Pre-listening Techniques

• Teach students that there is a pre-listening aspect to listening. The pre-listening process helps students to know what they should listen for and what they should try to comprehend. To improve listening skills with activities in school, it is important for children to know specifically what they should be listening for. For example, if you were to tell students a story about Jackie Robinson, you may want to tell them beforehand to listen for the answers to questions that relate to what sport he played, why he was an important figure and what he accomplished.
  
  Make sure students know they do not need to understand every word. If you are concerned and anticipate there will be words the students do not know, use the pre-listening stage to introduce these words to students. This will help them not get discouraged by hearing words they may not understand. When choosing what kind of story or event the students will listen to, keep in mind that it should not be too long. It may be effective to stop the story or the recording from time to time to talk with students about the things they have understood from the listening activity thus far.
  
  

Active Listening Techniques

• During the listening activity, one effective technique is to play or read the listening activity once all the way through the story or recording for comprehension, and then play it again to allow students to listen for specifics.
  
  Break up the students into four groups and ask each group to listen for certain information as the recording is played or story is read. Have the groups write down answers to the information they hear. Have the groups exchange papers so a new group has the paper and replay the recording or re-read the story. The new group should check the answers of the previous group. Play the recording more than once if necessary. Listening requires practice. If students do not comprehend as much as you had hoped they would, continue to let them listen. Eventually, they will start to understand better.
  
  

Post-listening Techniques

• After the listening activity has concluded, ask students questions that require them to respond if they agree or disagree with something that was said in the story or recording. Ask them to explain why. This will require them to think back on what they have heard. If these listening activities are done regularly, children will learn to listen closely during the recording or story so they can back up their answers after the story is over.