Listening Chart
10July 23, 2012 by Kara
We all have the challenge of finding engaging and level-appropriate sources for input. Then we still need to make something for them to do with it. To have something pre-prepared, I created this generic activity for any listening activity that has a transcript based on the AP Spanish site. Sites like BBC usually have videos and transcripts. Also I prefer to use this form in the target language, but I put this one in English for everyone to understand.
*The idea is that they are identifying general information and the text type. If they are aware of what type of text it is, it helps them to create their own later.
*Next they are asked to predict what they will hear based on titles, pictures, the website, etc. This step is something that we do naturally, but needs to be taught to many students. Well, this is a news report with a picture of a tree down. Maybe I will hear about a storm or something about weather.
*Then they hear the spoken text. In the first column, they write what they hear. It may be words or phrases. You can play it again.
*Next they will compare with a partner and add what their partner had in the second column.
*Then the partners get a transcript. In the third, column they add what the understood from the reading.
*The last part is for them to self-assess themselves and add any reflections.
Overall this walks them through the steps. I’m going to try it for myself too!
Megan
rachel573
Kara
Hi there,
Whilst on the topic of listening, I found this link last night. It’s a webpage boasting the 50 top podcasts for learning a foreign language. Sorry if you already know them all, but personally, I need all the help I can get, in finding listening materials! http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-50-podcasts-for-learning-a-foreign-language/
Enjoy!
Nice! Thanks! I feel like listening is the hardest to practice and assess. :/ I’m still processing how to do all this.
Kara, This looks like just the thing I need to make sure students are engaged actively when we are listening to audio and/or watching video in Spanish. I notice the chart itself is in English. Do you have the students complete it in English? I’m on the line about that and I’d be interested to hear what you think.
Kara, I love this idea! Have you seen the University of Texas listening proficiency site? (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe) I’ve used several of their prompts to make listening comprehension activities, and many of them are tied to units that many of us use.
Anne, for what it’s worth: I think that at the lower levels their answers generally will be in L1 if what we are testing/working on is *comprehension*. As their skills increase, this will change, but at the lower levels their responses will probably not be in L2 because their expressive skills are not up to the par of their deciphering skills. For example, I am learning French. Thanks to my background in Spanish, I understand a lot… but as a novice mid speaker, I am still at the point where I am [frustratingly] limited in what I can respond. However, I can *comprehend* a lot, and can demonstrate that comprehension in English or Spanish… but not French. The same concept goes for reading: if we want to know what they comprehend, the majority of the questioning/assessing needs to not be in L2 or it becomes a comprehension AND production assessment. As a result, when I design listening activities for my lower level classes, their response options are frequently pictures, select from a list (check off what you hear), what is the main idea, etc.
Another thought is that short audio/video clips can be used for progressively more detailed tasks. For example, one of the UT clips from the site above is about a man trying to buy a pair of pants. The first round of questions might be something like “what does the man want?”. Next might be detail questions like “what color?”, “what size?”, & “what fabric?”. Follow that with something like “what is something that he does NOT want?” They might listen to the clip 8-10 times to get the information, but they pick up new stuff each time.
Your thoughts?
I’ve seen the Texas site! Lots of good stuff, but sometimes the students are not “into” it like a real commercial.
Here’s my 2 cents. I’m going to try to do it all in the target language and pictures if needed. I have the same form in Spanish. If I model this with them several times and I have visuals to help (like “revistas” above the magazines, “noticias” above the news, etc.), then I think I can keep it in L2. I’m also doing this because I may have students that are not native English speakers in there. So that would be double translating for them if I asked for English. If they are a novice, they will list only words they heard. Good! If they are higher, they will give me more. Great! I’m thinking that I also should be modeling lots of “This is about…” and “I think…” phrases for them to use. Also we make ESL students do all this in English. Why can’t our students do this in the target language?? We are the link to show them how to do it.
Now I can also see the other side. If they read and answer questions in the target language, they may just pull the word and not know what it means. So this means be creative. Example: if the article is about a mother and her baby, then I may ask if it is about family members instead of using “mother”. Actually I prefer not to ask specific questions for interpretive activities. I like to ask “What’s the main idea?” and “What are some details?” I’m working on an Interpretive rubric (almost done!) that I will use to determine their level based on their answers.
What do you all think?? There is not much out there about interpretive activities.
Beth: Thank you for the link and the feedback. I understand what you are saying and I tend to agree. Comprehension is one thing, writing about it in L2 is quite another.
Kara: Familiarizing students with the activity and the form several times before changing it over into Spanish is a great idea. Also, I had no idea that your classroom was so diverse. That must be both exciting and exhausting at the same time.
Thanks to both of you!
–Anne
I totally think this would be helpful for individual learners, I have a couple of websites that have the text written and spoken in Spanish. This would let me practice active listening with myself. Thanks for sharing!
I feel like I should do some too!
¡Me gusta mucho tu “Listening chart”! Y quiero utilizarla ¿Es possible ver esta en español?
Sí. Dame un día para cargarla.