Teaching Listening for Young Learners

By English For Young - As we know that listening is receptive skills. But we should make the listening to be fun in teaching learning especially for young learners. We know that their characteristics is very unique, so let’s make listening to be interesting lesson.

Bellow are several ways how to teaching listening for young learners :

• Listening should not passively activity, we can do actively teaching listening.

• We should give different task according their age, learning style, their listening capacity, and their phonological awareness.

• The language teachers should train the students to listen to the English sounds carefully.

• Give simple instruction to get them ready to develop other language skills.

• Give different task in listening classroom, such as :

1. - Listen  and Do
2. - Listen  and Draw
3. - Listen  and Colour
4. - Listen  and Mime
5. - Listen  and Predict
6. - Listen  and Respond
7. - Listen  and Write (needs literacy)
8. - Listen  and Identify (may need literacy)
9. - Listen  and Match (may need literacy)
10. - Listen  and Complete (needs literacy)
11. - Listen  and Read (model for pronunciation)

• The students should be given a different task each time they listen to the same text. (i.e.: First, listen to have a general idea; second listen to complete the blanks; third, listen to check your answers).

• Input through tapes, videos or teacher modelling should be provided; the audio tools should be in good quality.

• embed listening into stories, games, routines, rhymes, songs. They may not understand every word, but they can understand the meaning from the context, visuals, and gestures as in real life.

Adapted from:
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge University Press.
Linse, T. C. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners. McGraw Hill: NY.