A2 English listening practice Using TED Talks

TED.com provides great English listening follow, with over 1,000 interesting, clear talks on many topics. However, most are finest for intermediate or advanced English learners.

(See  for several pages to practice when you have larger-stage English abilities.)

This page links to 7 TED talks simple enough for A2 (excessive beginner) English college students, with questions that will help you focus your listening and to discuss or write about your responses.

For the primary three talks, there's a transient introduction and a few comprehension inquiries to reply after the first and second time you hear to every speak.

(Listen
no less thantwice—extra typically is O.K. because you will understand more details each time.) The speak will open in a second window so you possibly can travel between discuss and questions.

(Click these hyperlinks to go directly to English Listening,   Listening,

 Listeningor  .)

Pause every talk every time you have to (and later learn the transcript, when you like.) The talks are lengthy—10 to 19 minutes—however tell very interesting tales.

Concentrate on understanding the stories and the speaker’s main thought the first time you listen. Check your understanding, and try to reply the questions, the second time around.

If you are interested within the different talks, there are also some questions to think about. You can follow your English writing (or speaking) expertise by trying to reply one or two of them.

All of those talks are related. They are about hope: about people caring for one another, overcoming violence, and helping others reach their full potential. You can begin with any of them by clicking the links in the record beneath. 

These questions are additionally available in pdf type for teachers. See the Beginning Lesson Plans section of.

English Listening Practice 1: Hope for Personal Change

How do you react to difficulty and failure? Are you willing to work harder with the hope of doing better? Does it help? Can you modify that ‘C’ into an ‘A’ if you hold learning?

Did you realize that making an attempt something troublesome for you'll be able to actually make new connections in your mind? In this 11 minute talk, Carol Dweck, an education researcher, illustrates She exhibits that those who imagine skills are mounted (an individual is both good at something or not, smart or not) make very different choices than those that consider they'll get higher with effort and practice.

After listening for the primary time, choose the most effective reply (you possibly can simply write the proper letter on a sheet of paper, to examine after the 2nd listening):

1. A ‘progress mindset’ means understanding that

A. we can develop our talents and intelligence; they are not set eternally at a certain degree. 

B. our abilities can develop a certainf amount but are principally mounted at birth.

C. our our bodies and minds grow until we turn into adults.

D. we have to develop up and act like responsible adults.

After listening for the second time:

2. In one high school, when college students didn't cross a check they obtained a grade of “not but” as a substitute of ‘F.’ The speaker likes this, as a result of it helps students perceive that

A. that check wasn’t actually important. 

B. it’s O.K. to fail.

C. some people simply aren’t good at taking exams.

D. they will hold learning and move it next time. 

three. (Choose all of the solutions which are true.) Students with a ‘mounted mindset’ were extra prone to

A. believe in the event that they failed at one thing they'd never be good at it.

B. believe in the event that they failed at something or made many errors they needed to follow it extra.

C. keep away from Advanced English speaking course as a result of they feared trying like ‘failures.’ 

D. search for others who did worse than they did so they may a minimum of really feel superior to them. 

4. When researchers taught students that studying troublesome new issues helped them make extra connections in their brains, and get smarter over time,Advertisements

A. college students had been disappointed they didn’t immediately feel smarter.

B. students decided studying was too much work.

C. college students were extra keen to keep attempting, and their grades went up.

D. students began getting all ‘As.’

.

Bonus query to consider, write about or discuss with someone: Dweck means that we might help kids develop a growth mindset by praising their effort and enchancment rather than their talents or intelligence (which they might really feel they can’t change.) How important do you think that is?

Practice 2: Education: Taking Risks for a Better Future 

Have you heard of the Taliban, a rebel group in Afghanistan? What are you aware about them? The Taliban do not like many issues about western culture, however they particularly dislike training for women and girls. 

Sakena Yacoobi:  17 min.

Sakena Yacoobi’s father sent her to the U.S. so she could turn out to be a physician and help save lives. After Russia invaded Afghanistan, her household turned refugees, and she was  in a position to deliver them to safety within the U.S. 

However, her heart was nonetheless in Afghanistan, and she or he went back to see what she may do to assist. Listen to her story and think about what she decided was the best factor to assist her people.  

After listening for the first time:

1. While visiting within the refugee camps, what did the speaker determine was one of the simplest ways she might assist in Afghanistan, and why?

