Level:  Intermediate

Skill:  Listening and Speaking

Purpose:  the Shared Experience technique is intended to make it easier for you to understand someone telling about an event, because you were present and participated in the event.  The goal is to understand a simple discourse, recounting an event at which you were present.

Note:  Intermediate language learners have some developed some language ability, but still need the support of familiar content to help them to understand.

What to do:

Step 1:  Share the experience. Go out and do something with your LH or another friend from the community.  Have fun!

Step 2:  Record your LH talking about it. When you come back, ask the LH to talk about what you did together.  Record what he or she says.

Step 3: Fill in the blanks.  Now play back the recording with your LH and stop the recording to ask your LH about any words you don’t understand.

Step 4: Listen again.  Now listen to the recording again (and again) and notice different things – the new words you’ve learned, the intonation, the connecting words, the overall meaning.

Step 5:  Tell about the experience.  Now you can try to tell the story yourself, recording yourself as you do so.  Then compare your account of the story with the native speaker.  Where can you still improve?