Listening with a purpose
A student puts on a pair of headphones and hits “play” on
the computer screen. He/she is sitting down to watch a movie – in English – in
order to improve his/her listening skills. What’s the purpose of this exercise?
While “improve listening comprehension” sounds like a good purpose, it’s not.
Students need specific exercises, each with a specific purpose that goes beyond
mere “listening”. They can listen to a podcast with the purpose of identifying
three future online shopping trends. They can listen to a conversation with the
purpose of identifying the speaker’s vacation plans. But there should always be
a purpose to the listening exercise. Be sure to communicate what it is.
From Passive to Active
In the above situation where the student sits back and just
listens, there is a misconception that he/she will passively improve his/her
listening skills – just by listening. Students must be active in their
listening exercises. They must be thinking of answers, options or ideas.
Give them questions to answer or information to find out,
and have them report back their findings. Separate them into groups and have
one group listen for one set of information and the other group for another,
and then get together and share. Just make sure they are not simply “sitting
and listening”!
Use Variety
Do you always give your class song lyrics with gaps they
must complete? Add some spice to your listening exercises and mix it up! What
if you give two different groups two different sets of worksheets where the
gaps are different? Students in Group A must then work with students in Group B
and ask each other questions to find out the missing information. The class
listens to the song at the end to confirm that the answers are right.
Keep it Real
We’re all more than familiar with the handy little audio CDs
that come with our beloved course book. You should absolutely take advantage of
the amount of listening material you have available there, but don’t forget to
use some real audio from time to time. Now, movies, TV shows and songs are what
usually comes to mind, but what about TV commercials, weather reports or
podcasts? There are many more sources of real audio out there, most of which
are not too hard for students if they are approached correctly.
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario