LISTENING CASES

SITUATION : Brando has noticed that his fourth graders need to improve their listening skills when they are exposed to real audios. For that purpose, Brando will expose them to a news report. He will use the following news report:

“For many cancers, diagnosis is a difficult process. A new blood test, however, could offer a simpler and more effective diagnostic technique. CancerSEEK is a test that has the potential to identify eight cancer types from one blood sample. In the new study, researchers reveal how the blood test demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for cancer detection in more than 1,000 people with the disease. Early diagnosis is key to fight against this illness; the earlier the disease is diagnosed, the higher the chances of treatment success. Many cancers are not caught until the later stages, and this is largely due to a lack of fast and effective diagnostic tools. However, the test CancerSEEK could bring us closer to a quick, simple way to detect cancer in its early stages.” Adapted from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320679.php

Which of the tasks below is appropriate to identify the gist of the news report?

• Ask the students to listen to the audio and write down as much information as they can. Then ask them to get in pairs and use their notes to reconstruct the news report they just heard.

• Ask the students to listen to the audio and write down a phrase that gives a general idea of what the news report is about. Then ask them to compare answers with the classmate next to them.

• Ask the students to listen to the audio and write down all the adjectives they can identify in it. Then ask them to work in pairs and use those adjectives to make sentences about the news report.

SITUATION: Brando has noticed that his fourth graders need to improve their listening skills when they are exposed to real audios. For that purpose, Brando will expose them to a news report. He will use the following news report:

“For many cancers, diagnosis is a difficult process. A new blood test, however, could offer a simpler and more effective diagnostic technique. CancerSEEK is a test that has the potential to identify eight cancer types from one blood sample. In the new study, researchers reveal how the blood test demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for cancer detection in more than 1,000 people with the disease. Early diagnosis is key to fight against this illness; the earlier the disease is diagnosed, the higher the chances of treatment success. Many cancers are not caught until the later stages, and this is largely due to a lack of fast and effective diagnostic tools. However, the test CancerSEEK could bring us closer to a quick, simple way to detect cancer in its early stages.” Adapted from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320679.php

Now, Brando wants to work on a post-listening task. Which of the following tasks is it least appropriate to carry out?

• The students work in pairs answering comprehension questions about the news report. Then they explain their answers to the rest of the class.

• The students do some research on the topic of the news report. Then they make a presentation to inform the class about the latest information related to that topic.

• The students choose a topic similar to the topic of the news report they listened to in class. Then they record their own news report about the topic chosen and present it to the class.

Brando’s students want to know the meaning of some words included in the audio of the news report. He wants to use a strategy that will help the students understand the meaning of those words. Which of the following strategies is most appropriate for Brando’s purpose?

• Present a matching exercise for the students to connect the words they don’t understand with their definitions. Then ask the students to stand up and compare their answers with at least five different classmates.

• Show the students the tape script of the news report and ask them to highlight the words they don’t understand. Tell them to focus on the context in which those words appear to find out their meaning.

• Organize the students in groups and give them a dictionary. Ask them to work together on two activities: (1) look up the meaning of the words they do not understand from the audio of the news report and (2) make two sentences using each word.

Delia’s third graders are going to practice their listening skill Inferring attitude after listening to the following dialogue:

Martha: Can you come to my house later?

Susana: I have to visit my grandma.

Martha: And tomorrow?

Susana: Movies with my neighbors.

Martha: Then when can you come?

Susana: Hmmm…next week. I will let you know.

Martha: Oh, come on!

Delia asks the following questions: “What is Martha’s attitude towards the invitation?” and “What about Susana’s attitude towards going to Martha’s house?” She asks the students to write down their answers and discuss them with a classmate for some minutes before they share their ideas with the class. These are the ideas of three volunteer students:

Luis: “Martha invites Susana to her house. Susana says she will let her know. They have different personalities.”

Andres: “They want different things but Martha convinced Susana. Susana accepted because they are friends.”

Tulio: “Martha is persistent and doesn’t give up. Susana is giving a lot of excuses, maybe she is not interested.”

Which of the students’ opinions provides more evidence that the listening skill Inferring attitude has been developed?

• Luis’

• Andres’

• Tulio’s

Marisa’s students are going to listen to the audio of a fable. She wants to assess her students’ comprehension of the fable. Given the teacher’s goal, which of the following activities is NOT appropriate?

• The teacher plays the audio of the fable once and tells the students to listen to it. Then she writes some questions about it on the board and plays the audio again. This time, the students answer the questions.

• The teacher plays the audio of the fable a couple of times and the students listen to it carefully. Then she gives the students a word search puzzle. She tells them to find the words they remember from the audio.

