listening lesson plan beginners)

LISTENING LESSON PLAN

Class Profile: This is a Beginner class of adult students, the majority of whom come from Afghanistan, Iran and the Congo. There are twelve students in it and the class has had lessons since February 2008. They have finished using Cutting-Edge Starter course book and have now moved to using Language-To-Go Elementary. The class meets 3 times a week for a two hour session each time and so far, I have observed them five times so far and taught them twice more.

The class consists of Anatolyi, a very strong student who, being ahead of others both grammatically and lexically, tend to assist his classmates with language problems at times. On the same level, there are two more students, Ali and Victor, who, in my opinion seem to have grasped the main linguistic features and vocabulary items and are able to interact with their classmates and the T well.

In addition, when they are given instructions on how to perform a task, they are always able to follow them immediately and they also bring to the class a great sense of hum our, enthusiasm and motivation. Shamel, from Iran, is also one of the stronger students. Fifie, who is Victor’s wife, is a teacher of French, and participates in all activities well, providing that they are geared to her schematic knowledge and culture. Fifie, specifically, volunteers to speak her mind freely with a rather heavy French accent using the TL.

Another new student, named Hassan from Afghanistan, too ,had appeared in class the last time I observed them, seemed to be one of the stronger students as he possessed linguistic features and strong vocabulary to be able to participate in the teaching procedure and communicate in the target language with his classmates and teachers effectively.

On the other hand, Ahmed, Ashmatulah, Hassan, Sayed, Mahdi and Sieta (from Congo) are rather weak learners who need prompting, guidance and clear instructions so as to ensure their participation. They seem to have difficulty in reading and writing. Apart from Sieta (from Congo), all the others are from Afghanistan or Iran (Ahmed.

Lesson Aims/ Objectives for students

Primary Aim(s)

1. To introduce learners to informal speech in the target language.

Evidence

1. They will be introduced in an informal conversation, in the context of giving personal information/introducing oneself.2. The theme of the recorded material is targeted

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2. To listen to recorded material that will relate to learners` schematic knowledge of the world (White, 1998).

Secondary Aim(s)Listening:

1. To listen for specific information (White, 1998) in the informal conversation amongst people who meet for the first time.

Discourse:1. To introduce them to “colloquial

language”; this is different from prepared texts (Ur, 1984).

Vocabulary:1. To revise nationalities in the listening

dialogue.

at their culture, which hopefully, will enable them to comprehend the intent of the listening transcript and relate it to their personal lives and talk about it at the later stages of the lesson.Listening:

1. Learners will listen to an informal conversation and understand the main

Points (White, 1988), which they will be invited to take down.Discourse:

1. Learners will listen to “What about you?”and “What part of the country are you from?” in the recorded material, which promotes spontaneous conversation.

Vocabulary:1. Learners will revise nationalities in a

comprehension task, with re alia/flags from different countries of the world (visual stimuli, Ur 1984).

Source Aids/Handouts 1. T will use herself as a model to give personal information and to introduce Ss

as to what they are going to listen.2. Handout of school & café to introduce Ss to the setting of the listening

transcript (See Appendix A’).3. Handout of people`s faces coming from Germany, Greece, Italy and Kenya

(see Appendix B’).4. Re alia- flags depicting Germany, Greece, Italy and Kenya (see Appendix C’)

to revise countries and nationalities and to introduce Ss to the topic of the listening transcript.

5. The listening dialogue presenting personal/information/introducing oneself about people coming from different countries adapted from the course book page English for Adults by Long den Fiona and O’Brien Cathleen (Grivas Publications) (see Appendix D’).

6. A handout to check comprehension (see Appendix E’) about the listening transcript.

7. Handout of the semi-authentic dialogue to role-play in the communication activity (see Appendix F`).

8. The handout of the authentic dialogue for Ss to fall back on when interacting with their partners (see appendix G’).

9. Handouts of flags of their own countries to perform the semi-/authentic communication activities (see Appendix H`).

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Linguistic assumptions The particular class of Beginners completed the Cutting-Edge starter course book and has moved on to use the Language-To-Go Elementary. Up to now, they have covered the verb “be”, therefore, when listening to it, in the context of an informal conversation, they will bring it to mind and understand the gist of it. Moreover, they have covered a few basic countries and nationalities, such as Italy, Germany and Greece in their previous course book; hence, it will be a great opportunity for them to revise them by means of re alia and even extend it with learning a new country and a new nationality, such as Kenya-Kenyan. Finally, at the end of the lesson, they will be given the chance to interact/ practice giving personal information /introducing themselves to new people they meet for the first time.

