Teaching Listening: principles, techniques and technologies

Abstract
A lot of teachers find that listening is a tricky skill to teach. This session is your golden opportunity to 'hack' this skill. During this session you will design, try out and discuss a range of listening activities informed by research and expand your knowledge of online resources and tech tools for teaching listening.
Session Objectives
By the end of the session, participants will have:
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created materials aimed to scaffold out-of-class listening and started to encourage their learners to listen out of class in a systematic way
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analyzed what proficient listeners do and what implications this has for teaching listening
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looked at a framework for listening lessons and analyzed the principles that guide the choice of listening tasks
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increased their repertoire of listening activities, including activities that make use of technology
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collected a library of online tools, resources and websites that can be used to address the common listening problems and that are useful in their contexts
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had hands-on experience using the activities and the tools in their contexts, reflected on this experience and received support and feedback from course moderators and other course participants
- engaged in discussions and shared their tips on teaching listening with and without technology
Target audience
Both experienced and inexperienced teachers of teenage and adult learners who are prepared to dedicate up to 5-7 hours a week to the session.
Certificate
To qualify for a certificate of participation, you need to participate in all discussion tasks during at least three weeks out of five.
Syllabus
Weekly Content
Week 1 (Jan 8-14, 2017)
Introduction
The participants will:
Autonomous listening out of class
The participants will
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participate in a live session with Lizzie Pinard (8 January at 4 PM GMT) and read materials on establishing an out-of-class listening scheme
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share (via a discussion question) their favourite listening resources for out-of-class listening (both authentic resources and resources aimed at language learners) and explore resources shared by the course moderators and other course participants
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create a plan/log for scaffolding their learners’ out of class listening in order to (optionally) launch this listening scheme with one of their groups (opportunities to report on the learners' attitude and progress will be provided during Weeks 2 and 4), using the log template provided.
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share the materials they’ve created, receive feedback from the course moderators and other course participants;
- leave feedback on other course participants' work
Week 2 (Jan 15-21, 2017)
Traditional listening lesson framework: Dos and Don'ts
The participants will
(3) find out ways to make the classroom listening experience more learner-centered and life-like
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read and watch a short video related to teaching listening and compare it to their own approach to teaching listening
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design a listening activity/lesson based on authentic material and, optionally, try it out in class
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share their activity/lesson plan and handouts (and reflection, if they have tried it) and get feedback from the course moderators and other participants
- leave feedback on other participants' work
- follow up on the work they started during Week 1: revisit their out of class listening schemes by sharing a link to their autonomous listening plan (including logged notes on progress made with it) and commenting on other participants' plan/progress.
Week 3 (Jan 22-28, 2017)
Beyond the comprehension approach: critical thinking and high order thinking (HOT) listening tasks
The participants will
- participate in a live session with Jennie Wright (22 January at 4 PM GMT) during which they will:
(1) try out a variety of high order thinking (HOT) listening tasks
(2) discuss ways of implementing high order tasks in the classroom
- learn five key terms on the topic of critical thinking;
- watch a short video related to critical thinking and evaluate current listening tasks;
- read about critical thinking in language teaching (free pdf booklet) and share your evaluation of your favourite task from the booklet;
- design a high order thinking listening activity and, if possible, try out the activity in class;
- share their activity (and reflection, if they have tried it) and get feedback from the course moderators and other participants;
- leave feedback on other participants' work.
Week 4 (Jan 29-Feb 4, 2017)
Beyond the comprehension approach: decoding skills
The participants will
Week 5 (Feb 5-11, 2017)
Practical activities for teaching listening decoding skills
The participants will
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participate in a live session on 5 February 4 PM GMT during which they will
(1) learn a range of practical classroom activities for teaching listening decoding skills (presenter: Richard Chinn) and
(2) look at software tools that make it easier to create listening decoding activities (presenter: Olya Sergeeva);
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read about practical listening decoding activities and watch lesson fragments showing work on decoding skills;
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try out two software tools that make it easier to teach decoding skills;
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design a listening decoding activity for their learners (and, optionally, try it out in class);
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share their activity (and, optionally, a recording if available and a reflection, if they tried it) and get feedback from the course moderators and other participants;
- leave feedback on other participants' work
Conclusion
The participants will
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evaluate the session
- reflect which ideas and tips presented during the session were the most useful and plan how they will develop further as a teacher of listening
Session Communication Tools
1. Moodle4teachers course
2. Facebook group (optional)
Other technology tools:
Week 1:
Listening resources aimed at language learners, such as
Authentic listening resources (youtube channels, podcasts, etc)
Week 2:
- any technology for the learners to play audio/video files (e.g. the learners’ phones: BYOT - bring your own technology);
- speech recorders, e.g. in a mobile phone;
Weeks 4 and 5:
Session Sponsors
IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG
IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG
Join this session
The action starts on Jan 8, 2017.
