28 Вопрос

Different kinds of listening

A distinction can be drawn between intensive and extensive listening. As with reading, the latter refers to listening which the students often do away from the classroom, for pleasure or some other reason. The audio material they consume in this way - often on CDs in their cars, on MP3 players, DVDs, videos or on the Internet - should consist of texts that they can enjoy listening to because they more or less understand them without the intervention of a teacher or course materials to help them. It is true that there is not at present a body of material developed for extensive listening as there is for extensive reading, but this looks set to change in the foreseeable future. Already, many simplified readers (see page 100) come with accompanying CDs on which the books are read or dramatised. Students can also use tapes and CDs to listen to their coursebook dialogues again after they have studied them in class. There is a growing number of podcast sites from where students can download free materials. And another way of getting students involved in a form of extensive listening is to encourage them to go to English language films with subtitles; as they hear the English dialogue, the subtitles help them understand; as they understand, they will, to some extent, absorb the language they hear.

Intensive listening is different from extensive listening in that students listen specifically in order to work on listening skills, and in order to study the way in which English is spoken. It usually takes place in classrooms or language laboratories, and typically occurs when teachers are present to guide students through any listening difficulties, and point them to areas of interest.

29 Вопрос

Choice

A major aspect of joyful reading (see page 99) is that students should be able to choose what they read - both in terms of genre but also, crucially, level. They are much more likely to read with enthusiasm if they have made the decision about what they read.

Feedback

Students should have an opportunity to give feedback on what they have read, either verbally or in written form. This does not mean formal reports, however, since that might take the pleasure away from reading. Instead, there might be a quick comment form on the inside cover of a book, or a folder with different forms for different titles. Students can then record their reactions to a book they have read. Other students looking for a new book to read can use those comments to help them make their choice.

30 Вопрос

Sometimes, despite the best judgment of the teacher (or the materials designer), listening material seems to be too difficult for students to understand. However many times the teacher plays the track, it just doesn't work. The teacher then abandons the activity and everyone loses face.

There are a number of alternatives to this scenario which can help.

Preview interview questions

Students can be given the questions of an interview and are encouraged to role-play what might be said before listening to it. This will have great predictive power.

Use 'jigsaw listening'

Different groups can be given different audio excerpts (either on tape or CD, or - for some of them - as audioscripts). When the groups hear about each other's extracts, they can get the whole picture by putting the 'jigsaw' pieces together.

One task only

Students can be given a straightforward task which does not demand too much detailed

understanding. For example, we can get them to describe the speaker on the recording - the sound of the voice will suggest sex, age, status, etc. Such an activity offers the possibility of success, however difficult the listening passage.

Playa/the first segment only

Instead of playing the whole recording, teachers can just play the first segment and then let students predict what's coming next. Our third example in Chapter 10 (see pages 139-142) was a version of this.

Play the listening in chunks

Break the audio track into manageable chunks so that students understand the content of a part of it before moving on to the next one. This can make listening less stressful, and help students to predict what the next chunk will contain.

Use the audioscript

There are three ways of using the audio script to help students who are having difficulty. In the first place, we can cut the script into bits. The students put the bits in the right order as they listen. Secondly, we can let the students see the first part of the alJdioscript before they listen. They will then know what the listening text is going to be about. Finally, the students can read the audio script before, during and after they listen. The audioscript can also have words or phrases blanked out.

Use vocabulary prediction

We can give students 'key' vocabulary before they listen. They can be asked to predict what the recording will be about and, because they now know some of the words, they will probably understand more.

Have students listen all the time

Encourage students to carry listening extracts in their car or on their MP3 players. Get them to listen to the news in English on the radio or Internet as often as possible and to try to understand just the main points. Remind them that the more you listen, the easier it gets.