Listening to Learn
Training Program in P u r p o s e f u l L i s t e n i n g
For Early Childhood Teachers
PA L L AV I N A I K
Principal
D r. K a l m a d i S h a m a r a o H i g h S c h o o l
Pune
By the end of the session you will
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Understand the diverse purposes of
listening.
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Will experience model activities in
purposeful listening to develop early
literacy skills.
What do young learners listen to at school?
Early Literacy Skills
 Phonological Awareness
 Following directions
 Rhymes
 Stories
Listening is the Cinderella skill of
language, eclipsed by its sister
skills of speaking, reading and
writing (Nunan, 1997; Smith, 2003).
Listening is important
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Main channel of classroom instruction
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Key source of receiving new information
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Basis for the acquisition of all
subsequent forms of communication –
speaking, reading and writing
Is there a difference between Listening
and Hearing?
Yes, there is
How do we get the undivided attention of the
learner?
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Young listeners are
most successful when
they listen with a
purpose. Their purposes
help listeners
concentrate on the
message, keeping their
thoughts from
wandering off.
Purposes! Purposes! and Purposes!
 To enjoy language
sounds
 To predict
 To identify main
ideas
 To draw
 To compare and
contrast
 To categorize
 To cite examples
 To narrate sequence of
the story
 To visualize (meanings
and feelings)
 To judge characters
 To formulate questions
Listening to follow directions
Pre listening – Recite the active listening chant
Time for actions
Time for actions
Time for actions just now
Time to stretch stretch
Time to hop hop
Time to sit sit just now
Time for actions…..
 While listening - the learners do the actions
 Post listening - the learners will add a set of new actions
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Listening to follow instructions: How to make a
cupboard fold step by step
Pre listening: show the object and introduce vocabulary
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fold
 left to right, crease
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book fold
 unfold
 center
 doors.
While listening: The teacher will give the instructions
First: take a paper and fold from left to right, crease well and you get a book fold
Then: unfold the paper
Next: fold the right side to meet the crease in the center
Last: fold the left side to meet the crease in the center and you get a cupboard with two doors.
Post listening: describe the process to your partner.
Listening to identify the S sound: The
story of ‘S’ – CLAP CLAP
Listening to…
 isolate
 identify
 Match
 categorize
 blend
 add and substitute
 Identify the missing sound
Listening to enjoy sound words
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Drive a motor car
Drive a motor car
Pomp, pomp, pomp
Ride a bicycle
Ride a bicycle
Tring, tring, tring
Fly an aeroplane
Fly an aeroplane
Zoom, zoom, zoom
Complete the poem….
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Rhyming - A B partner
One two buckle my shoe
Three four shut the door
Five six pick up the sticks
Seven eight lay them straight
Nine ten a big fat hen.
Listen to match and add
Rhyming Bingo – play the game
Stories are a rich source of….
Vocabulary
 New information
 Good sentence and story
grammar
 Stimulating imagination
 Increasing attention span
 Improving listening
comprehension
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Listening to stories - Activity
You are going to listen to
your teacher read the info
book Terrible Tigers. The
specific purpose of listening
to the narration is to ask
questions to the characters
in the story.
Pre listening –
 Ask the students what is one thing they would like to know
about their partner
 Help them to use the correct question word.
 Prepare a list of question words.
While listening –
 Listen to the story and have stop and jot points
Post listening –
 Do a whole class discussion of the answers.
Lesson plan: My young learner’s
listening inventory
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When they listen to..
 Music, rhymes and songs they listen to…..
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Stories, they listen to…..
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Sounds, they listen to……
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Instructions, they listen to ……
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Chronologically children listen before
they speak, speak before they read
and read before they write.