1. Teaching Listening
Lesson 4

2. OVERVIEW
Consider listening in young learner language teaching as it is linked to the other language skills and embedded within meaningful and purposeful activities in our young learner classroom.
Consider how to encourage our students to successfully develop their listening skills and confidently demonstrate their understanding of the language through the approaches we take in our classroom by providing clear instructions, by providing additional support through gestures and visual and auditory cues, and by encouraging our young learners to interact.
Look at a wide variety of activities we can use to develop and extend our young learners' expertise in listening in English."

3. Considerations to be taken into account when Teaching Listening
Listening is known as one of the receptive skills, as it is external to listeners and is then processed by them as fresh information.
Listening is a skill in which young learners need lots of time to process and interpret what they hear.
When young learners are listening to words, they are decoding what they hear, predicting what is going to come next, and trying to understand meaning.
Listening is a very active mental activity.
The teacher’s job is to support and scaffold this mental activity as much as possible so that learners are successful in

4. What is going on in the learner's head as he or she is listening to the target language?

5. Suggestions for Encouraging Language Learning Through Listening in our Classroom
Create a calm and quiet atmosphere in the class when you want the learners to listen to something in particular.
Use class rules. Make sure that when anyone is speaking (child or adult) that the rest of the students listen to that person, whether they are in pairs, groups or in a whole class discussion.
As the teacher, avoid walking and talking at the same time, if possible. Young language learners need to see all aspects of your body, particularly your face and mouth, to see what you are saying.
Get into the habit of supporting what you say in the target language with gestures, pictures, realia or flashcards, so that there is always additional support for the students' understanding of what you are saying.

6. Cont…..
Make sure that you pronounce everything as clearly and as naturally as possible.
Try not to rush what you say in English so that you allow thinking time for your learners.
Encourage your listeners to predict what is going to come next. Help them do this through guided questions.
If you are using audio or video recordings, make sure the language is clear. Ensure there is visual support in video or, if using audio, try to support the language yourself with gestures and facial expressions, or by using realia and pictures.
Try to always think about introducing new language in a clear visual, auditory and kinesthetic way to allow for understanding by all learner types.
Remember to recycle and reuse language introduced in earlier lessons so that children have a chance to hear it used in different situations.
Recognize how important repetition of language is for young language learners. It is difficult for them to remember or learn things they have heard only once or twice.

7. Activities to Focus on Listening
If we want to aid our learners in developing their listening skills, we should use a variety of activities to encourage this.
Focusing on Listening through various:
Listen and Do Activities
Listen and Say Activities
Listen and Read Activities
Listen and Write Activities

8. 2.2 Focusing on Listening through Various Listen and Do Activities
Simon says, "Stand on one leg."
Simon says, "Touch your nose."
Simon says, "Close one eye."
If you do not include, Simon says... at the beginning of the instruction, the children should ignore the instruction. For example:
Simon says, "Clap your hands." (Children do action.)
Simon says, "Touch your head." (Children do action.)
"Touch your toes." (Children should not do action, as instruction was not introduced with Simon says.)
Those who carry out the instruction when Simon says is not used to introduce the instructions are out and have to sit down. The winner is the child who is the last one in the game.
Extension of Listening Game
Use the phrase Simon Says before giving the children, who are all standing, a list of instructions such as

9. 2.3 Listen and Put Up Your Hand
Students are encouraged to listen closely to the teacher and respond at the appropriate time by putting up their hand....
Choose language based on the level of the
students and
what they
have been
studying in
class.
Tell your students,
Put up your hand when you hear…. the word 'I'. [Tell a story using the word 'I‘). Example: I like ice cream. One day, I went to the park. It was a hot day and I was hungry...]
….that I have missed out a number. [Say numbers from 1-20 and leave out numbers. Example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7...]

10. 2.4 Listen and Mime
Children are asked to mime a story you are telling which has lots of action in it. For example, you might have a poster of people at the park. Describe what you see in the picture and have the children mime the activities.
It’s sunny and warm. A boy is flying a plane in the park. A dog is barking. A little boy is eating ice cream. A baby is crying in his stroller ...

11. 2.5 Listen and Do Art and Craft Activities
Tell the children to listen carefully and draw the scene that you describe. Recycle language from previous lessons, such as prepositions, adjectives, and so on. For example:
Draw a little girl in a red dress. Next to the girl , draw a little boy. The boy is wearing a blue cap and brown shorts. Next to the boy, draw a green ball. Draw the sun up in the sky. Now show your partner your picture and you look at theirs. Decide what the people are doing in your picture. Discuss your ideas with your partner.

12. 2. 6 Listen and Do Cookery Activities
Another listen and do activity is preparing something to eat. This can be something simple, such as making a sandwich, which gives lots of opportunity for recycling simple food language, depending on the resources for cooking you have available.
These activities give a real and natural opportunity to introduce a variety of language in context (using such words and phrases as cut, mix, add, spread, open the packet, use the (spoon / knife / bowl), put on your apron, clean up, put in the oven, wait until it is cool... and eat it).

13. 2.7 Listen and Order the Pictures
Give each child three pictures of the same simple short story. These should illustrate the beginning, middle and end of a story. As you tell the story, have the children put the pictures in the right order. To make this activity more complex, give the children additional pictures from the story to put in order. 1. 3. 2.

14. Focusing on Listening Through Various Listen and Say Activities
3.1 Language Bingo
Recycles the language and children get to repeat words again and again.
Any vocabulary can be used such as nouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, and so on.
Stick to only one lexical group each time you play it.

