Listening activity ideas for ESL classes by Citizens of Hope

The "Listening Game" (another Dictogloss-style activity)

CitizensTESOL — 2021-08-17 18:05:15 UTC

Here is another short video explanation of another creative way to do a Dictogloss activity that will develop the bottom-up listening skills of your students.

The link to the specific webpage that this teacher uses is: https://www.manythings.org/audio/sentences/

And this link is an amazing place to find audio clips of sentences using any vocabulary words from your lesson.

Sample Lesson Plan: "Do it before you're 30!" Listening Lesson

CitizensTESOL — 2021-08-18 21:00:48 UTC

This lesson utilizes the 8 Steps and the Task Feedback Circle from our chapter on "Teaching Listening". It also includes a cloze activity and some kinesthetic-style whole body learning by having students raise vocab cards above their heads while they are listening to the audio recording.

Although this lesson focuses on listening, it still finishes with a good amount of conversation practice and you can easily add more extension activities, such as role plays and other communicative activities.

You can watch the video demonstration of this lesson here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4-4sQLnJ7c

Video Demonstration: Dictogloss activity

CitizensTESOL — 2021-08-18 21:05:16 UTC

Watch this short video demonstration of a simple "Dictogloss" activity that will develop the bottom-up listening skills of your students. (Notice that the language used in this activity could be adapted to suit lower-level or higher-level students as well.)

More Sample Lesson Plans: Interactive Listening Activities

CitizensTESOL — 2021-08-18 21:17:15 UTC

There are all kinds of funny, interesting, and random ways to get your students to practice their listening skills in class. Here are some more examples to get those good ideas flowing.

Tara: Listening Activity Conditional Directions and Directions

PetrovaFossil — 2021-09-03 23:23:12 UTC

Hello, there! Students can practice listening to directions and following them. These can be easy, or complex. You can practice avoiding giving any gestural cues, or giving lots of them! You can make two step directions basic, such as "Stamp your feet, and then say, Bravo!" or complex, such as, "Before you pick up the chalk, put the eraser under the desk." Students can listen for the directional and sequencing words while they practice doing what you ask them to do. Here is a link with different levels and different types of listening activities you could try:
https://www.hearbuilder.com/demo/following-directions-demos/

Cloze activity with a word bank

maryred — 2021-10-04 17:10:12 UTC

Listen to the conversation on page 57 of the Smart Choice 3 book as it's read aloud, either to the whole class or in pairs.
Ss discuss in pairs which words from the word bank should fill in the blanks and why, then share answers with the class.
Activity 2 Pair Work: Ss go back to pairs (or get into new pairs) and practice the conversation again, using the ideas on the bottom of the page and adding their own ideas, discussing why they choose the words they did for the conversation. Ss take turns reading the conversation to each other in pairs with the words they chose as though there were having a conversation.
Optional: S pairs read their new conversations to the class with feedback from other Ss and T.

Listening Activity: Phone messages

barbarapinkley — 2021-10-16 23:35:05 UTC

Being able to take a phone message is an important skill. This lesson helps prepare Ss to do this. The following lesson is available on line: https://www.esl-lab.com/easy/phone-message/ This is listed as "EASY" but I would probably use this lesson for Elementary students.

Pre-Listening Exercise:

Tshe’s out of the office, he’s on another line, etc.). When you do take a call, be sure to repeat the caller’s name, number, and message before you hang up to confirm that you have the correct information.

Listening Exercise

TNOTE: 4 questions are available to look at while listening to the audio, to help the Ss to stay focused while listening.).

Post-Listening Exercise
T

NOTE: The Listening SCRIPT is available for Ss to practice the conversation. HOWEVER, if I were sharing the script for Ss to practice, I would remove all the uhs and ummms in the script to avoid them intentionally repeating them.) This activity can also include TPR of actually pretending they are talking on the phone. This activity if fun because it can include Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing if all parts are done.

