Dictations - Learning new words

This is part of our series of dictations, where you can listen to someone speaking and try to write down everything that you hear. Doing lots of dictations regularly will not only develop your general listening skills, but will also help you improve your spelling and punctuation.

In this activity, the dictation is based on some advice about how to learn new words. All these tips come from teachers.

Preparation

Before you start, think about how you learn new words.

Now do tasks 1 – 5 to help you prepare for the dictation in task 6.

If you prefer to just do the dictation, without the preparation, go straight to task 6.

Gap-fill worksheet

Printable version

Transcript

Task 1 - gap-fill dictation

Download and print the gap-fill dictation worksheet.

Listen to the audio and fill in the missing words:

Dictation - How to improve your memory by ESOL Nexus

Then check your answers in the ‘Answers’ section.

Task 2 - similar-sounding words

In this activity, you will listen to and read some words from the dictation.

Match the word you hear to the correct spelling.

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Task 3 - counting words

In this activity you will count the number of words in phrases that you heard in the dictation.

This will give you practice in identifying individual words in a stream of sound.

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Task 4 - linked sounds

In spoken English, we often add extra sounds between words to link our words together.

As a result, when you listen to a continuous stream of sound in English, it can be very difficult to identify the individual words.

These extra linking sounds are:

/r/ e.g. Four ^/r/ onions

/j/ e.g. three^/j/oranges

/w/ e.g. two ^/w/ apples

Listen to these phrases:

sarah's linked sounds example four onions by ESOL Nexus

Complete the following task which will focus on listening for these linking sounds in phrases from the dictation.

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Task 5 - word and syllable stress

In natural, spoken English, we don’t pronounce each syllable with the same emphasis (word stress)

o ooO o

For example: 'qualifications'

Qualifications - word stress by ESOL Nexus

Listen to these words from the dictation and match them to the correct stress pattern.

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Task 6 - dictation

Get a pen or pencil and some paper ready.

Now do the whole dictation. Listen to the audio and write down everything you hear.

Important: Pause the recording if you need more time to write.

Dictation - How to improve your memory by ESOL Nexus

When you’ve finished, check your writing with the transcript.

Here are the first few words:

When we are trying to remember something ______

Transcript

How to learn new words

When we are trying to remember something others will often tell us to write it down. But this doesn’t work for everyone. Here are some tips from different teachers on ways to remember new language.

Repeat a word 50 times to make it stay in your mind.
Does the word you are trying to learn remind you of a smell, a place, or a feeling? Use this connection to help you remember the word.
Think of a room you know well. Now imagine new words in different places around the room. One word could be above a mirror, and another on a chair. To remember them later, picture the room in your mind.
Use a pattern or rhyme to memorise spellings, for example: big elephants can always understand small elephants. This sentence may help you to remember the spelling of because – b-e-c-a-u-s-e.
Make a mindmap to remember words from a topic. Draw a circle and write the topic word, for example health, in the middle. Add lines or branches coming out of the circle for words on the same topic.

Answers

Activity 1 (Gap-fill)

others will often tell us to write it down
for everyone
from different teachers
to make it stay in your mind
remind you of a smell, a place or
to help you remember the word
you know well
in different places
be above a mirror and another on
picture the room in your mind
to memorise spellings
big elephants can always understand small elephants
may help you to remember
to remember words from a topic
Draw a circle
in the middle
coming out of the circle

Discussion

Over to you:

Were any of your ideas about learning new words included in the dictation text?

Do you have any ideas for learning new words that you’d like to share with us and other students? You can write them in the Comments section below.

What did you think of this activity? Please write your comments below.

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Your rating: None (3 votes)

Comments

giuliana

Submitted by giuliana on Mon, 10/15/2012 - 16:39.

I have found very helpful and stimulating the tips on how to learn and memorize words .The one I like most is the circle with different topics. So we will have the

walls around us communicating with us and ...well decorated.

Dictations - Learning new words

Comments

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