The first step in listening to a lecture and taking notes is to try to distinguish between the lecturer’s main ideas and the supporting details. A supporting detail often consists of:

• an example, such as a story or anecdote

• an academic reference, such as a definition of a term, some statistics, the name of a researcher, or reference to a research study

Speakers may introduce supporting details with the following phrases:

For instance, X can be defined as. . .

For example, According to a recent study, . . .

Let me give you an example… It has been estimated that. . .

Listen to the recording. You will hear a few sentences from the lecture about each of the main ideas listed below. Try to distinguish the supporting details and decide whether they are examples or academic references. Put a check (V) in the appropriate column.

Supporting Details

1

Children learn good behavior through rewards.

2 Another w’av children leam to behave is through punishments.

3 Parents can teach children by modeling appropriate behavior.

4 “Don’t do as I do. Do as I tell you," doesn’t usually work.

5 Parents worry about negative lessons.

2 Compare your answers with a partner.

LECTURE, PART ONE: Rewards and Punishments

GUESSING VOCABULARY FROM CONTEXT

When you heai’ or read words that you do not know, pay attention to the words in the surrounding context. The context can give you clues that will help you understand the new words. Using your knowledge of related words will also help you.

1 The following items contain important vocabulary from Part One of the lecture.

Work with a partner. Using the context and your knowledge of related words, take turns trying to guess the meanings of the words in bold.

1 I’d like to focus on three of the ways that children acquire their behavior.

2 A reward can be defined as a positive reinforcement for good behavior.

3 Most parents use rewards unconsciously.

4 Punishments are the second important way in which a child is socialized.

5 Both rewards and punishments are controversial. Many people think that they are noL effective.

6 Some people argue that this reward is unnecessaty because it is like a bribe.

7 The child should be taught that it’s his duty to help with household chores.

8 Some of us grew up expecting to be spanked if we misbehaved.

9 Our parents may have hit us on the hand if we talked back to them.

10 Some children are subject to really serious physical abuse.

Work with your partner. Match ihe vocabulary terms with their definitions by writing the letter of each definition below in the blank next to the sentence containing the correct term in step 1. Check your answers in a dictionary if necessary.

a hit by someone as a kind of punishment b things that people have different opinions about c taught how to behave with other people d very hard and extreme physical punishment e encouragement f learn, get g without thinking h spoke impolitely to, argued with

і something offered to someone to make the person do something j responsibility

It is critical that you organize your notes in a format that helps you understand and remember the content of a lecture. You do not always have time to do this v. hiie you are listening to the lecture. The notes you take during a lecture are rough notes. But good note takers revise their notes as soon as possible after a lecture. You re ise by putting your notes in an appropriate format and making any changes necessary to clarify the information.

This book will show you several ways to organize vour notes. It is important, however, that you experiment and find ways thaL work best for you. Organizing your notes in columns is one good way to clearly show the difference between main ideas and supporting details.

Look at these notes on Part One of the lecture. Notice that the main ideas are in the left column and the supporting details arc in the column on Lhe right.

Me 5&fh ttiandman: Tamily Lesson?

Fart One: Awards and Punishments

Main Ideas Petalк

1 Type of family (-traditional or nontraditional) is not as important a? lore and Support at home.

2 Three ways children learn Soeial behavior from their families: rewards, punkhme-ntc, modeling.

J Children learn apod behavior through rewards.

finish homework. – then TV

A Another way children learn to behave к through punishments.

5" Kewards and pvnkhme-nt? are controversial.

– if parents are violent, children may become violent

Use your notes to fill in the missing details in the column on the right in step 1.

Compare the notes you took on your own paper and your completed notes for step 1 with a partner.

In this section you will give an oral presentation about your ow n family.

GIVING ORAL PRESENTATIONS

In academic courses you will sometimes be called on to

give oral presentations in class. Here are some

guidelines to keep in mind:

• Plan what you want to say, but do not write it out and memorize it. Instead, make notes on index cards.

