Instructions for how to use Listening and Reading appear each time before entering a Listening or Reading activity. Both the Listening and Reading activities are divided into two columns; Listen or Read on the left, and Apply on the right.
Listen and Read
The Listen and Read columns are where the main Listening or Reading activities are done. At the top of the screen you’ll see the content that will be covered in the activity:
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Total words: The number under “Words” indicates the total number of words (including words repeated) used in the current Listening or Reading activity. |
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Unique words: The number under “Unique” indicates the total number of unique words (excluding repeated words) used in the current Listening or Reading activity. |
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New words: The number under “New” indicates the total number of new words not previously covered in the preceding Mango conversations lessons. Click on “New” to view, hear, and learn these new vocabulary words before or during the activity. |
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Reveal Text Icon: In the Listening activities you will see an icon with several horizontal lines. Wherever this icon appears, click it to reveal the text associated with the listening material. |
Apply
The Apply column is where you will find questions related to the Listening or Reading activity. There are three kinds of questions:
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Main Idea: Main Idea questions aim to assess whether the learner was able to understand the concept of the passage. |
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Detail: Detail questions aim to assess whether the learner was able to understand the specifics in the passage. |
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Inference: Inference questions aim to assess whether the learner was able to draw conclusions based on the evidence that was not specifically stated in the passage. |
The objective of listening and reading comprehension passages and questions is to build and improve reading and listening skills in the target language. This is achieved by the following:
- Reinforcing the content introduced and practiced in the current chapter, or previous chapters, by presenting it and allowing the learner to practice it in written form (reading) or in a different context (listening).
- Presenting the learner with additional vocabulary related to the vocabulary of the chapter.
The more input, the stronger the underlying neural connections and the stronger the memory performance. In other words, seeing the vocab and interacting with the structures more than once helps their memorization and acquisition.
What is the difference between listening and reading lessons?
The listening and reading lessons present different passages. In the listening lessons you will hear a conversation or passage, without being able to read it. Of course, if there is something you need to hear again, or if you'd like to see the text, you can repeat the phrase or have the text revealed to it. After you've heard the conversation or passage, you can take the corresponding quiz on the right side of the screen.
In the reading lessons, your focus is reading a passage. Of course, you can have the passage or conversation read to you, but your primary objective will be to read it yourself and answer the questions on the right side of the screen.
Remember, the Listening and Reading activities are designed to be challenging! Do them as many times as you need to until you are comfortable with the content. Perfectly them will greatly improve your memorization and language acquisition.
What language courses contain listening and reading lessons?
Listening and reading lessons are currently available for the following languages:
- Arabic (Levantine)
- Chinese (Mandarin)
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Russian
- Spanish (Latin American)