Pre-listening Activities

What are Pre-listening Activities?

Pre-listening activities are tasks that help students get ready for listening to a story or passage. These activities are done before the main listening task to make the listening experience smoother and more effective. They prepare students by activating their prior knowledge, teaching key vocabulary, and setting a purpose for listening.

Why use Pre-listening Activities?

Pre-listening activities can be especially beneficial in the language classroom. Some key benefits of these activities are that they:

1. Activate Prior Knowledge: Help students remember what they already know about the topic.
2. Encourage Prediction and Build Anticipation: Get students thinking about what they might hear and set clear goals for listening..
3. Facilitate Contextual Preparation: Provide background information to make the story easier to understand.
4. Vocabulary Introduction: Teach important words before listening to make comprehension easier.

Pre-listening activities can also aid meta-cognitive development i.e. they can help students develop listening strategies by teaching students how to take notes, make predictions, or summarize what they hear. This can make them more effective listeners.

Examples of Pre-listening Activities

The following activities can be adapted to suit different proficiency levels and classroom contexts. Remember to start with simple tasks and gradually increase complexity as students become more comfortable.

S.No.	Name of the Activity	Activity Description	Sample
1	Total Physical Response (TPR) Activities	The teacher gives commands in the language being taught, and students respond with actions.	Example: "Salma says touch your nose," "Salma says point to the door," "Clap your hands" (students shouldn't respond to this one).
2	Action Songs	Use songs with accompanying actions to practice listening and movement.	Example: "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes"
3	Action Story	Tell a simple story and have students act out key elements as they listen.	Example: "The boy walked to the park (students walk in place). He saw a dog (students pretend to pet a dog). The dog barked loudly (students make barking gestures)."
4	Direction Following	Give a series of directions for students to follow.	Example: "Stand up, walk to the door, turn around, and come back to your seat."
5	TPR Telephone	Give a series of directions for students to follow.	Example: Students form a line. Whisper a series of actions to the first student, who then performs them. The next student watches and repeats the actions, and so on down the line.

Related Activities and Pages

1. Transacting audio resources in the classroom
2. Total Physical Response (TPR) Activities
3. During-listening Activities
4. Post-Listening Activities