Text Adjustment: preparing texts for listening

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Why?

• It is not always easy to find texts especially designed for listening tests

• Many written texts are interesting and can be used for listening purposes, but they need to be adjusted so that they are “ear friendly”.

How do we adjust texts?

• By reducing the lexical density

• By using everyday vocabulary

Ladybird(Original)

Ladybirds are very useful allies to farmers and gardeners, as they like to eat small plant-eating insects that are called aphids. Aphids ruin crops, so farmers and gardeners welcome any ladybirds that happens to drop by.Ladybirds use their sharp jaws and strong claws to catch enough aphids to satisfy their enormous appetites, which can be one hundred aphids a day!

Ladybird(Adjusted)

Ladybirds are very useful friends to farmers andgardeners. These bugs like to eat small aphids.Aphids are small insects that eat plants. They ruinthe farmers’ crops. That is why farmers andgardeners are happy when ladybirds come andvisit them. They have sharp jaws and strong clawsto catch aphids. They have great appetites. Theycan eat one hundred aphids a day!

Bamboo Shoot(original)

Tender young shoots from many species of bamboo are eaten. Some are infinitely superior, lacking the bitterness of others; bamboo shoots from a cooler climate including those grown in higher altitudes are generally much sweeter. Only when you have tasted succulent fresh winter bamboo shoots or one of the finest high altitude varieties can you understand why Chinese poets waxed so lyrical over this vegetable.

Bamboo Shoot(Adjusted)

Many people eat bamboo shoots. There are many kinds of bamboo shoot they can choose from. Some bamboo shoots have nice taste, but some are really superior. These superior shoots do not have the bitter taste that the others do. Usually, the superior shoots grow in higher places with cooler climate. These shoots are much sweeter compared to the ordinary ones. Once you taste the crunchy fresh winter bamboo shoots, you will understand why the Chinese poets wrote beautiful lyrics about the vegetable.

The Amazing Human Body(Original)

A skeleton holds the body together. The 650 different muscles covering the skeleton give the body its shape.

Babies have 305 bones at birth but adults have about 206 bones because as people grow some of he bones fuse together.

The Amazing Human Body(Adjusted)

A skeleton is the bone structure that holds the body together. Our bones are covered by 650 different muscles. These muscles give our body its shape.

Babies have 305 bones when they are born. However, adults have only 206 bones because as people grow some of the bones join together.

Bitter Gourd Also known as bitter gourd, bitter melon orbalsam pear, this vegetable is, pedictably, verybitter in flavour. It grows easily and the climbingvine is often seen in kitchen gardens. The fruitlooks rather like a pale green cucumber with abumpy grooved skin. To avoid excessive bitterness, the bitter gourd ispicked while young and is usually rubbed with salt andleft to stand for about an hour before cooking; it is thenrinsed and dried, and the central spongy portion andseeds discarded.

Bitter Gourd (2) Thai and Chinese cooks like to stuff this thickSlices with prawn; it is also popular with eggs.Other cooks in tropical Asia sometimes skip thepreliminary salting and instead simmer slices orcubes in salty water before adding them to soupsor a seasoned stew. The bitter gourd is rich in vitamin A and C. Perhapsbecause anything bitter is thought to be good for you,many Asians believe this vegetable has medicalproperties.

Language Accompanying Action

Worm1. Cut a paper square in half. Each piece makes

one worm.

Worm

2. Fold the paper in half lengthwise.

3. Fold the corners in at one end.

Worm4. Fan pleat the whole length of the paper. Turn paper

over.

5. If you make very sharp creases, you can tap the worm on the back and it will creep along very slowly.