6 Things NOT to Do in a ESL Listening Class
Listening classes can seem pretty straightforward at first.
You play the recording.
Students listen.
You speak.
Students listen.
But teaching a good listening class is in the details. Here are 6 things you don’t want to do in a ESL listening class!
Don’t just have them listen to the recordings
I cannot imagine anything more boring than just sitting in class as the teacher played recording after recording. Oh, wait. I don’t have to imagine. Unfortunately, I’ve lived through a class like that. There’s nothing that kills the morale and motivation of a class like just going through the playlist of audio recordings. Try to change it up! Give students a chance to make a conversation or share their opinion about the topic. Share your own stories that relate to the topic or add some further details about culture or habits.
2. Don’t let students “blindly” listen
Prepare students for what they are about to hear. This way, students might avoid getting frustrated and overwhelmed by not understanding what they hear, and students will be able to learn and remember better if they’ve prepared for the audio recording. How do you do this? Teach vocabulary, point out particularly difficult grammar structures, give an explanation about culture, or help “set the scene” for the environment or the conversation. THEN play the recording and have them practice recognizing and hearing what they were just taught.
3. Don’t let the material get in the way of learning
Many times, the material that comes with listening courses is . . . let’s just say . . . substandard. You might be required to use the pre-existing material (at least some of it), but make sure the recordings you use don’t get in the way of learning. Make sure each moment spent listening can help students actually improve and learn. Before using an audio clip, check to make sure it is:
Clear (Make sure the recording is clear, there’s no static or skips.)
Native (Check the vocabulary usage, for common usage and age. Vocabulary is often dated.)
Natural (Make sure the readers speak naturally, instead of over-emphasizing or speaking too slowly.)
4. Don’t limit yourself to just audio
Speaking of material, don’t limit yourself to just having audio recordings! Most students prefer having a video. There are several reasons to use videos.
Lower-level students can benefit from having visual clues to help them follow the conversation or topic. If they miss something or the video contains too many vocabulary words they don’t know, they can easily get back on track using visual clues.
Videos are just more interesting than audio recordings. If your class is struggling to focus or lacking the motivation to engage, a video might help spark their interest again.
If you are using your material to teach about culture or even pronunciation, videos can be useful tools. It may be difficult to describe Thanksgiving Day dishes or the wonder of Christmastime. Here, a picture definitely is worth a thousand words. If students are struggling with pronunciation, being able to see how the word is formed with mouth and tongue placement, could help.
5. Don’t just ask Yes/No, True/False questions
Students are bound to go into autopilot if you only use simple questions. Instead of listening to the entire recording for all the details, they’ll just be listening for the few key words in the questions. Once they’ve found the right answer, it’ll be easy for them to tune out. Give them a variety of question instead! Try open-ended questions or fill-in-the-blanks. Another thing I love to do is ask students a question that wasn’t in their textbooks. The first time, they might be shocked. “We didn’t listen for that information!” But your more motivated students will start to listen carefully to everything in the recording, because they don’t know what surprise question you’re going to ask.
6. Don’t just teach listening
There’s a world of information to teach and practice in a listening class. Instead of just focusing on the correct answers to the audio, add in sections that allow you to teach you can pronunciation, culture, vocabulary, and even grammar. Each class, you could choose an additional focus, or you could add in small sections to each lesson. If the audio recording talks about someone searching for a new job, you could add in some additional occupational vocabulary, or discuss what jobs are most desired and respected in your home country.
Listening can be such an instrumental and useful class for students, just as long as it’s taught correctly. Don’t be afraid to step out of the box, try something new, challenge students, and make the class interesting!