Listening for gist: we listen to something in order to get a general idea of the content, or 'the gist', rather than specific details.

Prediction: By asking students to predict what they are going to hear, based on a topic word or sentence, you are preparing your learners for what to expect. Guided questions help them decide what to listen for, and keep them focused on the main points. This technique can be repeated towards the end of a listening passage by asking students to predict the ending. This can be done in pairs or groups and it keeps students actively involved in the listening process.

Comprehension exercise: Different types of exercises will ensure that listening skills are being developed. Exercises can be set midway as well as at the end of a listening passage, and can be in the form of true/false questions, 'wh' questions (who, what, where), sentence completion, gap-filling, error correction, table filling, form-filling, etc.

Listening for language items: An exercise may require that you listen and identify specific lexical or grammatical items in a text, eg note all the past participle forms of verbs or all the superlative adjectives.

Skimming involves running your eyes over a piece of text in order to understand its overall idea

Scanning involves looking for specific information in the text.