Listening week six
Being mindful of life
Discussion
- Is death a taboo topic in your culture?
- If you were told you had six more months to live, how would your view of life change? How would you spend the time?
Why is some listening harder then others?
There are a number of factors which can make spoken texts harder to listen to. Audio quality for example, or an unfamiliar accent. But one of the most predictive factors is whether the text was planned or spontaneous. When the speaker plans what they're going to say they may deploy a wider range of vocab, and utilise more unusual words with quite specific meanings, which can make the text more challenging. On the other hand, planned speeches are often much more structured and to some extent predictable. The speaker is more likely to stay on topic and will avoid sudden digressions. Spontaneous speech is often faster paced too, which can present difficulties for listeners.
The other factor which can impact difficulty is whether the text is one person talking at length (a monologue) or a conversation between two or more people (a dialogue). The latter again can be trickier as there is a constant switching between speech rhythms, cadences, accents and style. There may also be more interruptions, jokes, spontaneous cultural references and unfinished sentences.
The image on the right shows the structure of the text we're going to listen to today. The podcast host first introduces the topic, then introduces the guest and then begins the conversation, so it has three stages of difficulty. See if you notice whether the text becomes harder to process as it moves through the stages.
Stages of the text
First listening
Listen once in open class. Make some basic notes if you wish, but on this first pass just pay attention to what's being said, and then compare what you've heard and your initial impressions with a partner:
- What is the speaker's general attitude towards death?
- How much did you hear about the guest, Frank Ostaseski?
- What did you learn about Zen hospice care?
Key lexis from part one
- the last argument you had with your spouse
- everything we do has to be profound
- contemplating the brevity of life, brings some perspective
- the quintessential example of misspent energy
- You’re just running an errand
Comprehension questions
Now listen again on your own with headphones. Take some time to listen at your own speed and review parts that you find challenging. Try to answer the following questions.
Introduction
- According to the speaker, are the following statements true or false?
- Death is something that is impossible to ignore.
- Staying alive takes a lot of time and energy.
- Looking for a new font is a profound way to spend your time.
- It can be depressing to realise that we could die at any time.
- What does the speaker describe as being the quintessential example of misspent energy?
- The speaker talks about being mindful of the shortness of life, and the things many of us have to be grateful for. Note down as many of these things as you can remember
A well-known cause of misspent energy
4. Complete the missing words from the following excerpt
You’ve had a thousand 1____________ to tell the people closest to you that you love them, in a way that they feel it, and in a way that you feel it. And you’ve missed most of them, and you don’t know how many more you’re going to get. You’ve got this next 2___________ with another human being, to make the world a 3_____________ better place. You’ve got this one opportunity to fall in love with existence, so why not relax and enjoy your life? Really relax. Even in the midst of 4______________. Even while doing hard work. Even under uncertainty. You are in a game right now. And you can’t 5____________________, so you don’t know how much time you have left. And yet you’re 6________ to make the game as interesting as possible.
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5. When the speaker talks about building a rocket ship, what point is he making?
- We should make our days as interesting as possible in order to appreciate life.
- Our activities don’t need to be exciting in order to appreciate life.
- Flying a rocket ship to Mars to start a colony is likely to lead to death.
- We should all do one amazing thing every day.
Review
When you're ready, compare your answers with a partner. Use the transcript to check your answers together.
Today's guest
List four pieces of information that the speaker provides about the guest, Frank Ostaseski.
The conversation
- Decide whether the following statements true or false:
- The speaker and Frank were introduced by a mutual friend.
- Frank and the speaker did not have the same meditation teacher.
- Frank had many Asian meditation teachers.
- The first Buddhist hospice in America was the Zen hospice.
- Why was Frank’s field of expertise surprising?
- How does Frank describe hospice care?
- What are the main aims of the hospice?
Discussion and response
- The speaker claims that it’s impossible to remain angry at things other people do to us, such as driving too slowly, if we’re more mindful of the shortness of life. Do you agree with this?
- The example he provides of this misspent energy is road rage. Can you think of other examples of similar strong emotional reactions you experience? In other words, what small things make you angry?
- Is it possible to remain appreciative of all the things in life we take for granted?
Language analysis - collocations and lexical bundles
The term collocation refers to words which are usually in close proximity to each other. For example, the noun traffic collocates strongly with jam, and we put them together so often that they feel natural, and other less common combinations sound slightly strange. For example, we don’t often hear that there’s a traffic block on the motorway. Lexical bundles are similar to collocations, except that they're more grammatical. For example, in the event that and in terms of are fixed phrases that connect ideas together, so we just treat them as one item rather than three or four separate words. Think of lexical bundles like asparagus. You wouldn't just buy one asparagus would you?
Task
Take a look at the following excerpts from the first part of the talk, where the speaker is introducing the topic of death. Look at the phrases in bold and discuss with a partner what they mean, and how they could be re-worded.
- The kinds of things that have captured my attention. (line 12)
- I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to find a new font. (line 14)
- The solution seems most likely to bring order to chaos in my corner of the universe (line 18)
- Taking that fact to heart (line 24)
- You’ve got this next interaction to make the world a marginally better place. (line 44)
