Using authentic materials to motivate students to listen to english

TÊN CHUYÊN ĐỀ:
USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS
TO LISTEN TO ENGLISH
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. RATIONALE
Of the four major areas of communication skills and language development listening, speaking, reading, and writing - the one that is the most basic is listening.
When students first learn a language, they generally have to listen to the words
several times before they are able to recognize and pronounce those words.
Listening can also help students build vocabulary, develop language proficiency,
and improve language usage. Not only are listening skills the basis for the
development of all other skills, they are also the main channel through which
students make initial contact with the target language and its culture.
In Ha Long High School for Gifted Students, English major students here
are exposed to a variety of listening materials. However, most of these materials
are graded listening materials or materials that are specifically designed for testing
purpose. These materials may help students boost their scores in listening exams
like IELTS or TOEFL but not prepare them for the real life communication
challenges. To solve this problem, one effective way is to apply real listening
materials in the classroom.
With the growing availability of podcasts and audio materials on the
Internet, both teachers and students have easy access to a broad range of authentic
listening materials. However, many teachers feel that such recordings are too
difficult to be exploited for listening activities in the classroom. Therefore, in this
paper, I would like to suggest some ways to devise activities which will help
motivate English language learners to listen and achieve a satisfying understanding
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of authentic listening texts. These activities are particularly helpful for English
major students, whose English proficiency is around B2 level and above.
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY

The study aims at
- Giving a brief overview of authentic materials and sources from which
authentic materials can be obtained.
- Designing activities for a sample 45-minute listening lesson using
authentic materials.
- Suggesting several ways for motivating English language learners to listen
and develop their listening skills with authentic materials.
3. TIME AND PLACE OF THE STUDY
This study results from my own experience of incorporating authentic
listening materials into my teaching at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students
during school year 2013 - 2014. I use these materials in selective lessons, which is
once a week in my class. My students are in grade 11, all majoring in English and
having language competence around B2 level. I also use authentic listening
materials as a kind of listening practice for the selective group of excellent students
who take part in the Provincial or National Contest for Excellent Students.
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
So far there have been a number of studies on developing students' listening
skills using authentic materials. However, these studies often focus on students at
tertiary level as their main subject, and not much attention has been paid to high
school students. This is certainly a disadvantage against high school students when
they come into contact with native speakers. By suggesting some ways to
incorporate authentic listening materials in the teaching curriculum, the study will
be helpful to acquaint high school students with real-life communicative situations.
Accordingly, their language competence will certainly improve.

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The study would like to suggest several sources from which aural materials
can be adapted. Thus, it may serve as a useful guideline for teachers who wish to

explore the use of authentic materials in their everyday teaching.

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. THEREOTICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Definition of Authentic Listening Materials
In the literature on second language acquisition and learning, the term
"authentic listening materials" has been defined in a different ways. The most
common definition is by Nunan (1999), who defines authentic listening materials
as "spoken language data that has been produced in the course of genuine
communication, and not specifically made for purposes of language teaching and
learning."
Gebhard (1996) clarifies the above definition by giving examples of
authentic materials that teachers have used in teaching foreign languages. Some of
his examples, which may serve as source material for lesson planning, are: TV
commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap
operas, professionally audio, taped short stories and novels, radio ads, songs,
documentaries, and sales pitches.
1.2. Advantages of using authentic listening materials in classroom
The use of authentic materials in the classroom has become common
practice during the last 20 years, and the need for and usefulness of authentic
materials have been increasingly acknowledged. In fact, using authentic listening
materials has several advantages.
According to Brinton (1991), authentic listening materials can reinforce for
students the direct relationship between the language classroom and the outside
world. Gebhard (1996) sees authentic listening materials as a way to
"contextualize" language learning. When lessons are centered on comprehending a
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menu or a TV weather report, students tend to focus more on content and meaning
rather than the language itself. This offers students a valuable source of language
input, so that they are not being exposed only to the language presented by the text
and the teacher.
Also, there are some researchers who point out that more authentic listening
materials are needed in the classroom because of the wide disparity that is often
found between materials developed specifically for English language teaching and
authentic conversation. Porter and Roberts (1981) show several differences
between authentic materials and non-authentic materials in terms of spoken
language. For example, conversations recorded for language texts often have a
slow pace, have particular structures which recur with obtrusive frequency, and
have very distinct turn-taking of speakers. Also, hesitations (such as “uh’s” and
“mm’s”) are often missing, and sentences are very well - formed with few if any
mistakes. In other words, what the language learners hear in class is different from
the language in the real world. In many cases, the language heard in classrooms is
a stilted use of spoken language, and authenticity is lost because of a need to teach
specific language points in a way that some teachers feel would be more
understandable for learners.
Brosnan et al. (1984) justify the importance of the use of authentic listening
in the classroom in this way:
a. Language is natural. Authentic language offers students the chance to deal
with a small amount of material which, at the same time, contains complete and
meaningful messages.
b. Students need to be able to see the immediate relevance of what they do in
the classroom to what they need to do outside it, and real-life material treated
realistically makes the connection obvious.

