Read

As we know, listening, speaking, writing, reading and translating are the five basic techniques for English learning. Among them, listening is in my opinion the foundation of language learning. Listen clearly , and you will be able to either repeat or get a feel for pronunciation; hear correctly, and you are able to respond without getting it wrong, and feeling embarrassed.

In the National Entrance Examination, listening part occupies 20% to 30% of the total score, however it is indicated that candidates perform worst in this area than any other skill tested.

Students are found not to be strong in differentiating pronunciation; nor linking up words. They are not good at differing the word meaning from the context and the accent, or mastering the main idea and important information – all an important part of ‘getting the gist’ when listening.

To overcome these obstacles, we, English teachers, have a responsibility to find a variety of ways and measures to stimulate the students to have interest in learning English and at the same time to learn in different ways.

In the coming weeks I will offer tips to help with our students listening. Here is the first:

Choose appropriate listening materials

The most important tool in teaching English is to arouse students' interest. Interest is the best teacher. Interest can produce right learning motive and boost up the memory. When a teacher teaches listening, it is important to choose a variety of appropriate listening materials to make students feel fresh so as to be aroused interest. We should choose different styels of literature and the contents are all-inclusive. At the same time teachers should use different electical devices to combine listening and reading, listening and speaking and listening and writing,thus students make progress gradually in a nice enviroment.

In the beginning, teachers choose some simple English pop songs that are in accordance to students' taste. So I first choose the popular songs such as sung by Celion Deon "My Heart Will Go on" and by Whitney Houston "I Will Always Love You". When the students listen to the music, they listen to English that is real and interested in.

Such a technique also encourages therefore students like to listen to some English pop songs during their free time.

Discuss

What do you think of Maggie's advice?

Is listening the key to English learning?

What techniques do you employ?