BY SEAN SEBASTIAN GOMEZ PENINSULA COLLEGE Improve Listening Skills in Multilevel Classes with Streaming Video

Agenda Background Rationale What is narrative/paraphrase technique? Demonstration Is it effective? What are the challenges? Extension activities Supplementary materials

Why video? Students need large amounts of comprehensible input Video (movies, sitcoms, soap operas) provides a rich source of listening input The narrative/paraphrase technique allows the teacher to make this input comprehensible to a wide range of abilities A dramatic storyline keeps learners engaged If you have an Internet connection, streaming video is always available and free

What and where is the streaming video? Connect with English, a video series of fifty 15-minute episodes developed by WGBH Boston for ELLs Google “Connect with English” - it’s the first hit Register - it’s very short and simple Click on the VoD (video on demand) symbols to stream the video Double click to blow up full screen Gather people up front, turn off the lights Don’t forget to plug in powerful speakers

What is the narrative/paraphrase technique? Warm up: summary or questions Play a fifteen minute episode of the video (1 hr. needed for lesson, not including wrap-up) Replay and pause often, narrating and paraphrasing – describing scenes and characters on screen, simplifying dialogue Frequent comprehension checks to monitor students' understanding and keep class focused  Level 1: “What is this?” (a phone)  Level 6: “Why did Steve quit?” (He feels underappreciated, doesn’t earn enough money, and wants to spend more time with his family.) Wrap-up (optional): discussion, summary, role-play, etc. Let’s do a demo!

Is it just for listening? Extension activities: Role-play scenes (all skills) Do a cloze activity with a segment (listening, reading, writing) – could be for homework Summarize the episode in small groups (speaking, listening) or in writing/homework Discussion about events/characters in the episode, or related themes: What is important to men/women in a relationship? (from Conversation Book 1)

Is it effective? Research: Students using the narrative/paraphrase technique outperformed students in a standard ESL program in listening comprehension (Hastings 1995; Yu 1998) Student Feedback: Narrative/paraphrase improves their comprehension dramatically; it helps them improve their listening; it helps them learn vocabulary, phrases, and idioms; it’s like watching a movie; Rebecca speaks slowly and they can understand. Teacher Feedback: use with multilevel groups, teach vocabulary, grammar, idioms, expressions, culture, jokes, applicable to many settings (Adult Ed, IEP, K-12)

What are the challenges? Working with a multi-level group: making video comprehensible to a true beginner, yet challenging a high-intermediate learner. Convincing a beginner student who can’t follow the dialogue that they can still learn with this method. Spending time to learn the episodes intimately and come up with a spectrum of questions.

Online Quizzes/Discussion in Angel

Connect with English Supplementary Material Video Comprehension Book Grammar Guide Conversation Book Video Script Purchase materials: from Annenberg Buy used copy online for inspiration/tweaking (cheap); ex: Conversation Book = $4.50

Streaming Video, Multi-level Instruction Fun and effective all-class activity Limitless material to use with this technique on Internet. Students can watch at home All materials from this presentation: