Job Discussion Forums

[justme]

Any recommendations? Any activities you find successful?

I hate teaching listening but it has the potential to be really interesting-- it just seems to fall by the wayside to other more pressing things.

For listening texts, it's for Uni students. We pretty much have the academic aspect covered, but I'm thinking of texts that are more social and realistic, and that are relevant and interesting for kids of this age and background...

For activities or lessons, I have so few in my repertoire. I'd just like to hear others' ideas....

Thanks, strangers!

[dmb]

Storytelling. 'Once upon a time' (I think the author is Morgan but not sure- I'll look it out if you want)is a good source for skeleton stories.

[justme]

Thanks, both of you. And dmb, I would like to see the storytelling thing-- I've tried stuff like that before, but can't find a good way of structuring it.

I guess I'll contribute a couple things I like to use:
First is a type of dictation. It requires a somewhat cooperative group, like one that will stop 'oof-yaa'-ing after a minute or 2. I like to use a text that's either slightly above or way above their level, and all you really need is a short paragraph (5-6 sentences). Draw the little tape player symbols on the board for stop, rewind, and play, and make sure they know those words. Tell the students you're going to be like a human tape player-- you will read the text to them at more or less normal speed, and they have to write every word you say. You can include punctuation words too, if they know those. If they get lost, they have to shout out 'stop,' and tell you to go back to the last word they have written down. Go through like this until you've read the paragraph, then have the students check with each other. Then you either write the paragraph on the board or give them copies of it to check. Once they get over whining they usually like the challenge of it. Also, you can choose some strong students to read after you, once they've gotten down how it works. Tell the student to read as fast as s/he can. I did this once with the first paragraph from a short story and for writing homework told them to continue the story, and that was kind of cool.

Another one I tried was note-taking with Aesop fables (http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/aesop/). I chose 3 short ones and read them each 2 or 3 times while they took notes, and after they work with a partner to reconstruct the story. For a follow up, you can have them work out what the moral of the story is. A similar one to this I've heard called dictocomp. Write a very short story, usually about something that happened to you in your life. Go through it and choose 10-15 important main ideas. Read it 2 or 3 times while they take notes, then have them write the story or tell it to each other. You can give points based on how many of the main ideas are present in the re-telling. You can also have them write their own stories and pull the main ideas, then have them read it to the class.

I also tried dictation once with a short, simple, rhyming poem or song. Dictate the poem to them, but say 'blank' for every other rhyming word at the end of the line, then have them fill in the blanks with their own ryhmes.

Then there's always running dictation, one of my favorite time-killers ever, but that's pretty hard to pull off with a group of 25. And that's about the extent of my fun listening stuff, but it's all dictation-based and not really all that fun... I'm trying to think up something where they prepare and memorize dialogues about some problem, but don't say what the problem is, then perform it for the class and the class works out the problem and advice to give about it....

[dmb]

Goodness me I was right it is Morgan(and Mario)
http://www.eflbooks.co.uk/book.php?isbn=0521272629&continue=%2Fbr.php%3Fcode%3DTERSGERW%26date_ord%3D%26show_im%3D
The reason I like this so much is because, well, storytelling is authentic. It's what we do. Using this book does take a bit of work. Sounds weird but you have to practice the stories beforehand to get the most from it.

[dmb]

The human tape player activity. Beware- you often get some commedian in the class who justs sits there not trying to write anything shouting 'stop' every few seconds. This activity can bomb. Then again it can work.
You mentioned a running dictation. I once tried one with a group of young arab males. They were so lazy, they would slowly saunter up to the paragraph to be dictated muttering 'hot teacher hot' then when they got there they phoned ther partner cos they couldn't be arsed to walk the 3 metres to their partner!

[justme]

Wow, I never had that one. The problem I've had with it is when a majority of the group can't stop whining about how it's difficult and they sit, huffing and puffing, until it's totally bombed. I agree you should be careful with this one, but it's cool if it works out.

What's nice is that in my school, I don't get in trouble if I chuck the comedians out of the room. I love doing that...

[Baba Alex]

[justme]

That's a really good idea. Doing things with taping native speakers is something I always want to do, but just never get around to. Also, the few times I've tried I just couldn't come out with a good enough quality tape to use in a lesson.

Thanks!

[Baba Alex]

[dmb]

Does he mind you calling him cheap?

[Baba Alex]