Secondary English
Unit 8:
Helping your students to listen to English
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
Learning outcomes .......................................................................................... 3
1 Active listening .............................................................................................. 3
2 Listening skills ............................................................................................... 8
3 Using audio recordings ............................................................................... 14
4 Summary .................................................................................................... 19
5 Resources ................................................................................................... 21
Resource 1: ‘The School Boy’ .................................................................... 21
Resource 2: Links to audio recordings ....................................................... 21
Resource 3: Develop your own English ...................................................... 22
Resource 4: Further reading ...................................................................... 23
6 Related units ............................................................................................... 24
References .................................................................................................... 24
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ 25
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, the content of this unit is
made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Introduction
It is important for students to learn to read and write English, but it is also
important for them to understand spoken English.
Listening to a foreign or second language can be a difficult task for many
learners, and in this unit you are going to learn how you can help students to
listen to English. Completing this unit will help you prepare for your lessons
better, and will help your students get a better understanding of spoken
English.
Students practise reading and writing in English classes, but typically they
practise speaking and listening to English much less. Textbooks don’t tend to
have listening exercises for the classroom, and many students concentrate on
reading and writing skills for exam purposes. However, it is important for them
to practise listening in the English classroom too:
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If students want to study or carry out research abroad, they will need to be
able to understand spoken English.
It may increase employment or business opportunities in India or abroad. It
will give them access to jobs or business opportunities that require
communicating with people from other countries.
It will help them to access technology, and English media, music and films.
You may be able to think of other reasons why it is important for students to
practise listening in the English classroom. Can you add any to this list?
Above all, listening to English will help students with their English studies at
school:
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If students listen to a lot of English, they will be able to pick up more words
and phrases.
Some students learn better when they hear information, rather than seeing
it.
Listening to a foreign language is difficult. If students listen to a lot of
English, then they will get better at listening to English.
It helps them with pronunciation and speaking. If they hear words, then
they know how to pronounce them. They need to hear English before they
can speak it.
Students in some parts of India don’t get many opportunities to listen to
English outside the classroom. For some, the classroom may be the only
place where they can listen to English.
An environment in which students listen to a lot of English is
recommended by the National Focus Group on Teaching of English:
Input-rich communicational environments are a prerequisite for language
learning. Languages are learned implicitly, by comprehending and
communicating messages, either through listening or reading for meaning.
We suggest a comprehensible input-rich curriculum that lays the foundation
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for spontaneous language growth, with the understanding of spoken and
written language as precursors to language production (speech and writing).
Source: NCERT, 2006a
Pause for thought
Many teachers understand that it is important for students to listen to as much
English as possible in the classroom (see TDU 2, English in the classroom).
Read what these teachers do in their classrooms. Do you do any of these?
Description
Image with six speech bubbles. 1. ‘I use a lot of English for general classroom
talk. For example, I often give instructions or ask questions in English. I even
use English to correct students – or praise them.’ 2. ‘I often read passages
from the textbook aloud, such as poems or stories. If it’s long, I just read parts
of it.’ 3. ‘I talk to my students socially in English. For example, I ask them
about their hobbies and their families.’ 4. ‘I play audio recordings to my
students – recordings of different people speaking. Sometimes, I play English
songs too. Audio recordings are very effective with smaller groups.’ 5. ‘I
explain quite a lot of things from the text book in English. For example,
sometimes I use English to explain new words – even grammar rules at times.
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And sometimes I talk about passages or a poem from the textbook in English.’
6. ‘I am not the only person in the classroom who can speak English. I
encourage students to listen to each other when they do pair work.’
End of description
If it is possible, compare your answers with a colleague. Look at the
statements that you do not do and discuss them with your colleague. Is it
possible for you to do these activities in the classroom?
In this unit you will learn about some simple activities that you can do in your
English classes to help students listen to English. Firstly, you learn about two
different activities that you can do in the classroom to practise listening; then
you go on to consider using audio recordings in the classroom.
If you use these techniques in your classroom, your students will be able to
understand spoken English better, and this may benefit them in both their
school studies and future lives.
Learning outcomes
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
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explain why it is important for students to practise listening to English
work out what you do in your classroom for students to practise listening
identify and use active listening and listening skills
undertake listening activities
use audio recordings in the classroom.
1 Active listening
You listen to many different things in your home language (or other
languages) every day. Think back to your day so far – what have you listened
to already?
