Нова українська школа: методика навчання англійської мови у 3-4 класах закладів загальної середньої освіти на засадах компетентнісного підходу - Крістіна Карпюк 2020

Listening Activities
Appendix

Listening is an integral part of oral communication - it is the way we get information from other speakers. However, apart from only listening to the teacher and to the classmates, it is a good idea to let your students hear other people. That way they discover and adjust themselves to other accents in order to be capable of understanding different people with different voices and pronunciation. In addition, it is useful to listen to native speakers in order to hear ’how everything should be said’ - not only in pronunciation but grammatically and lexically, too. Certainly, not everyone can hear English people live but, thanks to today’s technology, we can listen to them online, watch videos with them and use audio tracks (most coursebooks are provided with the last ones).

Listening, therefore, is divided into two main types - for general understanding and for specific purposes. Thus, we need to train our students to be able to get the general idea of the ’said’ material as well as to look for specific facts.

1 Songs, chants, rhymes

Young learners love music as well as texts that rhyme - they subconsciously make the atmosphere more fun and positive and are easy to remember. Activities involving songs, chants and rhymes can be supported by miming, gesturing and dancing - children are very often energetic and a ’physical’ break from time to time is just what they need.

✵ Listen to the song «Parts of the Body» and point to your body parts:

«Head and shoulders,

Knees and toes.

Knees and toes.

Eyes and ears,

And mouth and nose,

Mouth and nose.

Head and shoulders,

Knees and toes,

Knees and toes.»

✵ Listen to the song «The Hokey Cokey» and dance:

«You put your right hand in,

Your right hand out,

In, out, in, out

Shake it all about.

You do the hokey cokey

And you turn around.

That’s what it’s all about.

Oh, the hokey cokey,

Oh, the hokey cokey,

Oh, the hokey cokey,

Knees bend, arms stretch,

Clap your hands!»

(suggested by Phillips, 2017)

✵ Say the rhyme «Five Little Elephants» and show the number with your fingers:

«Five little elephants

Standing in a row.

Five little trunks

Waving Hello!’

’Oh,’ said the elephant.

’Time to go!’

Four little elephants

Standing in a row.

Continue with four, three, two little elephants and little trunks.

One little elephant

Standing in a row.

One little trunk

Waving Hello!’

’Oh,’ said the elephant.

’Time to go!’

No little elephants

Standing in a row.»

(suggested by Phillips, 2017)

✵ Listen to the chant «Autumn Leaves». Then draw some leaves, accordingly (1 orange leaf, two brown leaves and so on). Finally, show your pictures to the class and say the chant together:

«One is orange.

Two are brown.

Three look yellow

On the ground.

Three are green.

Two bright red.

One just fell

On my head!»

✵ Listen and then say the chant «A Walk in the Jungle», gesturing and miming the animals:

«Giraffes are tall with necks so long,

Elephants are big and so strong.

Monkeys are funny, playing in the tree.

Dolphins are nice, swimming in the sea.

Everyone’s happy, being under sun.

Hey! Let’s join them and have some fun!’’

✵ Stand in a circle. Say the chant «Who Took the Biscuits?» and point to your classmates in a row:

Class: «Who took the biscuits from the jar?’’

Teacher: (says the student’s name and points at him/her): «... took the biscuits from the jar!»

The student: «Who, me?»

Class: «Yes, you!»

The student: «Couldn’t be.»

Class: «Then, who?»

The student (says the next student’s name and points at him/ her): «... took the biscuits from the jar!»

(and so on).

2 Gap-filling activities

✵ Listen about Bill’s timetable and fill in the missing words (the underlined words are the ones where the gaps should be):

«Hello! I am Bill. I get up at 7 am. I brush my teeth, have a shower and get dressed after that. At 7:45 I have my breakfast and I go to school by bus at 8 am. My lessons start at 8:30. Then I have a lunch break from 1 to 1:30 pm. I go home at 3 o’clock. I do my homework first and then have dinner at 6 pm. After that I watch TV with my parents or play video games. I go to bed at 9 pm.»

✵ Listen again and check.

✵ Ask your students about their timetables.

3 Short open-question activities:

✵ Listen to Mary:

«Hi! My name is Mary. I am 9 years old. I live in London. I am a school student. I like meeting with my friends, going to the cinema and playing tennis in my free time.»

✵ Ask your students:

a) what is the girl’s name?

b) how old is Mary?

c) who is she?

d) where is she from?

e) what does she do in her free time?

✵ Ask your students about their hobbies.

4 «A-B-C» questions

✵ Listen to the audio about Tom’s bedroom and let the students choose the correct answer:

«Hey! I’m Tom. My bedroom is big and blue. There is a bed on the right and a big white table with a chair on the left, near the window. My bookcase is right next to my table. My grey wardrobe is near my door. Next to it there is a toy box. I have many different pictures of cars on my walls - most of them I drew myself.»

I. Tom’s room is ... .

a) red b) blue c) white

II. The bed is ... .

a) on the right b) in the middle c) on the left

III. Tom’s table is ... .

a) near the bed b) near the window c) near the wardrobe

IV. The bookcase is ... .

a) next to the bed b) next to the window c) next to the table

V. Near the door there is a ... .

a) grey wardrobe b) white table c) toy box

VI. Tom ... .

a) got his pictures as a present

b) bought his pictures

c) drew his pictures

Answers: I - b); II - a); III - b); IV - с); V - a); VI - c).

