Unit 7
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 4:12 pmDear colleagues,
About developing listening skills, my answers are the following:
1. Which of the activities from exercise 2 do you use in class? Do you have any other favourite activities that you use to help develop students' listening skills?
Most of the activities I use in class fall into the Listening activity + worksheet category. I used to do some dictations in the past, but students did not seem to like them and classes got a bit rough. I just decided to skip this part. Last year I saw that in the Resource Pack of my new coursebook there are brief dictations, just in case the teacher wants to use them. Moreover, I sometimes bring in several songs that students have chosen previously to class so that they can work with the lyrics that I have prepared in some worksheets.
In split hours (once a week) students are in small groups. This is when students can prepare their oral presentations about the topic they prefer in front of the class. This is similar to what they will have to do for their oral exam at the end of the academic year. While a student is making his/her presentation, the rest of the class listens very attentively in order to grade him/her by means of a very simple rubric that helps me mark the student. Although I had thought that they would be unfair with their peers, results made me aware that they are not!!! Perhaps because they are interested in their classmates’ likes this activity is their favourite one. Each one becomes a speaker once and a listener several times. When the oral presentation, that lasts for five minutes maximum, is over, students ask questions and real interaction takes place.
When I am with the split class, I may show them a presentation on a topic that may interest them or show them a brief video from Internet so that students can make a summary, for example. Students could also prepare a show and tell speaking activity so that the rest of the class improves their listening.
2. What is the balance of interactive/non-interactive listening activities that you use in your classes?
Most of my activities are non-interactive. Basically I tend to use non-interactive listening activities (recording and worksheets – 70%). This is due to the big number of students in my classes (32-33 4th of ESO students). However, I sometimes read to my students and start a dialogue to check their understanding, as a basis to introduce a live teacher listening; this is the occasion when I can add some anecdotes and non-sensitive personal information (30%)
Greetings,
Marta
About developing listening skills, my answers are the following:
1. Which of the activities from exercise 2 do you use in class? Do you have any other favourite activities that you use to help develop students' listening skills?
Most of the activities I use in class fall into the Listening activity + worksheet category. I used to do some dictations in the past, but students did not seem to like them and classes got a bit rough. I just decided to skip this part. Last year I saw that in the Resource Pack of my new coursebook there are brief dictations, just in case the teacher wants to use them. Moreover, I sometimes bring in several songs that students have chosen previously to class so that they can work with the lyrics that I have prepared in some worksheets.
In split hours (once a week) students are in small groups. This is when students can prepare their oral presentations about the topic they prefer in front of the class. This is similar to what they will have to do for their oral exam at the end of the academic year. While a student is making his/her presentation, the rest of the class listens very attentively in order to grade him/her by means of a very simple rubric that helps me mark the student. Although I had thought that they would be unfair with their peers, results made me aware that they are not!!! Perhaps because they are interested in their classmates’ likes this activity is their favourite one. Each one becomes a speaker once and a listener several times. When the oral presentation, that lasts for five minutes maximum, is over, students ask questions and real interaction takes place.
When I am with the split class, I may show them a presentation on a topic that may interest them or show them a brief video from Internet so that students can make a summary, for example. Students could also prepare a show and tell speaking activity so that the rest of the class improves their listening.
2. What is the balance of interactive/non-interactive listening activities that you use in your classes?
Most of my activities are non-interactive. Basically I tend to use non-interactive listening activities (recording and worksheets – 70%). This is due to the big number of students in my classes (32-33 4th of ESO students). However, I sometimes read to my students and start a dialogue to check their understanding, as a basis to introduce a live teacher listening; this is the occasion when I can add some anecdotes and non-sensitive personal information (30%)
Greetings,
Marta