USEFUL LISTENING SKILLS | Main Idea - Key Details - Make Inferences - Interpret Meaning

hey everyone welcome to today's lesson my name is Wes this is interactive English which are channel it's all about helping you practice and improve your English skills and today I want to talk to you about a skill that is very important and that is listening but not only that I want to talk to you about different listening skills especially very important listening skills because listening I think is well it's something that you know it's part of the way we communicate we all want to have conversations and in order to do that we need to understand what the other person is saying it's very important and I want to practice some of these different listening skills with you today in order to help you improve your skills because to be quite honest listening this is actually this is my most challenging list skill when I'm trying to learn other languages I've studied Spanish I've studied Korean right now I'm trying to learn Romanian listening is always the most difficult for me I know everybody's a different learner but this is what's most challenging for me so this is something that I really need to practice when I'm learning another language so Before we jump into it I just want to say hello to everybody who's joined me in the chat if you are watching this now write your name in the chat if you're even watching this later write to me in the comments tell me your name tell me where you're from because I just love hearing from people especially especially new students so hello Julie rumah Ricardo Adan Lally Michael Angelo bethey Ramona hello welcome Robert thank you guys for joining me today I'll try and get in some more shout outs as the lesson goes on so we're gonna talk about listening today I'm gonna tell you about these different skills and and why they're important how we use them and then again we're going to do a little bit of practice I want you to listen to me talk to you about a few things like we're having a conversation and we're going to see well we're gonna see how well you can listen to what I'm saying so this is all it's all about comprehension it's all about trying to understand the words that you hear the phrases that you hear the sentences that you hear and these are the skills that we're going to talk about today main idea key details making inferences and interpreting meaning those are the four different skills that I want to look at and we're going to go through them one at a time so first let's begin with main idea so when you think of the main idea what all it means is it is just trying to understand what is the point of the conversation why are you having this conversation like what what is it that you guys are talking about and I would tell you that you really need to comprehend the big picture now what do I mean when I say big picture because this is a great idiom in English it's a good expression if you want to use it and and people talk about the big picture what that means is that you need to comprehend the the complete story the complete idea that is the big picture so when you are listening to a podcast or maybe you're listening to a song or you're listening or you're just having a conversation you need to comprehend the big picture the entire story the entire idea and that's going to help you identify the main idea now if you're talking about something that is like a very short presentation or a very short story often times you might hear the main idea at the very beginning people will start talking the and they're talking about a certain topic and they might just say the main idea the very first thing the very first few sentences you might hear the main idea if you're talking about a longer story for example maybe a movie and then then it comes down to what you really need to understand the different parts you need to understand the beginning the middle and the end the big picture and then that way you were you will know well what is the most important topic the main idea the most important topic so the other thing that I would tell you I'm going to throw another expression or maybe it's even perhaps a proverb at you to help you kind of think about the main idea of what I would tell you my suggestion would be this don't miss the forest for the trees so this is a proverb like that you can tell somebody else like you're giving them some advice don't miss the forest for the trees and what it means is that when you are doing something in this case you are listening to like I said it could be a song a TV show having a conversation the forest that is the big picture right there alright you need to understand the big picture the trees are those just tiny details so it's saying that don't don't get too hooked on those tiny details that you forget about the big picture don't miss the forest for the trees now you can use this proverb it doesn't just have to relate to listening you can use this to talk about so many other things perhaps you're doing a project at work and you need to do the entire project but you get stuck on these little details and because of that it becomes a bigger problem and somebody could tell you hey don't miss the forest for the trees so don't get too don't get too hooked on when you're listening that you're trying to just think about all of the specific details start with the big picture start with the main idea that that to me is the most important skill when it comes to listening is that you just want to understand well the main idea the main topic that is being discussed so let's go back let's practice this and we're gonna start we're gonna we're gonna start out a little easier and then it will get a little more challenging so I am going to read something to you and let's just pretend like we're having a conversation right now and I'm going to say something to you and all I want you to do is me what do you think is the main idea what's the main idea all right so here we go we're gonna practice your listening