Eade
LISTENING
EXTENSIVE LISTENING vs INTENSIVE READING
What is Extensive Listening?
Extensive Listening involves
a) listening to (or being involved in) massive amounts of text
b) text which learners can understand reasonably smoothly
c) high levels of comprehension
d) listening without being constrained by pre-set questions or tasks
e) listening at or below one’s comfortable fluent listening ability
Why would we do it?

to enjoy the listening

to improve our automaticity in recognizing spoken text

to practice the listening skill

for tuning into pronunciation and noticing intonation patterns
B. Extensively and Intensive Listening. You will listen to an interview with an American
author, Ernest J. Gaines, discussing his novel: A Lesson Before Dying.
http://www.neabigread.org/books/lessonbeforedying/
I. Extensive listening: The first time you watch the interview, turn this paper over, and let
your mind and ears follow what is going on. Then discuss with your partner your impressions
of what you heard (not only what you heard, but how it was delivered, etc). Do not worry
about details at this point.
II. Intensive Listening: Listen again and focus your attention on the points below. Take
some notes as you listen.
Ernest J. Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying
I. The Novel:
theme
plot
genre
setting
characters
underlying message
success after publication
1
Eade
II. The Author:
childhood
interest in books
how he started writing
authors which have inspired him
III. Other
III. Practice with Collocation
Below is an introduction and summary of the novel you have just heard about. Read it first,
then fill in the blanks with appropriate words. Focus on collocation!
A Lesson Before Dying Introduction to the Novel
Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying (1993) poses one of the most universal
____questions____________ literature can ask: Knowing we're going to die, how should
we ________________? It's the story of an uneducated young black man named
Jefferson, ________________ of the murder of a white storekeeper, and Grant Wiggins,
a ________________-educated native son of Louisiana, who teaches at a plantation
________________. In a little more than 250 pages, these two men named for
________________ discover a friendship that transforms at least two lives.
In the first __________, the ________________ man's grief-stricken godmother, Miss
Emma, and Grant's aunt, Tante Lou convince an unwilling Grant to spend
________________with Jefferson in his prison ________________, so that he might
confront ________________ with his head held ________________.
Most of the novel's violence ________________ offstage in the first and last chapters.
Vital secondary ________________ punctuate the narrative, including Vivian, Grant's
assertive yet patient Creole girlfriend; Reverend Ambrose, a __________ whom the
disbelieving Grant ultimately comes to respect; and Paul, a white deputy who stands
with Jefferson when Grant cannot.
White, ________________, mulatto, Cajun, or Creole; rich, ________________, or hanging
on; young, ________________, or running out of time-around all these people, Gaines
crafts a ________________ of intimacy and depth. He re-creates the ________________ of
Miss Emma's fried chicken, the ________________ of the blues from Jefferson's radio,
the ________________ of the sugarcane from the plantation. The school, the parish
2
Eade
church, the town bar, and the jailhouse all come ________________ with indelible
vividness.
In the tradition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) and Truman Capote's In
Cold Blood (1966), Gaines uses a capital case to explore the nobility and the barbarism
of which human beings are equally ________________. The story builds inexorably to
Jefferson's ultimate bid for dignity, both in his prison diary and at the hour of his
________________. That Ernest J. Gaines wrings a hopeful ________________ out of
such grim material only testifies to his prodigious ________________ as a storyteller.
ASSIGNMENT: you will listen to an interview with an author, take notes and then write a
summary of the interview.
Step One: Choose one of the sites below and then choose an interview
I. http://www.neabigread.org/books.php Choose one of these titles: The Joyluck Club, Bless
me Ultima, The Shawl, Farenheit 431, Old School. Then click on Films.
II.
http://media.barnesandnoble.com/index.jsp?fr_chl=eeef1c48b137ca6f7002930b78484d1eab3a0a
7d Choose one of the following interviews.
1) Jonathan Franzen: 2) Yann Martel
3) Anna Quindlan
4) Michael Moore
5) Dan Brown
III: http://aalbc.com/authors/paulo_coelho.htm#SECC_ Listen to Parts One and Two of the
interview with Paolo Coelho
IV. http://aalbc.com/authors/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie.htm Listen to the talk by
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
V. http://aalbc.com/authors/toni.htm Scroll down to the second video entitled: Toni Morrison
discusses “A Mercy”
Step Two: Note-taking. Watch the film several times, the first time use your extensive
listening skills. Then, take notes the second and third time as you go. Make yourself
headings similar to the ones we used in class for the interview with Ernest J. Gaines.
Step Three: Summary Writing: Use your notes to write a summary of the interview. Your
summary should be divided into two paragraphs:
Paragraph I: about the author
Paragraph II: about the novel
You should your notes and your summary at the next lesson.
3