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 holidays
An 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 can
Then in pairs they reconstruct the paragraph
The teacher reads the paragraph again
In fours they compare their writing
Students 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 dictation
Student 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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Autor:
Lic. Manuel J. Mederos González.
Msc. Manuel J. Mederos González
Lic. Olympia sidrés Gácita
Msc. Olympia sidrés Gácita
Sede universitaria municipal
de Ciencias Médicas
San Antonio de los Baños.
Enviado por:
Mariela Arencibia