all I want you to do is just listen and tell me what the main idea is so I would tell you this we're having a conversation and I might say you know I love eating pizza it's my favorite food because the combination between cheese and tomato sauce is spectacular there's a great pizza restaurant close to my home but recently I've been learning how to make pizza on my own because hands down pizza is the best okay so I just gave you that short little excerpt right there that's just a short little listening and I want you to tell me what is the main idea write it in the chat write it in the comments this is when I want I want you guys to participate all right what do you think is the main idea I will I will read it again okay so here we go I'll read it one more time think about the main idea ready I loved eating pizza it's my favorite food because the combination of cheese and tomato sauce is spectacular there's a great pizza restaurant close to my home but recently I've been learning how to make pizza on my own hands down pizza is the best all right so again I told you we're gonna start a little easier and then work into it I also wanted to point out if you heard that that expression at the end hands down if somebody says that expression hands down then that just means like for sure or definitely or absolutely that you want to say that like okay hands down this is the best so that is another great expression that you can use hands down to say definitely absolutely alright so the main idea again there there can be more than one answer we have eight and the delicious pizza yes katroo dish you love pizza Anna pizza is amazing Priscilla love eating pizza app excellent alright those so this is what I wrote down again there could be more than one answer but the main idea could just be well maybe you said eating pizza or pizza is the best or Wes loves pizza these are all acceptable answers but you were able to listen to what I was saying and then understand well what is the main topic and again I think that this I wanted to start with this main idea because I I think when you're listening to something this is the first thing that you should really keep in mind that you want to understand because if you understand the main idea that is going to allow you to follow the conversation it's going to allow you to more easily follow the movie whatever it is you're listening to this is the most important thing because once you kind of understand the main idea then you can move in two key details and and once you get those key details again that is going to improve your comprehension that's going to help you understand exactly what the person is saying to you and you're just going to get more information so this is the next skill that I wanted to talk to you about and that is key detail so when you think about key details what this means is that you are listening for groups of words or or groups or different phrases and you're trying to identify specific information and these details that you're listening to they could be well descriptive details you could be talking about adjectives those are very descriptive because they tell us about size they tell us about color they tell us about the shape so that is a great example of when you're listening to something if you hear adjectives those are those are good details those are key details that are going to help you understand what the story or what you're listening to details could also be things like well names dates any number for that matter that could be a very a key detail when you're listening to a conversation so the reason why I think details are also important and to try and help you along with this what I would suggest that you do is that you try to you know put a picture in your mind when you hear those adjectives put a picture in your mind when you hear a number put that number in your mind and and almost like treat it like you're watching a TV show or a movie because that's going to help you follow along with what the person is saying if you can put a picture in those your mind that's going to help you capture those key details and then when you need to you'll be able to better recall the information so what what do I mean when you recall the information because if you're having a conversation with somebody you want to be able to first understand what they're saying and then if you need to if you've identified some key details you want to be able to share that information maybe with another person or perhaps it's just part of the conversation you want to discuss it with the person that you're talking to so try to put a picture in your mind it's going to help you understand what it what you're listening to but it's also going to help you recall that information that is the important thing that I wanted to hit on when talking about key details so what what we're going to do is again I am I am going to give you I'm gonna tell you a story alright this is this is a true story it's a true story about me and I want you to listen to the story and the first time I will read it twice the first time that you listen to the story I want you to think about the main idea I told you that is the that's the primary thing that I want you to think about if you hear some details perfect I want you to think about the main idea and then I'm going to ask you a couple questions these questions are going to be about details from what I tell you and then I'll read it again and then see if you can identify those details are you ready so let's go here we go again all I want you to do you just need to listen right now and this is me telling you a story this is a true story from my life are you ready here we go so I'd say you know some time this was from a long time ago too I'll just tell you that sometimes my my job it can be a bit manat I work at a golf course and pick up golf balls on a driving range I must pick up thousands of golf balls each day I start work at 8:30 in the morning and I head out on to the driving range then I