Matching words with transcriptions.

Students match the words with their transcriptions.

e.g.	lecture	['moist∫ə]
	moisture	['listiη]
	listen	[lisn]
	listing	['leʒə]
	moustache	['lekʧə]
	leisure	[mə'sta:∫]

Paraphrasing

Synonyms.

Students are asked to find synonyms to the given words.

e.g.

meal – snack, nourishment;

insane – mad, crazy, loony, mentally unstable, wrong in the upper storey.

English or American?

Students are to give American variants of the given words in British English or vice versa.

e.g.

British	American		American	British
timetable	schedule		candies	sweets
film	movie		autumn	fall
queue	line		gas	petrol
flat			vacation
lift			pants

 

Asking/Answering Questions

Answers before questions.

Before listening to a text students are given a list of answers. Their task is to write questions for them.

e.g.

a) Who wrote it?

Virginia Woolf.

b)____________

In the seventies.

c)____________

It's fiction.

 

Quiz

Extended information quiz.

Students can be asked to give extended answers to the questions of the quiz.

e.g.

a   b

Round britain quiz   If you wanted to visit Northern Ireland by car, which English or Scottish ferry port would you choose? Describe four ways to get from London to Paris – write the names of the stations / airports / ports. Etc

(taken from Focus on Britain Today by C. Lavery)

 

While-listening activities

Miming

Group miming.

Teacher thinks of some themes and scenes, writes them on the slips of paper and places the theme slips in one box, the scene slips in another. The class is divided into groups of five. A representative from each group takes one slip from each box. The groups then have to prepare a short sketch based on the theme and the scene which they have drawn (e.g. All children like ice cream + under the bed). The sketch is performed for another group, who comment and criticize.

e.g.

Theme	Scene
Dogs always bark.	at the supermarket
All children like ice cream.	in the tree
You need to read a lot.	under the bed
My granny usually walks with a stick.	in the fridge

Completing

Completing the text.

Students have an incomplete version of a story, a description or a song (some words, phrases or sentences are omitted). Students have to complete it either while they are listening or afterwards.

e.g.

Students should listen to the conversation and complete the sentences:

A:	Hello. Fast Pizza. Can _______________?
B:	Yes, ___________. Two pizzas, _________.
A:	Certainly. What kind __________________?
B:	_______________ vegetarian pizzas?
A:	Yes, __________. A plain pizza Margarita.
B:	____________ that?
A:	Cheese and tomato. With garlic _________________.
B:	_________________?

Gap-filling

Restoring a song.

Students listen to the song and fill in the words that are missing:

e.g.

Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today…   Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace   You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope somebody you’ll join us And the world will be as one   Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world   You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one Imagine by John Lennon

Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell _______us Above us only sky Imagine all the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______ Living for today…   Imagine there’s no ________ It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no ________ too Imagine all the people Living life in ________   You may say I’m a ________ But I’m not the only one I hope _________ you’ll join us And the world will be as one   Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or _______ A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people ________ all the world   You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one

 

Restoring a scheme.

Students listen to the description of the family and write in the diagram the names and

ages of all the members of the family.

e.g.

Wilson's Family

Table-filling

Table for listening information.

Students listen to the text and fill in the table. After listening they fill in the information about themselves. Then they go around the class asking their fellow students and making notes in the table.

e.g.

	Bob	Pete	You	Your partner
Gets up
Finishes school
After school
At weekends

Tick what you’ve heard.

Students listen to the text and complete the grid (put ticks in proper spaces according to the text).

e.g.

	ears	tail	legs	nose
Small	√
Big
Long
Short
Black
Brown

 

Ranking

Ranking frequency.

Students listen to the text and rank the means of transport according to how often they are used by the speaker. After listening they fill in the information about themselves and then go around the class asking two of their classmates and making notes in the table.

e.g.

means of transport	speaker	you	Pete	Lora
bicycle
train
plane
car			2
foot			3
bus			1
ship
hot-air balloon		9
Helicopter

 

Reordering

Ordering phrases.

Students reorder the phrases in the dialogues and act them out.

e.g.

1. - It's on the second floor, to the right of the escalator. 2. - Try the Household goods department. 3. - Excuse me, where can I buy some enamel saucepans? 4. - How do I get there?

(T.Drozdova "Everyday English", p.379)

Ordering pictures.

Before listening students put the pictures in the order of happening, listen to the story and check the order.

e.g.

www.english-to-go.com

Key: 3 (to fall in love), 2 (to date), 4 (to get engaged), 1 (to get married)

 

Categorising

Who said it?

Students listen to the conversation and identify who of the speakers (e.g. Bill and Susan) expresses the listed ideas.

e.g.

Bill Susan

likes to watch TV, busy all the weekends, has a friend in Mexico, good swimmer, TV set needs repairing.

 

Correction

Focused correction.

Students listen to their peers’ oral presentations or stories and each of them is focused on checking a specific aspect of speech: grammar, phonetics, vocabulary. After the speech is over they comment on the mistakes made by the speaker.