HOW TO TEACH LISTENING

Margarita Herrera Parrado Jorge Meja Osorio Carol Modera Romero Brady Narvez Campo

CONTENT
Definition Why

teach listening? Teachers and students difficulties Top tips A successful listening activity Listening exercises

LISTENING
Listening

is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning (Howatt and Dakin). An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously.

WHY TEACH LISTENING?

Students

hear different accents and varieties. Listening helps students to acquire language subconsciously. Listening is a receptive skill. Education. Mass communication.

WHAT A DIFFICULT TASK

Teaching

listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any ESL teacher. Sometimes students feel frustrated because they find listening difficult Why?

DIFFICULTIES

Students are trying to understand every word. Students go back trying to understand what a previous word meant. Students just dont know the most important words. Students dont recognize the words they know. Students have problems with different accents. Students get tired. Students have mental block. Students are distracted. Students cannot cope without images. Students have hearing problems.

 PRE Tell

LISTENING:

TOP TIPS

your students DONT WORRY

Make

sure students know what they are listening for before you start listening

Give

questions to check students comprehension

for any words that your students may not

Check

know

 Check

know

for any words that your students may not

Short Stop

listening

the recording

 WHILE Try

LISTENING:

to play the recording once for overall comprehension and then for specific details. notes ( dates, places, people)

Take

Repeat

parts

the recording especially in the difficult

 POST-LISTENING:
Compare

their notes in small groups. debates and answer questions.

Encourage Write

a summary of the main points and then compare. a list of any new vocabulary.

Make

REMEMBER!!!
Try

to use as many different sources of listening material as you can:

advertisements, news programs, poetry, songs, extracts from plays, speeches, lectures, telephone conversations, informal dialogues.

A SUCCESSFUL LISTENING ACTIVITY

Ideas

to make the best listening activities ever!

1
Reduce distractions and noise during the listening segment.

2
make

sure the equipment produces acceptable sound quality.

3
Read

or play the text a total of 2-3 times.

4
Play

a video clip with the sound off and ask students to make predictions about it.

5
Give

students a listening task to do between classes.

LISTENING EXERCISES

SOURCES

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Saricoban-Listening.html http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/esl/listenin g.cfm http://es.scribd.com/doc/14427811/How-to-TeachEnglish-Jeremy-Harmer http://esl.about.com/cs/teachinglistening/a/a_tlisten.ht m http://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/articles/whyyour-students-have-problems-with-listeningcomprehension.html