take a short 15-minute break at a quarter to 11:00 lunch is at 1 o'clock sharp I usually pack a PB&J sandwich that's what I like to eat and then I go back out onto the driving range and then I finish work at 4 the time does not fly okay so I said this is a true story from my past although I'm telling you the story as though this is what's happening now I use the present tense but this is true I used to work at a golf course it was the very first job that I have so again when you listen to that the first thing is just start what is the main idea ok and now I want you to listen for some key details ok so I have a couple of questions that I want to tell you right now that I want you to think about and perhaps you were able to easily follow the story and you remember those details now that's great if not then just listen for the information so the first question I have two questions for you the first question is this is right what time do I take a break and I'll give you I'll give you some options do I take a break at 9:45 a.m. 10:45 a.m. or 11:45 a.m. what time do I take a break that is one of the details and then the second one is what do I eat for lunch ok so those are the two questions I want you to think about as I read it again those are the details that I want to see if you can pick out as I read this again ok so all you need to do right now is just listen ok listen to my story telling you about well my time working at the golf course alright so I guess I'd say you know sometimes my job can be a bit monotonous I work at a golf course and I pick up golf balls on the driving range I miss I must pick up thousands of golf balls each day start work at 8:30 in the morning and head out on to the driving range then I take a 15-minute break at quarter to 11:00 lunch is at 1:00 o'clock sharp and I usually pack a PB&J sandwich that's what I that's what I enjoy to eat eating I go back out onto the driving range and then I finish work at 4:00 the time does not fly ok so again this is a true story I this was the very first job that I had when I started working I was 16 years old and I was working at I was working at a golf course I worked at the driving range so I gave you two questions that I wanted you to think about and again because we're practicing our listening I wanted just to tell you those I wasn't going to show you the questions so the first question was this I said what time what time do I take a break and I gave you three options a 9:45 a.m. B 10:45 a.m. or C 11:45 a.m. what time do I take a break now some of you I hope you were able to extrapolate this because I was not that tricky but maybe a little bit I take a break at 10:45 a.m. excellent yes ADA and Samuel a sleepwalker nice now in the story I did not say 10:45 I said I take a break at quarter to 11 quarter to 11 15 minutes to 11 o'clock is 10:45 and this is where like if you are taking a listening test such as the IELTS or the TOEFL this is something they tried to do kind of not in order to trick you but to really test your comprehension they may take one detail but they're going to say it in a different way so I told you quarter to 11 but in the the question that I gave you I wanted you to see if you ant could identify that as 10:45 now the next question that I had for you I asked you I said what what do I eat for lunch all right that's right so that you love pizza yes I probably I probably should have put pizza but that is not true I did bring pizza with me to the driving range all right so yes I saw it it's circa rim excellent so what I eat for lunch is a PB&J so I don't know some of you may not be familiar with a PB&J this is I would say it's kind of an American thing and what what PB&J stands for it stands for peanut butter and jelly sandwich a PB&J and this is something that I think it's quite almond the common that kids would eat PB&J sandwiches I was 16 at the time they're very easy to make and I just I would put together a PB&J I would take it with me because I would get hungry out on the golf course so some of you put a sandwich that would be correct but if you really wanted to to identify that key detail a PB&J sandwich peanut butter and jelly sandwich excellent all right so remember details that is talking about those those specific information those the names the numbers the adjectives that will all if you can identify them put a picture in your mind because again it's going to help where your comprehension and it's going to help you recall the information so next the next skill that I want to talk to you about is this one making inferences now if you don't know what this is what what this means when you make inferences is that you are using the information that you know in order to make a guess or to infer information that is not directly stated and this is so important when you really want to will understand the big picture the entire situation because often people are not always going to say every direct all the information directly you might just have to they're gonna give you part of it and then you're just going to have to guess or infer other things that are happening so for example if I were to tell you something like this okay I'm just going to tell you the information and I want you to in fur well what's the weather like so I could say something to you like well I got in the car soaking wet I could hear the pitter-patter sounds hitting the window okay and I might say well what is the weather like what do you think is the weather like I didn't directly tell you what it is but I gave you some information so that you you could make a guess so let me say that again I'd say if I were to say you know I got in the car soaking wet and I could hear that that pitter-patter sound hitting the window I didn't tell you directly what it is but you can make an inference and infer well what is the weather like outside all right and what you should say yes tada perfect lolly sorry if i mispronounce names the sleepwalker it's raining it's raining outside I get in the car I'm wet