CHAPTER 5: TEACHING LISTENING

Chapter aims:

By the end of this chapter, students will be able to:

• explain reasons for teaching listening;

• describe subskills and ways of listening;

• demonstrate three stages of a listening lesson; and

• apply different techniques in three stages of a listening lesson.

MAIN TOPICS

• Why and what to teach

• Stages of a listening lesson

• Techniques for the pre-, while and post stage

5.1. Why and what to teach

5.1.1. Why to teach listening

Activity 1: Work in groups to brainstorm as many reasons for teaching

listening as possible. Then read the text in the box below to check if your
reasons similar or different from the author’s ideas.

According to Harmer (2010, p.133), most students want to be able

to understand what people are saying to them in English either
face-to-face, on TV or on the radio, in theaters and cinemas, or on
tape, CDs or other recorded media. Anything teachers can do to
make that easier will be useful for them. This is especially
important because the way people speak is often significantly
different from the way they write.

Listening is good for students’ pronunciation, too, in that the more

they hear and understand English being spoken, the more they
absorb appropriate pitch and intonation, stress and the sounds for
both individual sounds and those which blend together in

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 connected speech. Listening texts are good for pronunciation
models, in other words, and the more students listen, the better
they get, not only at understanding speech, but also at speaking
themselves. Indeed, it is worth remembering that successful
spoken communication depends not just on our ability to speak,
but also on the effectiveness of the way people listen. In other
words, learners cannot develop speaking skills unless they also
develop listening skills. To have a successful conversation, English
speakers must under-stand what is said to them. Therefore, the
ability to understand spoken language becomes very important
(for listening to the radio, understanding foreign visitors, studying,
etc.). To develop this ability, learners need plenty of practice in
listening to English spoken at a normal speed. In addition, listening
to spoken English is an important way of acquiring the language-
of 'picking up’ structures and vocabulary. In a situation where
learners are living in a country where English is the first language,
they have plenty of 'exposure' to the language they hear it all the
time, and they can acquire it more easily than learners who do not
hear English spoken around them, so teachers need to give these
learners as much opportunity to listen to spoken English as
possible.

One of the main sources of listening for students is the voice of

their teacher. However, it is important, where possible, for students
to be exposed to more than just that one voice, with all its
idiosyncrasies (unusual features). There is nothing wrong with an
individual teacher’s voice, of course, but there are significant
regional variations in the way people speak English in a country
like Britain. For example, the ‘a’ of ‘bath’ is pronounced like the
vowel sound in ‘park’ in some parts of Britain, but like the ‘a’ of
‘cat’ in others. In grammar, certain varieties of English within British
Isles use ‘done’ in sentences like ‘I done it yesterday’ where other
varieties would find such tense usage unacceptable. In vocabulary,
‘happen’ is a verb in standard southern English, but in parts of
Yorkshire (in northern England) it is often used as an adverb to
mean ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’ in sentences such as ‘Happen it’ll rain’.
And if there are many regional varieties in just one country, it is

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 obvious that the different Englishes around the world will be many
and varied.

Students need to be exposed to different Englishes, but teachers

need to exercise judgement about the number (and degree) of the
varieties which they hear. A lot will depend on the students’ level
of competence, and on what variety or varieties they have so far
been exposed to.

Source: Adopted from ‘Teach English’

by Doff (1988, pp. 198-199) and from
‘How to teach English’ by Harmer (2010, p.133)

5.1.2. What needs to be taught (subskills & ways)

Activity 2: Read the text in the box and find the correct word to match with
its description listed (1-10).

Listening is one of the four language skills: reading, writing,

listening and speaking. Like reading, listening is a receptive skill,
as it involves responding to language rather than producing it.
Listening involves making sense of the meaningful sounds of
language. English speakers use this by making use of context,
language and their knowledge of the world.

Like written language, spoken language has different text types,

e.g. conversations, stories, announcements, songs, instructions,
lectures and advertisements. Generally, they contain different ways
of organizing language and information, different grammatical
patterns, a particular range of vocabulary, different interaction
patterns, fewer or more participants, etc. Learning to listen
involves learning to be able to understand a range of relevant
(suitable) text types.

