Listening Diary 1_Listening Through Story

     LISTENING THROUGH STORY

Name                    : Liratya Vetra Sihombing

Student Number : 22202241070

Date and Time                  : Monday, 13th of February 2023 at 5.30pm-7.30 pm

Website                             : https://youtu.be/tHNYLf2Ppgw

Audio Name                     : The Umbrella Man_Learn English through Story

Level/other information   : English story level 3

Summary 

    The video tells the story of a twelve year old girl and her thirty-four years old mother who are going to London to remove her child's back teeth to a dentist. After that, they went to a cafe. The daughter ordered a banana split, and her mother ordered a cup of coffee. When they want to go home, it rains heavily. The mother and daughter were confused hoping for a taxi empty of passengers. But that didn't happen. All the taxis were filled with passengers.

    So, they met a small man, about seventy years old, with a silk umbrella in his hand. The man claimed to have walked all the way from his home to the place, and could not afford to return home. He jug a said that he does this thing every day. The girl felt a pity. But her mother remained vigilant and not easily tempted. Then, the man asked the mother and son to give him a few pounds to pay for a taxi. But on condition, the man would give the silk umbrella instead. At first, the mother was unwilling and chose to voluntarily pay the man's taxi fee. But the man said that he did not want to accept money for nothing.

    Finally, the mother and son accepted the umbrella. At first they felt that they had benefited, because the umbrella material was so good. However, there was something strange about the man. The man hurried away from there, like a hurry. Not looking for a taxi. The mother and daughter followed him from behind. The place the man was going just now was quite far away. And most surprisingly, the man stopped at a bar. There, he ordered wine with triple taste. The mother and daughter were astonished. They felt that they were being lied to by the man. In fact, her mother was already very vigilant at first. But in the end, it was they who were lied to. Then, after the man finished drinking the wine, the man went back out. And there, the mother and daughter were shocked, there were many umbrellas with the same material. The man must have continued his rotten plan.

Vocabularies/language expressions you learnt :

1. Pavement = a flat part at the side of a road for people to walk on

2. Chauffeur = ​a person whose job is to drive a car, especially for somebody rich or important

3. Wrinkly = (of skin, clothing, etc.) having wrinkles.

4. Sheltering =  to give somebody/something a place where they are protected from the weather or from danger; to protect somebody/something

5. Suspicious = feeling that somebody has done something wrong, illegal or dishonest, without having any proof

6. Scrape = to remove something from a surface by moving something sharp and hard like a knife across it

7. Assure = to tell somebody that something is definitely true or is definitely going to happen, especially when they have doubts about it

8. Staring down = to look at somebody/something for a long time

9. Fearsome = making people feel very frightened

10. Frosty = (of the weather) extremely cold; cold with frost

11. Simper = ​a silly and annoying smile

12. Stammer = to speak with difficulty, repeating sounds or words and often stopping, before saying things correctly

13. Sharpness = the quality of being clear and definite

14. Beastly = unpleasant

15. Sternly = in a serious way that often shows that you do not approve of somebody/something; in a way that shows you expect somebody to obey you

16. Chewing =  to bite food into small pieces in your mouth with your teeth to make it easier to swallow

17. Clutching = to hold somebody/something tightly

18. Huddled = (of people or animals) gathered closely together, usually because of cold or fear

19. Scuttling = to run with quick short steps

20. Trickster = a person who tricks or cheats people

21. Rush = move fast

22. Dodged =  to move quickly and suddenly to one side in order to avoid somebody/something

23. Nimbly = with quick and easy movements

24. Sidestepping =  to avoid answering a question or dealing with a problem

25. Triumphant = very successful in a way that causes great pleasure

Activities: What did you do? What scores did you get

    

  At this listening exercise, I learned the use of vocabulary that I heard quite rarely. I then wrote down the vocabulary on a piece of paper. Then, I played back the audio. If a difficult word I've written sounds again, I'll usually try to remember, what it means. In addition, from this text I also learned about the use of direct sentences between people that trains my hearing skills. Perhaps, because this story is level three, it is a little difficult to understand. However, because of the unique storyline, I became interested in continuing to study it slowly. Indeed, in this way the listening activity becomes dismembered. But I am sure, with these simple steps, I can easily understand the meaning of the video.

Benefits: What benefits did you learn from this topic?

    Through listening well, my ears became trained to hear quite long stories. In addition, the unique storyline became my interest in continuing to hear the story. From this I learned, sometimes, to hear what kind of story we want to hear is important. It is because of that curious nature, which makes our interest in reading even greater. If we talk about moral of the story, there is a moral message that we do not easily judge a person's stature or nature through appearance, even through his convincing-sounding speech. It could be that the person is taking advantage of us through a lie. Just like the man with the umbrella offered an umbrella in exchange for some money. From this story I also learned the mother's critical attitude. Although they were cheated in the end, in my opinion, the mother has set a good example to her daughter how to deal with unknown people. The mother is also critical and able to conclude that the man is a fraudster by the act of seeing firsthand the actions of the man with the real mask. 

Self-Assessment

Questions  (Yes) (No) (Maybe)

 The speed was OK.  (Yes)

The vocabulary was OK. (Maybe)

 The pronunciation was OK. (Yes)

This helped my listening skills. (Yes)

 I think my listening skills are improving. (Yes)

I need to improve (please circle all that apply): listening to main ideas/listening to details/listening to numbers/listening to fast speech/listening to connected speech/listening for a long time/listening to other accents/my vocabulary/my pronunciation.