Maybe you have noted some of the following:
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the news or a weather report
a member of your family telling you about their day
a colleague at work talking about a lesson, or a school-related issue
a friend who’s phoned you to tell you why they are going to be late
somebody telling you how to make a recipe.
You probably have many other things on the list.
In each of these situations you were not a passive listener; you were
interested in what your family or friends had to say; perhaps you learned
something from your colleague at school; perhaps you heard an interesting
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piece of news that you could talk about with a friend or colleague. In each of
these situations you were an ‘active’ listener. When you are an active listener,
you have a reason to listen to something (for example, to hear the latest
information about an item of news that you are interested in) and you respond
to what you are listening to (for example, you can tell somebody about the
item of news).
When students are listening to English, they should also be active listeners.
That is, they should have a reason for listening to something. In this part of
the unit, you consider an activity that gets students listening to English for a
reason. First you read a case study, and then find an activity that can you try
in your classroom.
Case Study 1: Mr Khan uses ‘listen and draw’
Mr Khan teaches English to Class VIII. He knows that his students need to
listen to more English in the classroom so he has started to use the language
more in his classes. For example, he now uses English to ask questions, give
instructions and explain new words, and has noticed that his students
understand spoken English better. Read his account of how he has developed
his approach.
Recently, I was selected to go to an English Language Teaching conference.
While I was there, I went to a talk about how to help students improve their
listening skills in English. The participants tried an activity at the talk, which I
enjoyed very much. The activity was called ‘listen and draw’. The speaker told
us to draw what he said and then he gave some instructions – for example:
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Draw a tree.
Draw three birds in the tree.
Draw two flowers under the tree.
We had to draw what the speaker said. At the end, we compared our
drawings.
We all enjoyed the activity, and thought that it was a good way to practise
English. I realised that the activity could help my students to practise listening,
but it could also help them to practise language structures (prepositions, for
example) in a real context. I decided to try the activity with my class.
In my next lesson, my students were studying the poem ‘The School Boy’ by
William Blake from the Class VIII text book Honeydew (see Resource 1). The
poem is illustrated by a picture. I decided to use this picture for a ‘listen and
draw’ activity.
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Description
Photo of students in class.
End of description
I told my students to take their notebooks and a pen, and then I told them to
draw my instructions:
Description
Image showing a list of instructions:
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Draw a table at the bottom of the page.
Now draw a book in the middle of the table. The book is open. Draw
two closed books next to the open book.
Draw a boy sitting at the table. The boy is holding a pen in his left
hand. He looks very sad.
Draw a tree behind the boy. The tree has many green leaves.
Draw a bird above the boy’s head. It’s flying.
End of description
Some of my students were worried at first. Some of them complained that
they were not very good at drawing; others spent a long time starting the
picture. I explained that this was not a test of their drawing skills, but that it
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was a chance to practise listening to English. I told them not to worry about
their drawing skills, and to draw quickly. As they drew, I walked around the
room to encourage them.
After giving the instructions, I told my students to compare their pictures with
each other. They laughed as they looked at each others’ drawings. I then told
them to look at the illustration in the text book. I asked my students some
questions about the illustration:
Description
Photo of an exercise book surrounded by speech bubbles. 1. ‘What’s the boy
doing?’ 2. ‘How is he feeling?’ 3. ‘How do you know that he is sad?’ 4. ‘Why
do you think he is sad?’ 5. ‘What would he like to do?’
End of description
I realised that this activity had another useful function (apart from practising
listening and language): it helped the students to prepare for the poem. By
talking about the illustration, they now had some ideas about the text before
reading it (see TDU 4, Reading for understanding, Case Study 2). I decided
that I would use this ‘listen and draw’ activity from time to time in the future,
using simple illustrations from the textbook. I also thought that once my
students were used to it, they could perhaps do the activity in groups or pairs
– one student could look at a picture and describe it to their classmates, who
would listen and draw it. This way, they would practise listening and speaking.
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Activity 1: Try in the classroom: listen and draw
In Case Study 1, the teacher does a ‘listen and draw’ activity with his
students. It is a simple activity that you can do with any age group, and with
many different pictures. Follow the steps below and try using the activity in
your classroom.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Choose a simple picture with a few objects that are simple to draw.
Think about (or write down) the instructions that you are going to give.
Tell your students not to worry about the drawing – this is an English class,
not an art class!
