Dictations - What to do about bullying

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 for a young person if he or she is being bullied at school.

Instructions and downloads

Before you start, think about the following advice about bullying. Is it good or bad advice?

Tell someone that you are being bullied.
Hit back.
Act more confidently.

Now do tasks 1 – 4 to help you prepare for the dictation in task 5.

If you prefer to just do the dictation, without the preparation, go straight to task 5.

Gap-fill dictation worksheet

Printable version

Transcript

Task 1 - gapfill dictation

Download and print the gap-fill dictation worksheet.

Listen to the audio and fill in the missing words:

Dictation - What to do about bullying by ESOL Nexus

Then check your answers in the ‘Answers’ section.

Task 2 - similar-sounding words

In this activity, you will listen to some words from the dictation and match them 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 - linking 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:

/j/ e.g. the^/j/end of the film

/w/ e.g. who ^/w/ are you?

/r/ e.g. Here ^/r/ it is

Listen to these phrases and practise saying them aloud.

More linking sounds - Connected speech by ESOL Nexus

Complete the following task which will focus on listening for these linking sounds. Repeat them to practise good pronunciation.

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Task 5 - 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 - What to do about bullying by ESOL Nexus

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

Here are the first few words:

The first thing that you should do ____________

Transcript

What to do about bullying

The first thing that you should do if you're being bullied is to tell someone about it. You shouldn't suffer in silence. You can tell a friend, a parent or a teacher at your school. There are also a few things that you can do yourself that may make a person who bullies think twice about picking on you. Try acting a bit more confidently - people who bully will often pick people out who seem quiet and reserved, so if you look like you're full of self-belief, it's likely they'll leave you alone. If you get bullied on your way home from school, walk home with a group of friends or get an adult to collect you at the gate. It may sound embarrassing, but you'll be better protected if you're with a group of people. Don't hit back. Although it's tempting, it's a bad idea as you may get yourself into trouble if you get involved in a fight.

Answers

Activity 1

if you’re being bullied
shouldn’t suffer in silence
a friend, a parent or a teacher at
are also a few things
a person who bullies thinks twice about picking on
acting a bit more confidently
pick people out who seem quiet and reserved
full of self-belief
If you get bullied on your way home from school
a group of friends
embarrassing, but you’ll be better protected if
of people
hit back
it's tempting, it's a bad idea as you may get yourself
you get involved in

Discussion

Over to you:

Look back at the beginning of this activity where you thought about advice to give a young person who is being bullied. Was the advice good or bad?

The dictation text was taken from an article called ‘What to do about bullying’ from the DirectGov website.

You can read the full text at this link:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/YoungPeople/HealthAndRelationships/Bullying/DG_10031374

You can also watch a video about bullying, aimed at parents:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Video/Parenting/A/DG_191393

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

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Comments

larkem abd elhak

Submitted by larkem abd elhak on Sat, 08/25/2012 - 09:52.

I am enjoying my time and learning english.This is just great.

Dictations - What to do about bullying

Comments

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