Listening Activities Home

Listening Strategies:
   Unfamiliar Words
   Give a Focus
Context Clues
   TQLR

Planning Effective Listening Activities

Pre-Listening Activities

During Listening Activities:
   Card Activities
   Categorize Words
   Charts
   Cloze Activities
   Commands
   Commercials
   Dictations
   Illustrations
   Interviews
   Listening Games
   Movies
   Native Speakers
   Newscasts
   Pictures
   Puzzles
   Questions
   Radio
   Songs
   Sounds
   Statements
   Stories
   Textbooks
   TV shows
   Video Clips

Post Listening Activities

Listening Assessment

DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE

To help train students to guess the meaning of those pesky, foreign words that they don’t understand, I give them listening passages in English with made up or obscure words I know they do not know.  After they listen, they infer the meaning of each unfamiliar word based on the context.  First, they practice looking for context clues in English.  Once they understand the basics, they try it in Spanish.  Students practice listening for background noises, definitions, organizational patterns, parts of speech, and tone of voice.  Explicitly teaching these strategies helps students in subjects other than Spanish, and it gives them more control over what they can understand.  I especially like that it forces them to think.  For example, if a student whines to me that they don’t understand a phrase, I ask them questions about what they heard until they are able to guess based on the clues.  This helps them discover the answer on their own and it is a true learning experience because they remember that word.  If I simply gave the meaning and moved on they would have forgotten that word within five minutes.   



Types of Context Clues

Students may be able to identify the setting and the topic based on background noises such as sirens, screaming, crying, laughing, music, bells, animal sounds, cards, roaring, whistles, etc.  You would hear these noises in real life settings, so why should the classroom be any different? 

Students should first listen closely to the surrounding words or phrases since they sometimes give the definition of the unknown word.  I tell students when they find the definition they are lucky because it is freebie!  Who said nothing in life is free?

Sometimes the organizational pattern of the text will provide insight on the meaning of unfamiliar words.  I instruct students to take note of this.  Words that may be helpful are:

If students can identify parts of speech such as articles, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, direct objects, indirect objects, nouns, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs it will help them determine if the unknown word is an action, a description, a modification, or a person, place, thing, or idea. Knowing the point of view may help clarify the meaning of new words and phrases as well.  Why?  Proper nouns may also provide insight.

Tone of voice

Students should identify the speaker’s tone of voice and mood.  Does the speaker sound angry, confused, excited, happy, nervous, sad, or scared?  Knowing the tone and mood can also provide clues on the meaning of those strange and mysterious words. 

Give a Focus

TQLR