Loving Listening

Dear everybody,

First of all I would like to say thank you to Bu Anik for the gift, it is very valuable for me to improve my English knowledge. I am so glad for that. I hope all the teachers can feel the same feelings as me :)

                Okay, let us start the discussion. Listening was the part of English that I hated most when I began learning English because it was very difficult for me. I hardly could catch every single word. In 2011, when I had been hired at my work place, I did team teaching with one of my seniors there. He said that he would teach reading and writing, so he asked me to prepare listening and speaking materials whenever I taught in the classroom. I was quite shocked at that time as I was not really expert of those things. On the other hand, it was a good challenge for me as I saw that the facilities such as LCD and speaker in every room were available. Therefore, I should try it. On the following day, I decided to buy a new laptop to help me teach in the classroom. Since that time, I began to love listening as I realized that listening was not as difficult as I had thought.

                In fact, students also feel the same problem as me, when I hated listening. The problem is “Why is it so difficult to catch what the speakers say?” Knowing the problem, I think I should do something for it.

                There are so many interesting ways to teach listening. That is why I like listening very much. I usually teach listening through movies, songs, games, and also mainstream way.

                Sometimes, students feel bored of the materials. So, I usually let them watch a movie which has good moral values and somehow is related to the material. Sometimes, I provide them a few questions of 5W1H to be answered while watching the movie. Sometimes, I ask them to find some particular expressions such as offering something, inviting someone, etc. Sometimes, I erase some subtitle words and let them fill the blanks with what they have heard. Sometimes, I asked them to count how many (particular) words will occur during the movie and those who can answer it correctly will get a point or gift from me.

                In my opinion, listening to a favorite song is also good for students to help them learn English. Sometimes, I provide the lyric with some blanks on LCD and I let them fill the blanks while listening to the song. Sometimes, I provide the lyric with some false words and I let students to find and correct them. Sometimes, I provide the lyric with some ungrammatical words and I let students to find and correct them.

                Games are also necessary in learning English to avoid boredom. I think “Simon Says” is a good choice because students are supposed to not only catch what the speaker says but also think fast to execute the speaker’s instructions. Or we can try another game, I do not know the name but I sometimes do it. Let us call it “Whispering Our Neighbors”. I usually divide the class into four groups and determine the first speaker of each group, who will receive the first information from me and continue it to the second speaker and so on, and the last speaker of each group, who will write down and report the information to me.

                At last but not the least, we should not forget the mainstream way. I think it is still important to help students learn English. Moreover, we need it to prepare students in facing the National Examination. There are many good books which provide listening practice for students. We should facilitate it as well for students’ success.

                In conclusion, I think we should combine both teaching all kinds of listening materials and the National Examination materials because each of them has its own importance.