• Organize your notes carefully so that you present your ideas in a logical order.

• Using your notes, practice giving your presentation in front of a mirror or with a friend.

• When you give your presentation in class, speak slowly and clearly, and look at your audience.

• Consider using a visual aid, such as a chart, a map, photographs, or drawings, to help bring your presentation alive.

1 Choose one of the following topics about your family that you think will be of interest to your classmates.

1 A family member who is – or was – an important influence on you

2 An important lesson that you learned from someone in your family

3 An object that has special meaning for your family (for example: a house, a photograph, or a piece of jewelry)

4 A topic of your own

Plan your presentation carefully and prepare to speak for three to four minutes. Include the following information in your talk:

• the name(s) of the family member(s) you arc speaking about

• one or two specific examples that illustrate the topic (such as an event in which something a family member did influenced you or the reason an object is important to your family)

3 Try to include a visual aid in your presentation. You might want to show an object, a photograph, or a map. If you do not have any of these items, consider making a poster that shows vour family tree. Or you could make a drawing to illustrate vour topic.

4 First, practice your presentation with a partner. Then give your presentation in front of the class. Be prepared to answer questions from your partner and your classmates.

Q ACADEMIC LISTENING AND NOTE TAKING: Family Lessons

In this section you will hear and take notes on a two-part lecture given by Ms. Beth Handman, an educational consultant. The title of the lecture is Family Lessons. Ms. Handman will explain how children leam lessons within a family, no matter what type of family they come from.

BEFORE THE LECTURE

PERSONALIZING THE TOPIC

1 Work with a partner. Read the following eight examples of bad behavior in children listed below. Discuss the best and worst ways for parents to react to each of these behaviors. The "best way" means a way that is likely to teach good behavior to the child. The “worst way” is a way that will probably not be successful in teaching good behavior. Make brief notes about your ideas.

1 Sarah, a 2-year old, keeps throwing her food on the floor and cries until her parents pick it up.

Best way to react:___________________________________________________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________

2 David, a 5-year old, is angry and frustrated. He hits his baby sister.

Best way to react:___________________________________________________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________

3 Ronnie, a 6-year old, runs up and down the aisles when his parents take him to the supermarket and screams when they tell him to stop.

Best way to react:___________________________________________________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________

4 Sheila, an 11-year old, is caught copying a classmate’s test.

Best way to react:_____________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________ –

5 Stephen, a 12-vear old, takes money from his father’s wallet.

Best way to react:___________________________________________________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________

6 Tim, a 13-year-old, begins to smoke cigarettes.

Best way to react:___________________________________________________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________

7 Erica, a 15-year old, refuses to go to bed until 2 a. m.

Best way to react:___________________________________________________

Worst way to react:__________________________________________________

8 Freddie, a 17-year old, comes home really late and won’t explain to his parents where he has been.

Best way to react:________________________________________________

Worst way to react:_______________________________________________

2 Using your notes, compare your answers with other classmates.

As a student, you will often need to paraphrase information that you have heard or read. That is, you will need to express the same ideas in your own words. When you paraphrase, you are showing that you understand and can remember what you heard or read.

1 Read the following paraphrase before you listen to the interview with Carlos. Think about what kind of information might belong in the blanks.

Carlos grew up in a

household. His parents moved from Puerto Rico to the United

Slates when he was ___ , but his mother left

his father shortly afterwards. His mother was a garment worker,

and garment work is ____________________ Sometimes she

needed to work a lot and left the children alone. When Carlos was

older, he used to____________________ with ___

after school until his mother got

home from work.

Carlos’ mother taught him two important lessons about life: to

take________________________________________ and to get

an education. As a child, he learned to_____________________ ,

____________________ ,____________________ , and run

errands. He also studied _ at home with

his mother.

