Students facing the intermediate certificate exam often complain that they find it difficult to prepare for the listening comprehension paper, as its level of difficulty is often greater than the listening activities they can find in their course books or test books.
Getting used to listening to authentic English is essential to be successful in the listening paper. ABC7 News is a good site for students to get familiar with authentic English and an American accent while they watch current news stories. An approximate transcript of the news item is sometimes provided, which is really useful for students to fully understand the information, practise pronunciation and gain some insight into the reasons why they sometimes fail to understand.
Self-study activity:
Watch the clip and answer the questions below.
1 What prize does each of the top students receive?
2 What is Tatiana planning to study at university?
3 According to Tatiana, why do some students do badly at school?
4 What reputation does Richmond High School have?
5 How does Tatiana help other people in her area?
6 How does Tatiana work best?
For correction, you can read the transcript of the story here.
