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Watch the Video for Lesson 5
Yesterday, we talked about the need to speak a lot and listen a lot. Sounds obvious, right? You would be surprised at how many of our students focus too much on grammar and vocabulary. Now, studying grammar and vocabulary, that can help you. But if you focus too much you miss the bigger picture, which is communication, which is fluency. And that’s what we are trying to help you do, to be a more confident and fluid speaker of English. So, don’t worry too much about your mistakes and don’t try to be perfect. It’s very important that you understand the difference between studying English and using English. We all know what studying English means. Using English means speaking a lot, listening a lot, using English. So we have an English expression that is, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.” So if you imagine yourself in a beautiful forest and you focus too much on this tree or these two trees or this vocabulary list or this grammar pattern. If you focus too much on those trees, you miss the big picture. And again, the big picture is communication and fluency.
So today we want you to practice using English with a new Active Listening story. This is a story about a hiker named Aron Ralston. Now Aron has to make a choice in his life that is a horrible choice that I hope none of you ever have to make. You will have to listen to the story to find out what that choice was, but let me warn you it might be a little shocking. Now we didn’t choose this topic because it’s shocking. We chose this topic because it’s interesting and it’s meaningful. At least it’s interesting and meaningful to us, and we hope it is to you. Because finding English lessons that are interesting and meaningful that you can feel passionate about, that’s really key to connecting with English at a deeper level.
So, this Active Listening lesson I want you to use English so that means listening actively. That’s why we call it Active Listening, and that means using your imagination. That’s the key point that I want you to focus on today, is really imagining the story. When you are listening to the story about this shocking decision that Aron had to make, I want you to really imagine, “What is he seeing? What is he smelling? What is he hearing?” Really imagine it in as much detail as you can. Close your eyes and really see where he is at. Really hear the sounds around you, the smells around you, and most importantly, how is he feeling? Again, he has to make a very shocking choice in this story. And I want you to really imagine, “What is he feeling on a deep level?” Because if you can connect with this story on an emotional level, well, you will really process the language at a deep level.
This is not studying the grammar and the vocabulary in this story. This is connecting on an emotional level by using your imagination, and in that way naturally processing the language. So download today’s lesson, use your imagination and, as always, have fun.
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Listen To Active Listening - Slow Speed
Aron was an experienced adventure athlete. In 2002, he quit his job as an engineer and set a world record for climbing. He became the first person to climb all of Colorado’s largest mountains alone in winter. He was not afraid of danger. In 2003, he was almost killed by an avalanche while skiing. Later that same year he almost lost his life while hiking. He didn’t expect it to be dangerous, so he made a very big mistake. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going. On the first day he hiked about 20 miles into the desert when he fell into a hole. As he fell, he moved a large rock that weighed 360 kilos. The rock landed on his arm. He was trapped. He was alone in the desert, and no one knew where he was.
Aron knew that help was not coming. He immediately thought of cutting off his arm.
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Listen To Active Listening - Normal Speed
Aron was an experienced adventure athlete. In 2002, he quit his job as an engineer and set a world record for climbing. He became the first person to climb all of Colorado’s largest mountains alone in winter. He was not afraid of danger. In 2003, he was almost killed by an avalanche while skiing. Later that same year he almost lost his life while hiking. He didn’t expect it to be dangerous, so he made a very big mistake. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going. On the first day he hiked about 20 miles into the desert when he fell into a hole. As he fell, he moved a large rock that weighed 360 kilos. The rock landed on his arm. He was trapped. He was alone in the desert, and no one knew where he was.
Aron knew that help was not coming. He immediately thought of cutting off his arm.
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Listen To Active Listening - Fast Speed
Aron was an experienced adventure athlete. In 2002, he quit his job as an engineer and set a world record for climbing. He became the first person to climb all of Colorado’s largest mountains alone in winter. He was not afraid of danger. In 2003, he was almost killed by an avalanche while skiing. Later that same year he almost lost his life while hiking. He didn’t expect it to be dangerous, so he made a very big mistake. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going. On the first day he hiked about 20 miles into the desert when he fell into a hole. As he fell, he moved a large rock that weighed 360 kilos. The rock landed on his arm. He was trapped. He was alone in the desert, and no one knew where he was.
Aron knew that help was not coming. He immediately thought of cutting off his arm.
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Optional - Download the Active Listening Lesson Pack
Download the above Lesson Pack for Offline Viewing1. Download them to your computer and then transfer them to your device.
2. Use a separate app on your device to download.
Computer to iPad or iPhone: This is the easiest way. Download these files to your computer. Go to iTunes and add the PDF files to your iTunes books section. Add the Mp3 audio files to your iTunes music. Sync your iPad.
Computer to Android: Download these files to your computer, connect your device to your computer using a cable connector, and copy the files to your Android's storage.
iPad or iPhone App: There are also some free apps on the app store for downloading files to your iPad. These apps are always changing so we cannot guarantee that they will work. Here's one you could try: "Documents by Readdle.” You can use this app to visit our website, download the files, read the text files and listen to the audio files. "Documents by Readdle" is one of many apps that do this.
Android App: There are also some free apps on the Google Play Store for downloading files to your Android. These apps are always changing so we cannot guarantee that they will work. You could try "Download Manager" or "AndroZip."