Listening Activities (Visuals & Stories) Teacher Training Program Winter Peter Daley

Describing Pictures: The simplest activities involve students looking at a picture (on an overhead or individual sheets) while the teacher describes it. Alternatively students can be asked to describe the picture.

Students can be asked to identify which person is being described, easily turning the task into an individual or team competition. Describing Pictures: Such activities can quite easily be altered to suit differing topics, grammar points, and vocabulary. Here a picture that could be used with units concerning physical appearances and emotions.

Telling Stories: Instead of describing a picture, a series of pictures or cartoons can be utilized with the teacher or students telling a story that fits the pictures:

Including Mistakes: A variation involves describing a picture the students can see with the inclusion of false details:

Including Mistakes: There is a nice comfortable room, with a sofa, chairs, a television and a rug. There’s a lovely puppy sitting under the table. There are plates, cups on the table, as well as an empty bottle of red wine. Also on the table is a vase with a tree in it. Behind the table on the wall there’s a picture of a happy family. If you look out the window you can see the moon shining on the sea.

Choosing the Correct Picture Another variation involves students choosing one picture from several similar pictures based on the aural description:

Using Maps: Students follow and mark on a map directions given by the teacher. Here the directions can be in story form. Alternatively famous area can be used from the real world or fiction. (Lord of the Rings)

Using Maps: Similarly, street maps provide excellent visual reference for following directions. Great for pair work with each student’s worksheet missing and containing different information.

Floor Plans: Floor plans can be used in the same way maps are with missing information for the students to fill out:

Floor Plans: Here is an example of the teacher’s or the student who is reading map:

Floor Plans: The floor plan can be altered to show anything, a series of shops or the layout of an apartment for example.

Picture Dictation: The teacher (or students) describe a picture that the other students cannot see. Those students try to draw the picture from listening to the description given. Let’s try a quick example…..

Picture Dictation: There’s a table in the middle of the picture and a cat is under the table. He’s a white cat. Near the table is a chair. There’s a very fat boy sitting in it. He’s very fat indeed, and very happy, because there’s a big cake on the table and he’s going to eat it in a minute. The cat is happy too; he’s going to eat the mouse which is under the fat boy’s chair.

Picture Dictation: I created my own pictures from various photos on my computer. Students sat back- to-back and took turns explaining the picture to their partner who had to try draw what they were hearing:

Picture Dictation:

Listening for Specific Words / Grammar Points.