This is from an excellent website that has MANY listening activities: dailyesl.com This site has short audios and videos plus many ways a student can go on line and practice with various types of exercises.

What is wrong?

mirjamvanwijk — 2021-12-08 22:13:46 UTC

There are a lot of interesting activities to practice listening. The one I liked most is when the teacher tells a story, but not everything makes sense in the story. While the teacher slowly reads the story out loud, each student has to write down all the mistakes they can find. I specifically like this activity because you can adapt it to any age and any proficiency level. Teaching elementary school children, it would be funny to say something like "I was riding my turtle to school" instead of "I was riding my bike to school". You can make it as simple as you need it to be.
Tip: When teaching children, try to make it really funny as well and don't be afraid to have your students laugh. This will only make that the next class, they can still remember what you have talked about.

For teaching a higher proficiency level, you can make this activity much more complicated. Instead of just putting "obvious" mistakes like the one I previously mentioned, you can really try to have your students think and analyze the text in order to find the mistake. For example, "I closed my backpack and put my computer inside". You have to open your backpack to put your computer inside, not close it. You can "hide" the mistakes and make it a bit more of a puzzle, which could also be a lot of fun to do in a classroom!

Listening Activity: Relay Race Dictation

emailamandapoil — 2021-12-30 12:16:26 UTC

Relay the message

This classic game, otherwise known as “running dictation,” is a great active ice breaker, as well as a natural way to introduce a topic.

The game plan:

Put students in pairs or groups of three, assigning one (or two) as runner and one as writer. Sit the writers at tables at one end of the room.
Stick pre-printed messages at the other side of the room, one for each group or pair. These messages can be the same or different, easy or difficult, long or short, depending on the level and goals of the class.
When you shout the word “go,” the runner runs to the message, reading and remembering what they can. This can be as much as a few sentences or as little as one word. The aim is to be able to relay it accurately to the writer.
The runner goes back to the writer to relay the part of the message that they memorized. The writer (you guessed it!) writes it down.
Repeat until the message is complete. Teams score points for speed but more importantly for accuracy of spelling and punctuation.

(from fluentu.com)

Art Dictation

ChristieAwesome — 2022-01-29 00:40:04 UTC

- Teacher locates or creates a paragraph long descriptive dictation including vocabulary words at the level of the class.

- Give each student a large piece of blank paper and some colouring supplies (crayons, coloured pencils or even watercolour paints if you like). Students can bring the coloured pencils from home - sharing amongst the class is fine as it is not necessary for everyone to have their own set.

- Teacher reads off the descriptive dictation while the students draw/colour what they hear. (The teacher can read the dictation all the way through one time first while students just listen and then for the second reading then students can do the art work. This can give opportunity for students to think through use of their paper space, colour choices etc. during the first reading without needing to be in action yet).

Example: “Our scene begins in an underwater adventure where a large scarlet red creature of the sea is out for a morning swim. He swims over some pointy grey rocks and some beautiful blue coral …”
The dictation would continue with various other descriptives which may include details about the appearance of the red creature and his surroundings.

A more simple version, if appropriate for the class may include:

“ On the green grass grew a tall tree with a long trunk and many branches. On one of the lower branches was a bird’s nest with 3 baby birds … “
Again, this could continue with a description of simple things to be added like a yellow sun in the sky or orange flowers growing in the grass.

- The purpose and goal is not to have a fantastic piece of art but to have students understand the language and put it into colour.

- This descriptive dictation could be themed: around town/map, animals, under the sea, in my home, in the classroom, at a restaurant, or any idea you think of.

* Before the dictation:
- you could discuss some of the vocabulary that will be in the dictation.

* Following the dictation:
- you could have students discuss the assignment in pairs - what did they like about it? Was something more difficult? Would they like to do this activity again with a different theme?
- On the back of their paper, have each student write 3-5 sentences about their art piece using some of the language that was discussed during the dictation.