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2. PRACTICAL BACKGROUND
In Vietnam, English is the most popular foreign language and a compulsory
school subject. However, English teaching and learning have, for a long time, been
influenced by traditional methods with a great focus on grammar and vocabulary.
The implementation of new English textbooks for high school students since the
school-year 2006 – 2007 has created a shift toward communicative teaching and
learning. Listening has gained much more attention, and different ways to enhance
students’ listening ability have been sought and implemented. However, most
listening materials are test-based with not so natural recordings and may be a
hindrance for students when they come into contact with native speakers.
Moreover, some students, especially excellent ones, are keen on self-study
listening activities; they want to explore the authentic materials themselves but
have no clue how to begin and where to find appropriate materials. It is necessary
that teachers act as an instructor to guide them through the process of self-study so
that their listening skills will be enhanced. Therefore, I would like to give some
suggestions as to how authentic listening materials can be used and how teachers
can help students in their self-studying process in this study.

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CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
1. REAL SITUATION
As indicated above, the use of authentic listening materials in teaching
English is quite limited in the scenario of high schools in Vietnam. At Ha Long
High School for Gifted Students, English major students may listen to a lot of
listening sources, but not many of them are exposed to real - life situations.
Therefore, the fact that some students get high score in listening exam does not
necessarily mean that they will do well in actual communication. This calls for the
adoption of more authentic teaching materials into everyday teaching. As a matter

of fact, teachers of English at my school are enthusiastic about applying authentic
materials into their everyday teaching. However, the exploitation of real-life
listening is, to some extent, a process of experimenting to see what is appropriate
and what is not, and sharing hands-on experience. This situation demands a more
systematically designed materials with a view to enhancing students' listening
skills as much as possible. Therefore, I would like to suggest several solutions to
these problems from my own experience.
2. SOLUTIONS
In this part, I am going to describe briefly some of the ways that I have
adopted to devise listening activities for my students. All in all, I have exploited
the following sources of authentic materials in my teaching:
- Radio podcasts
- Video clips
- Songs
- TV programs/ movies
Each of these materials and how to exploit them is described as follows.
2.1. Using radio podcasts
In order to make a radio podcast suitable for classroom teaching, I usually
go through several steps:
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- Select the recording
- Prepare pre - listening activities
- Prepare while - listening activities
- Prepare post - listening activities
2.1.1. Select the recording
To prepare for a lesson of 45 minutes centred on an authentic audio
recording, I usually search for a radio programme that would either interest my
students or be topically related to the unit or lesson I am currently teaching. The

recording may vary in length, and it is best to find one from which I can extract
about 5- 8 minutes of listening. For example, I choose a recording from BBC
Radio 4 programme called Excess Baggage. This recording is about Daniel
Everett, a linguist at Illinois State University, who has spent much of the past three
decades living in the remote and little understood Amazonian tribe of the Pirahas.
The reason for this choice of recording is that I find it very interesting and can help
students acquire some useful knowledge about life of some tribes in the Amazon
Jungle. The recording can be obtained from this online source:
/>2.1.2. Prepare pre-listening activities
In this step, I introduce the topic and activate background knowledge of
what students are about to hear. I provide students with a picture which can trigger
general discussion around the topic.
A. Look at the photos and discuss with a partner:
What can you guess about Dan Everett and life in the Amazon?

