TEACHING LISTENING

EFFECTIVE LISTENING SKILLS

It is the province of knowledge to speak. And it is the priviledge of wisdom to listen. Oliver Wendell Holmes

WHAT DOES REAL-LIFE LISTENING INVOLVE?

The objective of listening comprehension practice in classrooms is that students should learn to function successfully in real-life listening situations.

Real-life listening situations

What sorts of things the listener needs to be able to do in order to comprehend in a variety of situations?

Stage 1: Gathering samples

Situations where people are listening to other people in their own mother tongue.

 Listening experiences.

Stage 2: Finding typical characteristics

Some features seem to be common to most of the situations.

Characteristics of real-life listening situations

1. Informal spoken discourse Spoken language

Features of informal speech

Brevity of chunks Pronunciation Vocabulary Grammar Noise Redundancy Non-repetition

2. Listener expectation and purpose 3. Looking as well as listening

4. Ongoing, purposeful listener response

5. Speaker attention

Real-life listening in the classroom

GUIDELINES Listening to texts. Informal talk Speaker visibility; direct speaker-listener interaction. Single exposure.

Listening to tasks. Expectations Purpose Ongoing listener response

Practical classroom application

Implementing the guidelines: some specific practical implications

1. Listening texts
Advantages
Adapt the level and speed of the text.

Problems or reservations

Many teachers lack confidence in their own ability.

2. Listening tasks: expectations and purpose

Advantages
Provides students with some ideas of what they are going to hear.

Problems or reservations
Occasionally students may be asked what a passage is about without any previous hint.

3. Ongoing listener response

Advantages
Learners are active during the listening.

Problems or reservations

No time to respond during the listening.

Unit Three: Learner problems

Learner difficulties in listening

1. Trouble with sounds 2. Have to understand every word 3. Cant understand fast, natural native speech 4. Need to hear things more than once 5. Find it difficult to keep up 6. Get tired

Types of activities
1. NO OVERT RESPONSE Jokes, real life anecdotes, well know stories.
Songs. Entertainment: Films, theater, videos.

2. SHORT RESPONSES
Obeying instructions. Ticking off items. True/false. Detecting mistakes. Cloze. Guessing definitions. Skimming and scanning.

3.Long

responses.

Answering Questions. Note taking. Paraphrasing and translating. Summarizing. Long-gap filling.

4. Extended responses
Problem solving. Interpretation.

REFERENCES
Anderson, A. And Lynch, T. (1988) Listening, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rost, M.(1991) Listening in Action: Activities for developing Listening in Language Education, Hemel Hemstead: Prentice Hall International. Underwood, M. (1989) Teaching Listening, London: Longman. Ur, Penny. (1984) Teaching Listening Comprehension, Cambridge University Press.

THANKS

MICRO LISTENING CLASS

Lesson plan
Date and time:MARCH

14/2014

CARLOS VALIENTE Teacher: JOSE CORTES ERNESTO SERGE

Group/level: INTERMEDIATE

B1

Aim of Lesson:

To provide gist and detail listening practice in the context of free time Picture of conversation, CD player, (audio file)

Material/resources required: Possible Problems:

Some students might not understand the conversation. They could be uncertain about the answers to the questions.

Solutions: Time and interaction

The learners may read the questions before they listen to it. They may listen to the conversation several times.
Procedure Aim

5 Minutes Student to student interaction . Pair/group work Teacherstudent interaction .

Warm-up Students will describe the pictures to get them in the mood. PRE-LISTENIG The teacher will have students ask each other questions in pairs. POST- LISTENING After the listening, The teacher will ask the learners comprehension questions about the conversation. In small groups, students will discuss some open questions based on the listening..

By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to talk about free time activities.

Notes:

Free-time activities

PRE-LISTENING
Pair work
PRACTICE ASKING YOUR PARTNERS THESE QUESTIONS.

1. Do you have enough free time? 2. Do you go out on Friday nights? 3. Where do you usually go? 4. What do you do on Sundays? 5. Do you like to watch TV? 6. What do you usually do in your free time? 7. What are you doing this weekend?

Conversation

You are going to listen to two people talk about their leisure time. Listen and find out what these two people like to do in their free time, and what they decide to do next weekend.
After listening to the conversation, you will be asked some comprehension questions. You can take notes while you listen.

http://www.talkenglish.com/Listening/LessonListen.aspx?ALID=200

POST-LISTENING ACTIVITY 1. What type of movie is Forrest Gump? Action Drama Suspense Comedy 2. Besides watching movies, what does Mark like to do? Go shopping Swimming Drinking and partying Playing basketball 4. What is the favorite thing he likes to do? Playing computer games Reading books Going shopping Playing pool

Group work 1. What do you think is the realtionship between the two speakers? 2. Does Mark exercise? If yes, how often?

3. Why doesn`t he want to go outside?

4. What do they decide to do next weekend?

5. What activities do you think Susan likes to do in her free time? Why?
6. Do you think they share the same interest? Explain.

THANKS!