Read the first instruction and leave some time after it. Make sure your
students have some time to draw – but not too much! Encourage your
students to draw quickly.
Repeat each instruction as many times as your students need. If they still
don’t understand, use a different word or your home language.
After you have read the instructions, tell your students to compare their
drawings, and then tell them to compare their pictures with the one in the
textbook.
If your students enjoy this activity, you could get them to do it in pairs or
groups. One student chooses a picture from the textbook and describes it
to their classmates. The classmates must draw the picture from the
description (and may not look at the textbooks).
This activity:
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helps students to practise listening
helps them practise language in context (for example, prepositions)
is a simple activity to do – all you need is a picture (it can be from the
textbook)
involves all the students
can prepare the students for a text in the textbook, if you use a picture
from one (see TDU 4, Reading for understanding, Case Study 2).
Pause for thought
After trying this activity with your students, think about the following questions:
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Was the picture easy to describe? What kind of picture is suitable for this
activity?
How long did the activity take? How can you make it quicker next time?
What did your students think about the activity? What did your students
think about the activity?
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2 Listening skills
Activity 2: Listening in different ways
When we listen to things in our home languages, we listen to them in different
ways. Imagine that you are listening to the following things in your home
language. Do you listen to each one in the same way? What do you need to
understand from each one? Make notes and, if possible, discuss with a
colleague.
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a news programme on the radio
a family member talking about their day
a weather report
a recipe.
Discussion
Now read some possible answers:
Listening to …
Notes
A news programme on
the radio
You probably listen carefully to the headlines and
then decide which items you are going to listen to
in detail. You may decide to ‘tune out’ – or not
listen to – some items.
A family member
talking about their day
You probably listen to get the general idea and to
know when to respond (for example, when to
laugh or ask questions).
A weather report
You probably listen for specific information. For
example, you may need to know whether it’s going
to rain or not tomorrow where you live. You may
not listen to the rest of the report.
A recipe
You probably listen carefully to all of the
information because you need to know specific
information such as the quantities of different
ingredients. It is important to understand these
words.
When we listen to something in our home language, we listen in different
ways. Sometimes we listen for a general meaning; sometimes we listen for
specific information; often, we don’t pay attention to every word.
However, when we listen to English, we expect to be able to understand every
word. When we can’t understand every word, we think that we are failing. In
fact, it is quite normal that we can’t understand every word when we listen to
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English. We may just understand a few words – we then have to use these
words to try to make sense of what the speaker is saying – to construct a
meaning.
Teachers need to know that students will not understand every word when
they listen to English. We need to help them to be able to pick out key – or
important – words, and to use these words to make a meaning. Students
need to practise listening to English so that they can develop listening skills in
order to:
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understand the general meaning of a text
be able to pick out specific information.
In this part of the unit, you explore how you can help your students to develop
listening skills. First, you see how a teacher does this using a text from the
textbook; then you try an activity in your classroom.
Case Study 2: Mr Khan develops listening skills with a text
At the English Language Teaching conference, Mr Khan went to a workshop
about developing listening skills. Read his account of the workshop and how
he applied what he experienced there in the classroom.
During the workshop, I had to discuss the following question with other
participants: ‘How can you get your students to develop their listening skills in
the classroom?’ One participant described an activity that she regularly does
in the classroom.
Description
Photo of a teacher talking to a class, surrounded by speech bubbles. ‘1. I read
parts of the texts aloud to the class … just one or two paragraphs.’ ‘2. Oh,
don’t you read the whole text aloud?’ ‘3. No, the whole text is too long. For
example, I read the first paragraph, and I tell my students to close their books
and listen.’ ‘4. Can your students understand?’ ‘5. Well no, they can’t
understand every word. But they get the general meaning. After I’ve read the
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first paragraph, I ask my students to guess what happens next … then they
read the rest of the text to see if they were right.’
End of description
I liked this idea and tried it the following week in my English class. The
students were doing Chapter 9 of the NCERT Class X textbook. The text is
called ‘Madam Rides the Bus’ and begins with the following paragraph:
There was a girl named Valliammai who was called Valli for short. She was
eight years old and very curious about things. Her favourite pastime was
standing in the front doorway of her house, watching what was happening in
the street outside. There were no playmates of her own age on her street, and
this was about all she had to do.