Listening also involves understanding different speeds of speech

and different accents. Some people speak more slowly and with
more pauses. Others speak fast and/or with few pauses. Features
such as speed of delivery and accent are part of connected
speech, i.e. spoken language in which words join together to form
a connected stream of sounds. Other features of connected

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 speech are word and sentence stress, linking sounds and words
together and the use of contracted forms. One reason why
learners have problems understanding spoken language is
because they are not used to dealing with features of connected
speech.

In reality, people do not listen to everything in the same way. There

are several different subskills. Which subskills people use depend
on their reason for listening. On the first counter with a listening
text in the classroom, learners usually listen for gist ̶ the main idea
or listen for global understanding. This subskill refers to the
occasions when listeners want to know the general idea of what is
being said, as well as who is speaking to whom and why and how
successful they are in communicating in their point. Some
examples of typical gist questions such as what problems are they
discussing? What does the speaker think of the topic? Look at the
pictures, who are the speakers talking about? Teachers tend to ask
their students to listen for gist the first time they listen, and they
usually ask students either to listen for specific information or
detail the second time. Therefore, students need to be able to
listen for specific information (e.g. times, phone numbers,
boarding gate number at the airport...). When listening for specific
information, learners do not need to understand everything, but
only a very specific part. For example, while listening to a list of
delayed trains, a passenger is only interested in hearing the news
about one particular train the one s/he wants to catch and so
s/he listens selectively for this specific information and ignores
everything else. In addition, listening for detail refers to the type
of listening that people do when they need to find errors or
determine differences between one announcement and another
one. They cannot afford to ignore anything because, unlike
listening to a list of delayed trains, they do not know exactly what
information will help them to achieve their task. In order word,
when listening to the details of some important news, people want
to make sense of every word to find out exactly what happened
and why. Listening to infer attitude (listening to see what attitude
a speaker is expressing) is also another subskill of listening or a

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thinking skill in which listeners made deductions by going beyond
what is actually stated.

Like reading, listening is a receptive skill and there are some similar
subskills such as (1) deducing meaning from context ̶ listening
to words around unknown words or thinking about the situation
the unknown word is used to try and to work out its meaning; (2)
predicting or using clues (pictures) before listening to guess what
is being said and using what is being said and speaker’s voice to
guess what will come next; and (3) listening for understanding text
structures (e.g. an announcement, an advertisement, a lecture,
etc.).

Just like reading, there are two ways of listening: extensive and
intensive listening. Extensive listening, which usually takes place
outside the classroom, means listening for pleasure, and the
teacher encourages learners to choose for themselves what they
listen to and to do so for pleasure and general language
improvement. Extensive listening can have a dramatic effect on
learners’ language learning. In contrast, intensive listening is
different from extensive listening in that learners listen specifically
in order to work on listening skills, and in order to study in which
English is spoken. It usually takes place in classrooms or language
laboratories, and typically occurs when teachers are present to
guide learners through any listening difficulties, and point them to
areas of interest.

Sources: Adapted from ‘How to teach English’,

by Harmer (2010, p. 135),
‘the TKT Course: Modules 1, 2 & 3’,
by Spratt et al. (2011, p. 44),
and from ‘How to teach listening’,
by Wilson (2011, p. 10 & pp. 82-84)

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 Descriptions Subskills /Ways of listening

1. Listening for getting the general idea of ______________

what is being said

2. Listening to a song for pleasure at home ______________

3. Using background music and speaker’ s ______________

body language to know his/her ideas

4. Listening to a speaker’s intonation to ______________

guess his/her attitude toward what s/he
is talking about

5. Focusing on the needed or necessary ______________

information and ignoring unnecessary
details while listening

6. Trying to make sense every word while ______________

listening in order to find out exactly
what happened and why it happened

7. Listening takes place in the classroom, ______________

and learners must work on listening
skills and study how language is spoken

8. Using clues (pictures in the textbook) to ______________

guess what the speaker is going to talk
about before listening

Activity 3: Look at the activities listed 1-6 from Pre-Intermediate Life (see
appendix 5,1., page 287). Which of the terms in the box match which
activities? One term can go with more than one activity.

Activities Terms

1. ________ A. Concept checking

2. ________ B. Controlled practice

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 3. ________ C. Intensive listening

4. ________ D. Listening for details

5. ________ E. Listening for specific information

6. ________ F. Activating learners’ previous

Knowledge

5.2. Stages of a listening skills lesson

Activity 4: Read the text about the main stages of a listening skills lesson in
the box below. Then put the steps listed (A-G) of a listening lesson plan into
the appropriate stage given in the table.

