This post will discuss a couple of tasks that you can do once you find a useful recording or video to work with.
Once I stumble upon or find a recording or a video, I usually do the following activities with the resource that I have found:
In short, I…
- Listen to/watch it twice and scribble down words or phrases that you understood.
- Write the main idea of the recording or video in English (or in the target language if I’m feeling spunky).
Additionally, make sure you pay attention to:
- The visuals in the video
- The title of the recording or video
Take this recording in German, for example, from the website Audio Lingua (great website!)
Here is what I did when I listened to this recording:
- Looked at the title: “Ich wohne in einem typisch deutschen Reihenhaus” – I live in some kind of typical, German house or structure
- Listened twice and wrote down words or phrases that I heard (with one listen): I wrote these down on a notebook first.
- Ich wohne in…
- ein
- da gibt es
- Keller
- 3 Räume
- Raum
- drittens, meistens,
- Hobbykeller
- machen – Musik, Sport, dann…
- eine Gestetoilette, links
- gibt es die Küche, grosses Wohn und Esszimmer, dann geht man hoch
- 2 oder 3 Zimmer
- manchmal
- Write the main idea in English (or not-so-perfect German):
- Der Mann erzählt uns die Dinge in seinem Haus. Er beschreibt sein Haus und erzählt uns wieviel Zimmer gibt es und was gibt es im Haus.
- (The man tells us about the things and rooms in his house. He goes into detail about what items there are and what and how many rooms there are).