8.6.4. Using listening comprehension dialogues in class

Many listening comprehension passages are suitable for other types of work, e.g. structure practice. In cases like this, many of the techniques for presentation and practice in reading comprehension can be adapted to listening. It especially concerns the longer passages to be found in published course material. Therefore, if a text is too long, it can be divided up and adapted to listening. Global pre-questions can be set, followed by post-questions that are more specific.

As well as presenting the dialogue on tape, shorter dialogues can be presented orally by the teacher. This need not involve the teacher leaping from one end of the classroom to the other in an attempt to play the part of two characters. Use can be made of glove puppets or the teacher can simply point to the characters on the blackboard. However, presenting the dialogue on tape has obvious advantages. The teacher has a constant and unvarying model. He can focus attention not only on structural and lexical points that need clarifying but also on points of phonology, including drawing attention to things like irony and sarcasm conveyed by the tone of voice.

Having the dialogue on tape has the further advantage that the teacher can stop the tape where necessary, e.g. if he wants to check comprehension of small details. The tape can also be stopped to ask the students to use contextual clues to predict what is going to come. E.g.: ‘Well, I don’t think it’s going to rain, I think…’

Reading, writing and speaking work can also arise naturally out of listening comprehension dialogues. Thus, it would seem sensible to organise the preparation for the training session as follows:

1. Think how you would exploit your dialogue in class. For this purpose

• decide how you are going to present the dialogue;

• decide whether you are going to need to split it up;

• write out any pre-questions you are going to ask;

• decide how many times you are going to play the tape;

• decide if you are going to get the students to repeat any parts of it;

• decide if you are going to stop the tape at any point during the 2^nd or the

3^rd playing to ask questions.

2. Make sure that your students have understood what the tape is all about.

3. Do not forget about follow-up activities. Try to include a little reading, writing and speaking work.

8.6.5. How to justify the use of songs

Some teachers are very wary of using songs because they feel self-conscious about their own singing ability and think the students will likewise feel self-conscious. Others are unable to see any usefulness or relevance in teaching songs, except possibly to very young children. In fact, there are many arguments in favour of using songs in language teaching for all age groups:

1) Songs can increase motivation to learn the language. Students, especially weaker ones, feel a real sense of achievement when they have been able to learn a song.

2) Songs give students a break from the usual routine. They make teaching less monotonous.

3) Like structure drills, songs give students intensive practice in selected patterns, but without boredom.

4) They also have the added advantage of being memorable. It is much less likely that your students will forget the song, and therefore the language practised in it. Language, practised even in a well-constructed drill, is usually very quickly forgotten.

5) If songs are carefully chosen, they will also give the students pronunciation practice. Students can be practised in stress and rhythm as well as in individual sounds.

6) Songs can provide students with an insight into the English culture.

7) Finally, singing songs is group activity. It is an act of co-operation, which helps bring the group together.

8) It also helps break down the barriers of reserve, which can sometimes prevent students from learning a language effectively.

Music can create a special closeness and joy to those who experience it together. However, for a child, there is more to music than mere enjoyment. Language development, muscular coordination, body awareness, rhythmic proficiency, auditory discrimination and self-confidence are a few benefits acquired from an early exposure to music. The young child is eager for musical and rhythmic experiences, thus providing a perfect time to introduce sons and fingerplays.

How to choose and evaluate songs

This is probably the most difficult and the easiest problem at the same time. Firstly, it should be noted that there are not any strictly organised principles as to songs and chants. Usually, the essential vocabulary and structures that students will need to know are listened/ written down. As a result, we can have lexical and grammatical songs. The phonetic aspect is mentioned but not taken into consideration as a rule. Teachers of English as a mother tongue do not want to waste time, for their children can speak the language. Teachers of English as the second language are used to rhymes and tongue twisters. They have been taught correct pronunciation this way, so why not their students?

Another approach is to choose a song according to the level of learning: beginners, intermediate, advanced. Once again, it’s rather difficult to decide whether many of the songs are or aren’t suitable for one particular age level. To make the things still worse, we have to acknowledge that many songs are unsuitable for language teaching. It’s just because they have unnatural stress patterns or sometimes are pronounced wrongly to fit it with the tune. You should therefore bear in mind that the songs you choose for teaching should have words, which fit the tune naturally. Each take we mentioned brings us to a conclusion that there are different types of songs. The way we teach and the practice activities we do are going to depend largely on the sort of song we have chosen. However, although we may wish to use a few songs for listening purposes only, the majority of songs we will probably use for student participation. The following table can give us a tentative idea how to distinguish between different types of songs.

Type	Description	Example
1. Special occasion songs	Songs sung in England only on certain occasions or times of the year. Teaching this sort of songs to students gives them an insight into English culture	Auld Lang Syne Merry Christmas Jingle Bells Over the River
2. Songs and games	Songs, usually children’s songs, which are sung to accompany certain games	Farmer in the Dell A-hunting We Will Go
3. Action songs	Songs, requiring actions or mime to be performed while singing. Ordinary songs can be made more meaningful by a series of actions accompanying them	The Finger Band Looby Loo The Mulberry Bush
4. Songs where a structure or a lot of lexis is repeated over and over	Specially written songs for teaching can be included here	Old Macdonald Had a Farm What Are You Wearing? Ten Little Fingers
5. Songs which tell a story		Three Little Monkeys Little Cabin in the Wood

How to teach with songs

There are many ways we can go about teaching the actual song. The following is one suggested procedure that can be followed:

1. Pre-teach words and idioms.

2. Play the whole song to the students.

3. Repeat the words chorally, tapping on the desk to establish the rhythm (verse by verse if the song is quite long).

4. Put the words to the tune (verse by verse if necessary).