Example: “The yellow sun is shining in the sky”
“The baby birds are in the nest”

Listening Activity: Listen and find the correct picture

zulywmusic — 2022-02-07 15:59:22 UTC

- The teacher has serval different questions to a specific topic that he/she will teach.

- For every question the teacher has three different pictures. One of the pictures is the answer to the question that was ask.

- The teacher ask ones the question and give them the answer with information about one of the pictures. After answering the first time the question, he/she repeats the question a second time (if the class need it, the teacher can also repeat 3 times).

- After repeating the answer 2 times, the teacher gives the students some seconds to find the right picture.

- The students write done if it is picture A, B or C.

- After writing the answer done, the teacher ask a student to answer the question aloud and if students have to correct the answer, they can do it.

- When finishing all questions, the teacher ask the students if they found out what the topic for today could be.

*This is also a good activity that you can do in online teaching.

This video inspired me to this listening activity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUczcMUlopg

Travel postcards

angelashieldsrose — 2022-04-15 14:21:23 UTC

This activity serves as both a speaking activity and a listening activity. One student will choose a postcard and describe it to another student without showing them the picture. They may describe what is in the picture but cannot name the location or famous item (use only descriptive words). For example: Eiffel tower - you can't say Eiffel or Paris. The student listening needs to think about what is being said and try to guess as to what location the postcard came from based on the clues they are given.

You could do the same with movie titles: the person can describe the storyline but not give any words in the title.

These activities can be altered for different levels but is best suited for more advanced students. However, simpler cards could be used for beginner students or those who have less exposure to the world.

The message

jauritat — 2022-04-20 20:28:46 UTC

the teacher has to ask one student to step outside of the classroom with him. Give her or him a written copy of the following message: “You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful". Leaving the written copy with you, the student should return to the classroom and whisper the message to the person in the next seat. This person should then whisper the message to the person sitting next to him or her, and so on until the message has been relayed through the entire class. Have the last student to receive the message write it down on a sheet of paper and read it to the entire class. Then have the student to whom you gave the original message read that message to the class. There will almost always be an enormous variation between the original message and the message received by the last student.

Movie star

jessycafeiteira1 — 2022-04-21 17:40:52 UTC

First, you will need a movie clip with just two characters speaking (around 1-2 minutes).

Next pair two of your students and assign one of the characters to each student.

Your students will get a chance to watch the clip now and they will have to make notes on the dialogue.

Once they have made their notes they will then have to perform the scene themselves.

Now obviously it is unlikely they are going to get it word for word. Instead, you need to focus on them conveying the important parts of the scene. Make sure to tell them this in advance so that they don’t feel too stressed about trying to memorise every single word.

If you want to increase the difficulty then try this without any visual, just allow the students to listen to the scene. This makes it much harder as there is no visual context for what’s happening.

Also, you can choose a film that is less likely to be known by the students to make things even trickier.

Simon Says

ywamangelboston — 2022-04-21 18:41:18 UTC

Simon says is a very classic game for the children, which had been know for years and it is a very good activity for the ESL class to practice listening , which we can use for all level students and it will just increase their ability of listening and quick response, and at it will also be a very fun activity for the students to learn through fun activity.

First, the teacher will say “Simon says” followed by a verb phrase, e.g. “Simon says jump”. The students then have to do the actions.
You can make this competitive by having a student lose a point if they do it wrong, or if they’re the last.

This may be a little difficult for the pre beginner or the beginner students in the initial stage, but later on, they will learn to identify words and listen at the same time.

Treasure Hunt

jinnysings — 2022-04-21 18:57:46 UTC

When I teach English to kids, I used this activity a lot.
The idea for this game is for the teacher to say a word, for instance " pencil" the students then have to get to that item as quickly as possible.

In order to make this a little more difficult, you could just say a letter and the students have to run to something that has the same first letter. For example, if you say "b" then the students could run to the board or to a ball.

