Listening
Marrying sounds and words
Connecting sounds with their corresponding words takes time and patience.
Individually words frequently differ in pronunciation when spoken; the way sounds and words connect contributes to fluency.
Use the subtitles or transcript to understand how words are spoken: pronunciation, stress and emphasis.
‘Scotland's Chernobyl' housing estate awaits demolition | BBC News
A derelict housing estate dubbed "Scotland's Chernobyl" for its eerie ghost-town like appearance is finally about to be razed to the ground.
The tenements at Clune Park in the town of Port Glasgow were built a century ago as housing for shipyard workers but many have lain empty for decades.
A stand-off between private landlords and the local council has thwarted redevelopment, leaving the site frozen in time with just a handful of tenants remaining.
Task
Listen to the video, then answer the questions.
Watch the video (without the transcript or subtitles).
Observe how speakers stress words and fit them together to form sentences.
Note timestamp for unclear speech, confusing words or phrases or perhaps where the speaker is a little too fast.
Watch again (with transcript or subtitles) and check against your noted timestamp: is it any clearer? What is unclear: a word, phrase or the structure?
Answer the questions before expanding and viewing answers.
Any doubts, contact your mentor.
Glaswegian accent may prove challenging to understand.
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‘Spiral’ refers to ‘decrease or deteriorate continuously’, as hinted by ‘decline’.
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Plummet’ has a negative meaning: ‘decrease rapidly in value or amount.’
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‘It’ refers to Clune Park (rather than the flats).
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‘Step up’ means ‘increase’?
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‘Put up’ means ‘to display’, in this case, physically around the area. If it were to mean social media/ online, we would say ‘put it up on’.
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False. A ‘stand-off’ means ‘a deadlock between two equally matched opponents in a dispute or conflict’, that is, no moving forward.
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Nothing: ‘stall’ means ‘stop or cause to stop making progress’.
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Here a ‘handful’ refers to a small number of residents.
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‘Do something up’ means to renovate or refurbish.
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His building has not been scheduled for demolition, so has no reason to leave.
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If you can handle yourself, you can defend yourself.
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About one third.
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They will be demolished; they will cease to exist.
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The flats are owned by private landlords.
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Rubble refers to ‘waste or rough fragments of stone, brick, concrete, etc., especially as the debris from the demolition of buildings’.