how to improve your chinese listening?

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How to improve your Chinese Listening? This question (or near question) is often asked by students who are new in China (and of course any other Chinese speaking country). In many cases the speed of the Chinese they are now hearing is faster than greased lightening on a long run and they just can't deal with it. The accent and speed they are accustomed to from their teachers is nowhere to be found, and this leads to confusion, self-doubt. So, as Chinese teachers we get repeatedly asked the simple question "How to I improve my Chinese Listening ability?" The answer to this question is a frustratingly simple 3 steps. "Listen lots!" "React to what you hear" "Repeat!" Do this regularly and listening comprehension will increase dramatically and quickly. Ok….let's look at these in turn Listen Lots to improve your listening you need to listen to natural Chinese lots…as much as you can. Sure you can listen to Chinese tapes and follow along with Made for Chinese CDs, but these rarely match real language in terms of speed. People learning Chinese (or any language) need to get as much natural speed input as they can. Great ways to do this include: TV or radio news broadcasts, Net based audio (podcasts, audio files, video), joining local clubs, volunteering, watching Chinese movies, TV, going clubbing, starting a club. React to what you hear Listening isn't enough. A student needs to react to what they have just listening to. This reaction allows the communication to continue in its natural way. The reaction is what allows a student to confirm that they heard correctly, understood correctly, and could respond appropriately to the situation. Sometimes this is as simple as continuing a conversation by responding to a question or trying to elicit opinions/information/ideas on the topic. Other times it may involve writing: summaries, opinions, diary entries, reviews can be used to respond to what you've heard. Repeat really simple here. Don't it once? Great, now do it again…and again…and again on a regular schedule, in different situations and on different topics. Listening well involves more than just understanding the words. It involves understanding the context (the place) and being able to understand the language being used in context. In the end what really matters for improving Chinese skills overall, not only Chinese Listening skills is practice and use. Improving language skills always requires 2 acts 1) getting input and 2) reacting to the input (output). You need to get language into your brain and then you need to get the language out to be heard and read by others. So, if you or your students want to improve Chinese Listening skills, just follow the three simple steps. Listen, Respond, Do it again.

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