What are the main stages in a listening skills lesson?

The pre-listening stage

Just like in a reading skills lesson, this stage prepares learners by

getting them to think about the topic or situation before asking
them to listen to a text. Tasks can be brain-storming or discussion
tasks, where learners collect all their ideas on the topic of the text;
vocabulary to aid compre-hension; and prediction tasks, where
learners guess what they are going to listen. Two things the
teacher can do to help learners to listen to the text effectively:

1. Arouse interest and set the scene before a listening activity.

• encourage learners to think about and discuss what they are

going to hear.

• create a ‘need to know’ by telling them how the listening

task fits in with a later activity they are going to do.

• Use prompts such as realia, visuals, questions, references to

learners’ experiences, a short discussion task to arouse
learners’ interest, to activate any knowledge they have
about the topic and to help them predict what they are
going to hear.

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 2. Teach key words/phrases before listening.

It may be helpful to teach a few key words without which the

listening would be very difficult to understand. However, it is rarely
a good idea to teach in advance more than five words out of
context. Remember that the context can make the task of
understanding easier!

The while listening stage

This stage gives learners a ‘guide’ or framework to help them

practice the target skill (or listening skills) of the lesson. Tasks can
be comprehension questions where learners answer questions
based on the text, ordering tasks, where learners show that they
have understood by putting pictures or statements into the same
sequence as the text; and transformation tasks, where learners
take one format and transfer it into another.

First listening

1. Set a task to help focus on overall understanding.

This can be in the form of two or three questions or a task. Don’t

make the completion task dependent on learners catching every
detail. The teacher may want to tell learners that s/he doesn’t
expect them to understand every word.

2. Give the listening text for the first time (either play the
recording or read the text).

This is more realistic and helps learners concentrate on getting

the whole picture.

3. Feedback

• Ask learners to discuss their answers or opinions in pairs or

groups before eliciting them.

• Ask learners if they would like to hear the whole or part of

the text again before they go on the text in more detail.

Second listening

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1. Set a task to focus on more detailed understanding.

• Try to vary the listening tasks

• Introduce some questions which require learners to infer

meaning (particularly at the higher levels) in addition to
those which call for a factual answer.

2. Give the listening text for the second time.

• Make the task easier by pausing especially if learners have

to write notes.

• Monitor and assess how well learners are doing the task

3. Feedback

• Again, encourage learners to work together before eliciting

their responses.

The post listening stage

This stage is like the follow-up stage. After learners have practiced
the target skill in the while listening stage, they do an extension
activity which helps them take information thay have learned in
the text and do something meaningful with it. Tasks in this stage
usually encourage learners to ‘respond’ to what they have just
listen, so these tasks involve productive skills (speaking and
writing). In this stage, the teacher often wants to encourage
personal responses to the text from learners by asking questions
like What did you think of what the woman did? Would you have
done that? etc. In this way listening work can be naturally
integrated with speaking practice.

After helping learners get a general understanding of the text as

well as specific information and details in it, the teacher may want
learners to go on to pick out and examine some of the language
in the listening: a point of grammar or pronunciation; a functional
or vocabulary focus. Using a listening text is a good way of
introducing and practicing language in context.

Here is a summary of the listening sequence:

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 Pre-listening 1. Activate schemata: What do I know?
2. Reason: Why listen?
3. Prediction: What can I expect to know?

While- listening 1. Monitor (1): Are my expectations met?

2. Monitor (2): Am I succeeding in the task?

Post- listening 1. Feedback: Did I fulfill the task?

2. Response: How can I respond?

Sources: Adapted from ‘Teaching Practice’

by Gower et al. (2005, pp. 90-91); and
adopted from ‘How to teach listening’ by Wilson (2011, p. 61)

The pre- The while The post

listening stage listening stage listening stage

Steps

A. Students brainstorm some words or expressions that might be in

a song about a journey.

B. Students decide together whether they would buy the song or

who they would buy it for.

C. Students follow the route on the map.

D. Students discuss the mood of the song.

E. Students act out a role play as an extension task.

F. Students read the words and sing along.

G. Students look at jumbled lines from the song and predict the
correct sequence.

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5.3. Techniques

Activity 5: Match the explanations (1-11) with the names of listening

techniques (listed A-K).

