Some Things Listening

Colorín Colorado

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/13280

This site has a lot of resources for students whose first language is Spanish. One of those resources is a page dedicated to possible listening exercises for students learning English. The focus is on music integration – from playing soothing music to enhance the writing process to modifying a modern, catchy tune to help students learn the English language alphabet.

My favorite activity offered on this website was the one used to expand vocabulary and learn synonyms. By playing soft, classical music for students and having them jot down adjectives that come to mind and then sharing this list with their classmates, they are not only exercising their listening skills, but their oral ones as well. This activity can be used with a variety of music and the discussion between classmates can be more advanced depending on the ESL level of the group.

Songs for Teaching

http://www.songsforteaching.com/store/esl-efl-esol-songs-c-399.html

This site offers lyrics, CDs, books, DVDs, and downloads of exercises that are designed to advance ESL students’ basic language skills, oral production, vocabulary, language development and grammar.

I like this site because it’s a one-stop shop for ESL instructors to browse lyrics and books as well as download CDs and DVDs to be used in their classroom. With activities for students of many age groups, teachers can use this site to browse materials that will aid and challenge their English language learners.

You Tube

There were three activities that I found and really enjoyed for my learning context on this site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVyk9BIxapQ&feature=related - to learn about transportation, house and family

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-ul4rfuLtw&feature=related - to learn about fruits and colors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQw3bUEvYLg&feature=related - to learn about numbers

I really like these activities for my context as they are just long enough (the longest was about 7 minutes) thus easing possible information overload, have bright and entertaining visuals to accompany the auditory portion and provide ESL students with practical information they can use in their daily routines.

Finding these activities on You Tube came as a surprise as I never really considered You Tube to be such an educational resource outlet. There were many other videos that were available – in a wide array of topics. If a teacher has sufficient time and bandwidth, s/he could easily compile a revolving list of activities for the classroom.

ESL Young Learners

http://younglearners.eslreading.org/youngerchildren/home.html

This site offers short passages and/or songs that students can listen to and then check their comprehension by answering questions and engaging in short writing exercises.

I liked that this site has a good range of activities that can be interesting to students (cats, bears, catchy songs) but feel that the topics offered and the tasks asked of the students can be a bit too advanced even for the age group for which they’re designed.

There are so many resources floating out in cyberspace - which sites do you feel speak to your teaching context the most? How many hours a week do you envision spending online finding resources for the classroom - listening or otherwise?