UNIT 1. ORAL COMPREHENSION

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING (MARCH 08TH)

Let's start with the first activity of the course, which, from a certain point of view, is one of the most important s of the course, since serves as an introduction to some of the key concepts regard to Unit 1. We were asked to elaborate a poster based on the video: Stephen Krashen on Language Acquisition. What I take away from this task might sound pretty predictable: the importance of listening.

Being aware of how important Listening is for us as teachers and as L2 learners is undoubtedly crucial for the development of our competencies and thus become not only competent learners but also teachers capable of encouraging the skills in students. No one would dispute that a teacher who acknowledges all the benefits of teaching Listening (and the rest of the skills as well) will likely succeed in making it possible for his student to reach the learning outcomes when it comes to a Listening Class.

2. LISTENING IN THE REAL WORLD (MARCH 21TH)

We were asked to make a mind map and answer some questions. I found them quite interesting because we reflect on some aspects a teacher should take into account when designing a class and also on the fact that listening is almost everywhere. The mindmap on the other hand helps us understand better how listening comprehension works out and inside of the classroom. Something meaningful that I learned in this activity is that Listening itself can be seen as a process that never stops since there are many ways in which we receive this input and, once we are aware of our role as learners we are likely to acquire many chunks and vocabulary whether we just listen to a song, audio from a TV show, etc.

3. LISTENING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES (APRIL 12TH)

In this activity, we were asked to elaborate an E-Manual, in which the strategies for the understanding of Listening are included. The format is quite interesting and, in fact, can serve as a guide to know what approach we will use in any of our classes.

Something very important that I take away from the activity is that there is a great variety of ways in which we can guide students towards the acquisition of the same learning or skill., but, something very important that we must take into account is precisely what we want to achieve in them. All this serves me more than anything to orient my class and my planning towards a specific objective so that it allows me to make known what the students will be able to do at the end of each session.

4.LISTENING RESOURCES (APRIL 19TH)

We were asked to create a Padlet in which we had to include some resources that we consider useful for practicing our Listening Skills. This is one of the activities that I liked the most. Mainly due to the fact that we can give them a try and see how effective they are and thus use them for our own learning and also for planning our lessons.  

As teachers in training, we must learn from the wide variety of advantages offered by Information and Communication Technologies in a way that allows us to be innovative teachers, who always have something new to teach students and who know how to keep them interested in classes. Fortunately, this whole large list of tools can significantly help improve lesson plans and our teaching competencies in general.

LINK TO THE PADLET

5. A LISTENING SEQUENCE AND LISTENING PRACTICE

After creating the lesson plan we had to prepare everything necessary so we can apply it in class. I believe this activity is the one that matters the most in the Unit since is the real practice of many of the strategies, materials, approaches, and sequences we checked in in class. I found it quite useful since we can take it into consideration for future intervention practicums, whether it was effective or if it wasn’t, and then reflect on that to improve the way we use all the strategies. We must always reflect after each class, as that is what will allow us to constantly change the strategies with which we teach.

Something that I really appreciated is the fact that we received feedback from some of our classmates and from the teacher as well and this might help one to look for more strategies and thus, come up with splendid lesson plans.

LESSON PLAN