A. Comprehension questions G. Pre-questions

B. Further practice H. Recall the story

C. Grids I. Role play

D. Listen and draw J. True/False statements used for

E. Open prediction prediction

K. Write it up
F. Ordering

1. The teacher doesn’t give the students any statements, only sets
the scene and gets students to predict some of the things they will
hear in the text. Students write down their predictions. In this way
students have made their own listening guides. The teacher plays
the CD (or reads the listening text) and students tick their correct
predictions.

2. The teacher writes 5-10 statements on the board based on the

main ideas in the listening text. Only half of the statements are
true. Students copy the numbers of statements in their books. In
pairs students predict which of the statements are true and
underlines the numbers (or mark them T/F). Students call out their
predictions. The teacher does not say if they are right or wrong.
The teacher reads the text. Students tick predictions that are right
or wrong and any that they didn’t guess. In pairs students compare
and if there are disagreements; the teacher reads the text again
until everyone agrees.

3. The teacher gives students statements or pictures on the board.

Students must discuss in pairs/groups and predict the correct
order. The statements/pictures have letters a, b, c, etc. Students fill
in their chosen order 1, 2, 3, etc. in a grid. In pairs they compare
their answers. The teacher accepts different orders to create a
‘disagreement’, so it gives students a real reason for listening and

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 finding out who is right. Students listen and tick or correct their
order.

4. The teacher puts a few pre-questions on the board: one pre-

question for main point in the listening text. Students read and
think about the pre-questions. The pre-questions focus the
students’ attention but students don’t have to guess or predict the
answers if they don’t want to. After the first listening they answer
the questions.

5. The teacher chooses a topic related to the listening topic, usually

a topic personalized to the students, and design a production
activity for the students to do. For example, after doing the ‘grids’,
they will describe other classmates; or students can recount similar
stories to the listening text-things that have happened to them
personally.

6. The teacher gives students a map, a house plan or diagram or

pictures-any visual that students can draw on- draw a route, mark
changes, or label parts. The visual can be copied off the board or
given as picture prediction. The students listen to the text and
respond by drawing, filling in, labeling, numbering, etc….

7. Students dramatize the listening text, taking the roles of the

characters in the story they have just heard. This is particularly
good for students who haven’t studied the past tense but have
just heard a story in the past tense. The role-play transfers a past
tense story into the present tense. The teacher organizes the role-
play by putting all the same ‘roles’ together, eliciting and then
letting them practise what they will say, then cross-grouping so
that each new group has one of each of the different characters.

8. This is the most common ‘while-listening’ technique. Students are

given a set of questions- True/False statements, multiple choice,
and ‘Wh’ or ‘Yes-No’ questions. While listening, they answer the
questions. Sometimes these comprehension questions have two
parts; the first part help students focus on the main ideas of the
listening. Multiple -choice or True/False items are often used for
this. The second part focuses on the details- facts, figures etc. ‘Wh’
type questions are often used for this.

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 9. Students write up the information that they have in their listening
instruction. They reconstruct the text in their own words using the
notes in the grids or drawings in the ‘listen & draw’ tasks as cues.
Students practise writing in groups, pairs or individually.

10. Students re-tell the story in the listening text in their own words.
The teacher can help them by doing a mini drill first, usually the
same pictures or simplified statements that were used for
‘predicting’ in the pre-listening task or ‘ordering’ or ‘selecting’ in
the while listening task. Students practise speaking in pairs or
groups. The re-telling with a picture can also be done as a chain
story.

11. The teacher puts a table on the board and students copy it. The
teacher gets students to listen for facts or details in the text. Some
of the information has already been filled in the boxes of the table
to guide their listening. Students listen and fill in the rest, in note
form. Students work in pairs and compare to check answers, and
the teacher reads the text a second time or more until everyone
agrees on the answers.

Source: Adopted from ‘ELT Methodology’

by Nguyễn Bằng et al. (2003, pp. 110-113)

Activity 6: The techniques above can be used at different stages of a listening

lesson. For each technique, put a check ( ✓) in the correct stage.

Techniques Pre-listening While listening Post listening

Stage stage stage

A. Comprehension
questions

B. Further practice

C. Grids

D. Listen and draw

E. Open prediction

F. Ordering

G. Pre-questions

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 H. Recall the story

I. Role play

J. True/False
statements used for
prediction

K. Write it up

Activity 7: Identify technique and the aim of each task and stage in different
listening lessons.

