Tutor For further exercises in stress, intonation and rhythm, you may want to consult:

Laroy, Clement. Pronunciation. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Sauvé, Virginia. Voices and Visions: An Introduction to Teaching Adult ESL. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2000.

b. Listening for Comprehension

Many of the exercises highlighted in the manual were also designed to improve listening comprehension. In Session 4, a lesson plan for Carine was highlighted that used TPR (Total Physical Response). The objectives of the lesson were for Carine to:

  • review nouns (for the living room).
  • learn the following prepositions: on, in, next to, to the left of, to the right of, above.

Another objective, although not specifically highlighted, was to improve her listening comprehension skills. In this lesson, the stress, intonation and reduced forms were not overtly analyzed. Importance was placed on her ability to respond to what she heard. There may have been words that she did not fully understand when her tutor spoke, but her success at completing the exercise meant that she was able to comprehend the important information.

i. Picture-based listening exercises

With basic learners, you may want to consider using pictures to help assess and improve your learner's listening proficiency.

  1. Take a series of pictures and make a story using them. While the learner is listening to the story, have her put the pictures in their appropriate order. Say the story again and give the learner a chance to reorder the pictures, if necessary. For a higher-level learner, have her retell the most important ideas in the story.