Listening and speaking task (explanation for teachers)

 Hello my dear readers:

Today I present you with an activity of my own to work on listening and speaking in the classroom. 

My proposal is called Where's Ratty? and with it we will work on several topics included in the educational curriculum.

• Ø  Materials used📃

-          Video https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/listen-watch/short-stories/spycat

-          Worksheet (Annex 1 and 2).

-          Interactive whiteboard (IWB).

-          ClassDojo and Canva websites.

-          Blackboard.

• Ø  Classroom arrangement👭

In this activity the students are seated in fours as in the picture.

Face to face desks

 

• Ø  Lesson’s procedure and explanation of the type of listening task 📚

I have structured the activity in two sessions.In the first one I will do pre-listening and listening. In the second session I will do the post-listening and speaking.

 

1^st session

Within the pre-listening I will use the critical vocabulary by putting them in context with a short story that catches their attention and can activate their prior knowledge.

 

First of all, I would enter the classroom disguised in glasses, a gabardine and headphones. I would try to hide under the tables, between the coats... and I would speak quietly to get their attention.

Once all students are looking at me, I will start telling the following story by introducing critical vocabulary (words in bold):

-          Hello students, have any of you seen Ratty?

They don't know who Ratty is so they will ask who he is.

-          Ratty is an evil rat who wants to destroy (make a gesture and noise of an explosion) all the computers in the world. My friend Spycat has asked for my help to find him but I have no clue. What is a clue?

Each team has an opportunity to say what it is, a synonym of the word... If they can't guess the meaning, I tell them that a clue is an information used in the detection of a crime.

-          Okay, okay, can you help me find (make the gesture of searching) Ratty?

-          YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

-          Perfect, but before we start, have you travelled anywhere in the world?

We need to see a lot of places to find Ratty. He could be anywhere in the world (use a worried tone).

This summer I travelled to Mallorca by ferry, it's like a boat. And you?

 

Pupils say places they have visited. I emphasise the places in history if they have visited them and if not, I try to comment on them anyway.

Next, I will check my mail and see that I have a new unread message from my friend Spycat.

At this point, I will hand out the worksheet (Annex 1) to the students so that they can know the questions beforehand and focus their attention on them. First, I will ask them to listen and watch to the video ( click on https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/listen-watch/short-stories/spycat ) and then to fill in the information on the worksheet (Annex 1).

The type of activity they are going to do is called listen and put. In this activity, the video describes a journey and they, through what they hear, draw or paste the correct answer.

When they are finished, we will correct the activities together.

To encourage class participation, I will use ClassDojo and each time a person gives a correct answer they will win a point for the team. At the end of the week, the winning team will choose the theme of the next listening session.

Once we have finished listening, we start with the post-listening.

Within this item we are going to work on functional language through the final game.

Each child will have to draw themselves as a super spy to finish the session on the second worksheet (Annex 2).

 

Ø  2^nd session

To start the class, I will allow 10 minutes for them to finish their drawing and write down the key words of their speech.

When the time is up, I will collect all the drawings and distribute them randomly so that one group's drawings will be held by another group.

At this point, students will work in teams of four and carry out a listen and choose activity.

Taking turns, each student will give a description of a spy and the others will have to choose the spy described by your classmate.

During the game, the secretary will write down on a sheet of paper the successes of the partners and then, tell the teacher to add the points to ClassDojo.

I will stop by the groups to listen and correct pronunciation and to update the points on the ClassDojo website.

In case they finish the activity, I would propose them to do a guessing activity.

To do this, I will stick all the drawings on the blackboard and through the questions that the children ask me, we will discard the drawings that do not follow the items that we are saying.

To practise pronunciation, one child will ask the question and I will respond in a low voice so that the children can pay attention to the movement of the mouth.

This game will make them concentrate on the shape of their lips and the position of their tongue to make the different sounds. Once they get the hang of it, they can say silent words to us too.

 ANNEX 1

 ANNEX 2

References 

Smowltech. (5 December 2022). Cooperative learning: definition, techniques and roles.https://smowl.net/en/blog/cooperative-learning/

 

Ashmore,K. (15 November 2018). Actividades para mejorar la pronunciación en inglés para niños. British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.es/blog/actividades-mejorar-pronunciacion-ingles-ninos

 

LearnEnglishKids. (n.d.). Spycat. British Council.  https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/listen-watch/short-stories/spycat