• The teacher plays the audio of the fable and tells the students to listen to it. Then she gives the students a fill-in-the-blank worksheet with excerpts from the fable. She tells them to fill in the missing information while she plays the audio again.

A fifth grade teacher wants his students to predict content in a communicative way. He is going to play the audio of an adventure trip. Before he plays the audio, which of the following strategies is it more appropriate to apply to help his students predict the content of the audio?

• The teacher pastes three titles for the story on the board: “The most exciting adventure ever”, “The scariest experience in my life” and “The most difficult activity I have done.” Next, he asks the students to work in pairs to select one of the titles as a guess for the listening they are about to hear.

• The teacher writes on the board four words related to the audio: “adventure”, “trip”, “water” and “rapids.” In pairs, the students use those words to discuss the possible context in which the story they are about to hear will take place. Then the teacher asks the students to present their ideas to the rest of the class.

• The teacher sticks a picture of a person doing bungee jumping and writes two questions on the board: “What activity is the person doing?” and “Do you think the activity is safe or dangerous?” Next, the students have one minute to think about possible answers. Finally, the teacher elicits the students’ answers and writes the most common ones on the board.

SITUATION 2:

Daniela’s students are going to listen to the audio of a conversation between two radio speakers talking about summer jobs. Here is the conversation she will play:

Jackie: So, we’ll be talking about summer jobs. Richard, tell us about one of your summer jobs.

Richard: I used to work as an assistant in the school stadium. It was really fun because it was outdoors, and I got to talk to a lot of people. What about one of your jobs, Jackie?

Jackie: One summer, I worked in a section of the supermarket selling ice-cream.

Richard: And did you enjoy that?

Jackie: Actually, yeah! It was nice to meet people and talk to the customers.

Before playing the audio, Daniela wants to help her students develop their listening skill Predicting content. Which of the following strategies is it more appropriate to carry out?

• The teacher writes three sentences on the board: “Jackie had a job in a supermarket”, “Richard enjoyed his job as an assistant”, and “Jackie worked near her house.” Then the students guess which of these sentences will be part of the audio.

• The teacher writes, on the board, the following words from the listening: “summer”, “assistant”, “fun”, “supermarket”, “enjoy” and “customers.” Then, in small groups, the students use those words to discuss what they think the audio will be about.

• The teacher writes, on the board, the topic of the listening: “summer jobs.” Then she elicits some words related to it and writes them next to the topic. She tells the students to work in pairs to discuss what summer jobs they think will be in the audio.

SITUATION:

Daniela’s students are going to listen to the audio of a conversation between two radio speakers talking about summer jobs. Here is the conversation she will play:

Jackie: So, we’ll be talking about summer jobs. Richard, tell us about one of your summer jobs.

Richard: I used to work as an assistant in the school stadium. It was really fun because it was outdoors, and I got to talk to a lot of people. What about one of your jobs, Jackie?

Jackie: One summer, I worked in a section of the supermarket selling ice-cream.

Richard: And did you enjoy that?

Jackie: Actually, yeah! It was nice to meet people and talk to the customers.

After listening to the audio, Daniela tells her students to answer the following questions:

What did Jackie sell?

Where did Richard work?

During which season did both speakers use to work?

Which of the following listening skills is Daniela trying to promote?

• Listening for gist.

• Inferring meaning.

• Listening for specific information.

SITUATION 3:

Manuel wants his fourth graders to practice Extensive listening in the classroom. He brings the audio of the following conversation:

Carmelo: I don’t like traveling by bus.

Daisy: Why not?

Carmelo: The service is terrible, and I hate traffic jams!

Daisy: Well, you can take the train.

Carmelo: There are long queues. I can’t stand them.

Daisy: Then ride your bike or walk.

Carmelo: I’m lazy.

Daisy: Hahaha. Come on! Stop being negative!

Carmelo: Yeah, you are right. I have to work on that.

Taking into account Manuel’s purpose, which of the following instructions is it NOT appropriate to give when starting the activity?

• “Listen to the conversation and try to identify which topic they are talking about. Remember that details are not important right now.”

• “Listen to the conversation and identify the expressions used to give suggestions. Remember they can be phrases, sentences or commands.”

• “Listen to the conversation and identify the relationship the speakers have. Remember that the speakers’ attitude is important to understand what their relationship is.”

After listening to the conversation, one student raises his hand and asks: “Teacher, what are queues?” Which of the following actions is it more appropriate for Manuel to carry out?

• Tell the student the definition of “queue” in English. If he doesn’t understand it, translate the word “queue” into Spanish.

• Explain to the students that queue is a British word and its synonym in American English is row. Ask the student if he got the idea or not.

• Ask four students to come to the front and line up one behind the other. Ask the whole class what their peers are doing and where people usually stand like that.