Here is more extra tip. If there aren't enough things in the classroom, then you can print out some vocabulary cards and hide them around the room.

Fishy directions...

gracenicole725 — 2022-05-26 05:18:06 UTC

This is an activity where you have the students trying to get to you and they can't speak to you, that is there is a one-way wall of communication so anything they say hits that wall and falls down. You are responsible to help them find their way so they need to lean in and listen carefully to you and focus on the directions you give. Practically you can add as much or little to this one as possible. You can tape up the floor and draw a line where you'll be (the one giving directions), or simply describe point A and the destination (point B). You can also modify if you need to keep more people involved you can add one or two students to your side to help give instructions. Have fun!!

Catch those words...

gracenicole725 — 2022-05-26 05:21:54 UTC

Play a favorite song that is slower paced and generally easy to hear the words of. I prefer older worship songs or hymns, even some children's songs work great. While the song is playing have your students write down as many sounds and words they can catch. You can share with them beforehand what they song is about or the genre etc. and see what they get after a couple more times.

Running for the mouth

heatherfehr13 — 2022-06-08 22:36:11 UTC

This is an activity that will get your students racing around the classroom to accomplish a dictation assignment.

-Split your students into pairs or groups
-There will be a recording for each group set up around the classroom. (ex. tape player, computer, CD player. Anything will work)
-When you say "GO" one student from each group will run to a recording and listen to their part. They will need to memorize their part and run back to their team and relay what was spoken on the recording.
-A different group member writes it down and runs to the recording to listen to their part.
-The activity continues in this way, rotating roles, until each team has written down the entire recording.

Minimal Pair Bingo

elizandrah — 2022-07-05 02:48:27 UTC

I did similar Bingo games before with my students and I think that's a great idea for them to learn, especially words that sound pretty identical.

You can come up with several minimal pairs you want your students to listen for—two words that differ in only one sound, such as pin/pine and big/fig. (You will need at least twenty-four pairs.)

Print bingo boards (5x5 boxes ) and have students fill in the blank spaces using those words—with one word in each box. Then call out the words as you play the game, with students marking the words they hear. The first person with five spaces in a row shouts out “Bingo!” to win.

Tongue Twister Telephone

jaelclaybaugh — 2022-07-25 20:00:08 UTC

A fun way to help your students practice their listening skills is to play a classic game of telephone. If you are unfamiliar with the game, have your students get into a line or a circle. One student (or the teacher) will whisper a line/sentence into the ear of the student on their right, who will then whisper what they heard to the person on their right, and so on and so on, until it gets to the last student. The last student will then say what they heard out loud, which is often completely different from what was said at the beginning - this will be quite humorous for everyone. Motivate your students to listen closely by offering a prize at the end if the sentence doesn't change. You can increase the difficulty of this listening activity by using tongue twisters (ex: she sells seashells by the seashore) for your starting sentence.

Un-musical Chairs

annaostland — 2022-08-03 22:33:34 UTC

This activity is similar to musical chairs, but instead of music playing, the teacher/facilitator is reading a paragraph or story. Every time the students hear a certain word or type of word the teacher says, they all try to get a seat. The game proceeds just like normal musical chairs, with more and more chairs disappearing as the game goes on.

The word that the teacher determines to be "the word" can be from a category such as: colors, verbals, animals, prepositions, or words ending with the letter y. This word can also just be a single word that the students listen for, such as the word "go", if the group is just beginning their English journey.

Watching old 90's TV clips

ronniebyrley — 2022-08-17 16:42:14 UTC

It's easy but can be fun! Just put on some Seinfeld or friends in a pre determined clip to let your Ss get some practice listening to English:) It can also help understand English Culture. You could have some questions that students have to answer or look for answers as they watch. Questions about the characters or really anything to help them engage.

