TSL3105

Teaching Listening and

Speaking in the Primary
Classroom
The teachers role

The teachers objectives

Exposing students to a range of listening

experiences
Making listening purposeful for the students
Helping students understand what listening
entails and how they might approach it
Building up students confidence in their own
listening ability

How will your students be good

English
- apply listeners?
mother-tongue listening
strategies
- increase knowledge of cultural context
- accept that partial interpretation of
what they hear is sufficient for
understanding

Elements to include in listening

lessons
Students need to learn how to:

- Determine what an utterance or a

conversation is all about
- Establish who is talking and to whom
- Recognize the mood and attitude of the
speaker
- Decide where and when a conversation is
taking place.

Planning Considerations
As future teachers, what are the planning

considerations you need to think about when

you are planning a listening lesson?
A separate/part of general lesson?
Where? Classroom/listening lab?
Equipment?
Preparing recordings?
Amount of time allocated to listening?
Place of tests, if any?

Before the lesson

Choose the listening text
Check that the activities are suitable
Adjust the level of difficulty of the activities if you

need to
Consider whether the listening work you are planning
will fill the time available
Think about visual aids
Decide whether any special equipment will be
needed
Make up your mind what procedure you will adopt for
the listening session
If you are planning to present the listening text live,
practice reading it aloud.

During the lesson

During the listening, teachers

should step back and give the

students time to think
Dont offer help too soon, but at the
same time, the students should
know that they can seek help from
the teacher at any time

How do you create and maintain an

encouraging class atmosphere?
Being available to give help whenever it is needed,

but not inflicting help on those who do not need it.

Encouraging students to help each other
Not treating the activities as tests to be marked and
scored
Encouraging the students to alter their answers if
they wish to, perhaps after listening for a second
time
Encouraging students to jot down odd words, ideas,
and thoughts as they are doing their listening work

Ctnd.
Suggesting that the students use

dictionaries when it would prove helpful

Including lots of pair- and groupwork
Making listening work enjoyable
Leaving out any part of the work rather
than rushing
Giving immediate feedback

Conducting the lesson

The pre-listening stage
The while-listening stage
A period when students discuss their responses, in

pairs/groups
If necessary, a repeat listening
Further discussion among students
Post listening production of acceptable answers
Consideration of the areas where students failed to
understand or missed something
Post listening extension activity