all right well why could I be wet there are different reasons why I could be wet maybe somebody threw me in a pool maybe it's raining but then when I follow it up and say you could hear that that pitter-patter sound hitting the window then that should tell you right there okay it's raining outside so I might not when you're having a conversation with somebody or you're maybe you're listening to a presentation in class or a presentation at work people might not always directly say every piece of information so this is where it's good it's good to be able to make inferences and infer other things to to better your comprehension okay so let's let's practice this and another I guess like you could say it's another proverb that I could tell you and this is something that you know to use and when it comes to making inferences I could say look read between the lines and when somebody tells you to read between the lines they're basically telling you to try to understand the hidden information that there are certain there's certain information that you could say it's hidden or in this case we're talking about listening that somebody does not say directly and you need to understand that you need to make inferences so I could say this proverb right here okay when it comes to making inferences all right listen to what somebody's saying and then read between the lines all right this is important but this is a great proverb that again you could use in a variety of situations if you want somebody to understand some hidden information you could tell them read between the lines all right so let's practice right now we are I'm going to read you a situation and I want you to listen to it and and try to make some inferences okay so what I would tell you is this before before we're gonna go through this slowly and I want you to think about the following all right I'm gonna tell you about two people and I want you to think about what's the relationship between these two people what is the relationship between these two people that I'm getting ready to tell you about in this little little story okay so again all I want you to do right now is I just want you to listen all right we're gonna go through this a little bit at time so what's the relationship if I were to start like telling you a story and I say you know they were walking along the pier side-by-side when he reached down and took her by the hand okay that's a little bit of information and you're thinking about the relationship what can you infer okay well these two people obviously know each other they're holding each other by the hand it could be they could have a romantic relationship they could be family members family members could walk hand-in-hand but but again they they do know each other now let's add some more to that all right so I'll start over again they were walking along the pier side-by-side when he reached down and took her by the hand they stopped at the edge of the pier and embraced they stared into each other's eyes listening to the sound of the ocean water below their feet okay so now I've given you a little bit more information to where you think okay it's a little bit of a romantic setting there they're looking into each other's eyes they embrace so it's probably not going to be a family member all right we know that there are some people saying okay dating a couple bromance possibly who knows they are in love but again there are many types of relationship what is their exact relationship even if they're in love all right are they boyfriend and girlfriend are they engaged are they a married couple okay so let me give you some more information suddenly he got down on one knee and he pulled a ring out of his pocket her face was glowing with happiness all right so now if you were to infer okay what is the if somebody were to ask you you hear that whole story and they say well what is the relationship between these two people all right he's proposing to this person so that means that that their relationship right now would be they are well they're like boyfriend and girlfriend they are a couple and he is proposing to her in which case they would become they will get engaged and it will be the their fiancee okay so this is where again you are listening to some information I did not say they were boyfriend and girlfriend but I'm giving you information so that you can infer that you can infer okay they're getting there he proposed to her they are not married they must be boyfriend and girlfriend now let me let me let me back up all right and read it to you a different way and I want to see what you can infer all right so again the question the question remains the same all right that I'm asking you what is the relationship between these two people and I am going to okay let me let's I'll start at the beginning all right I would say same beginning they were walking along the pier side-by-side when he reached down and took her by the hand they had just met months ago at a coffee shop and really hit it off all right now if you don't know what it means if this is a good idiom another expression to hit it off it means when two people instantly come friends or they instantly make a connection and they get along really well alright so I have given you a little bit of a different situation okay again I want you to make an inference okay and the question is the same what is the relationship between these two people let me read again and I'm gonna finish the story okay so I just want you to listen here's the entire story they were walking along the pier side-by-side when he reached down and took her by the hand they had met just a few months ago at a coffee shop and really hit it off as they walked her fingers brushed his ring a symbol of eight years of turbulence they stopped at the end of the pier and embrace they stared into each other's eyes listening to the sound of the ocean water below their feet okay now I've given you a little more information and I didn't know let's see I don't know if you