Too often, students sit and listen and do nothing with the information. Most importantly, give meaningful feedback on how students can improve their listening skills. Begin by teaching the three skills good listeners have and then modify sample assignments to assess listening. Do not take for granted that students know how to listen. ■ Teach, assign, assess, and provide feedback on listening explicitly. Below I offer several key ways teachers can modify their practice to embed active listening into their classrooms and build communities that value listening. Teachers create spaces and communities that regularly engage in listening and provide models of what this looks like. Perhaps we can blame this tendency on social media or our political landscape, but as an English teacher and teacher educator, I find myself asking: Have I prepared my students to listen well? Do we, as ELA teachers, teach students the intricate skills of being good listeners? What resources exist to support the teaching of listening?Ĭlassrooms that value listening do more than teach lessons about what good listeners do. We are trained to react and quickly respond without taking the time to absorb ideas and consider an opposing position. In today’s world we so often as listeners focus on formulating our responses that we forget to listen to understand what a person has to say. Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Listening has, unfortunately, become the “new democratic deficit” (Dobson). This game requires students to listen carefully and encourages them to remember important information and details.This post presents an excerpt from Katie Alford’s July 2020 English Journal article, “Explicitly Teaching Listening in the ELA Curriculum: Why and How.” Each time a lie (or change) is read out, the students must stand up. Then ask them to read it aloud again, but to make some changes. Ask one student at a time to come to the front of the class and read aloud a passage which you have chosen, e.g. This game can be a lot of fun, and encourages students to listen to each other.ĭivide the class into two teams A and B. Which two students would like to be famous actors?Īward a point to the first team to answer correctly.Get the students into small teams and ask them to put their hand up if they know the answer to a question, e.g. When all of the students (or half of the students, if you have a large group) have been interviewed, explain that you are going to hold a quiz about the class. Try to make a note of some of the answers. Which country would you most like to visit?.What is your favourite colour/food/band?.Ask the rest of the class to ask them any questions they like (as long as they are not too personal!), A conversation between friends about holidaysĪsk one student at a time to go to the front of the class.This activity works best if you give students a theme or role-play, e.g. You could then ask students to perform their dialogues again to the rest of the class, or to swap with other pairs. When they have finished the conversation, they should check what each other has written and put the two sides of the conversation together. When student A is speaking, student B should write down what they are saying and vice versa. The following activities are a fun way of getting students to concentrate more and to remember information.Īsk students to get into pairs to write a dialogue. Learning to listen to each other more carefully can build their ability and confidence in real-life situations, in which they will need to focus on both listening and speaking. ELT Master's Dissertations Award winners.Taking responsibility for own professional development.Supporting ongoing teacher professional development.Understanding educational policies and practices.Taking responsibility for professional development.
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