• Task 1

Technique

Aim

Stage

The following pictures are about Mr. Lam’s daily activities. Number them
in the correct order. Then listen to the CD player to check your prediction.

Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 1, (2005, pp. 16-17)

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• Task 2

Technique

Aim

Stage

An old company director will talk about his experience of learning how
to use a computer. Read the statements below and guess whether they
are true (T) or false (F). Then listen to his talk to check if your predictions
are correct or not.
1. The man became worried when his secretary asked him to buy a
computer.
2. The man decided to take some computing lessons.
3. His son didn’t understand about the computer.
4. The man understood the lessons very well.
5. The man continued to learn how to use a computer after a few
lessons.
Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 5,(2005, pp. 16-17)

• Task 3

Technique

Aim

Stage

Listen to the two radio news stories and tick the words you hear in the
right column under New Story 1 and News Story 2.

News story 1 News story 2

healthy _____________ _____________

strong _____________ _____________
young _____________ _____________
cloudy _____________ _____________
highest _____________ _____________
wonderful
Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 7, (2005, p. 77)

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 • Task 4

Technique

Aim

Stage

Retell News Story 1 you have just heard (in Task 3) in your own words.
You can reuse adjectives in Task 3.
Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 7, (2005, p. 77)

• Task 5

Technique

Aim

Stage

Write News story 2 you have just heard (in Task 3) in your own words.
You can reuse adjectives ticked in the grids.

Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit7, (2005, p. 77)

• Task 6

Technique

Aim

Stage

Listen and choose the best answer.

1. What is the best main idea of the talk?
A. Popffero, a crowded tourist resort
B. Many changes in Popffero
C. Narrow streets and big trees
D. Advantages of changes
2. Why have people pull down small old houses?
A. to put high buildings
B. to build a car park

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 C. to enlarge streets
D. to establish a hospital
3. Where has a big hotel been built?
A. on the west coast
B. near high buildings
C. in the center of the town
D. on the side of the streets
4. How are the streets now?
A. ugly B. widened
C. resurfaced D. B & C are correct.
5. Why do some residents like changes in their hometown?
A. because they like the changes
B. because their life is better
C. because changes offer them jobs
D. because they feel happy
6. Why don’t other residents like these changes in their town?
A. because changes make them busy and tired
B. because they miss the quietness of a small town
C. because they dislike many tourists in the town
D. because their normal life has been changed

Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 8,(2005, pp. 86-87)

• Task 7

Technique

Aim

Stage

Work in groups to discuss some changes in your hometown or your

village.
Source: Adopted from ‘English 10’, Unit8,(2005, pp. 86-87)

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 • Task 8

Technique

Aim

Stage

Listen to some information about a photography club and decide

whether the statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. The Vang Trang Khuyet Club’s members are all disabled children.
2. The club’s members are now teaching photography to other
children.
3. The club’s members are exhibiting their photographs for the first
time in Hanoi.
4. The subject of their photos is the sorrow of being disabled.
5. The passion for taking photographs has helped them escape their
sorrow.
Source: Adopted from ‘English 10’, Unit4, (2005, pp.48-49)

• Task 9

Technique

Aim

Stage

Listen to some information about whales and answer the following

questions:
1. Is blue whale the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth?
2. How many tons does a blue whale weigh?
3. Why do whales like to feed in the cold oceans?
4. Where are the good feeding grounds for whales?
5. What causes the decrease in whale population?
6. What would happen if people didn’t take any measures to protect
whales?
Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 9, (2005, pp. 98-99)

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• Task 10

Technique

Aim

Stage

Listen to the conversation between Bob and Sally. Then complete Sally’s
C.V. below:

Name: Sally
Year of birth: ________________
Place of birth: _______________
General Education: _____________________
Hobbies: ____________; _________________
Future wish: __________________________

Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’ Unit 3, (2005, pp. 36-37)

• Task 11

Technique

Aim

Stage

Work in pairs. One student is Bob and the other is Sally. Bob asks Sally
some questions about her background.
Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit3,
(2005, pp. 36-37)

• Task 12

Technique

Aim

Stage

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 Work with a partner to answer the following questions. Then listen to
the tape & check your answers.
1. Is blue whale the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth?
2. How many tons does a blue whale weigh?
3. Why do whales like to feed in the cold oceans?
4. Where are the good feeding grounds for whales?
5. What causes the decrease in whale population?
6. What would happen if people didn’t take any measures to
protect whales?

Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 9, (2005, pp. 98-99)

• Task 13

Technique

Aim

Stage

You are going to hear some information about Pele. Which of the
following kinds of information will the speaker tell you? Tick a check
(✓) in the box before each kind of information.
1. Birth date 2. Birth place
3. Education 4. Present Family
5. Hobbies 6. The number of World Cups
he participated
7. Special events in his life
Source: Adapted from ‘English 10’, Unit 14, (2005, pp.142-149)

• Task 14

Technique

Aim

Stage

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 Source: Adopted from ‘English 10’, (2005, p.68)

Chapter summary

In this chapter, you have just examined:

o reasons for asking learners to listen to English texts besides

developing their listening skills;

o two ways of listening: (1) extensive listening or listening to music for

pleasure (learners/listeners have no tasks after listening), and (2)
intensive reading or listening for figuring out how language
(grammar, vocabulary as well as phonological features) is used in a
text;

o subskills of listening like listening for gist or global understanding,

listening for specific information, listening for detail, inferring,
deducing meaning from context, predicting, understanding text
structures and text types;

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 o three stages of a listening skills lesson: the pre-listening stage, the
while listening stage and the post listening stage;

o various techniques that the teacher should use in each reading stage
in order to help learners to obtain the target skill in a listening lesson.

Multiple-choice questions

For questions 1–10, look at the terms in bold. For each question, circle the
best completion/ answer (A, B or C).

1. Which is an example of authentic material?

A. a radio interview with a health expert
B. a worksheet made by the teacher
C. a recorded conversation simplified for learners
2. Which of the following are examples of extensive listening/ reading?
A. listening to audiobooks, reading newspapers in a non-focused way
B. listening to dialogues, reading articles and looking for specific
information
C. listening to songs, reading poems and studying the language they
use
3. To infer attitude/feeling/mood, learners need to ________.
A. understand what the speaker is saying, and what is being
suggested
B. develop their awareness of different registers
C. have a good ability to analyze the grammar of a text
4. An integrated skills lesson consists of ____________.
A. a chain of activities involving listening, speaking, reading or writing
B. a series of activities in which language work leads into work on texts
C. a variety of activities based mainly on pair and group work
5. Intensive listening/reading aims to _______________.
A. raise awareness of how language is used in a text
B. develop detailed understanding of topic and context
C. improve learners’ ability to deal with overall meaning

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6. When we listen/read for detail, we want to ______________.
A. understand exactly what is being said
B. get the general meaning of the text
C. identify the speaker’s or writer’s attitude
7. When we listen/read for gist/global understanding, we aim to
understand ______.
A. the general meaning of a text
B. the text in as much detail as possible
C. how main ideas are expressed in a text
8. When we listen/read for mood, we want to ______________.
A. identify the speaker’s/writer’s feelings
B. understand the general ideas in a text
C. predict how the text will continue
9. Which of the following are subskills?
A. deducing meaning from context, writing topic sentences
B. understanding advanced grammar, having a wide vocabulary
C. writing a scientific report, filling in an application form
10. Interactive listening is _____________________________.
A. listening, responding and giving feedback
B. listening for detail, mood and attitude
C. listening and identifying word stress and linking
For questions 11-25, match each listening activity/task with its correct
subskill or way of listening (listed A-H). One subskill/way of listening can go
with many tasks/activities.

Subskills/Ways of listening

A. Deducing meaning from context

B. Listening extensively

C. Listening for details

D. Listening for gist

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 E. Listening for inferring

F. Listening for specific information

G. Listening intensively

H. Predicting before listening

11. What town does Jim live in? Listen and find out.

12. Listen to the description of the boy and the girl and draw them.

13. Listen to the story and decide what is the best title for it.

14. Listen to an extract about the history of Indian Railways and identify
the years of the events given.

15. Look at two people in the photo and answer questions such as Who
are they? Do they look happy? Why? How often do they dance? Then
listen to someone talking about them to check your answers.

16. Choose any CD of a short story available in your school library. Listen
to that story and enjoy it without doing any task on it.

17. Listen to an interview with an archaeologist who is working at the

excavation site and decide the main topic of the interview.