Listen and Draw

christopheramoreland — 2022-08-19 13:59:50 UTC

In this listening exercise, students can practice new words by drawing what you ask them to and where. You can give them a white board and say things like draw a circle in the right corner of the the white board. Or draw a square in the bottom middle of the white board. And then you could tell the student to draw a triangle above the square and a circle to the right of the square.

This lesson could potentially help with directions, location, and shapes. And for beginners at can even be used for letters. or new words. For example: Draw a cloud in the upper right corner or draw sun in the middle of the board.

Detective Series 1 by Ellii.com

CitizensTESOL — 2022-10-03 16:18:06 UTC

Do you have more advanced students (intermediate or higher level)? Here is a fun Detective Series from Ellii.com (formerly called ESL Library). The entire series includes 10 or more lessons. These are paid resources (not free) but they are very high quality and include printable PDF worksheets as well as digital lessons that can be taught using a screen. If you can, I recommend using the "Task Player", which will give you the option of playing the digital lessons with their audio excerpts for listening activities as well as other interactive exercises.

Check it out here: https://ellii.com/lessons/detective-series-1

Blindfolded obstacle course

jessicaisliving — 2023-03-22 12:21:26 UTC

The teacher would use tape and place it on the floor replicating a "path" of some sorts. Or the teacher can actually build a mini obstacle course, with chairs in the way, a table etc.

The class would be put in groups. One person in the group would be blindfolded. The blindfolded student has to find their way through the obstacle course without going off the path or bumping into objects with the help of their teammates. The teammates would stand at the beginning of the path and direct the student with the blindfold through the course.

If you can set this up outside, you'd have more space and then you could set up two obstacle courses for two teams and race.

This game could help the students practice their communication along with listening skills. You'd have to trust your class mate giving the instruction as well, knowing that they are guiding you properly.

Missing Object

jpatnott — 2023-05-08 00:48:04 UTC

The teacher shows the student(s) a tray of objects and talks about what each item called and about the item. Next the teacher hides the tray of object and takes away an item, the teacher brings out the tray again and the student(s) have to remember which item is missing and say what the item is called.

I thought it was neat that this could be done in a classroom or online setting.

Listen and Draw

matthewsgarmon — 2023-06-03 19:07:51 UTC

This is a super fun listening activity I found on an ESL website.

If you have kinesthetic students who struggle to express themselves in English, Listen and Draw isolates listening from speaking. Simply have your students take out a blank piece of paper and give them instructions on what to draw.
For example, you might say the following:
* Draw a square in the center of your paper.
* Draw a triangle on top of the square.
* Draw a small rectangle inside the square, at the bottom.
* Draw two small squares inside the square near the top.
If your students listen correctly, they will have drawn a house (or something like it), and you will be able to tell with one glance whether they understood your directions.
Of course, you can make Listen and Draw as complicated as you like, depending on the skill level of your students. This activity is particularly useful for reviewing vocabulary of colors, shapes and teaching English prepositions of location.

Story time!

maditdavis01 — 2023-08-07 23:02:34 UTC

I have done this listening activity in an ESL class I co-taught. This activity is done by the teacher telling a story, and there is either a visual aid or a list of questions that the teacher asks the students after the text to check comprehension.
To start the teacher introduces the topic-they tell a story and the students listen. (If there is a visual aid, it's a list of words the students listen for and recognize.)
The teacher then reads the story while students listen.
Teacher then asks a series of questions to check comprehension.
Example:
"What words did you hear that you can see on your worksheet and/or board?"
"What was Maria doing?"
"Where did John go?"
"What did they see?"
Students answer, then teacher explains they will read the text again, this time instructing to either listen for the list of words again, or pay more attention to the story itself.
Then teacher reads text again. Afterwards asking similar questions to the first listening. Students now know what to expect with the story, and can fill in any information gaps they may have had in the first reading.
To close, select students repeat the story back to the class in their own words.

Listen and Draw...

SGorrill — 2023-09-21 19:05:10 UTC

So, I discovered this activity prior to seeing that one of my classmates posted a similar activity a few months back.

