Young Learners Course - Listening Skills PDF

Young Learners Course Teaching Listening Skills Listening in the classroom It is clear that listening is the skill that children acquire first, especially if they have not learned to read. When the students start to learn a foreign language, it is going in through their ears...

Young Learners Course Teaching Listening Skills Listening in the classroom It is clear that listening is the skill that children acquire first, especially if they have not learned to read. When the students start to learn a foreign language, it is going in through their ears and what the pupils hear is what they remember and learn. We also try to give them as much as visual back up as possible through facial expression, movement, mime and pictures. If you are reading you can go back and check or you can reread. This is not possible while you are listening. So it is important to say things clearly and to repeat them with young learners. One has to concentrate while listening but young learners have a short attention span. Therefore, it is important not to overload children when they are working on listening tasks. When we are listening to someone speak we usually nod, comment or show some signs of understanding and if we don‟t follow then we also say so. We very seldom wait until the end of the conversation or announcement and then start asking questions regarding what we have heard. So when we present activities to children, we should ask for understanding as they listen and not check for understanding only at the end of the exercise. Some listening activities will wake your students up, make them move about, create movement or noise. Others will calm them down, make them concentrate and create a peaceful atmosphere. Different types of listening activities in the classroom Listen and Do activities Instructions Most classroom language is a type of listen and do activity. Communication is two-way, and you can gauge whether your students have understood or not. For example – “Sit down, please”, “Give this to Sally”, “Come up to the board” etc. 1  Movements The younger the pupils, the more physical activities they need. Apart from all the push, pull, close, open activities, they can also do fun things like “hop on your right foot three times, place your hand on your head and stand near the door” etc. The more language the pupils learn the more varied activities you can do with them. It will help you check classroom vocabulary, movement words, counting etc. Pupils learn from each other, even if they are unable to follow the first time they will watch and imitate the action. You can also have them take over the role of the instructor after a while and they will enjoy it. Raise your hand This can be used for a variety of exercises. The children can be asked to raise their hands when they hear a particular phonetic sound or the long and short vowels. Also they can raise their hand if the teacher misses a number while counting, if they hear a particular word which they have been taught, or if they hear a new word etc. Can you think of others? Mime stories In a mime story the teacher tells the story and the pupils and the teacher do the actions. A simple example will be: “ We are sitting on a boat and rowing. (The children mime rowing) Oh! What‟s that? I can see a bird flying.( action) and he story continues……… Drawing Listen and draw is a favorite classroom activity. However, the teacher needs to remember that drawing takes time so the pictures need to be very simple. Either the teacher or one pupils tells the other what to draw without naming the actual object. This activity is useful for checking object vocabulary, prepositions, colors and numbers. Listening for Information Listening for information is a phrase that nearly covers every aspect of listening but here we will narrow it down to mean listening for specific and detailed information. These activities can be used to check what the children know and to give new information 2  Identifying exercises You can make up very simple identifying exercises like Tape script: Has anyone seen my brother, John? He has curly hair and long ears. He is wearing a striped shirt and is carrying a football. He has football boots on his feet and is wearing blue shorts. Tick the correct picture Listen for the mistakes You can use the picture in your book but make mistakes in the text you read, and the children listen for the mistakes. The same can be done with the correct text and the wrong picture. Putting things in order Pupils listen to a text and arrange the pictures in the right order. This could be a simple story with picture cards. A series of four pictures that tell a story : 3  Gap Filling pupils can fill in the missing words of a song, a text, a time table or a table like Pupils listen to a text on the likes and dislikes of various people and fill in the table. If the pupils are unable to write then the option would be to tick answers. Name Like Smiley Face Dislike – crying face Wants to learn Susan Swimming Tennis Ballet Listen and Colour Children love colouring pictures. We can use any picture from their text book and instead of letting them colour on their own we can give instructions to colour. 