| The IELTS Listening test comes first, and many | | | | movies in English - in any format - is also highly useful |
| candidates find it a hard, sometime even discouraging, | | | | in giving you exposure to the way "real people" speak |
| way to get started. The IELTS Listening task tests a | | | | English. As with all languages, it's not the same as |
| diverse range of skills, and many people find it | | | | classroom English. |
| challenging. | | | | If you see such movies in the theatre, try to look at the |
| There are many ways to prepare for this portion of | | | | subtitles as little as possible. If you watch them on |
| the IELTS exam. There are, for example, many | | | | DVD, watch them once with subtitles, so you learn the |
| practice tapes and CD sets on the commercial | | | | situations and dialogue - and then switch the subtitles |
| market. While all of them are helpful to some degree, | | | | off and watch them again and again, until you can |
| the one thing you can be sure is that none of them will | | | | understand what is being said without "translating." |
| be the IELTS Listening test you take. | | | | Many local cable-TV providers show movies many |
| The good news is that the best forms of IELTS | | | | times over the same time period. If you have access a |
| Listening practice are available free, or at least readily | | | | movie channel on such a service, get the schedule, |
| and at low cost. They're also more fun. They are radio, | | | | watch the movies you want once with the subtitles - |
| TV, and movies! | | | | and then, on repeat viewings, tape over the bottom of |
| If you have access to an English-language radio or TV | | | | your TV screen so you cannot use the subtitles. |
| station, listen to it as often as possible. The benefits | | | | What's important is that you expose yourself to the |
| are many. | | | | sound of spoken English as much as possible between |
| - You become familiar with a wide variety of accents | | | | now and the time you take IELTS. Use time that you |
| and individual ways of speaking | | | | otherwise might waste. When you're getting dressed |
| - You get the rhythms of spoken English sentences in | | | | or eating breakfast in the morning, have the radio or |
| your ear | | | | TV on, set to an English station. If you are doing tasks |
| - You become more familiar with the way native | | | | that don't require your full attention, like cooking or |
| speakers pronounce English words | | | | cleaning your room, have the radio or TV on in the |
| - You start to hear word patterns and notice the way | | | | background. If you spend a lot of time stuck in traffic, |
| English sentences are put together | | | | turn the car radio onto an English news or talk station. |
| - You begin to learn new vocabulary by hearing it in | | | | Of course, you will benefit more the more you |
| context | | | | concentrate on what you hear. But even if you don't |
| - You simply become accustomed to the sound of | | | | focus on what you hear only, trying to understand |
| spoken English, which may be the single most | | | | what is being said, simply letting the sounds into your |
| important thing of all | | | | ears will help. Educators are now convinced that there |
| English radio and TV talk shows give you good | | | | is such a thing as "passive listening." That means that |
| exposure to the way native speakers - not English | | | | you're often learning even when you're not trying to. If |
| teacher - actually use the language. They familiarize | | | | you have English on - even "in the background" - your |
| you with slang and other colloquialisms. | | | | brain is trying to figure out what is being said even if |
| English radio and TV news programmes give you | | | | you're not concentrating on it. |
| great background for the multiple-voice, nonacademic | | | | Most important of all, the day you actually tale the |
| setting section of the IELTS Listening test, which often | | | | IELTS exam, make sure that the first time you hear |
| uses a mock radio broadcast. Hearing up to four | | | | English that day is not when the tape for the Listening |
| different individuals talk about the same incident from | | | | test starts. That may be too late, and you could miss a |
| different personal perspectives, in different acoustical | | | | question or too while your ears "adjust" to the sound |
| situations, and in a variety of accents (including those | | | | of English. Even if you're nervous and feel like you |
| of second-language speakers) is exactly the kind of | | | | can't concentrate on it, have the radio or TV on while |
| training you need to perform well on this portion of the | | | | you're getting dressed, eating breakfast, or getting to |
| test, which some candidates find the hardest. | | | | the IELTS exam. You'll be glad you did! |
| Watching English, Australian, American, and other | | | | |