Anticipated Language Difficulties 1. Learners might fear the fact that they

will not understand almost anything on the tape, because they are used to listening to T`s English accent.

2. Ss will face difficulties catching the pronunciation of the lexis “part (of the country)”; they might hear “pa:t”, instead.

3. Ss might be unaware of the definition of the Italian city “Naples”.

4. Learners may not realize where the people are, while they`re talking on the tape.

Solutions/Remedies 1. T will use herself as a model

introducing herself and re alia/flags to enable Ss to predict what they will listen, before, during and after the input as well as comprehension activities.

2. By listening to the particular vocabulary item in the context of the informal conversation, in combination with other contextual clues, will they be able to infer its meaning and identify reduced forms in fast speech.

3. T will advise them to focus on hearing the other words before and after it and then, try to work out its meaning in context.

4. They will be presented with two photos; one of a school and one of a café. This will lead them to use background knowledge of the topic to guess what the speakers might say about it (White, 1998).

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Timetable Fit The particular class of Beginners has already covered the verb “be” in the previous course book, therefore, they will be able to listen and parts of the dialogue “Where are you from?, Are you Greek, too?, No, I’m not, I’m Italian, Yes, I am, I’m a student They’re from Kenya” etc. Furthermore, they have covered a few basic countries/nationalities such as Italy-Italian and Germany- German, therefore, it will be a nice opportunity for them to revise them by means of flags and wh-comprehension tasks as well as even extending them to learning new ones, like Greece-Greek and Kenya-Kenyan, in the same context. Finally, at the end of the lesson, they will be invited to communicate with their classmates in the target language, to revise/practice introducing themselves to new people and to give personal information.

Board Plan(s)

Hello! I`m Vivi from Paros. I’m Greek. Where are you from?

Countries Nationalities

Germany German

Italy Italian

Greece Greek

Kenya Kenyan

People`s faces

Fabio

Unknown Words

Part (of the country)?

Naples?

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Pavlos

Bettina

Martha & Kay

café school

Commentary This lesson is aimed at developing students` listening skills and prepares them for real-life listening, too. Indeed, good listening involves motivation and concentration, if you are interested in the subject (White, 1998). The main focus of this listening lesson will be to listen to people, who have never met before in their lives, to introduce themselves/ their friends, to give personal information in an informal setting, i.e. a café, a restaurant, a meeting; later on, they will be invited to act out a similar situation with their classmates.

In reality, the background noise of a café will aid their aural comprehension of the setting as well as a variety of voices of non-native speakers using English to communicate will assist learners to understand different accents of non-native speakers outside classroom. In fact, a variety of activities will be implemented to develop students` listening strategies. More specifically, the context of an informal conversation in a café amongst acquaintances will encourage students to think about how listening can help them in language learning and prepare them for the listening they will do out of class with both natives/non-natives of the target language, in real life situations (: ibid).

In addition, the handouts of people`s faces and flags` in combination with the comprehension activity will enable students to understand gist meaning (the overall idea of what they hear), to understand the main points, details and to infer information which is not explicitly stated or has been missed (:ibid).

Furthermore, the use of T figure as a model and flags/re alia will encourage learners to predict the content of the recorded material, to use knowledge of the world, use knowledge of the topic to guess what the speaker might say about it and to use knowledge about the patterns that certain oral interactions typically take in order to predict what is being said, for instance, in a café (: ibid).

Moreover, the use of pointing out and repeating the definition of “Naples” and “part

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(of the country) vs. /pa:t/” in the listening situation will help students to recognize micro skills, like individual sounds, to discriminate between sounds, to identify elision, stressed syllables, words in utterances and to recognize intonation patterns (: ibid).

Finally, the use of semi-/authentic situations at a café and at a school will enable learners to integrate listening with speaking, to interact with speakers, to convey “real life” messages, to recognize speaker`s cues about things such as when to take a turn at speaking, to ask for clarification and to realize when misunderstandings have occurred (: ibid).