4  Listen and Repeat Activities Listen and repeat activities are a great fun and give the pupils the chance to get a feel for the language – the stress, sound, rhythm and intonation. When done in combination with movements objects or pictures it helps to establish the link between form and meaning. Rhymes and Songs Most children love rhymes and like to repeat them over and over again. Rhymes are repetitive and have a natural rhythm. They are fun and play with the language. Songs have a universal appeal. For example this rhyme from Carolyn Graham‟s Jazz Chants For Children(OUP) helps children express likes and dislikes – I love coffee. I love tea. I hate the dentist and the dentist hates me. The pupils may substitute the word ‘dentist’ with a word of their choice. Activities and Ideas from: Teaching English To Children by W.A Scott & L.H. Ytreberg Listening to stories Listening to stories should be a part of every child‟s growing up years and play a vital role in the child‟s language development. The teacher should establish a story telling routine which creates an atmosphere. The children should be relaxed and therefore open to what they are about to hear. Listening to stories allows them to form their own inner pictures.. 5 6  Courtesy: Smooth Moves by Dave Hopkins Listening to stories Listening to stories should be a part of every child‟s growing up years and play a vital role in the child‟s language development. The teacher should establish a story telling routine which creates an atmosphere. The children should be relaxed and therefore open to what they are about to hear. Listening to stories allows them to form their own inner pictures. Narrating a story If you are narrating a story, then there should be no book to refer to. The teacher needs to adapt the language to their level, repeat and go back, use gestures and facial expressions and has constant eye contact. Creating stories Creating stories with children is a wonderful activity. The teacher keeps asking questions and the answers that the children provide takes the story forward. It is fun for the children as they are involved and the ending is unpredictable. It helps to put their thoughts into words. Reading stories This does not allow for the story to be changed at all. Children like their favorite stories to be repeated and usually know it word to word so any alteration will not be acceptable. This lays the foundation for their Reading, so it is advisable to allow them to hold and explore a book as much as possible. Independent Listening If possible one must always use cassettes so that children can sit and listen in peace. There is a lot of ready material available in the market for young learners. They are usually cassettes that come with a book and there is no reason why children should not listen and follow the pictures before they can read the words. Sometimes children should listen just for the sake of listening – music, poetry or a short story. Children should be exposed to as many different voices as possible and the more they hear the better they will be able to speak and write. 7  References: Songs and Rhymes for the Teaching of Better English in the Classroom Englishh by M. J. Dakin Bautz The professor Boffin reader series from Longman Self-Assignment ( not to be submitted ) Can you write a short mime story? Can you remember your favourite story from your childhood? Try to divide it up into sections. Find a key word for each section so that you can remember it, and then tell it to an audience. Record yourself reading a story then listen carefully to it. See if it needs any improvement Young Learners Course Teaching Oral skills Speaking is perhaps the most difficult skill for the teacher to teach. Children can express their emotions, communicate intentions, explore and make fun in their own language so the same is expected to be done in English. Children will often and naturally insert their native language when they can‟t find the words in English. What is important with beginners is finding the balance between providing language through controlled and guided activities and at the same time letting them enjoy natural talk. Most of them have little opportunity to practice speaking the English outside the classroom and Therefore need lots of practice when they are in class. When the students are working with controlled and guided activities we want them to produce correct language. During such activities the pupils are using the teachers language or text book language and therefore are only imitating or giving an alternative, so correction Is straightforward. However when students are working on free oral activities we want them to say what they want to say, to express themselves and their personalities. The emphasis for the pupils should be content, and then the correction should not be done while the activity is going on. 8 The teacher can keep a note and address it later. However if a pupil asks for clarification during the activity then it has to be answered immediately. In the beginning When children start learning English they need to be given language before they can produce it. Therefore at this stage the activities will be under the teacher‟s control. Here are some of the ways new language can be presented: The pupils The teacher knows what his or her students are capable of doing. So he or she says thing like „Susan can sing, Tom can draw, Joe can ride a bike‟ etc. the sentence should be true and accompanied by appropriate action and sounds. Using a puppet One of the most successful ways of presenting language to young children is through puppets or a class mascot. Having someone familiar all the time helps to develop conversation and introduce new language to children. Once the teacher has given the model the children can ask the puppet all sorts of questions and it will answer. In this way its name, address, identity, likes and dislikes will be built up in cooperation with the children. Drawings and Silhouettes The teacher can use very simple drawings, even stick figures to tell an event or a Conversation or use silhouettes on the overhead projector. Others The teacher can use simple clear pictures to present