TSL3105 Teaching

Listening & Speaking in

the Primary Classroom
Developing Materials for
Listening Comprehension

Choosing and adapting

published materials

Many teachers are constrained by the need

to use given textbook which dictates the
syllabus
Other constraints-lack of time, lack of
access to technology, lack of resources
Why do you need to adapt the published
materials?
Because during the planning stage, the
teacher realizes the materials doesnt fit the
class

Teachers adapt listening

materials in order to:

Make the sequence easier

- Preview the content
- Change the task to simplify the whole
sequence
- Chunk the text, break it down into
manageable sections
Make the sequence more challenging
- Reduce the number of crutches that
support the students

Ctnd.

Make the sequence more personalized or

relevant to our students needs
- Adapt pre-listening questions
Extend the sequence
- Adding something related to the topic but
from a different source
Shorten the sequence
- Explain to students they will hear a part
of the recording

Ctnd.
Re-order

the sequence
- E.g. explaining the vocabulary after
the students have listened to the
recording
Change the focus of the sequence
- After the students have listened for
meaning, they might then go on to
investigate the linguistic features of the
text

Ctnd.
Bring

more variety to the class

- E.g. get students to listen and draw
Raise awareness of features of
natural dialogue
- Use transcripts by isolating the
target expressions from the recording

Ctnd.
Get

the material to match our

personal beliefs about language
learning
- Conflicting beliefs between the
materials writer and the teacher
- E.g. some teachers might not agree
with reading and listening at the
same time

Authentic materials: radio,

film/TV, songs
Three sources of authentic recorded
listening material- the radio, the
television, the Internet
Internet allows downloading to occur
any time, but TV and radio are
scheduled-based
Internet is ever-expanding, but
teachers with good searching skills will
find a great deal of usable materials

How to exploit a recording

Radio
- The effort we put into exploiting a recording
may depend on whether we see the material
as reusable or a one-shot lesson
- A daily news bulletin-may be specifically of
the here and now, thus less likely to be
reused
- For this kind of listening material, a simple
table is sufficient, and it could be reused
with any news story
- Teachers with more time could write fuller
worksheets

Ctnd.

Film/TV
- Vision on, sound off
- Vision off, sound on
- Pause and predict
- Watch and describe
- Act and watch
- Watch and act
- Say who said it
- Complete the story

Ctnd.
Songs

Group Discussion
Recorded

material or live
presentation?
Authentic or non-authentic material?
Criteria for the selection of recorded
material