This is a game that I would use with st's that are in pairs. Each pair would have multiple note cards with sentences on each. A sentence might be as simple as, "The turtle is next to the water" or more complex like, "The girl is thinking about her life as a cleaning lady."

Student 1 will choose a card and read it to student 2. Student 2 will then draw what he/she understands the sentence to be saying on a whiteboard or piece of paper. Upon completion of the drawing, student 2 will explain the drawing to student 1 to see if they match and if student 1 understood the sentence.

Dictation

diegoeliasmusic — 2023-10-02 04:37:25 UTC

This one I think is very common, but I found it very practical and productive. I prepare a list of sentences, I stop sharing the screen and I start reading them out loud 2 times each sentences.

Once I finish reading them, I ask them to read back to me what they got. They have the opportunity to compare with other students. In the end, I show them my screen with the sentences.

Who, What, Where?

gottasophia — 2023-10-12 00:19:47 UTC

Students will watch a clip of two or more people having a conversation with the audio off. Students will then need to make up for themselves what the conversation was about based on the cues given in the video. This could be based on the environment the people are in, the clothing they are wearing, their body language and facial expressions. After students have come up with a conclusion as to what they believe is being discussed, play the video again but this time with audio. Students will pay extra attention to see if they were correct while also practicing top down processing.

Getting directions.

konawetfeet — 2023-10-25 16:47:00 UTC

One idea I have involves Ss looking at a pre (created) printed map with a list of locations specific to their area. With some pre-recorded directions the Ss will have to navigate said map following the audio that they then listen to. For example, one S might start at the grocery store and another one at the hospital, after a series of pre-recorded directions are given all the Ss will say where they ended up, or where they are located in correlation to another land mark. This particular activity is better suited for Elementary and above language learners, though it can be simplified for beginners. The premise of this activity is for Ss to listen and respond. In the real world although google maps now exists sometimes people need to receive directions over the phone. This is a great chance for Ss to develop confidence also taking phone calls.

The "Day and Night game"

muruguluz — 2023-10-25 17:31:55 UTC

This is a game we used to play in school in Switzerland. The class is divided into two groups and lined up in the middle of the room facing each other. The students either sit on the ground or lie on their backs/bellies. The teacher then allocates one (or more) vocab words to each group. Usually the vocab words are opposites (day&night, big&small, loud&quiet, red&green, ...). The teacher then begins to tell a story containing the vocab words. Whenever the students hear their word(s) they need to get up and run away from the center line to the end of the room (or an object previously determined by the teacher). Sometimes the teacher will also give a "special word" (can be another word from the same category or just any random word). If the students hear this word, the two groups need to switch places.

In an adult ESL class you could have the students sit on chairs with their backs facing each other. It's a fun way to bring movement into your class and for your students to practice their listening skills. This game can be adapted to all levels by using vocabulary according to the students level and increasing/decreasing the complexity of the story or the amount of vocab words used in the story.

Video- Bingo

elisakimberly7 — 2024-01-23 13:01:39 UTC

Each student gets a bingo sheet with words that will be mentioned during a video that you are going to show to the class.

Start by going through the words, asking your students if they are familiar with all of them. Have them raise hands and ask if they don't know one of the words. To connect this part of the activity to the students prior knowledge have another student describe the meaning of the word to their peer (in English).

After all the words are clear play the video and have students cross of words on their bingo sheet.

When the first student has a bingo pause the video and let the student read out all the words that make up the bingo.

Instruct your students that after this first bingo everyone who has a bingo can stand up silently during the viewing. This helps with students feeling seen for their accomplishment and being able to let out some energy while enabling a continuation of the viewing of the video.

