Skip to main content

Spot the Differences listening

I have produced the first of a number of listening activities based on the 'spot the differences' principle. Nothing revolutionary, but they promioe very careful listening. I am copying here a resource I just uploaded to my site. The instructions should be clear. Help yourself.

By the way, I tried out the AI tool Deepseek to create the texts instantly. Deep seek is all the rage just now (January 2025). The interface and performance is remarkably similar to those of Chat GPT. I just very lightly edited the text.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCES LISTENING – DAILY ROUTINE

  • The teacher reads each of the two texts twice, quite slowly, pausing enough for the class. A third read could be done. There are EIGHT factual differences between the two texts.
  • As the teacher reads, students make notes in English about factual details.
  • In pairs students then compare their notes to see if they found all 8 differences.
  • The teacher can then elicit the differences from the class.
  • As a follow-up, students can talk and write about their own daily routines.
  • A different way of using the texts would be for each partner to have their own printed version of each text, then, through reading aloud and conversation, they must identify the differences.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

TEXT ONE

Je m’appelle Camille, j’ai 14 ans et je vis à Lyon. Ma journée commence à 7 heures du matin. Je me lève, je prends une douche et je m’habille. Ensuite, je prends mon petit-déjeuner : des céréales avec du lait et un jus d’orange. À 8 heures, je vais au collège en bus. Les cours commencent à 8h30 et finissent à 16h30. J’adore les cours de français, mais je n’aime pas trop les maths.

À midi, je mange à la cantine avec mes amis. On mange  souvent des pâtes ou de la salade. Après les cours, je rentre à la maison à pied. Je fais mes devoirs vers 17 heures. Ensuite, je regarde un peu la télé ou je joue à des jeux vidéo. Le soir, je dîne avec ma famille à 19h30. On mange souvent de la soupe et du poulet. Après le dîner, je lis un livre ou je discute avec mes parents. Je vais me coucher à 21h30.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

TEXT TWO

Je m’appelle Camille, j’ai 15 ans et je vis à Marseille. Ma journée commence à 7h30 du matin. Je me lève, je prends une douche et je m’habille. Ensuite, je prends mon petit-déjeuner : des tartines avec de la confiture et un jus de pomme. À 8h15, je vais au collège en vélo. Les cours commencent à 8h30 et finissent à 17 heures. J’adore les cours de français, mais je n’aime pas trop les sciences.

À midi, je mange à la cantine avec mes amis. On mange souvent du riz ou des légumes. Après les cours, je rentre à la maison en bus. Je fais mes devoirs vers 17 heures. Ensuite, je regarde un peu la télé ou je joue à des jeux vidéo. Le soir, je dîne avec ma famille à 19h30. On mange  souvent de la soupe et du poulet. Après le dîner, je lis un livre ou je discute avec mes parents. Je vais me coucher à 22 heures.

 

Answers

1. Âge : 

   - Texte 1 : 14 ans 

   - Texte 2 : 15 ans 

2. Ville : 

   - Texte 1 : Lyon 

   - Texte 2 : Marseille  

3. Heure de réveil : 

   - Texte 1 : 7 heures 

   - Texte 2 : 7h30 

4. Petit-déjeuner : 

   - Texte 1 : céréales avec du lait et un jus d’orange 

   - Texte 2 : tartines avec de la confiture et un jus de pomme 

5. Transport pour aller au collège : 

   - Texte 1 : bus 

   - Texte 2 : vélo 

6. Heure de fin des cours : 

   - Texte 1 : 16h30 

   - Texte 2 : 17 heures 

7. Matière moins aimée : 

   - Texte 1 : maths 

   - Texte 2 : sciences 

8. Heure du coucher : 

   - Texte 1 : 21h30 

   - Texte 2 : 22 heures 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought.  ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a langua...

Zaz - Si jamais j'oublie

My wife and I often listen to Radio Paradise, a listener-supported, ad-free radio station from California. They've been playing this song by Zaz recently. I like it and maybe your students would too. I shouldn't really  reproduce the lyrics here for copyright reasons, but I am going to translate them (with the help of another video). You could copy and paste this translation and set it for classwork (not homework, I suggest, since students could just go and find the lyrics online). The song was released in 2015 and gotr to number 11 in the French charts - only number 11! Here we go: Remind me of the day and the year Remind me of the weather And if I've forgotten, you can shake me And if I want to take myself away Lock me up and throw away the key With pricks of memory Tell me what my name is If I ever forget the nights I spent, the guitars, the cries Remind me who I am, why I am alive If I ever forget, if I ever take to my heels If one day I run away Remind me who I am, wha...

Longman's Audio-Visual French

I'm sitting here with my copies of Cours Illustré de Français Book 1 and Longman's Audio-Visual French Stage A1 . I have previously mentioned the former, published in 1966, with its use of pictures to exemplify grammar and vocabulary. In his preface Mark Gilbert says: "The pictures are not... a mere decoration but provide further foundation for the language work at this early stage." He talks of "fluency" and "flexibility": "In oral work it is advisable to persist with the practice of a particular pattern until the pupils can use it fluently and flexibly. Flexibility means, for example, the ability to switch from one person of the verb to another..." Ah! Now, the Longman offering, written by S. Moore and A.L. Antrobus, published in 1973, just seven years later, has a great deal in common with Gilbert's course. We now have three colours (green, black and white) rather than mere black and white. The layout is arguably more attrac...