15. An example of a simple bingo game involving food items is Food Bingo
Give each young learner a sheet of paper with six boxes drawn on it. Have students choose six words from the following 10 food words to draw in their boxes: apples, chocolate, rice, bread, potatoes, chips, ice cream, carrots, oranges, peas
When they have finished drawing, the teacher puts all 10 of these words in a bag, so as not to see them. The teacher shakes the bag and then pulls a word out of the bag and says what it is. If children have a picture of this food item drawn in one of their boxes, they put a tick (√) in the corner of that box.
The first child to tick all six words called out by the teacher shouts Bingo! and then tells the teacher the names of the food in the boxes. If all those words have been called out, that child is the winner.
BINGO
BINGO
If children are reading and writing, they could also write the words for each of the items in the boxes.

16. 3.2 English Snap Game to practice and review vocabulary words
Make several sets of 12 playing cards using pictures from a lexical set, such as jobs. Make sure that within each set there are at least three or four cards with the same pictures on them. Ask learners to play in groups of four.
All cards are dealt out to each member of the group, face down. Players keep their cards face down on the table. They pick up their top cards and then simultaneously turn them over on the table. They then say which job is pictured on their individual cards. For example: Doctor.
If two identical cards are turned over, the first player in the group to shout Snap! wins all the cards on the table. The winner of the game is the person with the most cards when all the cards have been turned over.

17. 3.3 Listen and Say the Rhyme or Sing the Song
Another great way to encourage learners to listen is to say a rhyme or sing a song and ask them to repeat the lines and join in with you.
Weather Song 1 It's raining, it's pouring, The old man is snoring. He went to bed and he bumped his head, And he couldn't get up in the morning!
Weather Song 2 The sun has got its hat on. Hip, hip, hip hooray! The sun has got its hat on, And it's coming out today!

18. 3.4 Surveys
Surveys are a great way to get children moving around the classroom and asking and answering questions
Survey sheets can be created quite simply, and once children are able to read and write, can be completed with words.
Completing a survey is a good cross-curricular activity as it involves math and can result in putting together different types of charts.
At the end of a survey, all the information should be collated so that the results can be discussed.

19. Dialog used for the topic of Shopping
3.5 Dialogues
Dialog used for the topic of Shopping
An important part of Listen and Say activities that should be used frequently.
Children can be involved in dialogue practice in pairs, groups or as a whole class.
Depending on the level of the students, extended dialogues can be created to discuss the topics you are studying in class.

20. Focusing on Listening Through Various Listen and Read Activities
4.1 Pairs Game
This game involves from 6 to 8 pairs of cards with the same pictures (or words) on them.
One set of cards is provided to pairs of students. For example, if the students are studying pets, the set of cards might include two cards of the following: cat, dog, turtle, bird, rabbit and turtle.

21. Cont… cat dog turtle bird
To help develop reading skills alongside listening, the pair of cards could include the picture on one card and the written word on the other.
Cont…
In pairs, mix up the cards and then place them all over the desk face down. One by one, students turn a card over, say what is on that card, and then try and find the matching card.
When students find a matching set, they keep these two cards. If they don't find a matching set, they turn the two cards over again and their partner then tries to find a pair.
The trick in winning is to listen carefully to your partner and remember where each card is on the desk. The winner has the most pairs of cards at the end of the game.
cat
dog
turtle
bird

22. Focusing on Listening Through Listen and Write Activities
5.1 Memory Quiz
In this activity, the teacher lists a lot of words linked to whatever topic the students are learning about in class on the blackboard (for example: 10 zoo animals).
The children are asked to write them down.
The children then try to remember these words.
The teacher takes the words off the board and the learners put away their lists.
The children then try to recall each word - Who can remember the most words?
camel parrot
deer penguin
giraffe tiger
kangaroo snake
ostrich bear

23. The bird flew up into the trees.
5.3 Jigsaw Listening
Activity that encourages students to listen very carefully for information and to share that information with their group.
2. To begin, randomly call out a number. Students with that number come forward. Tell them one line of a poem that they have to remember. Then those students return to their group and recite the line. Someone else in their group writes this line down
1. Split the class into groups of four, and number each person in the group from 1 to 4. (Before starting the activity, make sure students know their numbers well.)
The bird flew up into the trees. 1 4 2 3

24. The leaves fluttered in the wind.
Cont….
3. Call out another number. Students with that number come forward and listen for the next line of the poem. (To make the activity more challenging, do not allow a lot of time for the learners to write down each line.) Continue until you have finished the poem.
4. The winning group is the first to finish the poem and get it completely correct when they read it out. Often this means that groups will have to read out their poem several times in turn. They may not have it right the first time and will have to try again. This means they will need to listen carefully to each others' poems to correct their own.
The leaves fluttered in the wind.
Finish! The bird flew up into the trees. The leaves fluttered in the wind. The clouds moved quickly in the sky.

25. 5.4 Parts of a Song
Another fun activity is to use a song with a clear story in it. The song may tell a story through three sections or verses, involving a beginning, middle and end.
(Keep in mind that the first verse is the easiest to work with, while the last verse is the most difficult, so you may want to arrange the groups so students receive the verse that is most suitable for their ability.)
Then groups tell the rest of the class their complete story. You will find that the groups have created three completely different stories.
Finally, let the class hear the whole song and listen for the original story
Create three groups in the class. Have each group listen to only one of three verses. Have them listen to it twice and make notes. (The rest of the groups should not listen to the verses the other groups hear.)
After listening to their verse, each group goes away and creates a story around it. They have only heard the beginning, middle or end of the story, so they need to imagine what happens in the other two sections.