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Then I also provide them with a short reading text which gives some general
background information. The reading text could include, for example, some
information about the programme which answers some of the following questions:
Is it an interview or discussion? Was it recorded in the studio or outside? What
about the speakers - how many there are? Where are they from? How do they feel
about the topic? The reading text could also contain key, new or potentially
problematic vocabulary and or phrases from the text.
B. You are going to listen to part of a BBC radio programme called Excess
Baggage. Read the information about the programme and write T (True) or
NG (Not Given) next to the sentence 1 - 3.
Excess Baggage is a weekly BBC Radio 4 programme on which people who have
spent time travelling are interviewed about the places they have been to and things

they have learnt. In this programme Dan Everett, who now works at Illinois State
University in the United States, talks about his experience with the Piraha tribe in
the Amazon jungle. He has spent much of the past thirty years living with them,
studying their language and culture.
1. Excess Baggage is a holiday programme.
2. Dan Everett wasn't working at the university when he first went to visit the
Piraha.
3. Dan Everett teaches the Piraha language.
2.1.3. Preparing while-listening activities
The activities designed at this stage are largely determined by the content of
the recordings. The activities may be in the form of multiple choice questions,
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open questions, ticking True or False, ordering the statement etc. When I devise an
activity, I always turn to the audio script highlight precisely what a listener needs
to be able to understand to successfully complete the task. At this point, I might
modify the wording of questions and information in the activity to adjust the
difficulty level of the task according to the level of my students.
In this BBC radio interview, Dan Everett told the presenter about the first
time he travelled to an area of the Amazon jungle where a certain tribe he went to
meet lived. The three different activities below are based on the second and third
part taken from the programme.
C. Listen to the next part of the interview and answer questions 1 - 4.
1. What does Dan say about travelling in the Amazon jungle?
A. It's better to travel overland.
B. It's better to travel by plane.
C. It's better to travel as a group.
2. When Dan and his family arrived, how did the Piraha react?
A. They were friendly.

B. They wanted presents.
C. The asked him lots of questions.
3. How did the Piraha react to Dan learning their language?
A. They thought he was silly
B. They were surprised he understood them
C. They thought it was interesting
4. What travelling experiences had Dan had before he went to the Amazon?
A. He'd travelled from Southern California to Mexico
B. He'd travelled a lot in Southern California
C. He's travelled around Mexico
D. Listen again and put the phrases a - d in the order you hear them.
a.

a sort of highly - trained parrot
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b.

in the early days

c.

a really tough expedition

d.

your little tribe

E. Listen to the third part of the interview and answer questions 1 - 4.

1. When is Dan planning on going back to visit the Piraha?
2. What does he take them when he visits?
3. Why wasn't the Piraha man interested in seeing the president of Brazil?
4. When can you listen to "Don't sleep, there are snakes" on Radio 4's "Books
of the week"?
Before listening, I usually work on how the words in the phrases are linked
in fast speech, thus helping students recognise them in context when they listen. In
the third exercise, the wording of the questions closely resembles the actual words
used by the speakers, so making it easier for students to more easily locate the
information they need to listen closely for. The level of challenge increases in the
second and third exercise. Some of the questions demand that students listen for
synonyms and antonyms or paraphrased sentences.
2.1.4. Prepare post-listening activities
To finish the listening lesson off, I think it is a good idea to give students the
opportunity to talk more generally around a topic. The task below provides
examples of the kinds if questions students could talk about, which provide further
opportunity to indirectly review the listening experience, and help them remember
features of authentic speech.
F. Work in pairs or small groups and discuss questions 1 - 3 below
1. What else do you think Dan learnt on his visits?
_______________________________________________
2. Would you like to read Dan Everret's book or listen to the Radio 4 Book of
the week programme? Why or Why not?
_______________________________________________
3. What's the most unusual place you've ever visited? Would you like to visit
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an unusual place? Where?
________________________________________________