References

White G., “Listening” © Oxford University Press 1998

Ur P. “Teaching Listening Comprehension” © Cambridge University Press 1984

Course book:

Longden F. & O `Brien K., “English for Adults 1” Grivas Publications August 2003

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DELTA Lesson Plan

Name: Paraskevi Andreopoulou

Date:12/08/08

PROCEDURE

Stage Teacher Activity

Learner Activity Aims Materials

Interaction

Time

Ice-Breaker:

T points at herself and introduces herself :“I ‘m Vivi from Paros; I’m Greek. Where are you from?

“Now, turn to the person sitting next to you and tell them:I’m…….from….I’m…...Where are you from?”

T sets 10’’

Ss observe the activity

Ss turn to their partner and give their names, where they come from and ask them where they come from, too

To arouse Ss curiosity and to activate their schemata

To give them the opportunity to open up to their classmates and to get to know them better

None

None

Plenary Mode

Pair Work

5’

Pre-Listening:

T shows two photos and asks Ss:“What is this? (a school) What is this? (a café)

Ss look at the photos and say the words

To introduce Ss to the topic of the listening situation

H/O1 and some blue tack

Plenary Mode 2-3’

While- Listening (a):

T sticks them up on the w/b and says:“You`re going to listen some people talking on the radio. I want you to find out where these people are; at a school or at a café`.”

Ss listen to the T and then ,they listen to the radio to find out where these people are; at a school or at a café`

To activate Ss` schematic knowledge of the world and to assign a reason for first listening

The radio, the tape and the w/b

Plenary Mode 2-3`

While- After class feedback, T Ss listen to the T`s instructions To encourage Ss to predict None Plenary Mode 1-2’

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Listening (b):

informs Ss that there are some people talking on the radio;

She advises them to listen to the radio again and find out the number of people that talk on the tape.

Ss listen to the radio and find out the number of people talking on the tape

what they will hear next

To assign a reason for second listening and to introduce them to the setting of the dialogue gradually

The radio and the tape

Plenary Mode 2’

Listening for Specific information:

After class feedback, T gives out a handout with the proper number of people, and tells Ss to listen again and write down the names of the people

After listening, T tells Ss to check their findings in pairs

Ss get the handout with the proper number of people`s faces and get prepared to listen again

Ss check their results in pairs

To prepare Ss to listen for specific information

To collaborate as a team and to check their answers in pairs

H/O2 Individual

Pair Work

1’

2’

Guessing: After feedback, T highlights the name of Pavlos and asks from Ss to guess where he is from; Next, she picks up the flag of Greece and says:

Ss look at the name of Pavlosand at the flag of Greece and guess where he is from

To encourage them to make predictions and to facilitate revision of countries/nationalities

H/O2 and the flag of Greece

Plenary Mode 5`

Elicitation: “So, Pavlos is from…(Greece)…He is ….(Greek) and writes up country/nationality on the w/b

Ss say the country and nationality

To elicit countries/nationalities The w/b Plenary Mode

1`

Prediction: For the other people, T tells Ss to look at faces and names and try to

Ss look at the faces and names of people and try to guess where they come from with

To further predict their choices

H/O2 Pair Work 2-3`

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predict where they come from, in pairs.

their partner

Further Listening:

After short feedback, T plays the dialogue once more and advises them to check their answers.

Ss listen to the dialogue once more and check their answers with their partner

To listen for confirmation of their predictions

H/O2 Plenary Mode

Pair Work

2-3`

Further Prediction:

During feedback of this activity, T holds up the respective flag of the countries, except for Kenya, for which T presents a photo of its flag;

T shows the flags and asks from Ss to give out countries /nationalities

Ss look at the flags of each country and the photo of the flag of Kenya

Ss give out countries / nationalities

To introduce them to revision of countries / nationalities and to attract their attention

To elicit countries / nationalities by means of re alia and website photos

Flags and the photo of the flag of Kenya

Plenary Mode

Plenary Mode

1`

2`

Pronunciation:

During feedback, T emphasizes the pronunciation of countries / nationalities and asks from Ss to repeat chorally and individually.

Ss come to the w/b, write up countries/nationalities and afterwards, they pronounce them

To place emphasis on pronunciation work and to practice rhythm, stress and intonation

W/b Plenary Mode 2-3’

Filling gaps:

Next, she gives out the handout of flags / nationalities for which she asks from Ss to fill in , in pairs

Ss get the handout with the flags and fill in, in pairs

To fill in gaps using hints before and after gaps

H/O3 Pair work 2-3`

While- Listening (c):

After class feedback, T gives out the comprehension task and advises Ss to listen again one more time and do the

Ss get the comprehension task, listen to the dialogue and cross out the correct answer

To encourage Ss to do further work on understanding the main points

H/O 5 Plenary Mode 1’

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task ;

T asks from Ss to check the comprehension task with their partner.

