TeachingEnglish
teaching listening
Submitted by husseinalkassas on 25 September, 2009 - 13:53
Hi,
i have some difficulty in teaching listening to my students?
Please I need your help
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A listening lesson normally comprises several stages:
1: select a text (preferably authentic, e.g. dialogue, monologue, news broadcast, song..) which is of interest to your Ss.
2: set a pre-listening question to stimulate S interest in the text/topic and / or pre-teach vocabulary.
3: while listening task (listening for gist), e.g. filling in a table, responding to a series of wh-questions.
4: re-listening task(s) (listening for specific information), e.g. taking notes, filling in gaps, responding to specific questions...
5: re-listening tasks with transcript to check understanding and focus on some specific features of the spoken language (grammar, vocabulary, prosody)
6: post-listening task
Claire has already listed down some very effective activities which will definitely help students hone their listening skills.
You can try out the below mentioned two activities:
NAME AND DRINK
Make your students sit in a circle. Start from any student. He has to introduce himself and name a drink that he likes. For example, My name is Sam and I like Tea. The student sitting next to him ( you can go either clockwise or anticlockwise ) will say, Sam likes Tea, My name is John and I like Coffee. No student is allowed to note down anything on paper. Also ensure that students who spoke first are not allowed to escape...!
PARTNER INTRODUCTION
Make students sit in pairs. Do not allow students who are in one group to be partners. Ensure that the grouping is done in such a way that each pair should be from different groups. I mean to say, students have their own circle of friends with whom they converse everyday. Make the pairs in such a way that each student interacts with the other student who is not part of his group. Tell each group member they need to introduce their partner. Students are not allowed to note down anything. Each student can speak anything that he wants about himself. Some parameters could be, his family background, what is special about the place he comes from, his likes and dislikes, his hobbies, his favourite colour, his role model, etc.
Give the whole group around 5 minutes to interact. You can then pick out students randomly and ask them to introduce their partner. A student will start by saying, My name is Joe and I have the pleasure of introducing my friend Mike to all of you...
This will not only improve their listening skills but also build a bonding since students get to know each other quite well.
You can also try:
- try "live listening": invite a friend/colleague to your classroom and get Ss to interview him/her, or hold a conversation with your friend in front of your Ss.
- try story-telling; tell them a story and ask questions as the story unfolds, asking Ss to predict what is coming next, to describe people in the story, to make comments...Ask Ss to re-tell the story!
- take your Ss to the language lab or use websites such as www.esl-lab.com.
- use songs and videos and design activities to train them.
I think listening it's very important, more than reading. I can read English books (I'm reading now Andrew Vachss' Dead and gone - a great thriller), but I find more difficulties in listening. I think songs can be a good idea, and so movies with subtitles: they can help a lot in the first period.
Bye,
Joe
Hi there
Following your message sent via my contact form, here is a list a invaluable books to help you to teach listening skills:
Books for teachers:
How to teach listening, Pearson Longman (includes practical ideas for effective listening lessons + a CD and training activities, good to give you ideas!)
Listening, OUP
Teaching Listening Comprehension, CUP
Learning teaching, Macmillan (chapter 8 is about listening and reading)
The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Longman (chapter 18)
Books to develop listening skills:
Listening extra, CUP (photocopiable materials for 3 levels)
Listening and Notetaking series published by Heinle
Lecture Ready, OUP (3 levels)
Open Forum, OUP (3 levels)
Cambridge Skills for Fluency: Listening, CUP
Study Listening, CUP
Don't forget websites such as BBClearningenglish and onestopenglish.com, which offer many resources and advice.
Good luck!
Hi, husseinalkassas
You do not mention the level of knowledge or the age of your students.
You might be interested to take a look at a video of my students doing listening comprehension. It is only one of the ways you can check their understanding.
ESL / ELT listening comprehension - 5th grade
I think it is very difficult to teach listening to students living in such a visual world.from the very beginning we as teachers get them accustomed to need a visualization.we always show students pictures ,diagrams,cartoons etc.so they don't know how to listen because they forget how to listen.so You should decrease the visualisation first and begin to read short dialogues or paragraphs in a clear way but you should forbit them to take notes to some extent.after that increase your reading speed and let them take notes .please don't forget to give high marks to those giving correct answers.since it's challenging .I use this method for 2 years and it really works.good luck