Planning a listening lesson

Aims
• To learn about and practise a simple procedure for listening lessons

Materials required
An up-to-date EFL / ESL course book which includes listening tasks

Appropriate for
New teachers / Experienced teachers

Here’s a simple procedure you can use for practising listening sub-skills in the classroom. Notice
how we spend quite a lot of time preparing learners for the listening: they don’t actually start
the listening itself until Step 5.

Step Why it’s a good idea

1. Before they listen, get learners thinking This step helps to activate learners’ existing
about the topic of the listening. For knowledge of the topic and topic-related
example, if learners are going to listen to a language – therefore making the listening
recording of people talking about their easier for the learners when it comes.
holidays, you could ask learners to discuss
their most recent holidays, good / bad
holiday experiences, popular holiday
destinations where they live, etc.
2. If necessary, pre-teach some key words This stops learners getting ‘blocked’ and
or expressions which learners will need in frustrated by unknown vocabulary during
order to do the listening tasks later on. the listening tasks.
3. Give learners the context of the Again, this makes the listening easier for
listening. How many people will they hear? the learners. It’s also realistic: we usually
Who are they? Where are they? etc. have this kind of basic information when
we listen in real life.
4. Set an easier listening task – often Learners understand why they’re listening.
listening for gist or specific information. They have a clear purpose and get practice
Check that the learners know what they in a particular listening sub-skill.
need to do.
5. Learners listen and do the task.
6. Learners compare their answers to the This helps to increase learners’ interest and
task in pairs or small groups. confidence before the answers are
discussed as a class.
7. Check the answers to the task with the This allows you – and the learners – to
class. (If necessary, give learners the chance check whether they have the right answers,
to listen and try the task again.) and you can help the learners with any
problems they might have.
8. Set a more challenging listening task – The same as Steps 4–7.
often listening for specific information or in
detail. Check that the learners know what
they need to do.
9. Learners listen and do the task.
10. Learners compare their answers to the
task in pairs or small groups.
11. Check the answers to the task with the
class. (If necessary, give learners the chance
to listen and try the task again.)
Task
The next time you do some listening practice with your learners, follow the procedure above.
You can use tasks from your course book to help you.

After the lesson, think about these questions:

1. How did you get learners interested in the topic of the listening (Step 1)? Did you feel that
this was helpful? Why? / Why not?

2. Did you pre-teach any words or expressions before the listening (Step 2)? Do you think that
you taught enough / too few / too many items? Why do you think so?

3. Did you set clear listening tasks (Steps 4, 8)? What were the sub-skills? Did all the learners
understand what they needed to do? How do you know?

4. Did you give learners a chance to compare their answers before discussing them as a class
(Steps 6, 10)? Did you feel that this was helpful? Why? / Why not?

Further reading
Harmer, J., (2007) How to Teach English (new edition), Pearson-Longman – chapter 10.
Harmer, J., (2010) The Practice of English Language Teaching (Fourth Edition), Pearson-
Longman – chapters 16, 18.
Scrivener, J., (2011) Learning Teaching (Third Edition), Macmillan Education – chapter 10.
Wilson, J.J., (2008) How to Teach Listening, Pearson-Longman.