Ss read through the dialogue and complete the comprehension task, in pairs

To understand the main points of the dialogue, to scan for specific information and to check work , in pairs

Pair Work 2-4`

Post- Listening (a):

After feedback, T advises Ss to underline the words “part (of the country)” and “Naples” and tells them to try and find out with their partner what these words they think they mean.

Ss underline the words and with their partner try to work out their definition in context

To expand vocabulary and to work out their meaning in context , in pairs

H/O 4 Pair Work 1-2`

Post-Listening (b):

After feedback, T divides Ss into pairs and gives out a similar dialogue to act out as Pavlos and Bettina – at school , showing the flags of the respective countries in the dialogue at the same time

Ss get the dialogue with the respective flags and role-play it

To practice their speaking skills, To interact with the speaker andTo provide semi-authentic interaction

H/O6 + Italian /Greek flags

Pair Work 5`

Follow-Up (a):

After class feedback, T gives out the last handout of an authentic dialogue, at a café- along with the flags of their country and act out a dialogue about their personal lives.

(T asks from groups to rehearse it for 2`)

Ss receive the last handout and the one of flags of their country of origin and act out the dialogue in groups of 3

Ss rehearse the activity for 2`

To promote authentic interaction, to parallelize classroom talk to real life one, to put into practice what they’ve been taught earlier and to communicate in the TL

To rehearse the words they are about to say

H/O7 + H/O 8 Group Work 5`

Follow-Up (b):

T thanks for the time Ss thank for the time, too None None None None

APPROX

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58 mins

APPENDIX (A`)

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APPENDIX (A`)

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APPENDIX (B`)

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………………………… ……………………….

………………………… ……………………………….

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………………………………. ……………………………………………………..

…………………………. ……………………………………………………………..

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……………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………….

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APPENDIX (D`)(Listening dialogue adapted from “English for Adults 1” by Fiona Longden and Cathleen O` Brien- Grivas Publications – August 2003)

Hello! Where are you from?

Pavlos: Hello! I`m Pavlos. What`s your name?Bettina: Hi! I’m Bettina. Are you a student here?Pavlos: Yes, I am. Where are you from, Bettina?Bettina: Germany. What about you? Where are you from?Pavlos: Greece. This is my friend, Fabio.Bettina: Nice to meet you, Fabio. Are you Greek, too?Fabio: No, I’m not. I’m Italian.Bettina: What part of the country are you from?Fabio: I’m from Naples. It`s a large city in the south of Italy. This is Martha and her sister, Kay. They`re from South Africa.Bettina: No, we aren`t. We’re from Kenya. APPENDIX (E`)

Put an (x) next to the correct sentence. True False

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1. Pavlos is from Kenya. ……….. ………..2. Bettina is Greek. ………… ………….3. The two sisters are Kenyan. …………. ……………4. The students in the café aren`t from England. ………………

………………5. Bettina and Fabio are from Italy and Germany. ……………..

………………6. Fabio isn`t from a large city in Italy. ……………….

………………...

APPENDIX (F`) (At school)

Pavlos: Hello! I`m Pavlos. What` s your name?

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Bettina: Hi! I`m Bettina. Are you a student here?

Pavlos: Yes, I am. Where are you from, Bettina?

Bettina: I’m Italian. What about you, Pavlos? Where are you from?

Pavlos: I`m from Greece. What part of the country are you from, Bettina?

Bettina: Rome. It`s the capital city of Italy. Nice to meet you.

Pavlos: Nice to meet you, too. APPENDIX (G`) (At a café)

Student A: ……(hello, I’m…….What …name?)…..

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Student B: …………(hi, I`m………are you student?)……….

Student A: ……(yes,……….where…….from……?)………….

Student B: ……(I`m from……. What about you?........where …..from?)

Student A: ………(I`m from…….This is friend,………..)

Student B:……..(Nice ….meet….. where….from?........)

Student C: ………..(I`m from…………….. nice ….meet, too)….

APPENDIX (H`)

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listening lesson plan beginners)

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