new language; mime/act situation; realia – clothes, telephone, animals, toy furniture etc. 9  Controlled practice Controlled practice goes hand in hand with presentation since it is important that children try out new language a soon as they have heard it. In controlled practice there is very little chance that the pupils can make a mistake. Example: One pupil asks : “What‟s the time?” The other answers: “It‟s ______”. Or “What‟s he doing?” “He‟s ______ ing.” Activities like these provide the basis for oral work. Their purpose is to use correct, simple, useful language within a situation or context. Learners may have to repeat sentences, be corrected and go through the same thing several times. Familiarity and safety are necessary to help build security in the language. Guided practice Guided practice follows on directly from controlled practice and will often be done either in pairs or in groups. It gives the pupils some sort of choice, but the choice of language is limited. Textbooks are full of such exercises and along with it the teacher can use mime, pictures or objects to make the content clearer and practice the words. Example: Chain work The teacher puts a number of picture cards or word cards face down on the table. Pupil A picks up one card which has a picture of apples and says: “Do you like apples?” Pupil B picks up another card on which there are some bananas and answers, “No, I don‟t like apples, but I like bananas.” It continues with other students and other cards. This activity can be used to practice whatever vocabulary or structure the teacher is working on at that time. Dialogues and Role play Working with dialogues is a useful way to bridge the gap between guided practice and freer activities when the students are ready for it. First the teacher has to present the dialogue in whatever way possible. Dialogues with some action or movement work well with children. After they have heard the dialogue a number of times, the teacher then does it with a few students. After this the teacher instructs a student-to-student interaction. They practice in pairs. 10 Example: Using objects Physical movements and objects make the language come alive for children. The teacher can ask the children to bring something to class and keep it in their pockets. The children can choose the following dialogue and go through it with as many others as possible. A: What have you got in your pocket? B: I‟m not telling you. A: Oh, please? B: O.K. It‟s a _______. There is a lot more involved than language alone in these exchanges. There are also endless ways in which this dialogue can be developed. This type of activity works well with children From age five upwards. Role-play In a role-play the students pretend to be someone else. At the beginning pupils can role play dialogues by learning them by heart, repeating after the teacher and then practice in pairs. In the next stage the pupils may substitute variables in the same core structure. In the next stage the pupils use their own language for a given situation with cue cards. However children in the ten and above age group will be suitable for this. Importance of Dialogues and Role-play: Spoken in first and second person. Texts are often in third person. Learn to ask and answer Learn to use short complete chunks of language and to respond appropriately. Learn to use right tone, stress, intonation, facial expression etc. Gives an opportunity to use natural language. Free activities Free activities focus attention on the message/content and not on the language.  There is genuine communication even though the situations are sometimes artificial. 11  They will really show whether the pupils can or cannot use the language. This cannot be assessed in a guided activity. Free activities concentrate more on meaning than on correctness – fluency rather than accuracy. Teacher control is minimal during the activity. The atmosphere is informal and non-competitive There is fun and game element in the activity. The range of free activities is endless and goes from playing card games to giving mini- talks. For young children it is based on the information gap principle. Examples: Take a picture from their textbook and tell half the class to colour half of the picture and the other half of the class to colour the other half of the picture. Once it is completed the children get into pairs and ask each other questions regarding the half of the picture they have not coloured from their partners and complete the picture. They do not show each other their coloured half till the activity is over. Then they compare pictures and see how close they are. Comparing pictures with slight differences is another activity. Take any picture from the textbook, copy and cut it up. Give one picture to each member of the group. Each pupil then has to describe to the others what is in his picture without showing it to the others. When the pupils have heard what is in all the pictures, the group decides on the correct order of the pictures. Another story telling exercise which needs more imagination and is suitable for ten to twelve year olds where everyone in the group has two objects or pictures which has to be woven into a story. The teacher starts the story and the children add their sentences based on the objects or pictures with them and continue the story. A set of picture cards can be distributed to the students. They have to find the matching pair without showing their card. They have to describe their picture in order to find the identical pair. This activity is useful for prepositions, colours, actions and all sorts of object vocabulary. Referred to: Teaching English to Children by W.H. Scott & L.H. Ytreberg 12 