Contemporary Topics Intro: Academic Listening and Note-Taking Skills

What causes a society to collapse? What’s it like to grow up as a third culture kid? How has microcredit changed people’s lives?

You’ll find the answers to these and other questions in Contemporary Topics Introductory, by Jeanette Clement and Cynthia Lennox (Series Editor: Michael Rost), which features college lectures from several academic disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology, and economics. Contemporary Topics Introductory prepares students for the challenge of college lectures with practice in a wide range of listening, speaking and note-taking skills and strategies. The lectures (available on CD and DVD) were filmed in realistic academic setting before line student audiences.

DVD Features

• Realistic college lectures from a range of academic disciplines (also on audio CDs)
• Student discussions of the lectures (also on audio CDs)
• Instructors’ Presentation Points
• Coaching Tips that guide students as they take notes
• Subtitles for lectures and student discussions

Course Features

• Corpus-based vocabulary drawn from the Academic Word List
• Practical listening and note-taking strategies
• Note-review practice that allows students to analyze their note-taking skills and consolidate their understanding of the lecture
• Academic research and speaking tasks: presentation, discussions, and role plays
• A Teacher’s Pack for busy instructors with:
  • Suggested bonus activities
  • Teaching notes
  • Answer keys
  • Audioscripts
  • Simulated TOEFL® Listening Test for each unit

See also:

Contemporary Topics 1 (Intermediate)

Contemporary Topics 2 (High Intermediate)

Contemporary Topics 3 (Advanced)