2.2. Using video clips/ movies
Many creative approaches for using videos in the classroom are given by
Stempleski and Tomalin (1990). With movies, students still get visual input, but
the speech will be more natural than the language used on news programs. In
addition, there are characters with accents, which will most likely be a difficult
challenge for students.
An entire movie may be too long both for class periods, so I usually limit
my selection to choose part of a movie or short clips of about ten minutes. There
are several ways to devise activities for listening purpose. One approach would be
for students to watch the beginning only of a video clip, and then they must predict
what will happen next. Also, teachers could present a video clip through split
viewing: half of the class sits with their back to the screen; half can see the screen;
and both groups can hear. Pairs then come together after the split viewing, and
create a story about what happened. Another activity is that after watching a video
two times, the teacher may ask students to write a summary of what happened in
the scene.
Below is a worksheet that I created for classroom use, basing on the clip
about New York City which I downloaded from Youtube. The transcript of the clip
can be found in Appendix 1.
NEW YORK CITY TRAVEL GUIDE
1. Who am I? Read the sentences and find out which city is being
described.
1. I am an apple.
2. I’m multicultural.
3. I’m famous for my theatres.
4. I love shopping.
5. And old lady welcomes you.
6. Yellow is my word.
7. I’m an island.
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8. Visit me if you love musems.
9. Look up!
10. Film, film, films.
2. Watch the video, listen to the text and try to fill in the gaps.
New Yorkers like to think their 1 ______________________ is the centre of
the world. And who can blame them? Home to over 8 million people, the city is 2
______________________ and fast, and posed with energy.
America’s biggest city can be overwhelming for 3 ______________________
but you’ll find the street names make navigation 4 ______________________And
those yellow cabs are a great way to get around.
Manhattan is the 5______________________and soul of the Big Apple. And
within its neighbourhoods, there’s a distinct 6 ______________________ and
pace. Lower Manhattan, the city’s 7 ______________________disctrict bustles
from Monday to Friday. The 8 ______________________ of Time Square and
Broadway burns bright in Midtown. While dominating the Upper East End West
sides are Central Park, 9 ______________________ boutiques and those 10
______________________ brown-stone homes.
3. Based on the text, answer the questions:
1. If you want to do some shopping where would you go?
_______________________________________________
2. If you are interested in arts which museums can you visit?
_______________________________________________
3. How can you get to Liberty Island?
_______________________________________________
4. Why is the Statue of Liberty important to immigrants?
_______________________________________________
5. Where can you find street art?
_______________________________________________

6. How about music? What kind of music can you hear at different parts of
the city?
_______________________________________________
4. Imagine that you are travelling to New York! Prepare a wish-list, what
you would like to visit and why.
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Here are some suggestions:

2.3. Using English songs
Songs have become an integral part of the language experience, and if used
in coordination with a language lesson they can be of great value. Fortunately, with
the expanding prevalence of the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web into
both the classrooms and lives of students, access to music and lyrics has been made
easier. Saricoban and Metin (2000) have found that songs can develop the four
skill areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Lo and Li (1998) offer
similar suggestions, writing that songs provide a break from classroom routine, and
that learning English through songs develops a non-threatening classroom
atmosphere in which the four language skills can be enhanced.
Songs can be exploited in many ways. For example, when teaching a unit
concerning the topic of "nature conservation", I had my students listen to the song
"The rainforest song" by J.P Taylor. This song directly answers to the topic of the
lesson with meaningful lyrics and beautiful melody. The song has several parts,
and each part can be adapted to become a listening task for students. The tasks I
devised are as follows.
a. Cross out the words that are not in the listening
Listen to the first paragraph and cross out the words that you do not hear.
Here’s our beautiful song about a place,
That’s threatened by the entirely human race.

Want to let you and me know
We Want to let you know
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b. Choose the correct option
Listen to the second paragraph and choose the correct option
Tropical PAIN/RAIN falls on tropical trees,
Tropical rainforest, won’t you PLEASE/ SEE,
Help us SAY/SAVE it now,
Help us save it NOW/KNOW.
c. Gap filling
Listen to the chorus and fill in the blank
Oooh! it gives us ____________ to breathe.
Oooh! the animals call it ________________.
Oooh! its ______________help you and me.
Oooh! ______________ us save it before it’s gone.
d. Matching
Listen to the fourth paragraph and match a half in A with a half in B
A

B

1. They burn and

a. for their family

2. But we all know it's doing harm

b. to go

3. There's no place

c. somehow

4. Monkeys rush from tree to

d. cut it down to farm

5. Calling out for

e. coming now

6. Fire is

f. to the animals

7. Must escape

g. tree

e. Reordering the sentences/ phrases
Listen to the last part and number the sentences in the correct order

