Listening Lessons in Online Classes

Just like in reading classes, listening is not vastly different in online classes; however just like reading lessons, there are a few small distinct differences from in person classes. Remember that first and foremost for listening activities that you are going to be the main source of what your students will be listening to. Meaning that most of their interactions for listening will come through you; however, it is important to make sure you vary your activities and make sure that they aren’t always only hearing you in a lecture style format. For instance, in an activity, you could give your students a checklist and talk about something for example fruits and describe some fruits or even say their names and see what your students checked on the list to see who was and was not listening during the activity. Also as stated above it is important to make sure that your students are getting listening from other sources as well such as YouTube, audio recordings, and any other materials that you can find that would be useful and relevant in your classes for your students' reading. Remember that when it comes to listening you just need to make sure you have prepared your key phrases and activities before class, as well as the videos or audio clips that you want to use during your lessons. The main differences you are going to find in online classes is that you are going to need to have a lot of activities where listening is used because you are always going to be face to face and you as a teacher are going to be the medium that provides listening. Another big difference is that you are going to make sure you often have other materials other than yourself for listening, as students will not get enough out of just listening to you. Just remember to always try to make your lesson plans varied with listening to give your students a wide spread of listening experience rather than just always hearing you.