Listening List

Most listening tasks include the recognition, identification, selection or completion of a task. Creating a task or a purpose for listening will help the learner listen more actively.

The following listening activities may be useful in your lessons.

Listening and speaking

• Have a discussion based on something that the learner has been listening to.
• Ask the learner to paraphrase something that you or someone else has said or read out loud.
• Use comprehension questions. Don’t just ask if the learner understood you. She may say “yes” because she wants to please you and not because she really understood what she heard.

Focused listening

• Make a grid that includes various items and have the learner check off items as you mention them while reading one or two paragraphs. Include some items that you will not mention and tell them that they will not be checking off all the items.
• Listen to a variety of discourses (e.g., announcements, weather reports, interviews, lectures).
• Have the learner listen to a variety of speakers (e.g., low and high vocal ranges, different dialects, etc.) so the learner can understand more than just the tutor.
• Jigsaw listening – If you are working with two learners, have tapes with different information on the same topic. The different learners listen to different tapes and answer questions or fill in blanks based on the topic. They then get together to share the information and write down their combined answers to accomplish the task. If you are only working with one learner, you could take on the role of the second learner.
• Listen to information to make a decision.
• Talk about the visual part of listening and share gestures, movements and facial expressions (with their accompanying sounds) for some situations and concepts if your learner is from a different culture. Situations, feelings and concepts expressed visually (sometimes with sounds) can include the following: