Two informal interviews on living in Yorkshire
Mary talks to Fiona and Mark who say why they live in or near Leeds and what they think about the area and other places they have lived in UK. These two recordings were not rehearsed at all. They were made in a staff room in Leeds.
Teachers will be able to use them in many different ways with different classes. Here are some suggestions.
Suggestions for classroom activities
Use photographs as a warm up, to introduce the topic and elicit ideas about it.
e.g. people walking on Ilkley Moor / backpackers / friends / a walking group / city scapes /
Have atlases/ maps/ online maps available to identify places mentioned.
Comprehension activities
The dialogues could be exploited for gist and detailed listening with groups from E1 to Level 2. For example:
Entry 1 students listen for places they hear mentioned and circle named places on a map or places from a list of options. Answer simple closed and open questions.
Entry 2- Level 2 Teachers can devise graded comprehension tasks / note taking exercises / multiple choice questions
E.g. Mark says "it's a fiver in a taxi"
Does this mean
- you can put five people in a taxi?
- the journey costs five pounds?
- the journey takes five minutes?
Development activities
After the dialogues have been used for gist listening and comprehension work, more detailed work could include:
Noticing activities
. Vague language (e.g. sort of..like..stuff.) Use a transcript with vague language removed. Students listen and fill in gaps. Class discuss the purpose and meaning of vague language and why it is used.
. Alternatively students have cards with items of vague language on and have to read and put them into transcript (not necessarily in the same places as originals.) Some alternatives will work better than others. The results will provide a basis for a fruitful discussion and exploration.
. How does Mary show she is listening?
- encourage Mark to say more?
- start/ introduce questions?
- ask Mark why he came here?
. Exploration of key phrases
eg I've ended up in Otley, settling there / I've probably been back / the finer qualities / it's a fiver in a taxi / question forms
Follow up activities
This could include
- further use of atlases and maps and links to citizenship
- discussion of walking as a leisure activity. Why do some walkers in UK carry rucksacks? What do they carry in them?
- Is walking a leisure activity other countries students know?
