Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Abashiri]

I was just wondering if anyone had some good ideas on how to improve students' English listening ability.

Are there some links with good activities or some teaching suggestions?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[mrsquirrel]

Practice different listening skills.

Gist, detail, comprehension, numbers etc

Make sure you paraphrase questions to challenge the better students.

Keep it short though. I normally have two gist questions then 3-4 other questions and that is it. Then I move onto an activity of some sort.

It's not only about the listening but the actual understanding of what is being said.

[tob55]

Remember, nothing replaces practice, so I usually provide a couple of things for students:

1. Structured listen and repeat drills 3x is best.

2. Give students an opportunity to here a give word or phrase by itself as well as in a dialogue.

3. Correct pronunciation right away so you don't teach bad habits. (What students hear isn't always what is being said.)

4. Don't rush students beyond their level of understanding. Students learn at different rates, so keep this in mind.

The more students hear words, phrases and sentences the easier it is is for them to develop their own language comprehension...Hope these few things will help

[ddeubel]

I assume you want something for a whole class activity.

But for self instruction, at home, there are some great places.

http://tvesl.com is a new one which is quite dynamic and offers a free set of videos. Students listen and then fill in what they hear. Also
E! http://www.eviews.net/library.shtml
http://cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/listen_index.htm
Literacy Net _- http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html
Many Things www.manythings.org

I also use karaoke (see how to do this by clicking karaoke on my site). CLOZE activity. Remove words and students listen for them. Also, you might try my leveled readers for stories.

In class, I always try to give the students a chance to listen first, without the book. I think that this should be the rule, not the exception. Students should be trained to do this, try this and put their pencil in their book, close it and listen. Guide them with comprehension questions or just asking, What did she say? He say?

Listening believe it or not, as tob suggested, is not just what you hear or even the comprehension of what you hear. It is a skill of being able to "guess". Yes, guess. To know from the context and predict. So I often do what I call the blablablablabla exercise to practice this skill. I play a passage and then I say.... She went to the blablabla.... The students then repeat, She went to the (correct answer). I train them to be able to do it in pairs or 3s themselves, one student a teacher. Works well and students really enjoy the blablabla and relax ....

DD

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Interesting, ddeubel. When I have my students listen for specific vocabulary, I instruct them by saying: For example, blah blah blah GRANDFATHER blah blah blah blah SISTER, so they know which words to listen for. They seem to enjoy it and know right away what's expected of them.

I usually have them listen once through for the topic, a second time for the speakers, again for specific vocab, and then give them comp questions. If they can't answer them I'll let them listen again for the answers. But my students are very low. Another thing is to keep the exercise short (under 2:00 if possible).

www.esl-lab.com

has got some very good general listening exercises..

My old website,

www.atueli.blogspot.com

has got some good links for all levels, but is more academically focused.