Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

TITLE:

SOME
SOMEWAYS
WAYSTO
TOIMPROVE
IMPROVETHE
THEWEAK
WEAK
TH
STUDENTS’
STUDENTS’LISTENING
LISTENINGSKILLSKILL-GRADE
GRADE10
10TH

The problem of teaching listening
A new series of English textbooks for students have been used in schools in
VietNam for some years and there has been a lot of feedback from teachers who
have used them. One of the problems they face is that they are not satisfied with
their teaching of listening. Although they have been trying to find ways to make
their listening activities more effective, the results they obtain are not as good as
what they want.
Some conclusions have been made to explain the situation. Many teachers stated
that the new textbooks which contain a large amount of knowledge, hinder the
students’ learning. Others stated that they have many weak students who lack
vocabulary, grammatical knowledge and have poor pronunciation, reduce

- Visual/Spatial Intelligence: ability to perceive the visual.
- Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence: ability to use words and language.
- Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: ability to use reason, logic and numbers.
- Bodily/Kinaesthetic Intelligence: ability to control body movements and handle
objects skilfully.
- Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence: ability to produce and appreciate music.
- Interpersonal Intelligence: ability to relate and understand others.
- Intrapersonal Intelligence: ability to self-reflect and be aware of one’s inner state
of being.
It is believed that each person has at least 3 or 4 types of intelligence. So we
cannot think that weak learners are unintelligent people.
5. Weak students
Weak students are the students who usually lack basic knowledge or skills, have
difficulty in comprehension. Some teachers say that in the classroom the weak
students often lack concentration. They are easily confused so in the classroom the
teacher should give clear, step by step, instructions. The teacher should anticipate
that weak students may need extra help, extra explanations.
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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

B. What we do to help weak students in Listening.
1. At the pre-listening stage: have more time at the pre-listening stage by
shortening the post-listening stage.
At this stage, we carefully prepare the lesson reading the tapescripts and using The
Teaching Listening Checklist. The following activities can be used based on the
content of each lesson:

players, and grasp nothing. Sometimes they feel happy in listening activities,
because they just pretend to do some activities the teacher asks them to do, pretend
to listen to the tape carefully, finish one or two tasks in the textbook and wait for
the answers to the tasks the teacher tell them or someone of their classmates who is
lucky to get the teacher’s book.
- So as to teach weak students effectively, I have designed some units of the 10 th
form textbook such as : Unit 1, unit 3, unit 6, unit 10 and unit 12
A. Unit 1: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ….
I. Warm-up
- Students look at the pictures and answer the question.
What are their jobs?
Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Expected answers:
 Picture 1: He is a taxi driver
 Picture 2: He is a cyclo driver
 Picture 3: He is a bus driver
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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam


3.b. Tell the students that the above sentence belongs to a paragraph about the
daily routine of a cyclo driver, but they are not in their correct order. Ask the
students to put them. (You can use Vietnamese for the instruction if you find it
helpful and you want to save the time in case your students do not understand the
instruction in English).
4. Ask the students to put the following sentences in their correct order (The
sentences are extracted from the listening text):
a. My next passenger is a lady who does shopping there every two days.
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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

b. My third passengers are two school pupils, a girl and a boy.
c. My first passenger is usually an old man.
Note: The activities 3.b and 4 serve to help the students to be familiar with the
ordering task.
5. Ask one student to mime what a cyclo driver does everyday.
Note: This activity will change the atmosphere in the classroom because it is funny
and it helps the tactile learners to show themselves. Activities 1, 2 is for visual
learners or students having verbal intelligence. Activities 3.b and 4 are for students
having logical intelligence.
III. While listening
- Ask the students to listen to the tape for the first time and answer the following
questions:
The listening text is about …… .
A. a cyclo driver


under a tree


Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

B. Unit 3: PEOPLE’S BACKGROUND
I. Warm - up:
Look at the pictures and present their ideas
Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

T models: Picture 1 : He is swimming
Student : Picture 2 : They are playing basketball
Student: Picture 3 : She is reading
Student: Picture 4: They are watching TV
II. Before listening
- Revise vocabulary: different, free time = spare time, join = attend = take part in =
participate in
- Helps the students to find out the Vietnamese equivalence of other English words
given in the task:
 The Olympic champion
 A general education
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III. After listening:
Ask students to work in pairs and make a conversation about Sally’s
background
1. Sally – the Olympic champion – when did she join the star sports club?
2. where does she live?
3. Who does she live with?
4. What does she like when she has free time?
5. What kind of books does Sally like?
6. What does she want to become in the future?
C. UNIT 6: AN EXCURSION
I. Warm – up:
Choose a pupil to use gestures to express while other students guess and
present their ideas.
 Taking photographs , pictures
 Singing
 sleeping
 Laughing
 Dancing
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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