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Here’s what we must do ___________
To let the forest just burn away ________
Got to say it proud __________

All the birds in all the trees ________
Got to say it loud ____________
Every insect and every leaf is important, too __________
2.4. Using English movies/ TV programs at home
As a matter of fact, many language learners watch English TV programs,
including movies outside of class time, but few of them consider this as an
opportunity to develop their listening skills. Teachers, however, in the language
classroom, can give some recommendations about the English movies/ TV
programs that students should watch to develop their listening skills.
For example, in classroom, I sometimes assign students to watch a movie on
a specific channel as homework: "This weekend there is an English movie on TV.
Does anyone know what it is? What time is it on? Which channel is it on? Please
write the name, time and channel down as this is your homework task."
I then clarify what students have to focus on by giving out some orientating
questions: "I would like you to watch the movie this weekend, or try to watch as
much as you can. Focus on listening to the movie instead of reading the subtitles.
Try to collect the following information: kind of movie (comedy, romance, action,
horror), names of the main characters (male, female, animal), where does the
movie take place (inside, outside, on land, at sea, country), what is the main idea
in the movie?"
When the next lesson comes, I collect students' ideas on the task. "Who
watched the movie last weekend? What can you tell us about it?" then the whole
class can have a friendly discussion on the plot of the film.
2.5. Where to obtain authentic listening materials?
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There are some great places to look for ESL listening material. From my
own experience of using authentic materials, these are some choices for sites that
offer authentic listening material that is ideal for English Major Students.

- BBC (Online): />The news broadcasting site offers a lot news articles and reports. Both
teachers and students may take full advantage of the BBC’s World News TV
service, with hundreds of short videos and programs to watch. The video page has
one-minute world news reports, plus plenty of other short videos on business,
science and entertainment.
- BBC (Radio): />BBC Radio is a separate service that allows users to listen to radio programs
online. There are countless radio programs to choose from, but I recommend
starting with the categories page. There students will be able to choose from news,
sports, entertainment or documentary programs to listen to.
- CNN: />Like its British counterpart, CNN provides an excellent video channel, on
which teachers and students are able to catch the latest news. CNN also offers
a podcasting service with shows for a wide variety of interests. CNN
offers transcripts for some of these shows, giving students an additional resource to
improve listening skills with.
- Earthwatch Radio: />Earthwatch Radio was produced at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by
staff and students at the Sea Grant Institute and the Gaylord Nelson Institute for
Environmental Studies. The stories covered a wide range of subjects concerning
science and the environment, with special attention to global climate change, the
Great Lakes, and the oceans. Recordings from this websites are effective in both
developing listening skills and providing students with a wide range of scientific

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terms. Regarding educational purpose, the extracts also help students become
aware of protecting the environment.
- Repeat After Us: />Repeat After Us was created by a high school student with a true love of
literature. Here, students will find a variety of recorded texts, classified into three
categories: beginner, intermediate and advanced. There is a lot of original material
in this site, so for listening practice, students should go to recorded texts, and from

there choose poetry, drama, prose or even children’s short stories if the previous
categories prove to be too difficult.
- CBC Podcasts: />The Canadian broadcasting company has an astounding variety of news,
sports, and entertainment programs – and a whole lot more. Teachers and students
may download the MP3 file or subscribe via iTunes so they won’t miss any of their
favorites.
- NPR: />National Public Radio offers 24-hour Program Stream or Hourly News
summaries

which

may

be

suitable

for

students. Additionally,

it

offers podcasts on topics that range from animals to world news.
- The British Council: />There are some great podcasts that can be downloaded from the British
Council’s website. All of which feature native speakers and come with a script that
can be exploited by both teachers and students.
- Newsy: />Of all of the websites that offer news reports on video, Newsy is my favorite
because they offer the transcript directly below the video, a big plus for ESL
students. Still, students may choose to display the transcript or keep it hidden for

