Listening Activities

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video Clips
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Videos are a great source of listening because they provide much more contextual support than audio clips.  They are very visual which helps aid in comprehension and retention of language learned. Instead of showing a whole video, I prefer to show short clips that are ten minutes or less.  Short video clips are less overwhelming for students and they have an easier time focusing on the language and content which in turn improves their listening comprehension.  In addition, I can do several different activities with the same clip which aids in language acquisition.

Video Activities
  1. Play a video clip three times.
  2. The first time, play it without sound.
  3. Students guess what the video is about.
  4. Play the video a second time with sound. 
  5. Pause the video and discuss what is taking place. 
  6. Give background information and ask questions about what is happening in the clip.
  7. Students watch the video a third time.
  8. Meanwhile, they complete the following types of exercises which they will turn in for a grade:

    9. Circle the Words
    1. Prepare a worksheet with words or phrases from the video clip as well as some distracters. 
    2. Students watch the clip and circle the words they hear in the video.
    Correct the Errors
    1. Prepare a worksheet with a list of phrases from the video.
    2. The phrases should have errors in them.  Errors should be words, not punctuation or spelling. 
    3. Students correct the errors.

    Create a New Program
    1. Discuss the style of the program and list characteristics on the board.
    2. Divide students into groups.
    3. Students create their own program in the same style and videotape it.
    4. Each group presents their video to the class.
    Fill in Missing Words
    1. Prepare a worksheet of key phrases with words left out.
    2. Students fill in the missing words.

      3.
    Provide a Program Description
    1. Students describe the clip including the:
      • Name of the program
      • Channel
      • Date
      • Time they watched it. 
    2. Using a Venn diagram, students tell how the program is different from English-language TV and how it is similar.  

    Record While Reading the Transcript
    1. Show students a video clip in Spanish. 
    2. Afterwards, give students a transcript of the clip. 
    3. Divide students into groups. 
    4. Each student chooses a character and practices reading and acting out their part.
    5. After practicing, students make an audio recording while reading the script.
    6. Afterwards, play the video clip with the sound muted while simultaneously playing their audio recordings.

    Re-enact the Video Clip
    1. Assign students a partner or group.
    2. Students re-enact a scene from the video and present it to the class.

    Scramble the Phrases
    1. Prepare a worksheet with the most important phrases from the video. 
    2. The phrases should be scrambled. 
    3. Pair students.
    4. Each pair defines the phrases in English.
    5. Students then watch the video and number the phrases in the order in which they appear.

    Summarize the Video Clip
    1. Students write a summary of the video. Depending on the level, they can write it in English or in Spanish.
    2. Play video again.  Include Spanish subtitles for maximum comprehension. 
    3. Play video clips from SDSU's Language Acquisition Resource Center and ask students questions based on it.

 

Resources
Use Spanish TV stations and websites as resources for listening and general comprehension activities.  You can show sitcoms, soap operas, news, commercials, sports, and variety shows.

SDSU's Language Acquisition Resource Center - This website contains a digital image archive in many languages including Spanish with video clips, a transcript of the video clip, a lesson plan, activities, and goals and objectives.  There are videos on a large variety of topics such as Arabic women, Baja literature authors, business, literature, culture, education, festivals, grammar, human rights, Latin American women, music, OPI practice, poetry, spirituality, and travel.

Google Videos - I love Google Videos because they have a lot of videos and a Google España version with lots of videos in Spanish.  In addition, you can search for videos by region so if you prefer videos from Mexico or Argentina, you can find them in Spanish on Google Videos.

United Streaming - If your district has a subscription to United Streaming then you're in luck because there are many Spanish language instructional videos that you can use. 

Yahoo Videos Mexico - Yahoo videos contains many types of videos.  Even though YouTube has many more videos in Spanish, I did find some here that I couldn't find on YouTube so it is definitely a valuable resource.  I recommend browsing the different canales for some great video clips.

Yahoo Videos Spain - Yahoo videos contains many types of videos.  Even though YouTube has many more videos in Spanish, I did find some here that I couldn't find on YouTube so it is definitely a valuable resource.  I recommend browsing the different canales for some great video clips.

Yabla Videos - This authentic Spanish video library for educators contains videos as well as lessons.  This is a subscription only service but there is a free demo.  In any case, it is definitely worth checking out.   

YouTube - You can find many video clips on YouTube.  You can even download videos and save them to a flash drive, a CD, on an iPod/MP3 player, or save them to your computer.

Downloading Videos

If you would like to download videos from YouTube or another video website (since your school may block YouTube) try these websites:

Vixy.net - I normally use Vixy because you can easily download videos in a variety of formats by cutting and pasting the video url.  In addition, they have a desktop Converter that you can download so you don't have to log onto their website each time you want to download the video.  The site normally works but a couple of times I have visited and it was down.  In any case, this is a great place to start!

YouTube Catcher - Here you can easily download YouTube Videos by copying and pasting the video url.

Downloading YouTube Videos - This is a must-read article from FLTEACH on how to download YouTube videos.


Additional Video Ideas from Teach Spanish Easily

Commercials

Movies

Newscasts

TV shows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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