Are you truly all ears?

This activity focuses more on how to listen rather than content. While you listen, there are certain steps you take to help you get a better understanding of the content. Below, you will find three questions to help you do that:

 

Before Listening: What do I already know? What predictions can I make?

When you're given the title, write down everything you already know about the subject. You could do this in pairs to generate more ideas. 

 

While Listening: What strategies can I use to help me understand what I’m listening to?

What strategies can you think of that help you understand the text better? Some of the strategies you apply to reading could be helpful with listening as well. Practice these strategies while you listen to the fragment. At times, it is helpful and necessary to pause the fragment to actually practice those strategies. 

After Listening: Which strategies helped me the most? What will I do next time?

Reflect on which strategies helped you and what was particularly difficult for about the listening task. What could you do to improve these strategies / skills?