Listening is one of the four language skills. It is naturally the first skill children need to develop before they feel ready to speak, read and write. Listening in English is difficult for many young learners, especially for Indonesian learners. They often do not understand what the teacher is saying and they ask the teacher to speak in Indonesian. Therefore, it is important that the teacher speaks at the students' level or just above so that they can understand and not lose confidence.
It is a good idea to support a listening activity with visuals such as pictures, facial expressions, movements, and mimes. When students can relate to what they are hearing with movement or actions, they comprehend what they hear and remember it for future use.
Following is a variety of listening activities that teachers can incorperate into their lesson plans :
1. Songs
Songs can help to enhance listening skill as they provide students with practice in listening to various forms of intonation and rhythm. However, some songs do not use standard grammar and can be quite confusing for beginners. Teachers should choose right songs and rhymes so that they can be valuable source of grammar reinforcement.
2. Dictation
Dictation can be both fun and challenging to students. It is useful to gain students' attention and to calm them down after a noisy and energetic activity, it is also good for a large class.
Dictation provides not only listening practice related to sounds, sentence structures and meanings but also spelling. In addition, it can be used from pronunciation practice when students are asked to repeat what they hear.
It is important that teachers give clear instructions with demonstration when introducing a dictation activity so that the students know exactly what to do.
3. Rhymes (listen and repeat)
Using rhymes in Listen and Repeat of listening activities is naturally repetitive and fun because students can play with the language.
4. Filling in missing information
While listening to a song or conversation, children can fill in missing words from the printed song lyrics or from a chart or schedule.
5. Stories
Reading a story is different from storytelling. The teacher reads aloud from a book without adjusting the language. The story can be repeated again and again. When the students are familiar with the lines, they can read the story on their own.
6. Responding to Commands - Activities Using Total Physical Respons (TPR)
In this type of activity the students respond physically to the students' commands.
7. Checking Off Items in a List
This activity encourages students to listen for specific information. It can be used to practice vocabulary the students have learned or to introduce new words. While listening, the students view a series of pictures or information for which they hear the vocabulary
8. Arranging Pictures as a Story is Told Aloud
This activity is usually done in pairs or small groups. While listening to a story, the students look at a series of pictures. By listening to clues and key words, such as names of people, places, things and physical descriptions, they arrange the pictures in the same sequence as that of the story
B. TEACHING SPEAKING
INTRODUCTION
Speaking and listening are very closely related. Before students can speak they need a lot of exposure to the language they are learning. That is why the first skill students learn is listening. By listening to words, understanding their meaning, and learning how to pronounce words correctly, they are preparing themselves for the next skill: speaking. In speaking, they learn to use the right pronunciation, stress, and intonation patterns in order to communicate successfully.
PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING SPEAKING
Bailey (2005) states that the three main reasons for getting students to speak in the classroom are:
• to provide students with practice in using English in real life situations.
• to inform the teacher and the students about the students’ progress.
• to get information about the students’ speaking problems.
The teacher is instrumental in helping students learn to speak fluently and should carefully consider the following:
• Teachers should motivate students to practice as much as possible. The more often students use the language, the more automatic and natural their language becomes. Once students feel comfortable using the language, they will be eager to learn more.
• Teachers must give students a reason for speaking. Choosing familiar and interesting topics for students to discuss will motivate them to speak.
• Teaching speaking in the language classroom can be challenging. Indonesian students usually speak Indonesian when they cannot say what they want in English, or they may not speak at all because they are afraid of making mistakes.
• Teachers should provide appropriate feedback and correction. In most EFL contexts, students are dependent on the teacher for useful linguistic feedback. It is important that teachers provide the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate for each type of activity.
• Teachers should focus on both fluency and accuracy. It is very common that teachers focus mostly on interactive activities (fluency) and forget about grammar and pronunciation accuracy. Therefore, teachers should make sure that the tasks help students practice both fluency and accuracy.
TIPS FOR TEACHING SPEAKING
The goal of teaching speaking is to get students to communicate effectively and efficiently. In order to achieve this goal the teacher should
• make sure that students use the language to the best of their ability.
• teach students correct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
• explain to students the appropriate context of the communication
Effective and efficient communication is the result of providing enough language input (Harmer, 1998). The teacher can accomplish this by using English when giving instructions, giving simple commands (such as “get out your math books”), reading passages out loud, etc. Other English activities such as playing games, singing songs, performing a role play, etc. give the students opportunities to communicate in English. As teachers consider including varied speaking activities in the classroom, they may find the following tips useful:
• Help students to become familiar with the topics. Personalize the content to motivate students, elicit what they already know about the topic, and let them share their knowledge with the class.
• Put students into pairs or groups. Working cooperatively in groups is more motivating and less intimidating for the students. Group work also promotes choice, independence, and creativity.
• Rearrange the classroom. If it is not possible to move desks and chairs, get the students to walk around as they perform tasks.
• Give students the English word and its Indonesian translation when they are learning new vocabulary. This strategy gives the students a language reference and helps them understand. Once students understand the meaning of the word, the teacher and students can resume using the English word.
SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
Many types of speaking activities can be included in lessons, including the following:
1. Recitation
Students choose a short poem or rhyme and recite it in class. This activity can be done individually, in pairs, or in groups
2. Pronunciation Drills
Students repeat correct pronunciation in chorus and individually. This activity helps students practice and remember the vocabulary as well as the pronunciation.
3. Choral Reading
Students read a short sentence or passage together. As the students read, the teacher can listen for students’ pronunciation and give corrections when the activity ends.
4. Role Play
Students are given particular roles in an imaginary situation to act out. The teacher can give the students the dialogues or help them prepare their own dialogues for the roles.
5. Storytelling
The teacher can tell a story, adjusting the language to the students’ level, or read a story aloud without adjusting the language. Students can be asked to share their experiences with the class, to retell their favorite story, or to create an ending to a story that the teacher tells.
6. Songs
Students listen to a song and learn the lyrics. Adding physical movements to the song creates a fun environment and helps the students learn pronunciation, vocabulary, and meanings of words.
7. Questionnaires
Students ask their classmates a set of questions in order to complete a questionnaire. The result of their surveys can be checked by the teacher or discussed together in class.
