Listening is a very complex skill that takes a great deal of effort and time to master.  Interestingly most of us who learn languages can understand what we hear at a higher level than we are able to produce in speaking.  Basically we have a higher tollerance for ambiguity (we can figure things out despite not knowing all the words and contexts).  Be that as it may, we still need to help our language students work on their listening abilities.

In many cases students who have learned a second language in a place where it is not commonly used (learning English in Japan for example) have a very hard time when they first arrive in a country where English is the 1st language.  They are not accustomed to the speed, the jargon and slang, the cultural references and common verbal reductions (e.g. going to –> gonna).  This means that even if they were 'strong' listeners back home, they need to retrain their ears and mind to understand the 'new' way of speaking.

When it comes to listening skills, we need to focus on the type of listening being done.  On the surface listening seems to be quite simple.  However different situations require different listening skills and different levels of focus.  Level of attention, and what you are attending to vary depending on the situation, and the importance of the information to your life.  Here are just a couple of examples

• listening to music on the bus
• listening to a lecture in a Biology class
• listening to your friends chat over a pint in the local pub
• listening to a border guard as he snaps on rubber gloves
• watching the news about a natural disaster in your hometown
• Understanding your doctor's explanation of a medicine you need to take

Clearly each of these situations requires a slightly different focus from the listener, and misunderstandings will have a very different impacts on the listener.

So as teachers what can we do?  Well we need to do our best to figure out what type of listening our students do most, and where their weaknesses may lie.  Then we need to provide them with many opportunities to practice the skills relevant to those situations.

There are literally hundreds of sources of audio available online ranging from the sublime to the rediculous, so there should be no shortage of audio samples for you to access.

For video (and of course the audio that goes with it) two great places are

1. http://www.youtube.com
2. http://www.ourmedia.org

For pure audio

1. http://www.podcastalley.com
2. http://www.odeo.com
3. http://www.podcastdirectory.com

For ESL based audio

1. http://www.esl-lab.com
2. http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com

From these, the sky is the limit.  Just use your imagination to find topics and create language activities for listening practice specific to your students' needs.  Also, don't be shy about creating your own audio files.  There is a ton of free content online that you can record into you computer or a tape recorder to use as the base for listening activities.  Sites like http://www.reprint-content.com are full of free to use content.

For working on reductions, I really like the simplicity of "Whaddaya Say".  It is a very easy to use book and covers some of the most commonly used reductions in English (and shows how they are used in combination)

I hope this is of some help to you in thinking about and planning useful language activities for listening practice.

If you've got other resources, drop them in a comment so others can benefit as well.

Cheers,

Eric

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