I made all of my students close their books, and then I told them that I was
going to read a paragraph about a girl called Valli. I wrote the following
questions on the board, and told my students to write them down:
Description
This is an illustration of a blackboard. There are four questions written on it,
‘What was the girl's name?’, ‘How old was she?’, ‘What was her favourite
pastime?’ and ‘Why did she do this?’
End of description
I told my students to listen carefully to the paragraph, and to listen out for the
answers to the questions on the board. I read the paragraph out loud, and
then told them to discuss the questions in pairs. Many of them couldn’t
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answer the questions at first, so I read the paragraph out loud again. This
time, most were able to answer the questions.
I then asked my students to guess what things Valli would see in the street
outside. Once again, I told them to discuss their ideas in pairs, and to note
them down. I gave them a short time limit for this, after which I asked my
students to suggest some ideas. They suggested people travelling in
rickshaws, people selling goods and so on. After this, I asked my students to
open their books and continue reading the story, and to find out what Valli
liked to see the most on the street. The students quickly found that she
enjoyed watching the bus. I realised that this activity not only helped students
to develop listening skills, it also helped to prepare them for the text.
Activity 3: Try in the classroom: asking questions for
listening practice
In Case Study 2, the teacher uses a resource from his textbook for listening
practice. He reads the first paragraph of a text aloud and his students listen,
with their books closed. You can also use text from the textbook to help your
students develop listening skills – you can do this with many different texts,
and at any level. Follow the steps below and try using it in your classroom:
1. Choose a text from your textbook. Look at the first paragraph – is it quite
short? Could you ask some interesting questions about it?
2. Practise reading the paragraph aloud before the class, and prepare two or
three questions to ask about the text.
3. In class, write the questions on the board. Tell your students that you are
going to read a text aloud and they should listen to it to find the answers to
the questions.
4. Read the paragraph aloud. Make sure your students have their books
closed.
5. Tell your students to discuss the answers to the questions in pairs. If
necessary, read the paragraph again.
6. Ask them to discuss what happens next in pairs. Give a short time limit for
this. Ask students for some suggestions.
This activity is useful because:
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if you do it often, students will get used to listening to English without texts
in front of them – this will help them to listen to English outside the
classroom
it will help students to develop listening skills in English, listening out for
key words and constructing the main message from words and phrases
that they understand
if you read paragraphs from the text book, it will help the students to better
understand the text (see TDU 4, Reading for understanding, Case Study
2).
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Pause for thought
After trying this activity with your students, think about the following questions:
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Was it easy to read the text aloud? What could you do to make this
easier?
Was it easy to prepare questions for the text? Would you change the
questions you asked if you did this activity again?
Did your students have an overall understanding of the text?
Activity 4: Video: looking at other teachers using listening
activities
In this unit so far, you have tried two simple classroom activities to help
students develop listening skills:
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‘listen and draw’
asking questions about a text (read aloud).
Now watch the video below of a teacher carrying out these two listening
activities. First, the teacher describes a picture from the students’ text book.
Her students draw the picture as they listen.
Description
Photo of an exercise book and textbook
End of description
In the second activity, the teacher reads a short passage, and students listen
for answers to questions.
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Description
Photo of a teacher talking to a class.
End of description
As you watch the video, think about the following questions:
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How much English do the students listen to?
Do the students look at the picture when the teacher is describing it?
Do they see the passage when the teacher reads it out?
How do students check their work in both activities?
Discussion
The students listen to a great deal of English during these activities. The
teacher uses English only to describe the picture and to read the passage
aloud. Students do not see the picture or the passage – this means that they
are concentrating on listening rather than reading or any other skill. After the
drawing activity, students compare their work with the picture in the book;
after listening to the passage, students compare their answers with each other
first. This gives all students a chance to think about what they heard. Then the
teacher checks the answers with the whole class.
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Description
Photo of students in class.
End of description
3 Using audio recordings
Description
Photo of a teacher talking to a class.
End of description
So far, this unit has established that students need to listen to as much
English as they can to develop listening skills. Teachers can help students to
develop these skills by including listening activities in the classroom such as
‘listen and draw’, asking questions about texts read aloud, and using English
themselves for classroom activities. However, it can also be good for students
to listen to other voices, and if it is possible, teachers can do this by bringing
audio recordings into the classroom. Some examples are:
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recordings taped from the radio and played on a tape recorder
songs played on a tape recorder or CD player
songs played on an MP3 player or a mobile phone
audio recordings made by teachers, students or other people by a mobile
phone (for example, teachers can record a dialogue)
audio books played on a CD player or downloaded to a laptop or MP3
player
audio recordings downloaded onto a mobile phone or laptop (see
Resource 2) or links to audio recordings that have been developed for
learners of English.
