What are Major Details?

A major detail is information that supports the main idea. Think of it like this:

Imagine that you are going to construct a building. First you would need to know the purpose of the building. What will it be used for? This is like the main idea. The building will look very different if it is a church, an office, or a home. The main idea is used to make decisions about what important details you need to plan to include.

When you start to build, you build the strong parts of the home first. This frame is like the major details. They provide you essential information: how many rooms will there be? How big are those rooms? What type of rooms are they? Those major details are what make the building able to fill its purpose. It isn't until much later that you add beds, ovens, or desks to the rooms.

Speaking and listening follow these same basic ideas. When we speak, there is an idea we want to share for a specific reason. To be successful in sharing that idea, we need to include the necessary major details in our conversation.

Once you have identified the main idea, you should be able to recognize what information is most important to understand what the speaker wants you to know about that main idea. Let's look at the example main ideas from the lesson Listening Comprehension: Main Ideas:

• • The new work schedule demands too much of the employees.
  • If you follow this recipe, you can make an easy and delicious lasagna.
  • Although recycling is popular, it is not the best way to have a positive impact on the environment.

The possible major details for these main ideas could be:

• • Employees have to work too many hours.
  • Employees are expected to work on holidays now.
  • Buy these specific quality ingredients.
  • Follow these 10 steps exactly.
  • Reducing the plastic we buy is more important.
  • Not all plastic can be recycled locally.

Remember that a major detail is not too specific. Going back to the example of constructing a building, we don't want to focus too much at this stage with very specific details. Those specific details add to our speaking, but the listener isn't usually expected to remember all of that information. Here are some examples of information that is too specific for a major detail. Again, it doesn't mean it is not important, it just isn't essential to understand the main idea fully.

• • Employees are paid $12/hr.
  • The schedule changes next month.
  • Fresh oregano is best, but dried is ok.
  • You will need to adjust the bake time for your altitude.
  • Single-use plastics like straws have a big impact on our environment.
  • For example, our local recycling plant cannot process plastic #4.

Listening For Major Details

In the lesson Listening Strategy: Background Knowledge we discuss using our existing knowledge to prepare to listen. Listening for major details is a lot easier when we start by using our background knowledge. To practice, we will use a KWL chart.

A KWL chart is a popular graphic organizer. A graphic organizer is a way to take notes and write ideas in an organized way. KWL means what I already know, what I want to know, and what I learned.

Start by adding your background knowledge in the K column. Then, add questions or ideas in the W column about the topic. These are things you don't know for sure, but you would like to know more about.

When you have your first two columns filled, you can look for key words and phrases this means you are looking for important words that are related to the main idea. If there are words you know in your first language, but not in English, you can use the KWL chart to write down new vocabulary.

When you start to listen, you will use this activated background knowledge to listen for important information. As you listen, you will write ideas in the L chart. These are ideas that are repeated, seem very important, and/or are new for you.

You can then use the chart to summarize the most important ideas from the listening.

Exercise 2: More KWL Practice

Before you begin listening, look at the title of the video. Complete the first two parts of the KWL chart 

TITLE: How tsunamis work

K - What I know about tsunamis	W - What I want to know about tsunamis	L - What I learned about tsunamis

While you listen to the video, take notes in the L column.  

 Use those notes to identify 4 major details to support the main idea. Be prepared to share your summary.