service list--it downloads as an Excel spreadsheet. Make a list of the words you don't know. Put this into an MS-Word or Excel readable document (not pdf). Due by 4/11
3. Watch http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/marco_tempest_the_electric_rise_and_fall_of_nikola_tesla.html again, this time without subtitles. Come prepared to discuss the difference between watching and listening with and without subtitles. Watch by 4/12. Due in class 4/14
4. To test how well you understand Tesla's life, watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok8JDXSYw1U, taking notes. Make a list of at least 5 facts that were in this video but not in previous ones. Due by 4/13
5. Start thinking about what listening challenges you have--this will help you decide what material to use for your upcoming independent projects. Due in class 4/14