were able to pick up on it if I said well what is the relationship between these two people so again I told you uh if you caught those key details because I know that some of you guys are talking about that you know throwing out the main idea you could say okay love it first sight that they're their friends maybe they were classmate let me read it again see if you can pick out some key details all right they were walking along the pier side by side when he reached down and took her by the hand they had just met months ago at a coffee shop and really hit it off as they walked her fingers brushed up against his ring a symbol of eight years of turbulence they stopped at the end of the pier and embraced they stared into each other's eyes listening to the sound of the ocean water below their feet okay I don't know if you guys caught that so remember I said they had only met a they had only met months ago alright the guy he's wearing a ring and I said it stood for eight years of turbulence if the guy is wearing a ring like I'm wearing right now what does that mean okay it means he's married so if they had only met a couple of months ago what could you infer all right these two people are not married you could say he's having an affair dun dun duh scandalous I know okay so in that case what I was trying to say is that these two people they're walking along the pier they met months ago they're holding hands he's wearing a ring that stood for eight years of turbulence if you don't know what turbulence means when you fly on a plane you know when you're flying on the plane and the plane gets really shaky and bumpy that is turbulence so if you say something is a little turbulent you say that it's bumpy it's rocky it's not steady in which case if the marriage is not steady then probably that that means there would be problems okay so in that case that that information that key detail right there would allow you to infer that okay he is having an affair that he would be cheating on his wife and that would be again making a different type of inference okay so let's look at the next part so that was all about that was all about making inferences again when you make an inference you are listening to the information and you're trying to make a guess about other information all right the last part that I want to talk to you about is interpret meaning now when I say that you when I talk about interpreting meaning this is a very broad topic specifically I want to talk to you about two things I want to talk to you about intonation and emphasis in order to help you interpret meaning whenever you're listening to somebody talk so when we let's start with intonation this is the rising and falling of someone's voice when I say emphasis I'm talking about you are stressing a word or a phrase to to give a specific meaning and what I mean by this to help you interpret meaning when we're talking about intonation and emphasis I'll give you another quote and this is something that I like to say that you know it's not what you say but how you say it so when you think about listening to information what somebody says that that may not always be the most important thing but the way that they say it the way they use their intonation their emphasis that is really going to help you interpret the true meaning of what somebody is saying okay now of course I want I want to practice this so I am going to well let me give you some examples when we talk about first let's look at intonation because I told you intonation is talking about like the the rising and the falling of someone's voice think about the question when you meet somebody I might ask you and say you know hey how you doing you know how you doing that is a very common question I want to know how you are so if somebody just says well how you doing then they just there it's a very simple question there's no intonation now I don't know if you've ever seen the show friends and the show friends there is a character called Joey and one of the one of his catchphrases was this this question and he would say it something like this he'd say how are you doing and he would say it in that way how you doing now when you say it like that when when the character would say it on the TV show the true meaning of that is something that it's more something romantic that that he is interested in this other person so he would see a beautiful woman and then he would say how are you doing like I'm not very good at saying that but if you were to watch the show friends the character Joey would always say how you doing and again it implies something romantic that he has an interest in this woman and again it's all about intonation that is the true meaning so you can you can say it in a way that again you get more information the same way think about a question okay when you think about a question usually there is a rising intonation at the end so we can also use statements as a question as well and that's going to give you a little more information think about this situation all right if somebody were to ask you like you know did you lock the door a simple question did you lock the door and somebody responds and says I lock the door now the way that I said that with the rising intonation was a question all right which is very different from the statement so if somebody says did you lock the door I say I lock the door if I say it like that with the rising intonation I'm asking a question which means that in my mind I was thinking wait I was supposed to lock the door no no I wasn't supposed to lock the door so again if you are able to identify something like intonation you will better understand the situation as a whole it's going to help you understand that main idea that big picture if somebody says oh did you lock the door and say what I lock the door you're saying a statement but you're using that rising intonation which means it's a question okay now let's let's look at emphasis if you're talking about emphasis again it is you are stressing a