Week 3. CALL in Listening

As all foreign language teachers I use listening tasks. I usually use the tasks given with the coursebooks. Sometimes we watch videos and do tasks. All these listening activities were random till I have read the article „Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials” by Lindsay Miller. Now I have clear vision what I need for my lessons.

I distinguish three listening stages:

1. Pre-Listening
2. While-Listening
3. Post-Listening

There is also different sources of authentic materials:

1. Radio
2. TV/Video
3. The Internet/CD-ROM

I especially found useful the advise of L.Miller to watch films at home. She gave very good example of all three types of listening stages:

"Stage 1: Pre-Viewing Task This weekend there is an English movie on TV. Does anyone know what it is? What time is it on? Which channel is it on? Please write the name, time and channel down as this is your homework task.

Stage 2: While-Viewing Task I would like you to watch the movie this weekend, or try to watch as much as you can. Focus on listening to the movie instead of reading the subtitles. Try to collect the following information: kind of movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters (male, female, animal), where does the movie take place (inside, outside, on land, at sea, country), what is the main idea in the movie?

Stage 3: Post-Viewing Task (the next lesson) Who watched the movie last weekend? What can you tell us about it? This generic format can be repeated as many times as you like, and once learners have developed the habit of watching and listening to English language movies with some kind of focus, they will get used to this type of exposure to listening for pleasure, and you may then move on to more critical post-viewing tasks--e.g., Do you think we should go to war with each other (after viewing a war movie)."

If you wish to read all the article, it is HERE.
I have used this example to prepare my lesson with watching film at home. I have chosen series “Suite Life On Deck” on Disney Channel. The lesson was a great success. I am going to do more such lessons in the future, but my next lesson will be with other authentic material source - radio.