18. Look at the photographs and decide who you think is speaking. Listen
and check your answer.

19. Listen to the conversation in Jamaican restaurant in which the waiter

describes four dishes in the menu. Use some clues (pictures and the
waiter’s descriptions) to know which dish is for the starter, which one
is for the main course and which one is for dessert.

20. Listen to a conversation between two people talking about the

adverts in their local newspaper. Then complete sentences with
missing prepositions after some adjectives.

21. Listen to three people talking about their plans and intentions. What
is their stage in life? (e.g. teenager, young adult, middle aged or
pensioner)

22. Listen to an interview of a reporter and a woman at Mardi Grass

celebration in New Orleans. Identify which sentence is about a plan, a
future intention, and a decision during the conversation.

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23. Listen to a quiz Colors and their meaning. Then complete a table about
meaning of each color in a country.

24. Listen to a description of The Wooly Worm Race and answer

questions: how often is the competition? How old do you have to be to
take part in the competition? Do you have to bring your own woolly
worm? Can you touch the worm during the race? What is the prize for
the winner?

25. Listen to a conversation between Bill and Marge and decide what
Fonos is. (Answer: Fonos is the phone company.)

Marge: Hello?

Bill: Hi, Marge. Are you sleepy?

Marge: Not anymore. Who is this?

Bill: It’s Bill. I’m out in California.

Marge: It’s two o’clock in the morning.

Bill: Yeah, but do you know how cheap it is to call at night? I’m
saving a lot of money with Fonos’ new low rates!

For questions 26-34, match the teacher’s comments and instructions with
the correct aim of the listening activity/task.

26. Some listening texts in the coursebook are extracts from real TV
programs and real conversations. The students think they’re
challenging but useful.

27. After some listening tasks, I ask my students to underline all the
pronouns and draw arrows to show the nouns they refer to.

28. My students find it hard to recognize the pronunciation of individual

words and sounds when they hear people speak in the street.

29. I always ask my students what information they can tell me about the
topic before they start listening.

30. Watch the video to see how the woman looks. How do you think she
feels?

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 31. Look at the first line of the dialogue in your books. Will the man’s
voice go up or down?

32. Before letting students listen to a weather forecast program on TV, I

usually ask my students to think of as many words connected with the
weather as possible.

33. I always have my students listen to texts from various sources such as
songs, interviews from talk shows on TV, advertisements on radio and
TV because all of these contain real spoken English.

34. Listen and underline the word in the sentence that the speaker says
most strongly.

Aims

A. Activating learners’ relevant knowledge

B. Dealing with connected speech
C. Finding connections in a listening text
D. Understanding body language
E. Working with authentic texts

For questions 35-40, look at the stages and aims from a lesson plan about
complaining. Two of the aims (A-C) in each stage are appropriate. Which
aim is NOT appropriate?

Stages Aims

35. Lead-in
• The teacher asks the students when A. to introduce the simple past
they last went on holiday and what tense
problems they can have when B. to create interest in the topic
traveling. C. to personalize the start of the
lesson
• The teacher elicits ideas about the
problems and writes them on the
board.

36. Listening
• Students listen to a customer A. to pre-teach the meaning of
new words

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 complaining in a travel agent’s. B. to check students’
understanding of the tape
• Students identify the problems
C. to provide a model of the
mentioned on the tape.
target language in context
• Students compare answers in pairs.

37. Language focus A.

• The teacher hands out the A. to give students practice in
tapescript. reading for gist
B. to focus students’ attention on
• Students identify the language of
the target language
complaining and apologizing in the
C. to provide students with a
tapescript.
record of language in context

38. Restricted practice A. to allow students to

personalize the target
• The teacher shows the target
language
language on a slide.
B. to allow students to use the
• Students try to say the phrases.
target language in a controlled
• The teacher gives feedback, way
correcting and drilling where
C. to develop students’ confidence
necessary.
in pronouncing the target
language

39. Preparation for freer practice A. to develop reading

comprehension
• Students study their role-cards:
student A is the complaining B. to give students time to think of
customer and student B is the ideas to use in the role-play
travel agent. C. to allow students to check with
the teacher what they have to do

40. Freer practice A. to focus on the form of the

• Students act out the situation in target language
pairs. B. to give less controlled practice
of the target language
C. to prepare students for real
communication

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