Listening skills for Students

We’ve all felt that sigh of relief after thoroughly explaining a task, clarifying, then asking students, “Do you understand?”, followed by a collective “YES!” and nodding of heads. Then 5 minutes later, a student raises their hand to ask, “what are we doing again?”.

So how can we get our students to listen?

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PASSIVE vs ACTIVE listening?

First, we need to understand the difference between active versus passive listening. Passive listening can be defined as a one-sided conversation. Whereby, students are behaving well and appear to be listening but don’t respond or acknowledge the information you’re giving them. On the other hand, active listening is where the listener responds, understands, and reflects on the information.

What are the benefits of active listening?

By encouraging students to listen to and understand each other, we’re also encouraging them to emphasise and connect with one another, ultimately creating a better classroom community. Not only that, but it’ll save time for you, the teacher, and create a more efficient classroom.

How can we improve active listening?

It’s true, listening can be tough, especially for ESL students. Thankfully, listening skills can be taught, practiced, and improved. Try some of these techniques below and see if you notice improvement amongst your students:

1. The classic THINK, PAIR, SHARE.

Why have students listen to the teacher when you can have them listen to each other?! Nothing says collaboration than asking students to think of their own ideas, share with their neighbour, and then with the class! Even if they weren’t listening, there’s a high likelihood their partner was. It’s a win-win!

2. Read a story together.

For younger students, simply reading a story can help them comprehend the concept by using scenarios and visual aids. Here are some books to try:

- 'Listen, Buddy’ by Helen Lester

- ‘Listen and Learn’ by Cheri J Meiners

- ‘Yes, I can Listen’ by Steve Metzger

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/883056.Listen_Buddy

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/406824.Listen_and_Learn

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42683908-yes-i-can-listen

3. Continue the Story….
This classic game is perfect, not just for listening, but for vocabulary practice too. Students simply add on another word to the chain, reciting all the previous words that came before them. For example, “We’re going on a picnic, and so we brought…”. The first student may say “apples!”, then the next would say “apples and bananas!”, and so on.

4. Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down

Some students are simply too shy to ask for clarification when they don’t understand. Using a non-verbal method to grasp overall understanding from a group may work best for your class. Students simply close their eyes and give a thumbs up or thumbs down to indicate how well they’ve understood.

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5. Listening Mats!

An excellent idea we came across for younger students is using “Listening Mats” as a warm-up. For example, you give students a simple colouring page, asking them to complete the colours in a certain order, which they’ll only find out if they listen carefully! “First, colour the teddy bear brown. Next, colour the pencil in red…”. They’ll also be practicing vocabulary and fine motor skills too!

https://proudtobeprimary.com/listening-activities/

6. Exit tickets

Lots of teachers like to use “exit tickets” in their lessons. So why not give students the task of writing down something new they learned or a question they may have about the topic. Then, they hand in this ‘ticket’ at the end of class before leaving, and the teacher will instantly know whether they’ve fully understood and started thinking critically about the subject or not.

7. Modelling

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, modelling! How can we expect students to listen carefully if we’re not also doing the same? Listening with our whole bodies is important to show that we respect our students and their contributions! Be sure to maintain eye contact, face the student, acknowledge their ideas, and care with your heart!

Give these methods a try! Do you have any more techniques we should add?

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