Moderators
Moderators: Fill in the table for all session moderators and co-moderators. You can change or add to the list later. Co-moderators are expected to take part in the training session along with moderators.
Name (last, first)
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Email address
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Location (country of residence)
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Biodata (not more than 50 words)
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Olya Sergeeva
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olyaelt@gmail.com
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Russia
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Olya Sergeeva got interested in listening during her Delta studies over three years ago. Since then, she has been running listening courses and sharing some of her listening materials on her blog, https://eltgeek.wordpress.com/. Her particular interest lies in the use of technology in creating effective listening activities and materials. She's a co-creator of http://www.tubequizard.com/, a free tool that generates listening decoding quizzes based on subtitled Youtube videos.
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Sheila Thorn
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sthorn@clara.net
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Sheila is an experienced ELT teacher, teacher trainer, materials writer and examination writer with a special interest in authentic listening and language acquisition. She is the founder of The Listening Business (www.thelisteningbusiness.com) and the author of the Real Lives, Real Listening series (Collins), a series of books featuring authentic recordings and listening training materials for students from elementary to advanced level. Sheila regularly speaks at national and international conferences on various aspects of listening training and testing and has written a number of significant articles in this field.
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Elena Wilkinson
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elenayarizko@gmail.com
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Russia
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Elena Wilkinson has been teaching English (to children, General English and Business English) for over 10 years. She holds an MA in TESOL from Concordia University, USA. She is also a Cambridge certified CELTA trainer and enjoys sharing her experience in teaching English in the USA and Russia with others.
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Richard Chinn
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richard.chinn@ihlondon.com
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UK
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Richard has worked as a teacher and trainer in London, Costa Rica, Beirut, Spain and Peru. He currently works at IH London where he is a tutor on CELTA, Delta and teacher training special courses. Richard’s main professional interest is teacher development.
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Richard Cauldwell |
richardcauldwell@me.com |
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Richard Cauldwell has taught English in France, Hong Kong, Japan, and the UK, where he worked at the University of Birmingham. Since 2001 he has published electronic and print materials for listening and pronunciation. Two of his publications have won British Council Innovations in ELT awards (ELTons): Streaming Speech (online course) in 2004 and Cool Speech (iPad app) in 2013. His Phonology for Listening: Teaching the Stream of Speechpublished in print in 2013 and as an eBook in 2014 has been shortlisted for three awards, and has received high praise in reviews from many sources, including TESOL Quarterly, and the Journal of the International Phonetic Association |
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Jennie Wright |
tefl-helper@hotmail.co.uk |
Germany |
Jennie Wright is a teacher, teacher-trainer, blogger and ELT author based in Germany.
With over 15 years of experience in language teaching, her blog features free professional development resources for teachers: http://teflhelperblog.wordpress.com/.
She also co-authored Experimental Practice in ELT: Walk on the wild side which is published by www.the-round.com.
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Lizzie Pinard |
lizzie.pinard@gmail.com |
UK |
Lizzie is a teacher, researcher and materials writer currently based in the UK. She has taught in the UK, France, Romania, Indonesia and Sicily. She holds an M.A. in ELT and a Delta. She is also the author of the ELTON award-winning intercultural communication module Compass (http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/integrated-skills/compass/). |
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Marina Kladova |
Kladoffam@gmail.com |
Russia |
Marina Kladova is a Delta qualified teacher and teacher trainer based in Moscow. She is really into development of learner and teacher autonomy and teacherpreneurship, and she enjoys sharing her experience and ideas with other teachers.
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Primary Contact:
Olya Sergeeva (olyaelt@gmail.com)
Statement of commitment: Each moderator and co-moderator should request access to this wiki. Once access is granted, each moderator should type the words "I agree" and his/her name to show understanding of and acceptance of the following statement (***No one should sign the statement of commitment for another person.***):
I understand that session moderators are required to participate in the 4-week moderators' training session from October 16 until November 13, 2016. The EVO session will be offered between January 8 and February 12, 2017. I understand that EVO sessions are free of advertising and no commercial sponsorship is allowed. Finally, I understand that EVO sessions are free and open to all, and that no academic credit may be given for participation.
I agree (Olya Sergeeva)
I agree (Elena Wilkinson)
I agree (Jennie Wright)
I agree (Lizzie Pinard)
I agree (Marina Kladova)
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