skknlistening

Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively FOREWORDS English has become more and more important and essential in our life, especially in the time of globalization. The education and training ministry then puts an emphasis on the teaching and learning English as one of the strategies enhancing and developing the people intellectual standard of the nation. Therefore English, which is one of the subjects compulsorily taken by students in many secondary schools, has appeared to be favorite ones. Because it is a successful key to those who have ambitions to reach to the international standardized schooling or study abroad. However, so far the new program has just passed by the first stage after replacing new books together with the innovation of the teaching methods, communicative approach in which in addition to the theme language materials more closed and practical to life than the old books, the four skills play very important roles in the teaching and learning English. And of four skills, listening skill seems the most difficult. It is not only difficult for learners but also for teachers, especially in teaching listening English 9.From the problems above, I may give some suggestions and solutions which all teachers can consult and give advice so that we have a good teaching materials for listening English 9. Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 1 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively I .THE PROBLEMS IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING LISTENING SKILL. 1. Firstly listening skill itself is the most difficult because it is a receptive skill. However listening is usually more difficult than reading due to the fact that the language perceived through listening is speech which is somewhat different from writing texts. When spoken, the ideas are not arranged as orderly and closely as the ones in writing texts. They may be repeated many times, some words are redundant, ungrammatical and abbreviated. During speaking people often use slang, reduced words and speak with a halt ,which troubles listeners a lot . Moreover when listening one can only hear few times while they can reread the text many times. 2. Students especially in the rural areas have few chances to meet and communicate with foreigners .Encountering the listening exercises with the accents of native people, students hardly catch what they are talking. Due to the fast speech of pronunciation together with different voices, many students find it really uneasy. Beside there are not very good tapes which are atmospheric and seem noisy. As a result it is difficult for students to focus on the listening contents. 3. Practically there are many students who do not have opportunities to practice deeply and continuously from grade 6 to grade 9, so their knowledge is still limited. There are even some students who can not communicate with others with simple sentences and structures much less listening to academic topic in the program such as fashion, disaster, solar energy, UFO etc. II. SOLUTIONS FOR THE PROBLEMS. 1. Home preparations. Teacher asks students to study the lesson first at home. They are supposed to read the introductions, discover the topic, and look up new words. Similarly the teacher has to check the stereo, the tape if they are good enough, the volume is in the right level neither too high nor too Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 2 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively low .Also, the teacher should spend much time and energy on designing teaching aids which are attractive, sufficient, and unique since these characteristics are the powerful points that amaze and interest students in discovering the lesson. 2. Teacher activities during the lesson. -Introduce the topic, contents related to the listening exercises -Explain the conception if necessary. -Pre-teach new words, new grammar points, review language materials. -Give instruction before listening like pre-questions, predictions. -Elicit more and help weak students. 3. Students’ activities. -Pay attention to teachers instructions. -Take notes of new vocabulary and grammar. -Read the questions carefully. -Skim the grid, the filling gap to predict the contents. -Ask the teacher for help if there is something unclear. -Do not panic, think of and trace the contents during listening. -Write any thing caught without waiting for the end of the lesson. Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 3 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively III. CLASSIFICATION OF LISTENING TASK IN ENGLISH 9. Unit Name Topic Listen for gist Listen for details Infer from the lines 1 A visit from a pen pal Visit the USA v v 2 Clothing Finding the lost little girl v 3 A trip to the countryside The trip to Ba’s village v 4 Learning a foreign language Nga’s studying English V 5 The media The history of the media v 6 The environment Ocean pollution v 7 Saving energy Solar energy v v v 8 Celebrations Auld Lang sync v 9 Natural disasters Living with earthquake v 10 Life on other planets The Moon condition v II. SHAPE OF A LISTENING LESSON. As in a PPP lesson there are 3 stages: pre-listening, while listening, post-listening. 1.Pre-listening. Preparing students to listen and think about what they are to about to hear – ordering, guessing tasks. Completion of the Pre-listening Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 4 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively task happen after the first listening and is used for fluency listening- getting the main ideas. 2.While listening. The main listening task; getting students to focus on the details by using the listening guide-grids, comprehension questions, listen and draw and selecting task. Completion of the While listening task usually happens after the second listening and is used for accuracy listening- getting the facts or details. 3.Post-listening. An extension activity, usually integrated skills, information transfer, personalization-recall, writing it up, discussion tasks. V.ACTIVITIES FOR EACH STAGE OF THE LISTENING SKILL LESSON: 1.Pre-listening. a. T/F statements predictions: Teacher can design a flipchart with T/F statements, and then asks students to predict before listening. bOpening predictions: Teacher does not give the students any statements, only sets the scene and gets students to guess things the will hear in the text. cOrdering: Teacher gives students jumbled sentences or pictures on the board. Students must discuss in pairs or groups and predict the correct order. dPre-questions: Teacher puts a few pre-questions on the board, one questions for each main point in the text. Students read and think about the pre- questions which focus student attention to the text. e. Imaginary story: Teacher asks students to use the cues in the book and build up a story by himself .Then he asks others to check late if the story is similar to the listening text. 2. While-listening. a. Selecting: T shows the class a set of pictures .They are similar but not the same, asks students to listen and recognize the differences and select them. Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 5 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively b. Grid: T puts the grid on the board and asks students to copy it then he asks them to listen for facts or details from the text .Some of the information has been filled in so as to guide their listening .Students have to listen to finish the rest. c. Deliberate mistakes: T gets students to predict what will be in the picture .Then T asks students to listen to a description of the picture with deliberate mistakes .Students have to find out and correct them. d. Paste pictures: Teacher shows a flipchart with a map and names on the board. Students have to listen to the tape, and then paste the names on the suitable places on the map. e. T/F statements: Teacher asks students to read the sentences and listen to the tape, after that recognize which sentences do not have the same ideas as in the texts and correct them. f. Filling gaps: Teacher shows some open sentences on the board and asks students to read before listening .and the students have to seek the main ideas, words to fill in the gaps. 3. Post-listening. a. Check and get feedback: Teacher checks students’ answers or he can instruct students to check each other about whether students can finish their work or not. He also helps students to correct their mistakes and be aware of the cause of students’ failure in the listening exercises. b. Recall a story: Teacher asks students to retell the story from the listening text in their own words .However the teacher helps them by doing a mini drill first and allows them to use pictures and cues to finish the story. c. Role-play: Teacher chooses a related-usually personalized topic that is inspired by the listening text and designs a production activity for students to do. Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 6 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively d. Discussion: For higher level, Teacher can get students to discuss the “Between the line” and “Beyond the line” issue found in the listening text – in pairs, in groups or as the whole class. The discussion gets students to express their opinions on the topic. VI.SAMPLE LISTENING OUTLINES . UNIT PRE - LISTENING WHILE - LISTENING POST - LISTENING Downtown Kill It is time to…… It is up to …… Students recognize the differences of the pictures And redict Select the correct pictures Check each other the answers Play the role of Carlos to talk about the trip 2 Announcements Attention Missing Entrance fair Slapthe pictures with description Build up a story and guess Selecting the correct pictures Mapped dialogue about the description of the father to the policeman. 3 Pick up Continue Fuel Westward Instead of Direction Review the language of the direction 1 student gives a journey story and others guess Paste the names on the correct letter. Give the correct answers to complete the dialogue about the trip. 4 Terrible Improve Chat about the skills Teacher asks if Ss are good at a skill or not Students predict the sentences True-fault statements Closed test about Nga and encourages Ss to memorize 5 Telegraph Major Journalism Assignment Newsreel Commercially Review words of dates and years Students use their knowledge to predict Complete the grid Teacher asks some students to play role of a historian to make a speech about the media history Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 7 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively Unit PRE - LISTENING WHILE - LISTENING POST - LISTENING 6 Extremely Sewage Pump Spills Marine Carelessness Brainstorm causes to sea pollution. Read the grid. Predict the content. Complete the grid. Play roles of a conservationist and a news reporter 7 Effective Solar Nuclear Panel Advanced Give ideas about the advantages of solar energy. Predict T/F statements. Check T/F statements. Fill the gaps. Mapped dialogue on the arguments of the solar energy and others. 8 Acquaintance Kindness Trusty Introduction on the cultural features of the song. Fill in the gap. Singing contest. 9 Zone Block Rollers Corner Brainstorm the result after an earthquake. Predict. Complete sentences. Give speech on actions during earthquake. 10 Font of Sound Craters T/F prediction Check T/F statements Memorize the content thought a filling gap text. VII. AMAZING TIPS. 1. Teachers tips. a. Elicitations: The listening lesson itself is uninteresting one and seems to trouble students so the more Teacher uses elicitations, the more students feel confident in participating the lessons. *For example: In the lesson of unit 9, Teacher asks: - Where do we place books? - Is it suitable to place heavy books on the top shelf? - Which things are related to books? - Where should we stand in the room during an earthquake? Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 8 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively - Can we stand in the center, corner of the room, or sit under the ed and the table? b. Clear instructions: Your students may not finish their task if they do not know how to do it. So it is advisable to give clear explanations to them until they know what to do. It is suggested that you demonstrate the activities better than to utter a long and complicated speech. c. Attractive teaching aids: If the teacher spends more time on designing activities which are attractive and useful enough, he can get a success over 50% of the lesson. Because the colors and the designs not only fascinate students’ attentions but also encourage students to discover heartily the lessons. For example in unit 3 the teacher can prepare a map like the one in students’ books page 25. The map is large enough for students to observe. Also, he writes some name cards in order that students paste the names cards on the right places on the map. d. Games and competition: One of the most important steps in a perfect listening lesson is the way the teacher gets feedback. After each activity, to avoid monotony and simplicity, the teacher should arrange various activities with games and competitions .All students want to win and this feeling is active and encouraging. Therefore through games, students would show the teacher the achievements they have made; furthermore the teacher had better compliment them on good contributions and cooperation. e. Attitude and behavior: It is often said that the teacher performs in class as an actor, more surprisingly a friendly entertainer. In fact the teacher can create an exciting atmosphere during teaching, which needs promoting and applying because the students feel more confident and interested in taking parting in the lesson. More importantly the students may not be bored with the listening lesson as they used to be. 2. Students’ tips. a. Observe the pictures: If the students observe the picture carefully page 25, they may get useful cues for their listening task. They can find out the journey of the map besides reading the name boxes with a little guess. The last thing he does is that he should pay more attention to the content and recognize which place comes first and then. Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 9 Help students learn listening 9 lesson effectively b. Identify the differences: Sometimes the features in the pictures also help students a lot. For example in the pictures 4b the differences between p.4bA and4bB are the colors and the sleeves (long sleeved and short sleeved), Meanwhile p4bB and 4bC is the color (white and pink).In the picture b1 and b2 page 9 the difference here is the numbers (703 and 730).Only concentrate more deeply during listening can students do their task well. c. Use their popular knowledge: In some listening exercises, students can apply their knowledge in prediction to finish the work. Let see in the grid page 43, the last line (d), it is quite easy to know that the latest media which became a major force in journalism in mid and late 1990s was the Internet. Or in the exercise of unit 9 the cue flying glass can remind students of the thing made of glass such as windows, mirrors, and cupboards… Hu nh Ng c Trungỳ ọ Tr ng THCS Nguy n Trãiườ ễ 10