A close look at some practical tips to improve these two skills inside a classroom full of students.

1. DEVELOPING LISTENING
AND SPEAKING SKILLS
INSIDE THE CLASSROOM
by Verónica Naranjo

2. INTRODUCTION
 Developing Listening and Talking as
part of the communication process in
the classroom.
 Sender - receiver - message -
meaning - interpretation
 Listening is key to all effective
communication, it involves verbal and
non- verbal communication.

3. LISTENING
 Let´s go back in time …
◦ How did you get on with foreign language
learning at school?
◦ Did you learn to say very much?
◦ Was it useful?
◦ When did you really become fluent?

4. Listening: is the process of
receiving, constructing meaning
from, and responding to spoken
and/or nonverbal messages.
– International Listening Association.

5. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
VS. NON-EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION
 greater productivity
 creative and
innovative work
 messages are
easily
misunderstood
 sender of the
message can
easily become
frustrated or
irritated

6. The most basic and powerful
way to connect to another
person is to listen. Just
listen. Perhaps the most
important thing we ever give
each other is our attention.
Rachel Naomi Remen

7. PRINCIPLES OF LISTENING

8. PRINCIPLES OF LISTENING
 stop talking
 prepare yourself to
listen. Relax
 eye contact
 remove distractions
and interruptions
 keep an open
mind. Empathy
 be patient
 avoid personal
judgment
 tone
 listen for ideas not
just words
 additional
information being
transmitted via
non-verbal
communication

9. Effective listening requires concentration and
the use of your other senses - not just hearing
the words spoken.
Listening is not the same as hearing and in
order to listen effectively you need to use
more than just your ears, it involves body
language.
Sometimes you can tell inconsistencies
between verbal and non verbal messages.

10. MOST COMMON PROBLEMS
 the only interaction with English is
inside of the classroom
 too much noise / lose control of the
class
 students make too many mistakes
when they speak
 pair group in class … they don´t listen
to each other

11. MOST COMMON PROBLEMS
 use Spanish in working groups
 they argue/fight
 moving around the class

13. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE
STORY
 FOR STUDENTS:
 - Learning a foreign language is
difficult
 - I´m too shy to speak in front of my
classmates
 - … I really enjoyed , my teacher was
very nice

14. Remember…
 Lesson Planning . Listening exercise
 Before
 During
 After

16. WHAT TO DO
 - define our objectives to students
clearly:
 Clear instructions
 Display rules ( what to do)
 Create communicative situations
 Play
 Explain expectations

17. WHAT TO DO
 set realistic goals:
 - Accuracy or fluency?
 Acceptable mistakes
 Make sure students know how well
they´re progressing
 - motivation
 - evaluation / how to measure their
progress

18. BEFORE LISTENING AND
SPEAKING CLASS /ACTIVITIES
 Decide : what to evaluate progress
/ results, fluency or accuracy.
 Set clear rules : be kind to express
opinions (don´t use …), give a
background related to the topic, time,
accepted voice level .
 Space for new questions/mysteries to
solve
 Explain the purpose of the exercise

20. PERSONAL EVALUATION
 provide criteria for students to judge
their own performance
 I can say: the numbers, the months,
the days, body parts, describe myself ,
describe my room.
 give possible feedback wherever you
can
YOLANDA YOU DID A GREAT JOB THIS WEEK!

21. GIVE STUDENTS THE WORDS THEY
NEED
 Surround your class with English : on the
board display helpful questions:
 How do you say … in English?
 What does … mean?
 I´m sorry I don´t understand.
 Be as visual as possible
 Arrange the classroom to suit the
interaction pattern: maximize
opportunities for students, encourage
them to contribute with oral activities.

22. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
 different levels (leaders / passive)
 balance their need of expression and
feelings
 set an atmosphere of mutual respect
 make pair work a success
 allow students some autonomy and
choice
 show flexibility
 take the risk … don´t lose your mind!

24. POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
 Ask open-ended questions that invite children to
expand upon their answers.
 Present new words to children to expand their
vocabularies.
 Respond to questions and let children take the
conversational lead.
 Respond to children's questions and let them build their
language skills.
 Engage children in conversation throughout the day.
 When reading aloud to the children, encourage them to
predict what will happen in the story, to comment on the
story, and to make connections between the story and
their personal experiences.
 Play games that will focus children's attention on the
importance of listening carefully

25. THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING
 Play games that will focus children's attention
on the importance of listening carefully
 Playing helps children to learn about their
world
 4 areas of development:
Physical . muscle coordination
Cognitive . cause and effect
stimulates imagination
solve problems
try new roles
Emotional . express emotions
developing self control
Social. learn to do things together
take turns and respect

26. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE
LISTENING SKILLS
 - ice breakers to create a friendly
environment - make students believe
they are part of the class
 - share real things (including teacher´s
life too!)
 - keep it light, jokes and humor is
allowed. Relax.
 - open questions
 - respect vs. disruptive

27. TO BE … OR NOT TO BE …
 pair or group work
 students listen to each other more
willingly
 they can go at their own speed
 is more private
 monitoring class

28. DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES
 extraverted
 introverted
 sensing
 intuitive
 thinking
 feeling
 Judging
 perceiving

29. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE
LISTENING SKILLS
 fill in the blanks song
 mirror voice
 celebrities game
 stand up / sit down
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z753SITeq0
 revolving circles
 surveys
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcAiasm3ooM

30. MAKING SPEAKING CLASS
RELEVANT
 Using real problems and current
events to reinforce critical thinking.
 Students will learn how to express and
justify themselves in a polite way.
 They can be involved in
agree/disagree discussions.

31. MAKING SPEAKING CLASS
RELEVANT
 When faced with oppression what's more
effective - violent or non-violent resistance?
Have students use this analysis to better
understand the two sides of the Civil Rights
Movement - Martin Luther King Jr's
message of non-violent resistance and
Malcolm X's "Black Power" philosophy.

32. MAKING SPEAKING CLASS
RELEVANT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92FCRmggNqQ&list=RD92FCR
mggNqQ#t=0

33. YOU SUCCEED TEACHING
LISTENING SKILLS WHEN
 Questioning asking relevant questions
and/or making statements
 Reflection repeating or paraphrasing what
the speaker has said
Clarification asking questions of the
speaker to ensure that the correct message
has been received
Summarisation repeat what has been said
in their own words

34. The most basic and powerful way to connect
to another person is to listen. Just
listen. Perhaps the most important thing we
ever give each other is our attention. The
most basic and powerful way to connect
to another person is to listen. Just
listen. Perhaps the most important thing
we ever give each other is our attention.
Rachel Naomi Remen

35. Thank you!