more challenging listening practice.
- The Weather Channel: />Page 17 of 28


The Weather Channel provides a lot more than just the weather forecast on
video. The clips are short and the audio that is difficult to hear due to weather
conditions is subtitled.
- Schackne Online: />For additional sources of authentic listening material, students may visit
Schackne Online. This website offers a very comprehensive list of listening
resources, including links to video sites, like YouTube and UStream, and podcasts,
like CBS Radio Mystery Theater, a show that students who enjoy a good mystery
will enjoy. Schackne Online also lists podcast directories like Podbean. The
number of video sites and podcasts is staggering.
3. OUTCOMES OF THE STUDY
After one year applying authentic listening materials into my teaching, I
have achieved some preliminary success.
The first notable change is in students' motivation. Authentic listening
materials, especially ones such as clips from media, deal with topics that are
familiar to students and relevant to their personal experience. Some even capture
the interest and stimulate their imagination. Therefore, most of my students found
them appealing and they are more motivated to learn.
The second thing is the authentic listening materials that I choose contain
quite an amount of information covering almost every field of human life.
Therefore, the use of such materials provided students opportunities to accumulate
their knowledge about the world. They can also widen their vocabulary range,
especially words concerning technology, sociology, politics and environment.
Above all, the most remarkable success is the improvement of students'
listening skills. Initially most of my students had reservations about whether or not
they would be able to understand the radio podcasts or a clip, but gradually they
gain confidence as their listening skills accumulate. Authentic listening materials

have, in fact, narrowed the distance between the learners and the actual social
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reality. There is still a long way to go, but as long as students find these materials
effective and necessary for their learning, I also feel motivated to explore more.
4. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
From my own teaching, I have accumulated some experience that needs to
be taken into consideration when selecting authentic listening materials as follows:
- Teachers should always bear in mind the language proficiency level of
their students and choose appropriate materials. For example, the materials chosen
should neither too difficult nor too easy, should not contain vocabulary and
structures that are too challenging. The materials may cause students a little
difficulty, but overall it must be comprehensible to them.
- Learner’s interest is another important factor that should be taken into
consideration when selecting authentic listening materials. The materials chosen
should respond to students' interest, or familiar to them. So it is necessary for
teachers to know students’ likes and dislikes on listening materials and it may be
wise for them to make a survey among students before the selection. Some topics
that most students find interesting are: music, movies, environment, education,
jobs, tourism etc.
- Teachers should consider whether the material chosen is culturally
appropriate. A material that can potentially cause cultural offence should be
avoided. Also, if there is some element of culture that is not familiar to students,
teachers may clarify or explain to the students before they listen.
- There is a variety of ways to devise listening activities from authentic
materials. It depends on the teacher's choice to choose this way but not the other,
provided that the teacher feels it is effective for their own teaching. However,
teachers should not too rigid in their choice of listening activities. For some part of
the listening, multiple choice questions may be helpful, whereas in others,

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answering questions or reordering sentences is effective. In a lesson, they should
begin with very simple tasks, and progress to the tasks that are more demanding.
- Teachers should play the role of helpful instructor. Not all students are
familiar to listening to authentic materials in the first place. It may take time and
effort to help students establish their listening habit.

PART 3: CONCLUSION
The study has shown that listening, compared with speaking, reading, and
writing, is the most frequently used language skill in both the classroom and daily
communication. In a language class, comprehension of aural input plays a critical
role in second-language acquisition and learning. It is, therefore, important that
listening be emphasized and given priority. The study has also indicated that
listening comprehension in ESL students appeared to have improved after they had
experienced authentic listening materials in class. Besides, the application of
authentic listening materials also triggers students' interests in learning English,
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widens their general knowledge as well as language knowledge. Therefore, a
classroom implication for this is that authentic materials should be implemented in
classroom as frequently as possible.
The study has offered some solutions to improving English major students'
listening comprehension skills by incorporating authentic listening materials into
the teaching curriculum. The implementation of such real-life materials is, at
present time, just preliminary and certainly needs further improvement and
adjustment to become more and more appropriate for students. Some implications

for further study and implementation are as follows:
- The study only focus on devising listening activities for 11 th form English
major students. Further research can be done into devising listening activities for
non- major English students whose language proficiency is at a lower level so that
all students can benefit from authentic listening materials.
- The use of authentic materials in English teaching in most high schools in
Vietnam is still in its infancy and causes a lot of difficulties for teachers who wish
to implement it. Therefore, it is suggested that more language workshops should be
held so that teachers can have opportunities to share their own experience and
practice devising listening activities themselves.

