During and Post-listening/ speaking tasks

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Hubert
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During and Post-listening/ speaking tasks

Unread post by Hubert »

Dear Lucy,

Do you know of any during and post-listening/ speaking tasks that could be used for learners of English who are studying a text about how to live in a well organised rental accommodation situation in Australia?

Yours,
Hubert.
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Lucy
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During and post-listening tasks

Unread post by Lucy »

Dear Hubert,

A useful format to follow for listening activities is: pre-teach vocabulary, set questions for during listening (go from the general to the specific); speaking activity; language work. I’ll give you some ideas here but without seeing the transcript or hearing the recording, the ideas will only be guidelines.

First of all, pre-teach any unknown or difficult vocabulary that is essential for understanding the recording. It’s not necessary to teach every new word. Also think about words that the students know in their written form but that they might not recognise in the spoken form. Make sure the students hear the pronunciation of all the words you focus on during this pre-teaching phase.

After this preliminary work, set questions similar to the following: What sort of accomodation is the speaker describing? Does the speaker (s) think it is well-organised or badly-organised? Play the cassette or CD once and tell students to note down their answers; then check them as a whole class. You can then move onto more specific questions; for example: where is the accomodation? How much does it cost? How many people live there? What advice does the speaker give on how to live in this type of accomodation? Without hearing the recording or seeing the transcript, I can’t give you more specific ideas. Play the recording again and ask students to note down their answers. After this second listening it is useful to have students compare their answers in pairs before checking as a whole class. This serves various purposes: students might have heard the answer but not had time to write it down, this gives them the opportunity to do so. They can check their answers in a non-threatening environment before stating their answers to the whole class. If the teacher goes around and listens to what students are saying in pairs, (s)he gets a better idea of who coped well with the task. Check the answers as a whole class and if necessary replay certain parts of the recording.

As a post-listening speaking activity you can ask students to discuss the following questions (or similar ones) in pairs or groups: have you ever lived in this type of accomodation? Do you know anybody who has lived in this type of accomodation? What did you/he/she think of it? Would you like to live in a place like that? Why? Why not? What do you think of this type of accomodation for: young people / students / retired people / people with children / people living away from their families etc.? Do you have any ideas for improving the situation that is described?

You could then follow this up with language work. Choose a language point that recurs in the recording; from the topic you mention I would guess: comparatives, obligation and permission, description of housing. Choose your language point and replay a phrase or phrases where the language point occurs, have students write it down while listening or give part of the phrase and they fill in the blanks. Focus on the meaning and then do a controlled activity to practise the language point.

Good luck,

Lucy
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