 Fishing
II. Pre- listening:
- Teach some important vocabulary in the listening period: pack up, pay a visit to
- ask the students to guess the meanings of the words or phrases
1. Match the words or phrases in A with their meanings in B:

1.
Yes, it was
2. Because it was so peaceful and quiet
3. took pictures, played games, talked, sang, danced
Task3: listen again and fill in the blanks with the exact words you hear
IV. After - listening
- Ask students to work in groups of three to four and map out the plan for
the picnic this weekend
- To help weak students to complete the exercises easily, t should supply
the materials:
• Destination:
• Means of transport:
• How many
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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

•
•
•
•

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

How long
Who with:
What activities:
Bring any food?


1. The whale is the third largest animal that has ever lived on Earth.
2. Whales are said to be the most intelligent animals in the oceans.
3. Some whales are known to move into warm waters to give birth.
2. Listen again and then answer the following questions.
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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam

1. What is the length and weight of the blue whale?
2. Why do whales like to feed in the cold oceans?
3. According to the listening passage, what are the good feeding grounds for
whales?
4. What is the main reason for the decrease in whale populations?
5. What have conversation groups asked the International Whaling
Commission to do?
• Note:
- Before listening, T lets students read the questions and has them pay
attention to main ideas
Cues:
 The length and weigtht
 Why to feed in the cold ocean
 What- good feeding grounds
 What main reason – decrease whale population
 What – groups asked to do
 What happen – didn’t take any measures to protect
- T ask the students to make short answers or present main ideas
 Ex: 30 metres in length / 30 metres long

2. Truong Ca Song Lo
3. Ha Noi Mua Thu
4. Lang Toi
5. Tien Quan Ca
6. Tinh Ca
II. Pre - listening
- Helps the students to find out the Vietnamese equivalence of other English words
given in the task: be proud of, hard and solem
1. Match the words or phrases in A with their meanings in B:
A

B
1. Sweet
a. full of energy and enthusiasm
2. gentle
b. expressing strong emotion in an
3. Solemn
imaginative way
4. Rousing
c. serious
5. Lyrical
d. doing things in a quiet way
6. National anthem
e. having a pleasant sound
7. Rural
f. connected with the countryside
g. the official song of a nation that
is sung on special occasions
Note: After the above activities, students can obtain more words needed for
listening to do the task.

2. Listen again and answer the questions.
- T asks the students to read the questions and guess the answers
- T has the students to make the short answers while listening
Questions:
1.
How many people in the conversation? Who are they?
=> Quang Hung and Lan Huong
2.
Which song by Van Cao does Quang Hung like most?
=> Tien Quan Ca
3.
Why does Quang Hung like it?
=> Because it’s hard and solemn. It makes him feel great and proud of
country
IV. After- listening
- For weak students, T gives the cues to help students to discuss the ideas
- T has students work in groups and then the leaders of the groups report the
members’ opinions
Quang Hung’s
Person who
Person who
Reasons
ideas
agrees
disagrees
The best Vietnam
musician of all time
is
“Tien Quan Ca” is
hard and solemn

27 Average students-60 %
8 Poor students - 17,8%
15 Good students-33,3%
30 Average students 66,7%

Conclusion
Our way of teaching listening is that we change our attitudes towards the students’
ability in listening, prepare the lesson plans carefully in class, exploit the transcript,
try our best to lead the listening lessons in a flexible way and study other issues in
relation to teaching and learning such as motivation, psychology and learning
styles.
You, certainly, have your own difficulties in teaching listening and you have your
own way of teaching listening and helping your students to listen in English. But
one more thing I would like to say is that do not think or say about your difficulties
in teaching listening. When you think you have difficulties, you cannot do
anything because everything will be difficult for you. Identify the difficulties you
have and your students have and find the way to overcome those.
Bien Hoa city, May 25th, 2012

Thank you very much

Teacher
LY THI THANH TAM

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Some ways to improve the weak students’ listening skill - Grade 10 th

Teacher :Ly Thi Thanh Tam