Introduction
LISTENING ACTIVITIESThere are some
Practical activities that teachers can use in the classrooms to
help students with listening. (Taken from Kate Joyce, British
Council teacher, 2010)
Active listening activities
Dictation 3
Dictation 2
Dictation 1
Songs, symbols and lyrics
Interactive listening and speaking
Listening for specific information
Listen for your words
Using songs in the classroom
Development
Active listening activities Students are
often asked to listen to tapes 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
students to concentrate more and to remember
information.
Dual dictation
Ask students to get into pairs to write
a dialogue. When student A is speaking, student 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 students to perform their
dialogues again to the rest of the class, or to swap with
other pairs.This activity works best if you give
students a theme or role-play, e.g.
A conversation between friends about
holidaysAn argument between siblings
An interview with a famous person
A scene from a film
Class memory quizAsk one student 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!), e.g.
What is 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 students (or half of the students, if you have a large group)
have been interviewed, explain that you are going to hold a quiz
about the class. Get the students into small teams and ask them
to put their hand up if they know the answer to a question,
e.g.
Which student likes Oasis?
what is Marie's favourite food?
which two students 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 students to listen
to each other.
Listen for lies
Divide the class into two teams A and
B. Ask one student at a time to come to the front of the
class and read aloud a passage which you have chosen, eg 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 students must stand up. The first team to
stand up gets a point. This game requires students to listen
carefully and encourages them to remember important
information and details.
Dictation 3These notes on dictation
come from a talk presented by professor Edna Equihua, British
Council 2009.
Telephone tree (sentence
dictation)
The teacher makes a telephone tree in
class. After school, he/she calls the two first students in the
tree and dictates one sentence. Then these 2 students have to
call their assigned classmates in the tree and ask them to add
one or two words to the sentence which they dictate. The last
student gets the complete sentence and brings it to class, or
e-mails it to the teacher, or both.
For example:1. Original sentence: Property
is theft2. Property is really theft (added word: really)3. I
think property is really theft (added words: I think)4. I don't
think property is really theft (added word: don't)
As an alternative this same technique can
be used for writing, using the e-mail instead of the
telephone.
Text reconstruction
(dictogloss)
These can be done in a variety of ways. The
important thing is that the dictation is given at a normal speed
with appropriate intonation and stress patterns. Essentially,
students write notes rather than every word. They then have time
to turn those notes into the original paragraph. Students may
hear the paragraph several times, as they fine tune their notes
and writing.
For example:Dictation paragraph:-We will no
longer accept your doctor's statement as proof of unfitness, as
we consider that if you are able to go to the doctor, you are
able to come to work.
The teacher reads the short
paragraph.Student A just listens
Student B writes what she/he
canThen in pairs they reconstruct the
paragraphThe teacher reads the paragraph
againIn fours they compare their
writingStudents write the paragraph on the
blackboard to check their work, or the teacher shows a wall
chart with the paragraph previously written.
? Mutual dictation (information
gap)
Student A has one part of the
dictationStudent B has the other
A has to make questions to find out the
missing words in his/her paper.B tells A the words and then they
switch.
? Using the students
Teacher elicits adjectives from student
and writes them on the blackboard.Students choose 4 adjectives which they
like and write them under 2 columns: DIFFICULT or
USEFUL.Then they go to someone in the class
and tell that person their adjectives and the other writes
these adjectives down in the columns.
Dictation 2These notes on dictation
come from a talk presented by professor Edna Equihua, ,British
Council, 2009
The sensesThe students take
dictation and express feelings about the words. The teacher
dictates words and they sort them out according to the
sense(s) that the word awakens in their feelings. For
example,
I SEE: church, computer ,cloud, rainbow,
rabbit
I HEAR: yesterday, typewriter, radio, rain,
music
I TASTE: pie, rabbit
I SMELL: pie, rabbit
I FEEL: typewriter, rabbit, rain,
music
When they finish, they can sit in pairs and
compare their tables and discuss their feelings about the words,
why did they put them in the columns?
Think about meaning
Quantifying sentences
Teacher dictates sentences using
adjectives.Students have to add a quantifier to the adjective
used.For example,
SENTENCE DICTATED
……………………………….QUANTIFIERS ADDEDHe gets
home late in the evening ………………. at 7 pm They live in
a large flat ………………………………… 100 square
metresIt saves time
……………………………………………….. many
hours She's overweight
………………………………………… 20 kilos He
spends a lot of time in the bathroom…….. 1 hour a dayIt's
efficient……………………………………………………
veryShe gets up fairly early at the weekend ……… at 7
a.m.It's noisy
………………………………………………………
100 decibelsIt often breaks down
…………………………………… every week
Fill the gap
Dictate, leaving blanks by saying "mmmmm".
They have to fill the gaps.
For example, HIM or HER. The students
complete the sentence with an appropriate pronoun (with "him,
her, she or he").1. _______is a good goal keeper.2. ________was
80 and lived alone, but ________lives happily knitting all day
long.3. They made __________study medicine.4. ______went to
visit________in prison.5. Her parents gave her a present but ____
didn't like it.
ALTERNATIVE: Dictate a story asking them to
fill in the blanks with verbs
Conclusion
Teachers may use these practical activities
in order to improve the students´ listening
skills.
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Msc. Manuel J. Mederos
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Enviado por:
Mariela Arencibia