Audio recordings are useful because:

they help students to understand a variety of voices and accents, which
may be useful for students in some areas
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they help students to develop listening skills
they can provide models of spoken English, and can help students with
pronunciation (some teachers may not feel confident about speaking
English or reading text aloud)
they add variety to lessons – the focus of the lesson is an audio recording
rather than a written text
some students will enjoy being in a class that uses technology.
In this part of the unit you will read a case study about a teacher who uses
audio recordings in the classroom. The case study is followed by related
activities.
Case Study 3: Listening to the news with Ms Sengupta
Ms Sengupta loves English and has spent her whole life trying to improve her
own language abilities. Whenever she can, she reads English books and
magazines, and she watches TV programmes and movies in English. She
knows that she has learned a lot by listening to programmes and movies:
she’s learned words and phrases, her pronunciation has improved, and she
can understand people from other countries better. She believes that it is
important for learners of a language to listen to as much of that language as
possible, and she tries to give her students the opportunity to listen to as
much English as possible, from as many different people as possible. Read
her account of how she uses audio recordings in her class to improve
listening skills.
I teach Class XI. I regularly record the news of the day from All India Radio
and take the recording into my class. I have bought some inexpensive
portable speakers that I can use for audio recordings, so that all of the
students can hear.
Before I play the recording of the news, I ask my students to say what the
latest news is. This gets them thinking about the topic of the news, and
sometimes it introduces them to vocabulary that might appear in the news
items. It prepares them for the recording. For example, I might say to my
students:
Description
Image of a speech bubble. ‘Now you are going to listen to the news of the
day. For the moment, just listen and write down how many news items you
hear. Don’t worry if you can’t understand every word! That’s completely
normal.’
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I then play the audio recording. I know that it is difficult to listen to a lot of
English at one time, so I keep it short. I play just three or four news items.
Then I might say:
Description
Image of a speech bubble. ‘Now work in pairs. Write down how many news
items you heard. Was it two? Three? Four? Five? Then write notes to say
what each news item about. You just need to write three or four words, that’s
all.’
End of description
I then ask the students to work in pairs, because that way all students get a
chance to think and talk about what they heard. If I ask individuals in the
class, only a few members of the class will participate. I give my students a
few minutes to discuss and write notes, and then I ask them to say how many
news items they heard, and to say what each one was about. I want to see if
they have understood the general meaning.
Description
Photo of students in class with three speech bubbles. 1. ‘There were three
news items. One was about floods.’ 2. ‘One was about the rupee. I’m not sure
what they said.’ 3. ‘The last story was about President Pranab Mukherjee. He
went to Agartala.’
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End of description
I know that the students have understood what the news items are about.
Now I want them to listen out for more information about each news item, so I
play the recording again. Before I play it, I ask my students some questions:
Description
Speech bubble with a bullet list:
 Where are the floods? Who is helping?
 What has happened to the rupee?
 Why is the President visiting Agartala?
End of description
I play the recording, and this time my students try to listen out for the answers
to my questions. After the recording, I tell the students to discuss the answers
in pairs. I give them two or three minutes to discuss, and then I ask them to
answer the questions. Sometimes, I ask more questions and play the
recording again. At the end of the lesson, I play the recording again. By this
time, the students understand much more of the recordings.
I now do this activity regularly in my classes. It is quite simple to do as I can
follow the same procedure with all news items, so I don’t have to prepare
much before the classes. My students are getting better at listening to
English, and they are learning many new words and phrases. They are also
feeling much more confident about listening to and using English, and they
are preparing for work or study in the future.
Activity 5: Try in the classroom: listening to the news
In the case study, the teacher uses an audio recording of news items. She
performs the following steps:
1. She asks students to talk about any recent news – this prepares students
for the recording and may introduce some vocabulary.
2. She asks students to say how many news items they hear and then plays
the recording.
3. She asks students to work in pairs and to note down how many news
items they heard, and to note what each item is about. She gives them a
short time limit for this, and then asks for feedback.
4. She asks some questions about each news item. The questions
encourage students to listen for specific information.