Further Visual Materials for the Language Teacher by A. Wright, Reading Longman English Today! by D. H. Howe, OUP Self-Assignment ( not to be submitted) Add two more free oral activities to the ones given in this chapter. They may be things you have done in class or read about, or something that you have thought out your self. Young Learners Course Teaching Reading Skills Listening is the main source of language when children start to learn a language; print is the second main source. As they learn the language printed words become the main source of expanding and strengthening the language. Books open up a different world to young children and making reading an important part of their language learning experience becomes the teacher‟s responsibility. Approaches to reading Phonics This approach is based on letters and sounds. We teach the pupils the letters of the alphabet, and the combination of letters, as they are actually pronounced. Although phonics can become very complicated as all the pronunciation rules are introduced, it can be useful for those who are unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet. It is not recommended for those who are already familiar with the Roman alphabets and should not be used for those who are learning to read using phonics in their own language. This could lead to great confusion in pronunciation. Look and Say This approach is based on words and phrases and makes a lot of use of flash cards. The teacher starts by using everyday words which are already familiar to the students. The teacher shows the word and says it while pointing to the object. The children repeat the word. This is done several times with each word. The teacher might spend five minutes out of each period to introduce four new words. Word recognition games like – matching words and pictures, pointing to objects, guessing the word can be done at this stage. It actually works as a pre reading exercise. Whole Sentence Reading Here the teacher teaches recognition of whole phrases and sentences which have 13  meaning in themselves. This often means a story which is familiar to them but which the children read for the first time. The words are not presented in isolation, but as whole phrases or sentences. Reading for meaning should be encourages as soon as possible. Language Experience Approach This approach is based on child‟s spoken language. The teacher writes down a sentence for the child to read which is based on what the child has said this is a good, pupil-centered approach to reading. No matter which approach to reading you take as your basic approach, you should remember that all these approaches are a way in to reading and not an end in themselves. It is favorable to adopt an approach that concentrates on meaning from the beginning. Five to seven year olds Five to seven year olds are likely to take longer to read in a foreign language that eight to ten year olds. They have to go through the process of doing reading-like activities first – reading from left to right, turning the pages at the right place, going back and reading the same pages again. Picture books with and without text are invaluable at this stage. If the children have not learnt to read in their own language then they will not know the connection between the spoken and written word. Sentence structure, paragraphing and grammar will not mean anything at this stage. Decoding reading i.e. making sense of what we see on the page is a very involved process. Adults make use of clues such as – punctuation, paragraphing, references to things, predicting what has happened or going to happen etc. five to seven year olds mostly have a visual clue which is vital to meaning. Illustrations in a book for young children matter almost as much as the words themselves. Eight to ten year olds The majority of eight to ten year olds will already be able to read a bit in their own language and most seem to have little difficulty in transferring their reading skills to English. This means that less time is needed to be spent on teaching the mechanics of reading and more time can be spent on the content. A word on ‘Reading Aloud’ It is a skill which does not have much use outside the classroom. All throughout life one 14 would be reading extensively or intensively will be done silently. But it can be helpful with beginners in a language. It is not recommended as: It gives little pleasure and is of little interest to the listeners. It encourages stumbling and mistakes in tone, emphasis and expression. It may disturb the silent reading techniques of other pupils. It is an inefficient way of utilizing teaching time. However reading aloud can be useful if applied a little differently: At the beginner's stage the teacher needs to give full attention to reading aloud by individual student. The teacher may ask questions about meaning, what the student thinks of the book, smooth out any language difficulty that may arise. The teacher can use it to train and check rhythm and pronunciation Reading dialogues aloud in pairs helps to check pronunciation and expression. Listening to a student reading aloud should be a treat for the whole class. The pupil should be well prepared and others should want to hear him read. Silent Reading Silent reading is what remains with most people for the rest of their lives. Not everyone will turn out to be a voracious reader but a positive attitude towards books and reading from the beginning is desirable. The teacher should make as much use as possible of her „English corner‟. Have print everywhere, writing on the notice board, try to give them their own books, give messages in writing, make books easily available. Let the children read books