Faulty Printer: Use with the Listening Transcript

(TESOL Ideas--Using the Transcript after Listening)

Example activity: docs, pub 

A year ago, I posted Faulty Printer as an activity for reading texts.  But I've recently discovered it works well as a post-listening activity for using the listening transcript.  

The procedure is pretty much the same as the one I previously described in my Faulty Printer Reading Activity Post.  But to summarize and reiterate:

Delete the last word of every line in the transcript.  Print it out and give it to students.

Students have to read the transcript and, using sentence and context clues, predict the last word in each line.  (Since this is done as a post listening activity, so they can also use their memory of the listening to help them.  But since students will not remember every word from the listening, they'll mostly be using sentence and context clues.)

Once students have completed the activity (or once the time limit is up), the teacher plays the listening track again, and students listen and check their answers.

I typically do this activity as a game.  Students are put into groups of 3 or 4.  Each student is given their own copy of the faulty printer transcript for their own reference, but they also have a group copy, and they have to talk to their group and agree on their final answers.  (I use large A3 paper for the final answer sheet.)

After listening to the audio and giving their answers a final check they then exchanged their papers with another group, and each group was given a copy of the answer sheet.  They then marked the points for each other, and the team with the most points wins. 

I think this activity works well with transcripts for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the ability to predict words in a sentence is just as important to listening as it is to reading.  (see Top Down listening skills).

Secondly, in my experience students need a task to focus them on the listening transcript, or they won't absorb it.  This provides an excellent focusing task.

Below is an example activity I made using the transcript from Reflect Listening & Speaking 5 Video: A New Approach p.28-31.

Consumers are increasingly aware that the fast fashion industry generates _________,

pollution, toxic chemicals, poor working conditions, and more. Environmentally,_______

fashion business is more damaging and more polluting than any other industry, ______

from the oil _________.

But a new generation of clothing companies are taking a different approach. _________

mission is to change our relationship to the clothes that we wear and at the same _____

to change the approach of the fashion industry. Perhaps the biggest problem with _____

fashion industry is that consumers buy too many clothes. And that’s part of why there __

so much _________.

To tackle this problem, companies, such as Y Closet in China, are now _________

consumers the option to rent clothes instead of buying them. Customers sign up for ___

online service and pay a fixed monthly fee. They get their clothes in the mail. ________

advantage is that when you’ve finished with them, you simply send them back to _____

cleaned, and then rented by someone else. The result is that people buy far _________

clothes.

But the problem is not just that consumers buy too many items of clothing. It’s also ____

having bought them, they don’t wear them. Companies, such as By Rotation, ________

tackling this problem, too, with a peer-to-peer rental service. Peer-to-peer _________

services allow customers to rent their clothes to each other. By Rotation never _______

sees the clothes themselves. Users of the brand create an account and take photos ___

their clothes with the app. They decide how much it will cost to rent each item ________

clothing and how long someone can rent it for. As with Y Closet, the result is _________

consumers buy fewer clothes and so generate less _________ .

Clothing rental companies are not the only ones tackling the problem of _________.

Amazingly, between 15 and 40 percent of the fabric from a normal clothing factory ____

up as waste on the factory floor. One way to reduce waste is to use this discarded ____

to make clothes. That’s exactly what Cambodian company Tonlé does. Tonlé buys ____

waste fabric and uses it to make its own fashion collection. Not only that, but Tonlé’s

factories avoid using toxic chemicals. In fact, they claim, 80 percent of their _________

used for coloring or dying clothes are _________.

Another company that is trying to turn fashion around is Spanish brand, EcoAlf. ______

want their fabric to not only do no harm, but to also benefit the environment. So, Ecoalf

gets the material to make their fabric from the ocean itself. Every year, they _________

over 150 tons of plastic from the ocean. This plastic is then turned into fabrics, _______

are used to make shoes and _________.

Patagonia, an American outdoor clothing brand, is another company that is trying _____

stop people from buying and discarding so many items of clothing. Patagonia ________

that fashion should be about manufacturing items people want to keep forever. _______

approach is to sell good clothes that last a long time and to repair the clothes ________

necessary so that they last longer. To achieve this goal, Patagonia has a repair _______

that repairs customers' clothes for a reasonable fee. They also offer easy ways _______

recycle the clothes once they can no longer be repaired. Patagonia shows that _______

clothing company doesn’t have to sell more to be profitable. The company has _______

turnover of around 1 billion dollars a _________.

answers

Consumers are increasingly aware that the fast fashion industry generates waste,

pollution, toxic chemicals, poor working conditions, and more. Environmentally, the

fashion business is more damaging and more polluting than any other industry, apart

from the oil industry.

But a new generation of clothing companies are taking a different approach. Their

mission is to change our relationship to the clothes that we wear and at the same time

to change the approach of the fashion industry. Perhaps the biggest problem with the

fashion industry is that consumers buy too many clothes. And that’s part of why there is

so much waste.

To tackle this problem, companies, such as Y Closet in China, are now offering

consumers the option to rent clothes instead of buying them. Customers sign up for the

online service and pay a fixed monthly fee. They get their clothes in the mail. The

advantage is that when you’ve finished with them, you simply send them back to be

cleaned, and then rented by someone else. The result is that people buy far fewer

clothes.

But the problem is not just that consumers buy too many items of clothing. It’s also that

having bought them, they don’t wear them. Companies, such as By Rotation, are

tackling this problem, too, with a peer-to-peer rental service. Peer-to-peer rental

services allow customers to rent their clothes to each other. By Rotation never actually

sees the clothes themselves. Users of the brand create an account and take photos of

their clothes with the app. They decide how much it will cost to rent each item of

clothing and how long someone can rent it for. As with Y Closet, the result is that

consumers buy fewer clothes and so generate less waste.

Clothing rental companies are not the only ones tackling the problem of waste.

Amazingly, between 15 and 40 percent of the fabric from a normal clothing factory ends

up as waste on the factory floor. One way to reduce waste is to use this discarded fabric

to make clothes. That’s exactly what Cambodian company Tonlé does. Tonlé buys this

waste fabric and uses it to make its own fashion collection. Not only that, but Tonlé’s

factories avoid using toxic chemicals. In fact, they claim, 80 percent of their chemicals

used for coloring or dying clothes are edible.

Another company that is trying to turn fashion around is Spanish brand, EcoAlf. They

want their fabric to not only do no harm, but to also benefit the environment. So, Ecoalf

gets the material to make their fabric from the ocean itself. Every year, they remove

over 150 tons of plastic from the ocean. This plastic is then turned into fabrics, which

are used to make shoes and clothing.

Patagonia, an American outdoor clothing brand, is another company that is trying to

stop people from buying and discarding so many items of clothing. Patagonia believes

that fashion should be about manufacturing items people want to keep forever. Their

approach is to sell good clothes that last a long time and to repair the clothes when

necessary so that they last longer. To achieve this goal, Patagonia has a repair service

that repairs customers' clothes for a reasonable fee. They also offer easy ways to

recycle the clothes once they can no longer be repaired. Patagonia shows that a

clothing company doesn’t have to sell more to be profitable. The company has a

turnover of around 1 billion dollars a year.