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Chapter Preview Part 1 – Listening in the Classroom  Listening Skills: The Problem and the Goal  Listening Tasks in Class Part 2 – Listening outside the Classroom  Listening outside Class: Recorded Audio Material  Evaluation 2

Part 1 – Listening IN THE CLASSROOM 3

Listening Skills: The Problems and the Goals (p ) Some problems: 1. Small difference of similar sounds (ex. fear, fair, fire, far, & fur) 2. Reduced sounds (ex. fer  for, ta  to, & wanna  want to) 3. Intonation or emphasis cues (Do you want him to go? vs. Do you want him to go ?) 4. Regional, class, or group accents. 5. Vocabulary by listening, which does not match it’s spelling. (island  Iland /ailœnd/, vegetable  vegtahbul 6. Grammar structures 7. Understanding rapid speech, especially as your brain gets more and more tired. 8. Cultural background knowledge (ex. expressions & slang) You DO NOT need to hear and comprehend EVERY WORD in order to UNDERSTAND. 4

Listening Skills: The Problems and the Goals (p ) Bottom-up Small pieces of grammar and vocabulary help to understand the message. Ex. “What … leaving?  What time are you leaving? Top-down General and situation knowledge help to understand the message. Ex. At the bus station: “What …leaving?  What time is the bus leaving? Listening comprehension has two processes working together. 5

Listening Skills: The Problems and the Goals (p ) Students OFTEN try to understand EVERY WORD!!! It’s an unrealistic goal. 1. Many times, students only need to understand the main idea. 2. Students need to use the clues around them to understand. (Not when using only a CD player for listening practice.) 3. Building listening skills, take LOTS and LOTS of practice. You DO NOT need to hear and comprehend EVERY WORD to order to UNDERSTAND. 6

Personal Example  You should think of 4 or 5 personal examples or experiences and add them anywhere you wan t. It can be about one point or a couple points together.  Don’t make an example for each point AND don’t worry to find one example that matches every point.

Listening Tasks in Class (starts p.86) Basic elements of listening activities: 1. Text: meaning something to listen to, not read. 2. Context: The situation of the text.  If you can’t show context, you should elicit or explain the situation to students before listening. 3. Purpose: Tell students WHY they are listening to something.  In real life, people have their own purpose for listening. In class, you must tell students what the purpose is. 4. Tasks: Students need to DO something after listening, some kind of activity. Listening texts are easier or more difficult depending on the difficulty of vocabulary, speed, clarity, depth and complexity of content. The activities from the textbook (11), are loosely listed as lower  higher-level. 8

Listening Tasks in Class 1. p87. Show and Tell  Students bring personal pictures or other objects and presents it to the class.  Speaking practice for the presenter. Listening practice for the audience. Don’t forget to make a task for listeners to do. 2. p87. Total Physical Response (TPR)  Teacher gives instructions and students have to do what the teacher says. (Ex. Stand up, Sit down, write your name, jump, etc.) 3. p88. True/False Listening  Students respond to teacher’s statements with T or F.  Oral T/F activity can have tricky or silly questions. 9

Listening Tasks in Class 4. p88. Dictation  Teacher reads and students write as they listen.  Good for recognition of words, NOT for comprehension. Also for writing skills such as capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.  Be careful, this can be a boring activity. 5. p89. Dictocomp  Teacher reads at an even pace without stopping after sentences while students listen for the main ideas.  After listening, students try to remember and write what was heard. 6. p89. Dictation for Reduced Forms  Teacher reads or plays a recording with reduced forms. Students write what they hear with complete forms. 10

Listening Tasks in Class 7. p90. Stories  Students tell their own stories, personal or fiction.  Speaking practice for the presenter. Listening practice for the audience. Don’t forget to make a task for listeners to do. 8. p90. Focused Listening  Teacher helps students by asking questions about the key points before students listen.  This helps students listen for key words and key information. 9. p91. Problem Solving Situation  Teacher designs a problem and tells students. Students listen and take notes for key information to solve the problem. 11

Personal Experience 12

Part 2 – Listening Outside the Class 13

Listening Outside Class: Recorded Audio Material (p ) Online sources for listening material:  British Broadcasting Channel (BBC)  BBC and British Council  Other sites from a Google Search> ESL Listening     It takes a long time to be a proficient LISTENER… and students need lots and lots of practice outside of class. 14

Listening Outside Class: Recorded Audio Material (p ) Advantages  Students can practice more listening outside of class.  If students listen on their own, they can control when to stop and play again.  Slow down/speed up is possible with iPod and some MP3 players, now.  Recordings won’t change speed fast and slow like a teacher might. Disadvantages  RECORDINGS can be BORING. Especially only audio. Internet, Podcasts, Youtube, Videos, etc. are all MUCH EASIER to get these days. 15

Listening Outside Class: Recorded Audio Material 1. p94. Studying with Recordings  You must teach students how to listen to materials. It’s like a puzzle, each time they listen, they can fill more in each time.  Don’t let students read the script.  If HW, check it in class the next day. 2. p95. Choosing Appropriate Material  For independent listening work (HW), easy listening is better than difficult.  Comparison: You can’t hear a violinist play in a recording of the whole orchestra, even if you listen over and over again.  WARNING: Be sure your listening activities are really listening. (Ex. Teacher reading questions out of a book, IS NOT listening, if students are reading it also). 16

Personal Experience 17

Evaluation (p )  Most of the activities listed in Listening Activities in Class section can be adapted to be oral quiz items (=questions).  Note: It may be easy for students to cheat.  Be careful - For dictation (and sometimes dictocomp) students focus on spelling words instead of meaning. The BEST kind of evaluation for listening Have students listen, then check comprehension by: 1.Students take notes and turn them in. 2.Students write an outline or summary. 3.Answer T/F questions based on the listening. 4.Student write short answers to questions about listening. 5.Students fill in a chart, form, or outline according to listening. 18

Personal Experience 19

Practice Listening Activity OR Discussion Questions Note to presenters:  You have a choice to make discussion questions. AND/OR  You can demonstrate a listening activity in the class. YOU ARE THE TEACHER and the class will be your students. Don’t explain what you would do. You have to teach like a real class.  NOTE: It should be a short and simple activity, do not prepare elaborate materials. It’s just a closing to your presentation.