Here’s another sort of sound dictation, but this one promotes understanding of word partners (or collocations).
Tell students to number from 1-10 on a piece of paper.
Play the audio. It’s the students’ job to identify the source of the sound, and the verb that describes the sound itself. Thus.. That’s the sound of _______ ________ing.
Let’s say the first sound you hear comes from a dog – not a bark – but a threatening sound. That’s the sound of a… dog growling.
I collected these public domain sounds from Sounds, SimplyTheBest and put them together.
I have written some answers below, indicating the strongest and most common collocations. However, if students come up with different sources and different verbs – hey, that’s great; they are using English.
Key:
1. dog barking
2. car starting. engine or motor turning over
3. frogs croaking (some students say ducks, in which case they are quacking)
4. bird singing / chirping
5. baby crying / balling
6. crow cawing
7. cat mewing / meowing / crying
8. siren sounding/blaring. alarm going off
9. insect, bee, fly buzzing
10. crowd, people, audience / applauding, clapping, cheering