Carlos thinks that it is important for children to have someone

in the family who is a kind of____________________ in their

lives. He thinks children are also influenced by people outside the family. For example, he met a lot of good

when he was growing up who taught him many positive lessons.

2

Now listen to the interview with Carlos. Try to listen for the information that you need to complete the paraphrase in step 1 and write it in the blanks. You may use more than one word in some blanks.

3 Compare your paraphrase with a partner. They do not have to be exactly Lhe. same.

AFTER THE INTERVIEWS

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT THE TOPIC

You will not always agree with what you read or hear. Make it a habit to evaluate what other people say and compare it with your own knowledge and experiences.

Are the ways in which Robert and Carlos were raised similar to the ways you were raised, or are they different? Check (✓) the appropriate column. Then compare your answers with a partner.

Read the list in the left column. It shows changes that have taken place in the American family during the past century.

Work with a partner. Fill in the chart with as many positive and negative consequences of the changes in the family as you can think of. In your opinion, are these changes in the family harmful to society, or not?

D GETTING STARTED

In this section you are going to discuss what it means to be part of a family. You will also hear information about the contemporary American family.

READING AND THINKING ABOUT THE TOPIC

If you read or think about a topic before you hear it discussed, you will find the discussion much easier to understand.

1 Read the following passage.

What exactly is a family? The traditional idea of a nuclear family, meaning two married adults who live together and take care of their children, is becoming less and less common in the industrialized world. In the United States, for example, only about one quarter of all families have this structure. In fact, there have been such far-reaching social changes over the past century that the word family is becoming hard to define.

The concept of family has to take into account such social changes as industrialization, increased geographical mobility, and women’s progress toward gaining equal rights. Other considerations include increases in single-parent families, cohabitation ‘people living together without getting married), divorced couples who marry other people, and othe; increasingly accepted alternative family structures.

2 Answer the following questions according to the information in the passage.

1 What is meant by a “traditional nuclear family”?

2 Why is the word family hard to define today?

3 What changes have affected family structure over the past century?

3 Read these questions and share your answers with a partner.

1 Has your own family been affected by the social changes mentioned in the passage? If so, how?

2 How would you define the word family today?

Improving your language skills is a journey of discovery, allowing you to learn new things about other people and yourself. Academic Listening Encounters: Life in Society is like a compass or roadmap that can help you along this path. The material in this book is taken from the discipline of sociology: the study of people in society and the way we live in groups.

You may find ideas that are new and also material that reminds you of your own community and personal experiences. Active involvement is at the heart of any type of learning, so you should use this book as a context for your own experience. The specific academic skills you can expect to improve are listening, note taking, and discussion.

Listening to people is often a challenge because they may speak quickly, use words that you have never heard, or interrupt each other. Lecturers do not usually speak in the same way as they write, and it can be hard to understand how a lecture is organized. This book will give you practice in listening to people of all ages, backgrounds, and regions, and you will gain confidence as your comprehension improves.

Secondly, the book emphasizes the tools that will allow you to become a better note taker. Note taking is a vital skill for all kinds of academic study, but taking notes on interviews or lectures is different from taking notes on text because usually you cannot go back and check your comprehension. Taking notes on recorded material that you can listen to again, however, allows you to do just that. You will learn how to use symbols and abbreviations that will help you take notes quickly, and you will also learn how to organize your notes in efficient ways that allow you to review the material easily. This will help you to develop the confidence you need when you are a participant in a conversation or at a lecture.

Finally, do not neglect the opportunity to discuss the material in the chapters. In this book, you may find ideas that surprise you, concepts that catch your attention, or stories that make you want to share a time in your own life with your classmates. Use the opportunity to develop your listening skills while you listen to others contribute their voices to the class discussion, Then take your turn at sharing your own impressions and experiences. If you are shy about speaking, consider that discussion is an art that we all continue to improve throughout our lives, and remember always that other people will be enriched by what you have to say.

Good luck with your academic studies in English!

Km Sanabria