Who am I?

emmabmiller02 — 2024-05-09 19:04:45 UTC

All students should close their eyes and the teacher should pair up students and have them face back to back. Depending on age and culture, it is usually smart to pair people of the same gender together. The students must then ask each other questions about themselves i.e., what color hair do you have? Is it long or short? etc... Then they must guess which classmate it is. This is always a good activity at the beginning of a school year when the students don't know each other very well. There can be multiple rounds with new partners to make the activity go longer. This allows for students to practice their listening skills when it comes to descriptions of people.

Adding on story time Isabella Hopson

2024-06-04 02:25:16 UTC

A fun listening activity for an ESL classroom would be to do an adding on story! What you would do is you would go around in a circle and one student would start by creating the beginning of the story. For example "Once upon a time there was a dog named Rosie" then the student next to them would use part of the first persons story and add on "Rosie was a big dog who loved to roll in the grass" and so on. This allows the students to listen to their classmate and be creative in adding something to it.

Listening Activity

shoafgrace — 2024-06-05 01:18:58 UTC

One listening activity is Telephone! The teacher can split the class into two groups, they'll want to form two lines. The teacher will take the students who are first in line out in the hallway (or in the room, the other students can't hear what they discuss). The teacher will give them a phrase (for example The elephant sang a tune while riding his unicycle.) Then the students and teacher will head back to the room and they'll start the telephone game. Starting with the first two, they'll whisper what the teacher told them, then those students will tell the next students in line. This will continue until the last person in line has heard the phrase. Whichever team can communicate the phrase correctly through the line wins. This can be played multiple times, or can even be a competition!

Class TV show

maria_hopper — 2024-06-16 19:22:18 UTC

One really fun activity that my Spanish teacher did with my class was using spanish TV shows to help us listen. During the show, we would have a guide that we had to fill out based on the TV show for comprehension. While this is a simple idea, I think it can be really enjoyable for students and even making it a weekly ordeal on Fridays for the last 25 minutes of class! One show I think would be amazing to use in ESL is Friends or for a younger audience Bluey.

Cooking show

20hippl — 2024-06-22 17:50:52 UTC

This activity can be used for speaking and listening. I remember in High school Spanish class we did a cooking show. My class was divided into groups and each group is assigned to a type of food. As a group they plan and record them teaching the rest of the class to cook something in Spanish. When they were complete, each group played the videos for the rest of the class. The students in the audience had to come up with one question, based on listening to the video, to ask the presenting group.

The Mystery Object

parsafathi50 — 2024-09-13 13:17:23 UTC

Title: "The Mystery Object"

Instructions:

Listen to the description of a mystery object.
Based on the clues, guess what the object is.
Discuss or write about how you came to your conclusion.

Audio Transcript:

"I am something small, but I can make a big difference in your day. I’m often found in your pocket or your bag, and I’m used many times in a single day. You press me, twist me, or swipe me to use me. Without me, connecting with others might be difficult. I help you find answers, take pictures, and sometimes, I even tell you the time. I light up when you touch me, and I’m an important part of your daily routine. What am I?"

Questions:

What do you think the mystery object is? Why?
What clues helped you make your guess?
Can you describe an experience where this object was helpful to you?

Follow-Up Activity: Ask the students to describe another "mystery object" for their classmates to guess, using creative clues!

Answer: smartphone

Smart (Leslie Drury)

lesliedrury — 2024-11-04 21:27:57 UTC

For my listening activity, I'd hand out copies to Ss of this Shel Silverstein Poem and highlighters.

Smart

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more then one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-- I guess he didn't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head--
Too proud of me to speak!

Give students copies of terms for money and value (nickel = 5 cents) and accompanying photos. Also show realia for dollar bill, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.
Provide a simple number math diagram for terms one, two, three, four, and five
Students first listen to poem and listen for number and money terms.
Students listen a second time and highlight money terms and numbers with highlighter.
Discuss the transactions using the realia to demonstrate the actions in the poem.
Act out the poem in pairs.

Listen then Draw!

faithyrobison — 2024-11-04 22:11:17 UTC

For this listening activity, students will have a blank piece of paper and some crayons/markers/colored pencils. The teacher will describe a picture for the students to draw.

