Hi students! This week I’m teaching you about the top 5 mistakes that students make when trying to improve their listening.
Yesterday, we talked about the problems with using audio that’s too easy or too hard. And today’s mistake is something that seems like a good idea, but it can actually be a disadvantage.
Listening Mistake #2 – Always listening with the text
What’s wrong with this?
Well, If you always read the transcript while listening, you’re training yourself to be dependent on seeing the written words.
Remember, you won’t have the text available when listening to a real live English speaker. This means it’s essential to practice listening WITHOUT reading the text.
Yes, it’s more difficult. Yes, there will be words and phrases you won’t understand.
But the only way to improve is to practice and do your best!
I suggest listening to each audio at least three times:
- Once trying to understand the general idea
- Once (or twice) trying to understand more specific details
- Once with the transcript
You can do this with any audio – podcasts, TED talks, YouTube videos, etc.
The lessons in my Listening Course use a step-by-step process to help you train your EARS to hear and understand English, before using your EYES. In fact, I don’t let you see the full text until the end of the lesson! 🙂
Remember that you can get a 50% discount on the Listening Course when you join this week.