word or phrase to give it a specific meaning let's go back to that that question that I asked you when I said I locked the door kind of like you know unsure of this thing what if I were to say like add emphasis to I somebody says did you lock the door and I would say I lock the door it's almost like I'm questioning then like well wait I was not supposed to do it you were supposed to do it I lock the door no no no it wasn't me so here's another sentence I want you to think about this sentence a simple sentence and I just want you to listen to it I'm gonna say it with no emphasis and the sentence is she isn't driving to the park she isn't driving to the park you can listen to that you understand it put a picture in your mind if it helps she isn't driving to the park now if I emphasize a certain word it's going to change the meaning of the sentence so for example what if I emphasize the very first word if I emphasize she and I were to tell you well she isn't driving to the park what does that mean if you are going to now interpret the meaning of this sentence if I said well she isn't driving to the park that means that well she is not doing it somebody else's or what if I were to interpret the word and say well emphasize the word driving alright and I said well she isn't driving to the park how does that change the meaning she isn't driving to the park what do you think if you were to interpret that meaning cuz that changes it a little bit she isn't driving to the park if I'm emphasizing driving that means well she's not driving in a car she's going to the park in some other way maybe she's walking to the park perhaps she's taking the bus to the park maybe there there's a train or maybe she's riding a horse we don't know but if somebody emphasized driving then that's going to change the meaning a little bit so again emphasis is very important in understanding the specific meaning I could even say what if I emphasize the last word Park and I say well she isn't driving to the park what does that mean now I changed it again when I emphasized the word part she isn't driving to the park what does that how does that change the sentence if ice if I emphasize Park this is the place that means well she's not driving to the park she's driving to some other place we don't know maybe she's driving to the grocery store maybe she's driving to the mall but if I were say well she isn't driving to the park she's going somewhere else so again these are small little things that again I want you to keep in mind when you're talking about intonation and emphasis that's really going to help you interpret the meaning of what you hear when you're listening to not just a conversation but you're watching a TV show a movie you're listening to the radio anytime you are listening that people are going to use intonation they're going to use emphasis and this could change the meaning and that's really that's what I really want you to be aware of when it comes to those things so in basically what what I want to do is just quick little in review all right so we talked about these four listening skills right here main idea I told you this is the most important one this is the first thing that I think when you're listening to something that you should really try to grasp okay what is the main topic and then once you get the main idea see if you can pick out some of those key details and those key details that might allow you to make inferences and try to understand information that was not directly stated and then also as you're listening especially if you are listening to a conversation and somebody's talking or they're telling a story listen for that intonation and emphasis because it's going to help you interpret the true meaning the true meaning of what someone really wants to say so these are the four skills that we talked about today this is what I wanted to practice with you and I I hope this helps because like I told you listening for me this is my greatest challenge when I'm learning a language some of you might find listening pretty easy others might find it difficult but it is always good to practice and the fact that you're able to identify some of these different skills whether it's main idea or making inferences and we can just take one at a time and practice that this is going to help you then next time you are listening to well anything a TV show a movie and you want to identify the main idea and listen for those details all of it helps even just watching this lesson and listening to me right now you've been listening to me go on for over a half hour any time you are listening and getting exposure to the language that helps so I would encourage you surround yourself with the language try to get more listening whether it's listening to an audio book whether you're listening to a conversation or maybe you want to go out and listen to another one of our lessons it's all going to help so again if you enjoyed this lesson please I would appreciate it hit that like button down below thank you guys so much I just want to say thank you too let's see sleepwalker morgana a10 shim top thank you guys so much for joining me today couple things last things I want to mention if you guys want to connect with us via email you guys can whoops check us out right there there I just threw a link in the chat there's also a link down below oh one last thing we did start we did start doing YouTube join memberships we are now active on YouTube you can join up with a membership and during these live lessons there are some cool emojis that you can use some badges check out link link is in the description down below if you want to become a member thank you guys again Bojan franceska Kareem sandy I am on neckla hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will see you next time so long

Channel: Interactive English

Views: 12,178

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Id: jdtSQKkgHsE

Length: 41min 25sec (2485 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 14 2020