André Netto
Improving Listening and Vocabulary
Imagine you are
learning a new language and your teacher asks you to practice by watching a
movie in that same language over the weekend. Having chosen Saturday as your
D-Day, you then decide to make a great day out of it. After putting on your
best outfit, you go earlier in order to catch lunch at a cozy little restaurant
with that special person whom you have been trying to go out with for ages. In order to impress your date, you choose to
watch the movie about which all the critics have been raving. However, in your
quest for success with your loved one, you have totally missed the fact that
this special showing of the movie does not have any subtitles. Your date turns
into a complete failure because neither of you can understand a word said by
the actors, you are now frustrated because you think your classes are not
paying off, and your partner thinks you are a total loser.
Although you might believe you have reached
rock bottom, there is no need to lose hope. In fact, all you have done is tried
to run before you could walk. Students will not learn a language overnight, for
it takes a lot of time and effort. There are no shortcuts. Putting the cart
before the horse will only make your life miserable, since you will not live up
to your own expectations of yourself. And the language teacher plays an
important role in this scenario. The key to improving students’ listening and vocabulary is to
move forward slowly and make it enjoyable.
If
the teacher decides to go down that road, he or she should first use songs in
class, rather than movies or TV shows. Besides showing students that the words
they are learning are actually used by everyone including famous people, they
are short and easy to work with. Also, there are a number of different types of
exercises that can be used, such as fill-in-the-blanks exercises for beginners,
or a discussion of the meaning of the song for more advanced students.
Whichever exercise is chosen, the most important thing is to use songs that
appeal to your students. If the group is composed of teenagers, go for fun,
up-to-date songs. If it is an adult group, you may want to use classic songs. Please
note that, even though music will help students relax and allow them to break
free from their books, it is always a good idea to select songs that, in some
way, relate to the topic being studied.
After
the students are more confident listening to song lyrics, the teacher may try
TV shows. Starting at the beginning of the semester, teachers should try to get
to know their students’ likes and dislikes, including what they enjoy watching
on TV. This is very important when the teacher wants to choose material to use
in class. From character names to the plot of the stories, the teacher must be
familiar with what he or she will be working with in order to be prepared if
the students ask what “Bazinga”[1] is. Start with
short clips and slowly make them longer. Also, choose scenes in which
characters speak normally rather than action scenes with a lot of screaming and
running. Students will be thrilled that they can understand what is being said.
When
the teacher is confident that his or her students will not feel intimidated, it
is time to switch to movies. Despite the fact that teachers will use short
clips in class, movies should be the last thing to be used because students
will probably want to watch the whole thing at home. In order to do that
successfully, they will need to have practiced a lot in class with other,
easier activities. Once again, the students in the class will determine what
kind of movie will be used. Therefore, the teacher should find out what they
are interested in. A group of lawyers at the Central Bank will probably not be
amused by a cartoon of racing cars. Likewise, fourteen-year-olds might prefer
an action movie instead of dramatic family sagas. Since teachers do not want to
discourage their students, context is everything. Nevertheless, even more
important than the choice of material to be used is the type of activity that
teachers will develop. The goal is to move
forward slowly so that students can develop their confidence and not
feel frustrated.
Developing
abilities such as listening is a slow process. The same way a librarian helps someone
by indicating on which shelf he or she will find a book, a teacher must think
carefully before choosing an activity to be done in class. Steps must not be
skipped if students are to feel content in a collaborative, harmonious,
risk-free classroom. “The focus is on the student”
(Rogers, 1951).[2] Therefore,
the background and experiences of the students are crucial to how and what is
learned. If the teacher can make the activities fun and relevant to the
students, the more enjoyable learning will be. Students will eventually go to
class and tell the teacher how much fun they had while watching a movie, or
that they understood all the words in their favorite song. If the right steps
are taken, the goals will slowly be achieved without stress and frustration.
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