for understanding and pleasure. Confidence Building Some children are natural readers and will require no encouragement but the teacher needs to spend some time building up confidence with the rest about silent reading. Give them a story that they have heard before. Give them a little while to read. Then talk about the story, clear up any difficulties. The emphasis is on the content and the language should not be a hurdle. Let them finish the story at leisure. The teacher can give pupils half of an interesting story and then discuss what happens next. There will be different endings and then the teacher can give them the rest of the story to see whether they were right. This encourages anticipation. For the eight to ten year olds who are not beginners the teacher can use silent reading as the starting point for role-play for the whole class or for groups. 15 Different Reading Materials There should be a wide choice of reading material available for the students once they start reading. Reading Cards It is very simple to make a collection of reading cards which tell a story and can be read quickly. They can be placed in a box or a book pocket. A one-page story still gives a sense of achievement. There may be questions about the story behind the cards. Home-made books There may be different verses of a song that the children know or class stories written by the teacher. In addition there may be pupil-made books, which are an essential part of any class reading corner. 16 Books with tape Some books for native speakers of English and some easy reading series have accompanying tapes. These can provide useful listening and reading material both for slow readers and for those who progress quickly. Introducing a new book Ideally at age five to seven the teacher should read all new books to the whole class but he or she may not find time for this. The teacher may in that case: Show children the new book and tell them what it is about. Discuss the cover and try to work out what the book is about. Read them an amusing or interesting bit from the new book. Put the title of the new book on the notice board. Book review It is always a good idea to find out what the students have thought about a book. It helps to decide the suitability of the book. Indicates the progress of the children. Helps other pupils to decide about the book. Helps to develop a critical approach to reading matter. Shows the teachers interest in their reading. Activities and ideas Courtesy: Teaching English to Children by W.H. Scott & L.H. Ytreberg Further reading Story Workbooks by O. R. Dunn, Macmillan Start With English Readers by D. Howe, OUP Start Reading by D. Strange, OUP Young Learners Course Teaching Writing Skills Although the writing and the oral skill are combined in the classroom and one benefits from the other. Writing however has certain characteristics, which makes it difficult for children: You can‟t make the same use of body language, intonation, tone, eye contact and all other features which makes it easier to convey meaning when we speak. 17  Very little of what children write is concerned with the here and now, which is where many children exist for a long time. Writing in a foreign language is often associated with correcting errors. Handwriting, grammar, spelling and punctuation are given priority over content. If we try to make writing meaningful, with the emphasis on content then errors can be gently corrected and rewritten in cooperation with the teacher. Writing is an integral and essential part of a language lesson. It adds dimension to the learning process. It lets pupils express their personalities. Writing activities help to consolidate learning in the other skill areas and allows for conscious development of the language. When we speak we don‟t always need to use a large vocabulary because our meaning is often conveyed with the help of the situation. Lots of structures appear more frequently in writing and most importantly when we write we have the time to go back and think about what we have written. Writing provides great sense of satisfaction to pupils to see their work in print, so never underestimate the value of making pupil‟s work public, but With their consent. Get them writing!!! Controlled writing activities Writing activities, like oral activities, go from being tightly controlled to being completely free. Guided activities are done more with beginners. In general controlled activities are done to practice language while free activities allow for self - expression at however low a level and content is what matters. Straight copying Straight copying is the starting point for writing and gives the teacher the chance to reinforce language that has been presented orally or through reading. It is a good idea to ask pupils to read aloud quietly to themselves when they are copying the words because this helps them to see the connection between the written and spoken word. The sound-symbol combination in English is quite complicated so those who find copying difficult you can start them off by tracing words. 