Listening to Lectures & Taking Notes – SS3 English Lesson Note (First Term)

Listening is a chosen act that requires you to hear, understand and concentrate, while note-taking means recording the main points of a lecture or textbook in short, well-organised form. Good listeners pay attention, ask questions and resist distractions. Good note-takers write key words, leave space, edit their notes soon after class and review them regularly.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• identify the past, present and future tenses and give examples of regular and irregular verbs;
• show the different ways of expressing future time;
• apply the guidelines for effective listening in a lecture;
• take lecture notes and textbook notes using the Cornell System and the Soprano Technique;
• apply the rules of question-answer summary writing.

What is tense? Revising sequence of tenses

Tense is a term which applies to verbs, and it is used to indicate the time of an action: past, present or future. These are the basic categories of tenses in English.

The past tense

The past tense is used to express a past action. In most verbs it is formed by adding “ed” or “d”. These verbs are called regular verbs.

Examples of regular verbs are: voted, waited, counted, preached, visited, cured, answered, elected, abrogated, punched, perfected etc.

Verbs which do not take “ed” or “d” to form their past are called irregular verbs, for example: built, threw, said, paid, wore, sent, swam, set, cast, ran, wrote etc.

The present tense

The present tense is used to express the current time, that is, now. It can be singular or plural, and it must agree with the subject of the sentence.

Examples are: vote, wait, say, count, preach, elect, answer (v), remove, empower, tolerate, activate etc.

The future tense

The future is shown by putting an auxiliary before the verb, among other ways. Examples are as follows.

1. Will + verb, e.g. I will go tomorrow.
2. Shall + verb, e.g. I shall visit you next week.
3. Be + going to + verb, e.g. I am going to travel next year.
4. Be + -ing verb, e.g. She is coming next month.
5. Be + about to + verb, e.g. They are about to start the lecture.
6. Simple present tense (verb ending in “s”), e.g. The bus leaves tonight.

How do you listen to take good notes?

Hearing is a spontaneous act. Listening, by contrast, is something you choose to do. Listening requires you not only to hear what has been said but to understand as well. Understanding requires three activities:

• dynamic listening;
• paying attention;
• concentration.

The best way to concentrate is to start with anticipation. Review your notes from the last lecture and make sure you go to class having read the assigned material. Use this method to cultivate the mindset needed for 100% concentration during a lecture.

Listen for comprehension. This has to do with the feedback between speaker and listener. The speaker has an obligation to make his or her words understandable to the listener. The listener, in turn, must let the speaker know when he or she does not understand. Both parties must make a conscious effort to accept their individual responsibilities. You might think this is a 50/50 proposition, which, in part, it is. However, both parties must be willing to give 100% for effective listening comprehension to be achieved.

The best way to let the speaker know that you do not understand is to ask questions. A surprising number of students are too embarrassed to ask questions. The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked.

Twelve guidelines to effective listening

1. Sit where the instructor will always see you, preferably in the front.
2. Pay attention to content, not the lecturer’s appearance or distracting habits. Judge the material, not the delivery.
3. Put aside emotional concerns. If you disagree with what is being said, hold your judgement or your fire until after class, then see the instructor.
4. Find areas of interest. Listen for ideas, not just facts and words, and put new ideas to work during the lecture by using your imagination.
5. Intend to get down a good written record of the lecture material. Be a flexible note taker.
6. Listen for new words and watch for signals of important information. Listen for examples the instructor provides to define or illustrate main ideas. Note these examples with “EX” in your notes or textbook.
7. Read in advance about the topics to be discussed in class and relate them to something you care about.
8. Exercise your mind with challenging material. Keep your mind open even if you hear emotional words.
9. Be prepared to ask questions in class. Use facial expressions to let the instructor know that you do not understand an idea completely or that you would like the information repeated.
10. Do not stop listening or taking notes during discussion periods or toward the end of the lecture until the instructor concludes.
11. Work at listening instead of pretending to listen.
12. Resist external distractions such as someone coming in late to class, a pager going off, maintenance staff mowing the grass, or other students talking.

How do you take good notes?

Learning to take notes effectively will help you improve your study and work habits and remember important information. Often, students are deceived into thinking that because they understand everything that is said in class, they will therefore remember it.

As you take lecture notes and make notes from your textbook, you will develop the skills of selecting important material and discarding unimportant material. The main secret to developing these skills is practice. Check your results constantly and strive to improve. Notes help you to retain important facts and data and to develop an accurate means of recording and arranging necessary information.

