Teaching Listening

Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Sample Student Book Activities for Teaching Listening

The activities on screens 4-9 are common activities for teaching listening. They are organized into three groups according to their skill focus. The three groups are: the sound system, meaning, and making inferences and applying information. Navigate to screens 4-9 to view the activities. Refer to them as you read.

The Sound System

Students need to have knowledge of the sound system before they can understand or use what they hear. The sound system includes specific sounds, such as consonants and vowels, as well as stress and intonation. Often textbooks begin a sequence of listening activities with listening and repeating. The class may listen and repeat single words, sentences, or parts of dialogs. Look at Activity 1 on screen 4. Activity 1 shows an activity from an elementary textbook. The activity pre-teaches expressions to the students.

Some activities ask students to choose between two or more sounds. Such activities may focus on ending –s/–es sounds in plurals or the third person. Other common endings students might listen for are past simple –ed endings and negative forms. Other activities focus on stress or intonation. 

Look at Activities 2 and 3 on screens 4 and 5. Students listen and mark stressed words or syllables, or check sounds. Often textbooks have this kind of activity in the post-listening part of the lesson. The textbook pulls out words or sentences for intensive practice.

[17/05, 00:16] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Read the text. Refer to screens 5-7 as you read.

Meaning

Students need to understand the meaning of what they hear. Activities at each stage of a PDP lesson can help them with meaning. A pre-listening activity might have students predict the opinions of different speakers. Then they might listen to check their predictions. Look at Activity 4 on screen 5. Here students match a picture of an activity to a conversation. They show they understand the topic of the conversation this way. Students sometimes put pictures or text in order while they listen. In Activity 5, students listen to a conversation about a school schedule. Then they put the subjects into the correct order. 

Often students answer comprehension questions after they listen. Look at Activities 6 and 7 on screens 6 and 7. Students listen to a description of bears and a conversation about a vacation. They have to understand the audio to answer the questions. 

All these activities appeal to different learning styles. The listening aspect engages auditory learners. Using pictures, as in Activity 4, helps visual learners. Making activities more interactive engages kinesthetic learners.

[17/05, 00:16] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Read the text. Refer to screens 8-9 as you read. When you are finished, click Submit.

Making Inferences and Applying Information 

When people listen, they naturally make inferences about information they hear. People also apply, or use, information that they hear. Students need practice making inferences and applying information in a new language.

For example, look at Activity 8 on screen 8. Students make inferences about likes and dislikes. The boy does not say directly that he does not like the bus ride. Instead, he says, "The bus ride is too long.”  To complete the chart correctly, students have to make an inference. When students complete the chart, they are applying the information to do something. Students might complete a chart like the one in Activity 8 for themselves (things they liked/did not like about elementary school) before they listen. This will make them more engaged when they listen. Graphic organizers also appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners.

In Activity 9 on screen 9, students listen and find a location on a map. This is also applying information. Maps and diagrams help visual learners. Drawing helps kinesthetic and visual learners. In Activity 10, students listen to a phone message and write down the message. This is another way of using the information in a practical way.