A. As a physician, she may look after maternal and youngster well being and save lives.

B. As a health care provider, she might help individuals who had been wounded through the fighting.

C. By opening colleges for ladies she could give her folks confidence and a approach to assist their families and move ahead. 

D. By opening faculties for girls she might distract them from their worries and assist them become higher wives.

After listening for the second time:

2. Once 19 younger males with rifles stopped Sakena Yacoobi’s automotive. What did they need?

A. They wished to kill her because she was educating ladies.

B. They wished her to stop educating girls.

C. They wished her to pay them some huge cash.

D. They wanted her to educate them too. 

three. What did she do about it?

A. After they let her go she by no means went back there once more.

B. With the help of donors she began classes for younger males too.

C. When she left she known as for army assist.

D. She gave every of them cash to go to school.

4. What has happened to these younger men since then?

A. They have attacked different educators.

B. They got educated and have become her supporters and protectors. 

C. They have joined the Taliban.

D. They have grown up and began businesses.

.

Bonus query to consider, write about or discuss with somebody: Do you agree with Sakena Yacoobi in regards to the worth of education to fully change individuals’s attitudes and lives? Explain why or why not, discussing the types of change education can or can not trigger.

What are you aware in regards to the International Red Cross? What are some of the companies they supply? What companies do you suppose are so necessary that they need to operate even in a war zone with active preventing?

Alberto Cairo worked for the Red Cross as a bodily therapist providing prostheses (artificial arms or legs) for Afghans disabled by the war. At first, the manufacturing unit closed whenever the warfare received too close. Something modified that. Listen to the story the primary time to find out why they changed that coverage. What made them resolve that maintaining their rehabilitation middle open was a precedence, even within the war zone?

Alberto Cairo:. 19 min. (Pause as often as you have to—particularly the second time you hear.)

After listening for the first time:

1. What made the Red Cross determine that serving to disabled people was a precedence, even when there was combating close by?

A. The government started to offer protection to the Red Cross.

B. They received extra donations.

C. They noticed the risks disabled individuals were keen to take to get assist.

D. They didn’t have some other work to do.

After listening for the second time:

2. What did Mahmoud and different disabled Afghan men ask for? They wished dignity and

A. an opportunity to work to support themselves. 

B. better, stronger prostheses.

C. protection from the struggle.

D. help for his or her families.

3. Why did the manufacturing unit making prostheses—artificial limbs—begin practicing “constructive discrimination,” hiring disabled folks whenever attainable?

A. They realized that even people with major disabilities could manage to do their jobs well.

B. They didn’t should pay as much to disabled people. 

C. Seeing that other disabled individuals may work was a source of hope to the people who got here to get prostheses.

D. Both A and C. 

.

Bonus question to consider, write about or focus on with somebody: 

Cairo stated he didn’t really feel Mahmoud may keep up with the work of constructing prostheses with just one actual arm and no legs, but they found Mahmoud even speeded up manufacturing, because he wished to show himself able to work. 

Have you ever had an experience by which someone questioned your capability and also you worked exceptionally exhausting to prove you can do it? If not, have you learnt another person who has proved himself (or herself) in spite of nice difficulties?

I discovered each of these talks excellent. Listen to them, on the lookout for solutions to the questions related with every speak. (These are not simple questions to reply in English, however think about them.) Then hear once more, or learn the transcript to deepen your understanding of their stories and build English vocabulary and fluency.

1.Joseph Kim:. (Have you ever had to depart individuals you really liked with out understanding whenever you would see them once more?) 14 min.

2.Elizabeth Lindsey:(What does Lindsey need to protect? What does she fear might be lost to humanity? What does she mean when she says this planet is our canoe and that we should work collectively?) 10 min. 

3.Scilla Elworthy:. (Elworthy says it's typically more effective to fight bullying and violence with nonviolence. Can you give an example? What skills may help?)* 16 min. 

four.: the moms who found forgiveness and friendship. (What brought these mothers together and helped them understand one another regardless of language and cultural variations?) 9.5 min.

* #three See her instance of American bombings of terrorist targets rising terrorist numbers. Skills embrace self-understanding, coping with fear and controlling anger—utilizing it as a gasoline.

You can discover TED talks for all levels, ranked by level and velocity and with English listening follow workouts, at. You can even discover many simple (A1-B2 or so) conversations at. 

For extra listening apply (together with TED talks) at numerous ranges see additionally

>> A2 English Listening Practice Using TED Talks.

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