Hints on note making

• Do not write down everything you read or hear. Be alert and attentive to the main points. Concentrate on the “meat” of the subject and forget the trimmings.
• Notes should consist of key words or very short sentences. As a speaker gets sidetracked, it is often possible to go back and add further information.
• Take accurate notes. You should use your own words, but try not to change the meaning. If you quote directly from the author, quote correctly.
• Think a minute about the material before you start making notes. Do not take notes just to be taking notes. Take notes that will be of real value to you when you review them at a later date.
• Have a uniform system for punctuation and abbreviation that will make sense to you. Use a skeleton outline that shows importance by indenting. Leave lots of white space for later additions.
• Omit descriptions and full explanations. Keep your notes short and to the point. Condense your material so you can grasp the main points rapidly.
• Do not worry about missing a point. Leave space and pick up the material you missed at a later date, either through reading, questioning, common sense, or looking at a classmate’s notes.
• Do not keep notes on oddly shaped pieces of paper. Keep notes in order and in one place. A three-ringed or spiral notebook is preferred.
• Shortly after taking your lecture notes or making textbook notes, go back and edit (not copy) your notes by adding extra points, spelling out unclear items, etc. Remember, we forget rapidly. Budget time for this vital step just as you do for the class itself.
• Review your notes periodically. Three types of review are daily, weekly, and a major review just before a test. This is the only way to achieve lasting memory.

Which note-taking systems can you use?

There are many note-taking techniques available to help you become a more efficient note-taker. The following are two very good examples. The first deals with taking lecture notes and the second with textbook notes.

Lecture notes: the Cornell System

The notes you take in class are really a handwritten textbook. In many instances, your lecture notes are more practical, meaningful and current than a textbook. If you keep them neat, complete and well organised, they will serve you splendidly. The Cornell System of taking lecture notes is a prime example. The keystone of this system is a two-column note sheet.

1. Use 8 1/2 by 11 paper to create the note sheet.
2. Down the left side, draw a vertical line 2 1/2 inches from the edge of the paper. End this line 2 inches above the bottom of the paper.
3. Draw a horizontal line across the bottom of the paper, 2 inches above the paper’s edge.
4. In the narrow (2 1/2″) column on the left side, write cue words or questions.
5. In the wide (6″) column on the right, write the lecture notes.
6. In the space at the bottom of the sheet, summarise your notes.

Note: You can use this system with lined notebook paper too. Disregard the red vertical line and make your own line 2 1/2″ from the left edge of the paper. Refer to the Textbook Study Strategies for a complete description and illustration of the Cornell System.

Textbook notes: the Soprano Technique

The second example deals specifically with taking textbook notes and preparing for exams. The Soprano Study/Reading Technique involves six steps. In contrast to the SQ4R system in the Study Skills package, it is another method for note taking. Look at both methods carefully, try them both, and then decide which will work best for you.

The six steps of the Soprano Technique are:

1. Read your textbook paragraph by paragraph without a pen or highlighter in hand.
2. After you finish a paragraph, decide if any information in that paragraph is worth highlighting or underlining. Ask yourself, “Is this really important? Does it support and define the main topic?”
3. Pick up your highlighter or pen and highlight or underline the most important key words or phrases of that information, or write “keyword” notes in the margins.
4. Then put a number in the margin of the text next to the highlighted or underlined material. Use numbers in ascending order to show the importance of the highlighted or underlined material.
5. Put the same number and page on a separate sheet of paper in your notebook. Then write out a question based on the information you have just highlighted or underlined in the textbook. The information you have just highlighted or underlined should answer your question.
6. Proceed with your study or reading of the text. Every time you decide to highlight or underline text material, assign it a number in the margin of the textbook next to the highlighted information. Put the same number in your notes and create a question about the information you have just highlighted or underlined.

How do you read and summarise an expository passage?

There are two approaches to summary writing: the précis and the question-answer type. For WAEC, we will look at the rules guiding the second one.

Rules of summary

1. Read the passage twice or three times and make sure you understand it before attempting the questions.
2. Answers to summary questions must be as short as possible. You will be penalised for wordiness.
3. You must write your answers in your own words. Lifting attracts zero.
4. Avoid the inclusion of extraneous material in your answers.
5. Your answers must be written in sentences and numbered. Answers in phrases will attract a penalty.
6. Ensure your answers are error-free. Grammatical errors will also be penalised.
7. Avoid ambiguous expressions in your answers. Be as clear as possible.

Evaluation

Sequence of tenses

Write out the past tense of the following verbs: fly, cast, let, burn, lose, read, swim, call, bathe, lay, lie, sting, tie, fling.

Summary writing

Read the passage on pages 212 to 214 and answer the summary questions on page 215 of Effective English Book 1.

Assignment

Sequence of tenses

Reading assignment: page 232 of Countdown English.

Summary writing

Reading assignment: pages 111 to 112 of Countdown English (Revised Edition).