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5. She asks students to work in pairs and to answer the questions. She gives
them a short time limit for this, and then asks for feedback.
6. She plays the audio recording again.
Now it’s your turn. If you have access to recording and playback equipment,
try using an audio recording in your classroom. You will find links to audio
recordings that have been developed for learners of English in Resource 3.
1. Select an audio file that is suitable for your students. Choose a file that is
short and interesting.
2. Listen to the audio file before the class. Write down some questions to ask
your students about the file. You don’t need too many; five to eight
questions is fine.
3. In class, write questions on the board before you play the audio file. This
will get your students thinking about the topic; and it will also help them to
focus on key points. It gives them a reason for listening, and it helps them
to listen for specific information.
4. Play the file and then give your students some time to discuss the
questions in pairs or groups.
5. If your students need it, play the file again, and then ask for answers to the
questions. Remember that you can pause the recording whenever you
like. This can be very useful if the recording is long, or if your students are
having problems finding the answers to questions.
Pause for thought
After trying this activity with your students, think about the following questions:

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Was it easy to find a suitable audio file? What kinds of audio files are
suitable for your students?
Was it easy to write questions about the file? Could your students answer
them?
What kinds of questions encourage your students to listen to and
understand the text?
Did your students find it difficult? What can you do to make it easier for
them?
Activity 6: Tips for using audio in the classroom
Imagine that a colleague has asked you for advice about using audio
recordings in the classroom. Note down three pieces of advice that you would
give and then compare your answers with the discussion below.
Discussion
Now check your advice with these tips. Is your advice included here?
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If you are nervous about using technology in the classroom (mobile
phones, tape recorders, laptops, CD players), practise using the
equipment outside the classroom first so that you feel confident using it.
Remember that your students will be able to help if there is a problem with
the technology.
Always make sure you listen to audio recordings before you play them in
the classroom. This makes sure that the material is suitable.
The first time you use an audio recording in the classroom might be quite
challenging – but don’t give up! Use audio recordings regularly and you
and your students will quickly get used to it.
Make sure all of the students in your classroom can hear. Speakers will be
necessary for classroom use, especially with large groups. A set of small
portable speakers would be suitable. If speakers are not available, audio
recordings could be made available for small groups of students for
independent and private study.
Follow the steps from the case study: introduce students to the topic of the
text before they listen; ask students to listen out for general meaning; then
ask students to listen out for specific information. This makes sure that
students have a reason for listening.
Tell your students that the language might be difficult to understand. Tell
them that this is normal, and that they should not worry. What’s important
is that they are able to find the key information, such as the answers to the
questions. Encourage your students as much as possible.
Play audio recordings more than once. The first time that students listen,
they can try to understand the general meaning; the second time, they can
listen out for specific information.
Don’t play long audio recordings. Keep them short and pause often,
especially if your students are having problems. You want to give your
students confidence.
Pause for thought
Now reflect on the following questions:



Have you ever used an audio recording in your classroom?
If you have, how did it go? What would you change if you did it again?
If you haven’t, why not? Is there anything you can do to make it possible?
4 Summary
In this unit you have learned about how you can help students to listen to
English. You have learned about some activities that you can do in the
classroom to develop listening skills: listen and draw; and asking questions
about a text which you can read aloud. You have also learned about using
audio recordings in the English classroom.
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Now reflect and make some notes on the following:




What key things have you learned in this unit? Write three key things that
you have learned.
You have had the opportunity to try some techniques out in the classroom.
Which techniques have worked well with your students?
Which activities did not work so well? Can you make any changes to make
them work better?
Which activities will you continue to use?
What next?
If you would like to improve your own listening skills, you can find links and
tips in Resource 3. Find links for further reading in Resource 4.
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5 Resources
Resource 1: ‘The School Boy’
The School Boy
The school boy in the poem is not a happy child. What makes him unhappy?
Why does he compare himself to a bird that lives in a cage, or a plant that
withers when it should blossom.
I love to rise in a summer morn,
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! what sweet company.
But to go to school in a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day,
In sighing and dismay.
Ah! then at times I drooping sit,
And spend many an anxious hour.
Nor in my book can I take delight,
Nor sit in learning’s bower,
Worn thro’ with the dreary shower.
How can the bird that is born for joy,
Sit in a cage and sing.
How can a child when fears annoy,
But droop his tender wing,
And forget his youthful spring.
Source: NCERT, 2006a.
