WEEK 4: TEACHING LISTENING TO YOUNG LEARNERS During this class, we learned about the first skill: listening. We went over a lot of information about it:
WHAT IS LISTENING? We went over a lot of important facts about listening that covered its definition, its ability and the difference between hearing and listening. Some of them are: Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Hearing refers to the sound that you hear, whereas listening requires more than that; it requires focus. The ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages.
BACKGROUND TO TEACHING OF LISTENING: Before listening:
Plan for the listening task Set a purpose Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed Determine whether to enter the text from the top down or from the bottom up
During & after listening:
Monitor comprehension Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses Decide what is and is not important to understand Listen/view again to check comprehension Ask for help
After listening: Evaluate: comprehension and strategy use, comprehension in a particular task or area, and overall progress in listening and in particular types of listening tasks Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task Modify strategies if necessary
DEVELOPMENT OF LISTENING SKILLS: We went over ten important tips in order to be able to develop listening skills: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Face the speaker and maintain eye contact Be attentive, but relaxed Keep an open mind Listen to the words and try to picture what the speaker is saying Don’t interrupt and don’t impose your “solutions” Wait for the speaker to pause to ask clarifying questions Ask questions only to ensure understanding Try to feel what the speaker is feeling Give the speaker regular feedback
10. Pay attention to what isn’t said- to nonverbal cues
CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES AND ACTIVITIES: We had some minutes to think about 10 activities or/and techniques we can use in order to develop the listening skills in a preschool classroom. We all had a lot of different ideas, but these ones are some of them:
Give them commands Story telling Hockey Pockey Background music Sound Hunt
RULES OF LISTENING IN YOUNG LEARNERS CLASSES: We went over 9 important rules: 1. Students should be engaged on/or work in the listening task actively. 2. Students should be engaged with different listening tasks according to their age, learning style, listening capacity and phonological awareness. 3. The language teachers should train the students to listen to the English sounds carefully. 4. Teachers should train the young learners to follow simple instructions. 5. Different listening tasks should be addressed in class: Listen & Do (Maternal limit) Listen & Draw
6. 7. 8. 9.
Listen & Color (Pre-K limit) Listen & Mime Listen & Predict Listen & Respond (K limit) Listen & Write Listen & Identify Listen & Match Listen & Complete (Prep limit) Listen & Read (Prep limit- Advanced) Student should be given a different task each time they listen to the same text. Input through tapes, videos or teaching modeling should be provided; the audio tools should be in good quality. The teachers should be aware of the important of familiarity, difficulty, and teacher’s language. It is important to embed listening into stories, games, routines, rhymes, and songs. They may not understand every word, but they can understand the meaning from the context, visuals and gestures as in real life.
IN THE CLASS: We watched a video about the Be a Good Listener chart. It included some commands they have to accomplish in order to be a good listener and another about developing listening skills.