Teaching Auditory Comprehension of Main Idea

I'd advise you to very simply watch a lot of American shows (comedies tend to have simpler content and well, they're fun!) with subtitles in your own language.
Is it common in your country?

Yes, I live in America so I am already advising this student to watch American shows. I am American, but I want to recommend something specific to help a student who is not American. For example for British English, the cartoon Flatmates might be helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAi1JlMIQVM

When I first came to France I learnt more about idiom and usage and pronunciation from watching the television and going to movies than I ever learnt at school and in later studies.

One proviso : subtitles by their nature have to be easy to read quickly; they are often shorter versions of what is said in order to keep up with the action. But you should still get the general idea from them

Most important for me is not so much an objective usefulness-meter, but rather to find something that I really like. Reading/watching/listening in a foreign language is hard work in the beginning, and often frustrating, so the motivation I get from using something I like a lot is invaluable. Plus, I really learn most from watching/listening to something repeatedly, so again it's very helpful if I really like what I'm listening to/watching. For learning, I also prefer series over individual movies, so that I can get used to the context and individual speakers. I feel like I'm making progress quicker then, which is motivating, and once I become quite good at understanding one series, it's easier to switch to unknown speakers and settings. Sitcoms, as the above commenter said, also have short episodes, which helps to keep up conenctration and to actually find time to watch them. Audio only has the advantage that I can listen to it while doing chores, commuting etc, so chances are higher I do repeat listenings, but on the other hand it misses visual clues to help understanding. Audiobooks normally have a slower pace and clearer pronunciation than audiodrama, TV, or live shows/podcasts, which is good, but they're also quite long to get through and thus it's more frustrating when you miss the plot.

For me, subtitles in my own language don't help at all; I can't cope with reading in one language and simultaneously listening in another; after a while I just read and don't listen anymore. Personally, I find subtitles (or transcripts, or the written book version if it's an audiobook ) in English more useful. What I did a lot is: listen to it/watch it--don't understand much. Listen/watch again--understand more. Use subtitles/transcript to read up on the passages I didn't get at all. Listen/watch again and try to hear the passages I read up upon and try matching the words to the sounds. It's great to have the possibility to rewind passages I have troubles understanding, and also to be able to switch subtitles on and off, so that I can turn them on only when I didn't get a passage at all, or after rewinding a few times. Even with English subitles, I tend to rely too much on reading and zone out on the audio, so it's best for me if I can turn them off altogether to force me to really listen.

For an easier start, it can also be helpful to have something you already know, or where you can acquire a version in you own language, just to help you get started and get used to English version, and then after a while switch to unknown stuff. Foreign language DVDs are great for that, because they usually contain the foreign language audio and subtitles, but also the original audio and subtitles.

In the end though, it mostly boils down to how much time you spend listening to a language. So again, I heartily recommend finding something you enjoy.

Thank you for your insights about the strategies you used to practice listening. I like the description you gave:

listen to it/watch it--don't understand much. Listen/watch again--understand more. Use subtitles/transcript to read up on the passages I didn't get at all. Listen/watch again and try to hear the passages I read up upon and try matching the words to the sounds.


So usually you listened twice, read the transcript or subtitles, and then listened again. I can try that approach with my student. Before I had him listen once, asked him some questions, and then had him listen again, but maybe it is not enough. So I will try your process next time.

I am looking for something that is short, motivating and not too difficult that is available online that I can listen to with this student. Can you tell me any specific podcasts or TV programs you used a lot when studying English?

best thing is immersion. If you want to learn American english, listen to American radio, or watch American films :)

another tip - advertising is often international...look out for advertisements that you are familiar with (billboards; TV spots etc) and listen carefully while keeping in mind the version you 'know'.

X-ing the "watch lots of American TV" suggestion -- but I would suggest teen drama (or even children's live-action shows) over comedy. Sure, it may kill a few brain cells not be intellectually challenging as far as plot etc. is concerned, but the language is bound to be simpler, both in word choice and sentence construction -- and they usually tend to run to half-hour programming, too.

Use it as a stepping stone to longer, more involved films/shows. :) Oh, and older movies/TV SHOWS from the early 1960s and back also tend to be easier dialogue-wise for someone still learning the language! (ESL here; I got used to following American speech by watching 1930s/40s black-and-white Fred Astaire movies before 'graduating' to Star Trek: TOS, for example.)

Please give me an example of a older TV show from early 1960s with easier dialogue? If I can google it, I can use it. I only need one.

Hmm, let's see ...

OTOH, the only ones coming to mind are Bonanza and Star Trek (at the time, I only had access to what was shown on German TV, and they used different titles), but you can find a listing here. I'm sure there are clips on YouTube, or maybe VHS tapes around somewhere -- bearing in mind that home recording wasn't available yet at the time.

Thank you. It is an interesting idea to get clips from older shows when they might have spoken more slowly. The contemporary video clips I'm finding do have pretty fast speech.

don't be frightened by fast speech- you'll get by in no time whatoever adjusting to the langauge.

What helped me with German was watching German movies/television shows that I actually liked. If it was able to hold my concentration I learned a lot more. I also started with children's books..