Listen On Your Feet

In this activity, students demonstrate listening skills by standing up and holding up the sign corresponding to the cues in the selection being listened to.

Preparation

Select an alternative text to be read or listened to. A sample text is provided below. Identify the focus words and prepare cue cards. If using the sample text, suggested focus words are hospital, doctor(s), nurse(s), patient, and said. Prepare multiple cue cards for the same words depending on class size and the number of words you wish to focus on.

Procedure

1. Distribute cue cards to students randomly. 2. Briefly brainstorm with students what they believe the listening is about based on the cue cards they were given. 3. Instruct students to stand up and hold up the sign and immediately sit down when they hear the word on the cue card being read. 4. Do a sample line to check instructions or model the activity. 5. Start reading at a normal pace.

Variations

1. Use picture flash cards instead of words. 2. Assign “reader roles” to some of the students in class as others listen and stand up. 3. Post a cue card on the wall; divide the class into groups and have them stand in the middle of the room. Students run/point to the words as the text is being read. If you choose to do this, you may need to change the number of focus words as well as your reading pace. 4. Instead of selecting words, have groups of students listen for words from themes; e.g., Group 1 stand up for words related to food; Group 2 stand up for words related to people; Group 3 stand up for words related to numbers. 5. Read the text again and hold a discussion based on the text. For the sample text, the discussion can focus on jobs commonly held by women and men in their countries. The discussion can be further extended with the use of video clips showing different jobs/tasks being performed by both men and women. 6. Ask students to write a paragraph or essay (depending on level) on the topic.

For the sample text, the writing can focus on comparing and contrasting jobs held by men and women in their countries and in the United States.

When to Use It

• To review vocabulary • To check listening • To energize a class • To prompt discussion • To add a kinesthetic component to an activity

Level

Skills

Practice

Materials

Short text to be read or selected listening to be played; cue cards

Preparation Time

5–10 minutes

Activity Time

5–10 minutes

Possible Resources

Songs, podcasts, video or movie segments Audio books: The Autobiography of Mark Twain https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/ autobiography-mark-twain or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/ adventures-huckleberry-finn

Sample Text:

At the hospital near where I live, all the doctors are women, and all the nurses are men. Every time new patients arrive at the hospital, they always call the doctors nurses and the nurses doctors. One day at the hospital, a doctor was talking to a patient, a man, and the patient said, “ Excuse me, nurse, when can I see the doctor?” “Listen,” said the doctor. “I’m not a nurse; I’m a doctor. And the man you think is a doctor is a nurse.” “Oh…sorry,” said the patient. “I thought the doctor, I mean the nurse, I thought the nurse said you were a nurse.” “Well, I’m not,” said the doctor. “I’m a doctor, not a nurse.” “Well, once again, sorry about that,” said the patient. “By the way, what’s your name?” “Nurse,” said the doctor. “Doctor Nurse.”