Five ways to improve English listening skills

1. Content prediction
Imagine you just turned on the TV. You see a man in a suit standing in front of a
large map with symbols of the sun, clouds, and thunder. What do you imagine he
was going to say to you? Most likely, this will be the weather forecast. You may
hear words like 'sunny', 'windy' and 'overcast'. You'll probably hear the use of the
future tense: 'It will be a start to a cold day'; 'there will be rain in the afternoon'.
2. Listen to the main idea
Imagine you are a superhero flying in the sky. From that height, you can see what
the whole area is like, how densely populated, the type of housing in each area.
When listening, you can also get the 'whole picture' but with one important
difference: the information comes in a string. And within that stream of
information, there are content words (nouns, adjectives, and verbs) that can help
you form that picture. We often call this listening to the main idea.
3. Detecting signal words
Just like traffic lights on the road, there are signs in language that help us keep
track of what we're hearing. These words, linking ideas, help us understand what
the speaker is talking about and where they are talking. They are especially
important in presentations and lectures.
4. Listen to every detail
Imagine you're a detective scrutinizing the buildings you've seen before like a
superhero. This time, instead of getting into the big picture, you're looking for
something specific and don't care about anything that doesn't match what's on your
list. Similarly, when listening to details, you are interested in a particular type of
information - perhaps a number, name, or object. You can omit anything that is not
relevant. This way, you can narrow your search and hear the details you need.
5. Infer the meaning
Imagine you are a tourist in a country whose language you do not speak. In a
restaurant, you hand over a credit card to pay for the bill, but the cashier seems to

be saying something apologetic in return. Even if you don't understand what
they're saying, you might conclude that the restaurant doesn't accept credit cards
and you need to pay in cash. This is the technique of inferring meaning: using
clues and knowledge about a situation to make sense of what we hear.