X.O

Listening is not gift

For my experience, in many cases listening is the least developed skill. So if you feel especially weak in that area - pay attention to the following tips, that help you improve your Listening ability. Remember - Nobody is born with it. it's just a skill and you learn it.

 Teach yourself the words

the only way to improve your listening ability is to train your "ears" to separate and understand the words you hear in flow of sentence. Often what you hear is a "BLAblablabla", which you can't hear to break into words, and for that reason it makes no sense to you. when training take a recording of news, lecture, television program or movie. I suggest using MP3 player. You can easily record English from the radio or any other source to it. It is also easy to repeat (re-play) sentences you didn't understand. MP3 player is small and light, so you can use it in any spare moment that you have - riding a bus or train, walking the dog, taking a walk yourself, etc.

  First, listen, remember what you heard and stop the recording after each phrase, Even if you didn't understand the phrase, play it in your a couple of times, like a broken record - "Tonight we have special guest, Tonight we have special guest , Tonight we have special guest "

then say it loud. if you understood that phrase at first, this exercise will improve your pronunciation,. if you don't understand the phrase for fist time, this repetition will give you more time to hear it better, break it into words and make sense out of them, and if it is still difficult, you can always rewind and hear the phrase again.

There is big different between seeing a word printed on paper while reading and hearing it. If  you saw a word, it doesn't mean you will recognize it when you hear it. So every word you have seen, you must hear at least once.

practice practice

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/IELTS/ - take it online, or print the booklet
http://www.esl-lab.com  -  for this one you will need Real Audio Player
http://www.international.homesglen.vic.edu.au/ie_list.cfm  - download the sample print booklet
http://esl.about.com/cs/toefl/a/a_ielts_2.html  - Play the listening sample and start using tips the while searching for answers. this is the only way to really understand how these tips work. You may have to play same Listening file more than once, to practice in different techniques.

from: Target Band - 7 - IELTS