Teaching Children English Through Listening
Listening Exercises
1. Setting the context
Give an idea about who is speaking, where and why. In normal life we normally have some idea of the context of something we are listening to.
2. Generating interest
Motivate, raise students’ interest or remind them why they do the listening exercise . Personalisation activities are very important here. Discussion about the topic. Make them more willing to listen.
3. Activating current knowledge - what do you know about…?
4. Acquiring knowledge
Students may have limited general knowledge about a topic. Providing knowledge input will build their confidence for dealing with a listening. This could be done by giving a related text to read, or, a little more fun, a quiz.
5. Activating vocabulary / language
Children can brainstorm language before hand, and then perform the scene. By having the time to think about the language needs of a situation, they will be excellently prepared to cope with the listening.
6. Predicting content
Once we know the context for something, we are able to predict possible content. Try giving students a choice of things that they may or may not expect to hear, and ask them to choose those they think will be mentioned.
7. Pre-learning vocabulary
When we listen in our first language we can usually concentrate on the overall meaning because we know the meaning of the vocabulary. For students, large numbers of unknown words will often hinder listening, and certainly lower confidence. Select some vocabulary for the students to study before listening, perhaps matching words to definitions, followed by a simple practice activity such as filling the gaps in sentences.
8. Checking / understanding the listening tasks
By giving your students plenty of time to read and understand the main listening comprehension tasks, you allow them to get some idea of the content of the listening. They may even try to predict answers before listening.
While-listening exercises
Gap filling; a
1. Setting the context
Give an idea about who is speaking, where and why. In normal life we normally have some idea of the context of something we are listening to.
2. Generating interest
Motivate, raise students’ interest or remind them why they do the listening exercise . Personalisation activities are very important here. Discussion about the topic. Make them more willing to listen.
3. Activating current knowledge - what do you know about…?
4. Acquiring knowledge
Students may have limited general knowledge about a topic. Providing knowledge input will build their confidence for dealing with a listening. This could be done by giving a related text to read, or, a little more fun, a quiz.
5. Activating vocabulary / language
Children can brainstorm language before hand, and then perform the scene. By having the time to think about the language needs of a situation, they will be excellently prepared to cope with the listening.
6. Predicting content
Once we know the context for something, we are able to predict possible content. Try giving students a choice of things that they may or may not expect to hear, and ask them to choose those they think will be mentioned.
7. Pre-learning vocabulary
When we listen in our first language we can usually concentrate on the overall meaning because we know the meaning of the vocabulary. For students, large numbers of unknown words will often hinder listening, and certainly lower confidence. Select some vocabulary for the students to study before listening, perhaps matching words to definitions, followed by a simple practice activity such as filling the gaps in sentences.
8. Checking / understanding the listening tasks
By giving your students plenty of time to read and understand the main listening comprehension tasks, you allow them to get some idea of the content of the listening. They may even try to predict answers before listening.
While-listening exercises
Gap filling; a