18  Matching Pupils can match pictures and text or choose which sentence they want to write about the text Foe example: Write one sentence – Picture of a man cooking : He likes cooking He is a good cook He is making a meal with eggs  Organizing and copying Copying can also be a good introduction to structured writing. For example: Complete Susan‟s letter:- 19  120 Belle Avenue New York July 26th, 1985 Dear Mike, New York is beautiful…………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………. Yesterday ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… Tomorrow………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………. Love, Susan We went to the cinema. It‟s got beautiful parks. There are lots of hotels and restaurants. We ate at a Japanese restaurant. We are going to visit the famous museum. We saw a very good film. The trees are big and tall. Delayed copying This activity is used for training short term visual memory. The teacher writes a short, familiar sentence on the board and gives the students a few seconds to look at it and then erases it. The pupils then have to writer it down. However this activity should not be used as a test. 20  Dictation The teacher provides the actual language as well as the context. However the language should be elementary and simple. For young Learners, dictations should be short, made up of sentences that can be said in one breath, have a purpose, be connected to previous work or work that is to come, and be read or said at normal speed. Guided written activities Fill-in exercise These exercises are useful for beginners as they do not require active production of language but they do require understanding. Fill-in exercises can be used for vocabulary. For example: if the students are familiar with the context of pets then the exercise will have meaning for them even if there is no picture. My Pet I have a ……….. for a pet. The ………..‟s name is Ben. He is a ……….....Colored Boxer. He is beautiful. He has a long ………, big ……….. and a ………. Tongue. He is a very ………… dog. He looks harmless but ………. My house at night. Dictation The teacher might dictate only half a sentence and ask pupils to complete it on their own. The students can complete each sentence before the teacher reads the beginning of the next, which encourages quick writing or they can complete later. Letters and invitations Letter writing is a popular language activity and a useful way of getting pupils to write short meaningful sentences. For example: Dear_________, 21  I hope you are free on _______. We are going to the________. Would you____________ with___________? Love __________. These letters can be actually sent to other classmates which will personalize the activity. The reply to the same can also be a similar guided fill in activity. Free Writing No matter what the level of the students, in free writing the language is the pupil‟s own. Here the teacher is the initiator and helper. The more language the learners have, the better it is to work on free writing activities. Correction is a major factor where writing is concerned. This should be done while the students are still working. The teacher should try to look at the work while it is being done, suggest ideas, words and correct mistakes. The aim is to produce work as correct as possible. Older learners should be encouraged to rewrite their work. The teacher should help as much as possible both before and during the work. It is good to have all written work in a folder, this helps both the learner and the teacher to see how much Progress is being made made. Pre-writing activities The most difficult part of free writing is to be able to produce something from nothing. Even students with a good imagination don‟t always know what to write and how to begin. All pupils need to spend time on pre-writing work – warm up activities Which are designed to give them language and ideas. Talk about the topic A simple conversation about the subject can float ideas and help to collect thoughts. Answers to simple questions can be another way to do it and these answers can be written on the board. Word webs Put the key word on the board. Ask the class in groups, to write down all the words 22  they can think of connected with that topic. When all the groups have made their word webs, the teacher can write one on the blackboard. This gives the class further ideas about what to write. Vocabulary Charts The teacher can use a photograph, story, song, or a shared experience to make vocabulary collections. The aim is to give the pupils as many words and ideas as possible before they start writing. Some more ideas: Descriptions Apart from labeling and listing the teacher can talk about a picture or a scene, ask Leading questions to make the approach imaginative. Collages A collage is usually a large piece of paper or poster made by sticking illustrations and Texts at random order but depict the same subject matter. For example: If summer is the theme then a picture is used as the starting point for discussion. During which lots of words associated with summer are generated and written on the blackboard. Individual students write a short piece on what they think of summer. These are then put together on a poster along with drawings, cut outs and photographs. Stories Writing group stories are a good idea since the actual writing can be shared. 23  However a good deal of time must be spent on prewriting activities, so that they have enough language to express themselves. The teacher should always be at hand to guide, help and assist all along the way. Free writing activities cover poems, book reviews, advertisements, jokes, post cards, messages etc – anything which has length or substance. Writing is a rewarding and the most visible of all skills. Some points to keep in mind: Try to: Concentrate on content. Remember prewriting work is essential. Always give positive remarks and feedback. Encourage but don‟t force rewriting. Display pupil‟s work as much as possible. Maintain record of all written work. Avoid: Surprising the students by announcing the topic without preparation. Setting homework without preparation. Correcting all the errors on the sheet. Setting work beyond the capability of the learner. Ideas courtesy: Teaching English to Children by References: Snap! An English Course for Young learners – Heinemann. 24