Do you feel that you make a lot of ‘small mistakes’ in your English?

Perhaps you confuse your prepositions or get ‘been’ and ‘being’ mixed up? If so, then dictation practice could be very helpful.

A dictation is simply an exercise where you listen and try to write down exactly what is said, line by line.

It helps you to focus on the small details. Did he say ‘fed up of’ or ‘fed up on’? Did she say ‘have’ or ‘had’? It helps to form a link between listening and grammatical accuracy.

How do you do it?

Simple!

Instructions

1. Find a short audio clip in clear English with one speaker where a transcript is available. A short clip is best, or just the first one or two minutes of a longer clip.
2. Play the audio a sentence (or part of a sentence) at a time and write down exactly what you hear.
3. Then, check your dictation against the transcript.

It might be difficult at first, but keep going and you will improve!

Related activities: The Robot Dictator, Short Hand(s)