Listening – Keep It Simple Activities

feeling good

Last week I made a wonderful new discovery while I was looking for podcasts to listen to for my daily commute to school. I’m not sure how I stumbled upon it but this is of little matter here. The podcast series in question is BBC Radio 4’s Soul Music, a series of programmes which averageContinue reading “feeling good”

The Beatles treasure hunt

This time I am going to make an exception and write about an original and fun-filled activity that does require a fair amount of preparation. Yes, it deviates from the zero or minimal preparation nature of the activities that I blog about but it’s already created for you to try it out and decide ifContinue reading “The Beatles treasure hunt”

song lyrics that don’t make sense

The other day I played the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morisette for my students. It’s a very good song to play at an Intermediate level. Lots of interesting vocabulary for that language level there. Among the many things that you can do, here’s one: Write or display on the board or give a printed copyContinue reading “song lyrics that don’t make sense”

working with listening transcripts 2

My approach to working with listening, as a skill many language students struggle with -and more especially so students whose primary language is syllable timed (as opposed to stress timed)- has been gradually shifting towards focusing more on the process rather than on the product. In other words, prioritising teaching listening over testing listening. IContinue reading “working with listening transcripts 2”

working with listening transcripts 1

Today I would like to share a couple of ideas on one of the most overlooked -and useful- things we can do in the classroom: working with listening transcripts. They tend to be considered as reference material for the students to check -if anything- at home to, perhaps, look up words they may not knowContinue reading “working with listening transcripts 1”

songs: fill-in-gaps with a twist

This is one of my favourite song activities ever. It focuses on having a look at relevant vocabulary from a song by means of a dictation (again, with a twist), on having the students mingle and help each other with meaning and then doing your typical fill-in-gaps. Finally you may decide to allow time forContinue reading “songs: fill-in-gaps with a twist”