References
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Kilickaya. F. (2004). Authentic materials and cultural content in EFL classrooms.
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from
/>McNeill, A. (1994). What Makes Authentic Materials Different? The Case of
English Language Materials for Educational Television. Papers presented at
the Annual International Language in Education Conference, Hong Kong.
Schmidt, T. (1994). Authenticity in ESL: a study of requests. Unpublished master’s
thesis, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

APPENDIX 1
Transcript of the video "New York City Travel Guide" on Youtube
New Yorkers like to think their home is the centre of the world. And who can
blame them? Home to over 8 million people, the city is loud and fast, and posed
with energy.
America’s biggest city can be overwhelming for visitors but you’ll find the street
names make navigation easy. And those yellow cabs are a great way to get around.
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Manhattan is the heart and soul of the Big Apple. And within its neighbourhoods,
there’s a distinct style and pace. Lower Manhattan, the city’s financial disctrict
bustles from Monday to Friday. The neon of Time Square and Broadway burns
bright in Midtown. While dominating the Upper East End West sides are Central
Park, high-end boutiques and those famous brown-stone homes.
Make your way down to New York harbour and jump on a ferry to Liberty Island.
Taking the views of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, commemorating the
centennial of the Declaration of Independence. It’s been a peak in freedom to
immigrants arriving to New York since 1886.
New York is one of the cultural hubs of the world. Don’t miss the city’s famous art

museums: The Museum of Modern Art or MoMa, the Soloman R. Guggueinheim
Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And look to the south Bronx and
Queens, where a new wave of artists are making their mark on the street.
New York has always been a thriving home for music. Check out the beats in the
Bronx, the birthplace of hiphop. Or head to Greenwich village for NewYork’s
jazzy. From jazz clubs to Broadway extravaganzas to the latest Chealse bar s in the
city that never sleeps there are plenty of reasons to stay out late well into the night.

APPENDIX 2
The Rainforest Song by J.P. Taylor's
Here's a song about a place
That's threatened by the human race
Want to let you know, want to let you know
Tropical rain falls on tropical trees
The tropical rain forest won't you please
Help us save it now, help us save it now
Chorus:
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Ooh, it gives us air to breathe
Ooh, the animals call it home
Ooh, its medicines help you and me
Ooh, help us save it before it's gone
They burn and cut it down to farm
But we all know it's doing harm
To the animals, there's no place to go
Monkey's rush from tree to tree
Calling out for their family
Fire's coming now, must escape somehow

Chorus
All the birds in all the trees
Every insect and every leaf
Is important, too, here's what we must do
Tell everybody that it's not okay
To let the forests just burn away
Got to say it loud, got to say it proud!
Chorus

APPENDIX 3
Some listening worksheets devised from authentic listening materials
Watch a video about Bonfire night and do the tasks that follow
A: Decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. Guy Fawkes wasn’t in charge of making The Gunpowder Plot happen. T / F
2. Guy Fawkes was arrested, tortured and he eventually confessed. T / F
3. The cellars under the Houses of Parliament are always searched before the
Queen visits. T / F
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B: Choose the correct answer.
1. The Gunpowder plot was created by
(a) a group of Catholics
(b) a group of Protestants
(c) Guy Fawkes
2. How many barrels of gunpowder were hidden under the Houses of Parliament?
(a) 36
(b) 800
(c) 1800
3. After his confession, Guy Fawkes

(a) was sent to prison
(b) was killed
(c) was murdered
4. The Bonfire Night tradition began
(a) to celebrate the Gunpowder Plot
(b) to remind people that Guy Fawkes was a traitor
(c) to celebrate King James I’s survival
5. Traditionally on Bonfire Night, people eat
(a) baked potatoes, apples and drink wine
(b) baked potatoes, toffee apples and drink wine
(c) baked potatoes, toffee apples and drink water

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC
(ABBA)

1. Fill in the blanks
I'm nothing (1) _____________ , in fact I'm a bit of a bore
If I tell a (2) _____________ , you've probably heard it (3) _____________
But I have a talent, a (4) _____________thing
'Cause everyone (5) _____________ when I start to (6) _____________
I'm so grateful and (7) _____________
All I (8) _____________ is to (9) _____________ it out loud
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