Note-Taking Formats
The audio lectures that come with some listening textbooks are often very hard for students to take notes from. Even for a lecture that is "at their level", they often need to listen to it several times before they can have a useful set of notes. This is especially true for the intermediate and high-intermediate levels. Teachers spend so much class time just getting students to comprehend the audio lecture, that it takes away from the time they have to focus on actual note-taking skills like organization and shorthand techniques. Such audio lectures are inherently artificial, and don't reflect what students will encounter within a university classroom. There are no visual cues, no interaction, and the pacing is often too fast. In the real world, a professor would not give the same lecture two or three times because the visual cues, pacing and interaction aid comprehension the first time around.
So, what can teachers do? Students have bought the books and some of the book series have interesting lectures. Rather than scrap the lecture, you can decide to supplement the audio lectures with a PowerPoint or notes on the whiteboard. You can add images and keywords according to the level of the students. You can control the pace and how much info you give them according to their level as well.
The actual audio can go too fast to supplement simultaneously in some book series. If this is the case, you may want to play a section of the audio file; then pause it, and re-give the main/important info from that section using your PowerPoint or the whiteboard. There are other variations you can use as well. You can listen to the audio in advance, and take your own notes from it. Then instead of playing the recording for the students, you can give the lecture yourself with a PowerPoint or the whiteboard.
As a variation on the simple audio lecture format, some textbooks employ the use of a video (like a TEDTalk). When done well, this format can have merit if the speaking in the “lecture” is appropriately paced for the level, the speaker uses enough visual cues to aide an English language learner in comprehending the important information, and the content is organized in such a way that it lends itself to note-taking. Even when done well though, these videos still lack that interactive element and the ability to adjust to the needs of the students. Furthermore, TedTalks are often quite challenging for intermediate and even a lot of high-intermediate-level students. They are usually targeted towards a native English speaking audience who do not intend to take notes on what they hear. As such, they are often have few visual cues, are not really organized like a classroom lecture, and the speakers tend to talk quickly and employ idiomatic language.
Just as with audio lectures, supplementing a TEDTalk with PowerPoint or notes on the whiteboard can be helpful. Provide students with the tools to be independent learners [visual cues, correct pacing, and interaction], and the teacher won't have to spend so much time helping them understand the lecture.
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