Resource 2: Links to audio recordings
Here are some links to free audio recordings that have been developed for
older learners of English:





Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
elllo
Listen A Minute
‘Listen and watch’ (British Council, undated)
‘English listening exercises’ (ESOL Courses, undated)
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This link has free audio recordings that have been developed for teenage
students of English:

‘Readers for teens’ (Cambridge English, undated)
And some links to songs (with activities for learners for English):

‘Using authentic songs in the ELC classroom’ (Kavanagh, 2007)
Resource 3: Develop your own English
Here is a list of phrases that could be useful for carrying out the activities in
this unit.
Have you got a pen and some paper?
I’m going to give you some instructions. Listen, and draw what I say.
Don’t worry about the artwork – this is not an art class. Just draw quickly!
Now compare your drawing with your friend’s/the book. Are there any
differences?
That’s a great/funny picture!
I’m going to read a paragraph about …
Look at the questions on the board and write them in your notebooks.
Now listen carefully, and find the answers to the questions.
Shall I read that again?
Now discuss the answers in pairs.
Has anybody listened to the news today?
What has happened?
Can you tell me about the news?
I’m going to play the news in English.
Can everybody hear?
Can you hear at the back of the room?
How many news items were there?
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Did you understand anything? What did you understand?
Did you understand the first news item? What was it about?
Would you like to listen again?
Here are some tips for developing your own listening skills:



if possible, listen to English TV programmes or films
listen to the news in English – you could listen to it in your home language
first
try some of the activities in Resource 2.
Resource 4: Further reading
Here are some links to articles and tips for teachers of English:


‘Articles on listening’ (TeachingEnglish, undated)
‘Listening skills’ (Onestopenglish, undated)
Here are some simple listening activities from the TeachingEnglish website
that you can do in the classroom:



Active listening activities
Listening activities for songs
Total physical response – TPR
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6 Related units


TDU 2, English in the classroom: You can learn more about creating
opportunities for students to listen to English in this unit.
TDU 4, Reading for understanding: You can learn more about preparing
students for texts in this unit.
References
All India Radio, http://allindiaradio.gov.in/default.aspx (accessed 30 July
2013).
British Council (undated) ‘Listen and watch’ (online). Available from:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/listen-and-watch (accessed 31 July
2013).
Cambridge English (undated) ‘Readers for teens’ (online). Available from:
http://www.cambridge.org/gb/elt/catalogue/subject/project/custom/item563310
6/Readers-for-Teens-Audio/?site_locale=en_GB (accessed 31 July 2013).
elllo, http://elllo.org/ (accessed 31 July 2013).
ESOL Courses (undated) ‘English listening exercises – online lessons for ESL
students’ (undated). Available from:
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/topicsmenu/listening.html (accessed 31
July 2013).
Kavanagh, F. (2007) ‘Using authentic songs in the ELC classroom’ (online),
Tune into English. Available from: http://www.tuneintoenglish.com/?p=833
(accessed 31 July 2013).
Listen a Minute, http://listenaminute.com/ (accessed 31 July 2013).
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2006a) Position
Paper 1.4: National Focus Group on Teaching of English, National Council of
Educational Research and Training. Available from:
http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/english
.pdf (accessed 31 July 2013).
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2006b) Honeydew:
Textbook in English for Class VIII, National Council of Educational Research
and Training. Available from:
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm (accessed 31 July
2013).
Onestopenglish (undated) ‘Listening skills’ (online). Available from:
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/ (accessed 31 July 2013).
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Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab, http://www.esl-lab.com/ (accessed 31
July 2013).
TeachingEnglish, http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ (accessed 31 July 2013).
Acknowledgements
The content of this teacher development unit was developed collaboratively
and incrementally by the following educators and academics from India and
The Open University (UK) who discussed various drafts, including the
feedback from Indian and UK critical readers: Kim Ashmore.
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, the content of this unit is
made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
The material acknowledged below is Proprietary, used under licence and not
subject to any Creative Commons licensing.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following:
Case Study 1: illustration from Honeydew: Textbook for English Class VIII,
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT, 2006)
http://www.ncert.nic.in/.
Photographs (teacher in front of class and pupils in circle): taken by Kim
Ashmore
Video clips and stills: Thanks are extended to the Heads and pupils in our
partner schools across India who worked with The Open University in this
production.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the
necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
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