Listening to the News | Voice of AmericaListening to the News: Voice of America 1 ae orteal 2-212 Compan Publabing tht med et Lamar do al no Aeneid say armory wy omatnelacicate, achariea| pbaocapying ecceho seeing eisoat per pertanan a ring born the pads ‘Aegebers Et: Jl Fiarat ter Eline: Fw Sah overnite ang Eaakgn Hen tga papi seat iriodenmpaapuliosm Wan greece aon Muparesaaay Introduction CHAPTER OF! American Life Unit 01 The Statue of Liberty Unit 02 The Iditarod Race Unit 03 Balloon Man Unit 04 Single-Gender Classrooms Unit 05 Students Save Town ‘CHAPTER 02 | General Interest Unit 06 Thumbellna Unit a7 E-Waste Unit 08 asis of the Seas Unit 09 Space Tourism Unit 10 Bamboo Bullds the Future CHAPTER 03 | Science Unit 11. A Seed Bank Unit 12 4 Dolphins Tall Unit 13. Sleep Unit 14. Trouble with Jellyfish Unit 18. Skin Gun ‘CHAPTER 04 | World Interest Unit 1 Underground Rescue Unit 17 China's Fast Trains Unit 18 Venice Unit 19 Mosquito Nets Unit 20. Clty Monkeys Think and Speak Dictation ‘Transcripts & Answer Key. Bgees euss 63 7 n 15 asricer Le Ustening to the News: Volce of America T ls designed for Intermediate-level students. Presented Information pattemed after Voice of America news broadcasts Is designed to develop English language listening skills for academic purposes, Listening tothe News: Walce of Amenea can be used by Individual learners or groups. Valce of America (VOA}Is 2 well-known broadcasting service from the United States. Ithas been providing English-lanquage news broadcasts that have helped mary people around the world leam English from the comfort of thelr own homes. The news Is an ideal medium for training Bstening skills, With carefully selected material sourced from VOAnews.com, this serles quides students‘sttention through different levels af information extraction. There are also further opportunities to engage in discussion about the topics, creating the potential for a complete, fully interactive listening course book. Not only daes this type of guided leaning develop overall English ability, but the structured comprehension questions are also Indispensable for English exam preparation. Each book ts divided into four chapters:“American Life?*General Interest"*Sclence’ and “World Interest” Within these chapters there are five units, each contalning a topical program fromm VOAnews.com, on which all ensuing questions and activities are based, HOW THE BOOK I5 ORGANIZED: Warm-Up | ‘This section Is designed to introduce the topic of the program the students are about to listen to It features a written statement, followed by a question. The students can start to engage with each other and discuss their Inttlal Ideas of how each topic Is relevant to them, Vocabulary Preview | A selection of challenging words and thelr definitlans |s presented. These words are taken from the main program that the students are about to listen to, This vocabulary can also be useful for longer-term usage within academic contexts | Note-Taking ‘The students can listen to the program and take notes as they listen along. The Idea Is for students ta be able to understand enough of the matarial to complete the scaffalded notes that are glven in this section, Studdants well also check similar answers occasionally placed inthe summary activitles. This slmulates real note-taking when listening to an extended academic lecture. Students can listen to the program as many times as they need ta. | Comprehension | Multiple-cholce comprehension questions guide the student to further understanding of the pragram, This section ts also designed to simulate common exam formats suchas In the ‘TOEFL listening section. | Focus on Sounds | Sections of the program are Isolated into individual sentences, and students need to fill the gaps with the missing wards, which simulates listening dictation exercise. Each unit hasa different focus on the nature of the words that need ta be filled In, For example, in Listening ta the News: Volce of America 1, units target a different phoneticor lexical area which might be problematic for certain groups of English language learners. Students can be tested at word level an the accuracy of what they have camprehended whlle listening | Summary | To further relnfozee thelr comprehension, students need te fill the gaps within a summary paragraph with a list of provided words. By this stage, students should have Intemalized a fair amount of the main listening program. Answers will occasionally be repeated from the: note-taking section to confizm student retention. This exercise helps students prepare far paraphrasing and summarizing in real cadamic contexts. { Dialog | Asa complement to the program, students now have the chance to listen to another extended \Istening segment, this time in the form of a two-person dialog, The dialog Is always on the same ‘topic as the preceding program topic Listening to a dialog and deducing Information through follow-up multiple choice questions Is also common In many English lanquage exams. | Expanded Reading | This |s 2 written paragraph, providing questions for further discussion about the listening program and dislog topic. Students’ vocabulary and background knowledge on the tople is further developed. lInerodluetion | §