Active listening activities

Introduction

Learners are often asked to listen to audios or to their teacher talking, but it can be just as useful to encourage them to listen to each other in a more active way.

Learning to listen to each other more carefully can build their ability and confidence in real-life situations, in which they will need to focus on both listening and speaking. The following activities are a fun way of getting learners to concentrate more and to remember information.

Dual dictation

Ask learners to get into pairs to write a dialogue. When learner A is speaking, learner B should write down what they are saying and vice versa. When they have finished the conversation, they should check what each other has written and put the two sides of the conversation together. You could then ask learners to perform their dialogues again to the rest of the class, or to swap with other pairs.
This activity works best if you give learners a theme or role-play, for example:

• A conversation between friends about holidays
• An argument between siblings
• An interview with a famous person
• A scene from a film

Class memory quiz

Ask one learner at a time to go to the front of the class. Ask the rest of the class to ask them any questions they like (as long as they are not too personal!), for example:

• What's your favourite colour/food/band?
• What did you have for lunch?
• Which country would you most like to visit?

Try to make a note of some of the answers. When all of the learners (or half of the learners, if you have a large group) have been interviewed, explain that you are going to hold a quiz about the class. Get the learners into small teams and ask them to put their hand up if they know the answer to a question, e.g.

• Which learner likes Oasis?
• What's Marie's favourite food?
• Which two learners would like to be famous actors?

Award a point to the first team to answer correctly. This game can be a lot of fun, and encourages learners to listen to each other.

Listen for lies

Divide the class into two teams A and B. Ask one learner at a time to come to the front of the class and read aloud a passage which you have chosen, e.g. a story or newspaper article. Then ask them to read it aloud again, but to make some changes. Each time a lie (or change) is read out, the learners must stand up. The first team to stand up gets a point. This game requires learners to listen carefully and encourages them to remember important information and details.