Pre-listening

1. The teacher shows a picture and elicits facts the students know or can guess about the person. He writes the facts on the board: Facts we are sure about/ Facts we aren’t sure about
2. The teacher teaches a few key-words- without which the listening would be difficult to understand. If there are proper names, they should be written on the board and pronounced by the students.
3. The teacher sets the task: these pictures tell a story. Listen and put them in the correct order.

Then the students listen to the text for the first time. Afterwards in pairs or in groups they discuss and put the pictures in order. Before listening for the second time the teacher again sets the tasks, which will check understanding of details.

They are checked after the second listening (post-listening stage) and may include:

True-false questions; multiple-choice questions; filling in a chart; putting items in order(words, phrases, sentences, pictures; responding with a tick; gap filling; answering questions; categorizing(e.g. advantages/disadvantages); re- ordering jumbled text; etc.

As the follow-up the following activities may be suggested:

Discussion of the theme of the text; retelling; practicing vocabulary or grammar; practicing functions; writing a letter to a character; writing a review; role-play.

1. Using videos/DVDs in the classroom

Using a video tape is very similar to using an audio tape, however there are soma differences:

• Video is easier to understand because students can see the persons they are listening to.
• Monologs are fine on an audio tape; but when there are more than one person is speaking, when there are many dialogs, unfinished sentences, etc video is better.
• Video is more like real life, as a result it is more motivating
• Video tapes are usually very long. It is advisable to select 10-15 minute segments of viewing material.
• The teacher should watch the video before the class begins and think of pre-viewing, while-viewing and post-viewing activities.

Some technique for using a video as a teaching aid:

1. silent viewing- students view an extract without the sound playing. Students in groups discuss what they think the characters are saying. Teacher replays the segment with the sound.

2. freeze frames -s tudents watch an extract. Teacher pauses video before an important event. Students guess what will happen next.

3. sound only- students only hear what is going on, they cannot see the picture. Students listen to the dialog and try to guess where the scene takes place and to whom the speakers are talking.

4. jigsaw viewing - the class is divided into two groups: the watchers and the listeners. The listeners sit with their backs to the television. The listeners can hear what is going on by the use of headphones. The watchers face the television but cannot hear anything because the sound has been turned off on the television. The teacher plays the segment, then makes pairs consisting of one watcher and one listener. Pairs discuss to get a full picture of a segment. Then they tell the story in full. This is then followed up by a second viewing where everybody can see and hear what is going on.

5. Testing listening skills

All post-listening activities can be used for checking listening comprehension. The choice of them depends on the stage of instruction, students’ proficiency, age and other factors.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-04