Self-Dictations - Learning to Listen - How to Listen / Speak - How to Learn

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Self-dictations (hurray for independence!)
Good for practicing Listening, Writing, Reading and Speaking (if you use it to repeat later on!), self-correction and language awareness.

First you have to get used to giving yourselves a dictation at least once or twice a week using the audio material you have got (use your textbook audios). Audio material which lasts 1 or 2 minutes is fine. If it lasts longer, you can just take a dictation of part of it.

Steps

Step 1. Listen to your audio once or twice. (Don't write anything down, just listen!)
Step 2. Jot down in your notebook the description of the exercise you are going to do - the topic, duration, page/origin, etc.
Step 3. Listen to a complete sentence and stop the recording. Repeat the complete sentence aloud.
Step 4. If you can't, play it again and try repeating it aloud again. Then try to copy it. If you miss a word or phrase (sintagma), leave a gap and continue listening to the recording.
Step 5. Continue like this with the next sentences. Don't worry about leaving blanks (gaps). If you don't know how to spell a word, write its sound between slashes, like this, /.../.
Step 6. When you finish, listen to the complete recording again, without stopping it. Fill in the gaps. Listen to the complete recording filling in the gaps as many times as you need to complete your dictation.
Step 7. Check your spelling with the tapescript in your textbook or wherever. Jot down your mistakes. Notice them.
Step 8. Follow-up. Take the same dictation some other day later on.

Ideas on the material you can use for your self-dictations:

Self-dictation texts here
Your textbook audios
Your teacher's CDs
Poems at this website (check out Poems > Literature > Library)
2-minute radio programs (check out World Radios > Society & Culture)
Audiovisual material, like TV series, a scene in an episode, or loose sentences from an episode (check out Listening)
Songs (check out Music > Society & Culture and Songs > Your Activities > Your Stuff!)
...

Send in your comments and ideas