✵ Listen again (with pauses) and let the students draw Tom’s bedroom, then show their pictures to the class.

✵ Ask the students to tell each other about their bedrooms in pairs.

5 True-False questions

✵ Listen to the audio about Jane’s food twice and let students mark the statements below ’T’ (true) or ’F’ (false):

«Hello! My name’s Jane. I have breakfast at 8 am. I eat fried eggs or chocolate cereal. I drink some tea in the end. I usually have my lunch at 1 pm at school - some sandwiches and some juice. But, when I’m at home, I often eat chicken with potatoes or some rice with a salad. I have fish with vegetables or soup for dinner at 6 pm. My favourite dessert is ice cream or a chocolate cake. I also drink some milk before I go to bed.»

Jane has fruit for breakfast.

II. She drinks tea in the end.

III. Jane has some juice at school.

IV. She eats sandwiches at home.

V. Jane has fish or soup for dinner.

VI. She does not like ice cream or cakes.

VII. She has tea before bed.

Answers: I - F; II - T; III - T; IV- F; V-T; VI- F; VII - F.

✵ Let the students tell each other what they have for breakfast, lunch and dinner in pairs.

6 Mixed-type activities

As you may have noticed, many types of listening activities can be combined with those which develop other language skills. Like, in the previous task examples students mainly answer «A-B-C» or «T/F». However, in the end of each such activity they get some speaking practice by answering some open questions based on what they have heard or expressing their own tastes, experiences, etc, like the speaker on the audio track.

✵ Listen to the dialogue and let students circle the correct statements below.

Cindy: My family is big - I have got 3 brothers!

Dave: Mine is not. I have got only a small sister - Kate.

Cindy: What does she look like?

Dave: Well, she has got blue eyes and long blonde hair. What about your brothers?

Cindy: My oldest brother, Jack, is very tall. He has got short dark hair and brown eyes. My second brother, John, also has got dark hair but his eyes are grey. My youngest brother, Jake, has got brown hair and grey eyes, too.

Dave: Wow - they are quite different.

Cindy: Yeah, but we are all good friends.

I. Cindy has got only one brother.

II. Dave’s little sister’s name is Kate.

III. Kate has got blue eyes and blonde hair.

IV. Jack is not very tall and his eyes are brown.

V. John and Jack have got dark hair.

VI. Jake’s eyes are brown.

✵ Listen again and check.

✵ Ask students what is wrong with statements I, IV, and VI.

✵ Let pupils discuss in pairs/groups the following questions:

a) have you got any brothers or sisters? If not, tell us about your parents.

b) what do they look like?

c) are you good friends with them?

7 Videos

This type of activity is not only good for listening. It provides students with acquisition - a more natural way of learning English. Having watched a video, students can discuss what they have seen or you can make some questions for them to answer based on the material they have heard. The recommended ones are:

1 Muzzy in Gondoland (6 episodes)

2 Muzzy Comes Back (6 episodes)

3 Wizadora (Oxford series)

4 Learning Time with Timmy (80 episodes)

5 Hey Duggee (126 episodes)

6 Ricky Zoom (19 episodes)

8 Listening game «Guess What?»

1 Find a few recordings of animals.

2 Let students listen to them and guess what animals are there.

3 Prepare a few cards of animals that were not on the recording.

4 Ask students to come to the board in turn, take one card (but do not show it to anyone), then mime, gesture and make the sound of the animal from the card.

5 Other students should guess what animal it is.

You can do this activity on different other topics. For example, instead of using animal sounds and cards, you can apply sounds and cards of different actions (someone having a shower, getting dressed, eating, studying/working, playing, going to bed - topic «My timetable.»)

9 Listen and Draw

1 Describe a person/animal orally and slowly.

2 Let students draw who/what you describe.

3 Let students compare their pictures with each other’s before showing them to you.

10 Listen and Match

1 Print pictures of daily actions and make small cards with time on them.

2 Let students listen to the story and match the actions with the time.

3 Check their answers.

«First, I get up at seven in the morning. I have a shower until half past seven and then I get dressed. I eat at quarter to eight and leave for school at eight o’clock. I have a lunch break at one for fifteen minutes. My lessons end at quarter past three. It takes me twenty minutes to get home. At four o’clock I usually have a snack - an apple or a sandwich. Then I do my homework. At half past six I have my dinner and then I relax - watch TV, play games, read magazines. I go to bed at exactly nine o’clock.»

You can use the same or any other story but instead of matching, you can give students the pictures to put them in the correct order according to the story.

11 The Big Freeze

This game can be played by two or more players.

1 Have players walk around. For classes where children cannot leave their desks, have them move slowly on the spot. Students may move their arms, fingers, heads, feet and bodies.

2 Tell a story, sing a song or randomly say a number of words while pupils listen intently.

3 Whenever they hear a specified word or phrase, they freeze and stay frozen until you reach the end of the sentence or say to move again. If they move, they are out. For example, say that whenever they hear an item of clothing, a type of food, a profession, or a specific phrase, they freeze.

A variant on this is instead of freezing pupils clap their hands above their heads.

As a variant for all ages, pupils could sit down whenever they hear the word, and all try not to be the last one to take a seat.