For example:

"Draw a blue house. Draw a small tree to the right of the house. Draw a big yellow sun in the top left corner of the paper."

You can add whatever you want and you can make it more simple or hard depending on the level of the group. At the end, everyone will share their pictures with the class and see how similar it is to the teacher's.

It's a fun creative activity that requires the students to listen to specific instructions like what color or where on the paper to draw the item.

Teaching with Tunes

TimThurston — 2024-11-04 22:24:07 UTC

For my listening activity, I'd play a song somewhat relating to what our lesson/topic is or has been. For example, if my lesson topic was on calling the doctor or going to the hospital, I would play the song Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees.

Instructions: Give a cloze worksheet to the Ss. T will have every 5th or 6th word blank. As the song plays the Ss will try and see how many blanks they can fill in correctly. T would have the option to play the song twice depending on the class. After the song, T will go over the correct answers and ask the Ss if they have any questions regarding the vocab. I am not sure if this would work or not, but I would like to see if the Ss could make a parody song on their own or in small groups.

'Go to Gate!'

cameronadams2 — 2024-11-05 01:00:24 UTC

In this activity, students will be in an 'airport' (aka the class room). The students will have mock items such as a passport, boarding pass, visa, ect. Also multiple 'gates' will be set up for locations.

On the students boarding pass there will be their 'flight' details. When the announcement is put out for boarding they have to do what it says and go to the right gate with the right items.

An example would be "Ladies and Gentlemen, YWAM air flight YW123 to Lakeside Montana is now ready for boarding at gate 2. Would all passengers please proceed to the gate immediately with their passport and boarding pass. Thank you." The announcement would go out 2 or 3 times depending on comprehension. The students will get the items that they need and go to the right gate.

Getting To Know Your Classmates

gb36classic — 2024-11-05 09:19:06 UTC

In this activity, the teacher tells students that today each of us is going to interview one of our classmates and then report to the class what we learn about the classmate we just interviewed. The teacher prepares and distributes a set of cloze passages to each student for conducting the interview. The class is formed into pairs. Before students’ interviews begin, the teacher and a helper model the interview using the cloze passages to prepare Ss for the interview activity. Students in each pair then take turns to interview one another to fill in the blank in the cloze passages. Once the interviews are all complete, each student then introduces his/her classmate to the class with the information obtained through the interview. In these processes, students practice active listening in learning about their classmates and perform speaking when presenting to the class where the classmate is from, what language(s) he/she speaks, which town he/she currently lives in, his/her family, his/her hobbies, favorite sports, movies, and food etc. The teacher checks Ss’ communication skills, both in speaking and in listening, and provides guidance.

Telephone

heidi589 — 2025-05-28 19:36:36 UTC

Using the game of telephone is a great way for students to practice listening. The teacher will start the first round with a sentence that relates to what the students are learning. The teacher will have students get into a circle and tell the students how the game works and that they must listen to the sentence whispered in their ear only once and then must whisper it into the ear of the person next to them. Then the teacher starts the game. By the time the sentence is whispered to everyone it's quite possible that it has changed from the original. This game is fun and shows how easily communication can break down if we don't hear correctly. This can be played a few times with students also taking turns coming up with the sentence.

Photo Scavenger Hunt!

clairebassett14 — 2025-06-11 21:35:35 UTC

This can work two ways:

1: there are pictures of different scenes posted around the room. The teacher asks the Ss to find a certain photo by describing what is happening, and students must race to find the correct photo. Students will compete one-on-one, so the rounds will only take place between two students each while the others look around the room from their seats.

2: the other option is that students will get into teams and the teacher has a list of items the students must take a picture of. The teacher will read the first object, then the students will search, take a picture, and return with proof that they understood. They don't get to hear the next items until they have returned with the accurate photo (Could also be the actual object if there are no photo-taking abilities)