by Dr Rodrigo Arellano and Gizem Sahin
Listening is a difficult skill, especially when we consider either the real world or the IELTS exam and the fact that, most of the time in the former case and all the time in the latter, we only get to hear things once. In the IELTS context, there is much for the candidate to do, and they have to do these different things simultaneously while also navigating the various traps that the examiner will have set out before them.
IELTS exam takers need to be aware of how the test is designed, which listening sub-skills are involved at each stage (and teachers need to know this too, which is why I recommend looking at Daniel Tse’s article in Issue 50 of the IH Journal), and what kind of language they need to focus on during the listening.
Here are three activities to help you teach listening skills to your IELTS (or General English) students.
Activity 1. Test structure familiarisation
Knowing the IELTS test structure is key to success, as the test follows a strict set of stages. Or, to put it another way, the quickest route to underperformance in the IELTS is a lack of awareness of how the test is structured.
Once you have looked at examples of the Listening paper, quiz your students on the structure of the test rather than with an example of the test itself. I like to take a True/False approach here, and I generally use Kahoot! for this as I can pause the quiz after each round to allow the students time to discuss wrong answers (or I can continue on to the next question if everyone got the answer right).
These sentences make for a good start:
- The listening test has five sections
- The audio is heard twice in the IELTS test
- The first part of the listening usually contains numbers and spelling
- The second part of the listening always contains a map
- Part three is normally related to an academic discussion
- The third part focuses on agreeing on a topic
- The last section focuses on a technical topic
Answers: 1 (FALSE), 2 (FALSE), 3 (TRUE), 4 (FALSE), 5 (TRUE), 6 (TRUE), 7 (FALSE)
Activity 2. Spelling Bee 2.0
The communicative approach to language teaching has many advantages, and it is no wonder that it is the dominant teaching method in many language schools. Teachers who take pride in getting their students to spend as much of their time in class speaking English have every right to feel that way; but there is a disconnect between this approach and what is examined in the IELTS. One of the clearest examples of this is the issue of spelling (an issue that will be familiar to teachers preparing their students for the Cambridge Main Suite of exams as well).
Exam candidates who can say a word but not spell it will find that they are graded lower than they imagine - it is not unheard of for C1-level students to be graded down at B2 level because of issues with their spelling. Some might consider this unfair - there are few real-world contexts in which spelling is tested, and as I write this article now I know that any spelling errors or typos will be picked up automatically by software.
One way to practice spelling is to make a competition of it, and here the spelling bee comes into its own.
There is a difference between spelling bees and other activities that look to develop students’ understanding of the ‘F’ in ‘MFP’ in vocabulary teaching. In a traditional board race for vocabulary, the student can think in whichever language they like, but they will aim to write the word given by the teacher in English; in a spelling bee, where the students are asked to give the spelling of the word orally, they need to think of how to say each English letter.
However, in the IELTS test, the candidate must write the word on paper - so surely this activity is imperfect at practicing for the exam?
That’s where the twist comes in.
Here’s the procedure.
Set up your classroom so that you have two or three participants facing an audience made up of the remaining students. The participants in the game are hoping to get to five points, with one point being awarded for each correct spelling.
The audience should be supplied with mini-whiteboards, or scrap paper. When the teacher gives the participants the target word, the audience must also write what they think the word is. However, when the participant gives the spelling, the audience should also write this next to their own answer - copying out letter by letter.
For example, the teacher gives the word ‘beautiful’.
The audience should all, hopefully, write ‘beautiful’ on one side of their mini-whiteboards.
However, the participant makes two mistakes in their spelling - ‘b - i - a - u -t - i - f - u - l - l’. The audience members should write this as ‘biautifull’ on the mini-whiteboards, which they can now hold up for the teacher to see and check.
This is a fun way to practice spelling while keeping as many members of your class active as possible.
Activity 3. Memory
I have to admit, I can’t think of a good name for this activity, so I’ll just call it ‘Memory.’
The idea is simple. During the Listening paper, candidates have to pay close attention to the language they hear. Often, the answer will come down to a single word or expression.
This activity is designed to help develop your students’ active listening skills.
First, choose a topic area. In this example, I’m going to use jobs.
The teacher recites a list of four jobs. “Lawyer, engineer, mechanic, paramedic.”
When the teacher has finished speaking (and not before!), the students write these words on a mini-whiteboard or some scrap paper, and then show it to their partners to see if they have the same items in their list.
That’s it - that’s how the activity works.
However, it’s an easy activity to spice up - try these variations to see how it goes:
- The teacher speaks as quickly as possible.
- The teacher makes the list a little longer to keep pushing the students and their recall abilities.
- The teacher asks the students to say the words to their partner, not write them down.
- The students have to recall the words in the reverse order.
- The teacher holds up a finger to show which word of the five (or even of the ten!) they want the students to recall. For instance, in the list above, if the teacher holds up three fingers, the students have to say ‘mechanic’.
For those of you who are put in mind here of the dictogloss activity, yes, there are certainly connections between Memory and Dictogloss - and I recommend you head back to Issue 53 of the IH Journal to read Lorenzo Sclocco’s article on the subject!
Conclusion
In this section of the mini-feature we’ve looked at three activities that you can use to build your students’ listening skills for the IELTS exam - but as you’ve noticed, the last two presented here would work just as well in a General English context. Give them a try, and see if they help your students to improve their performance in the Listening!
References
Sclocco, L. (2024), Four Skills in One Activity: the Dictogloss, The International House Journal #53
Tse, D. (2023), Developing Word Recognition Sub-skills in Listening, The International House Journal #50
Author Biographies
Rodrigo Arellano
EFL and Spanish language teacher from Chile who lives and works in Sydney, Australia, where he studied for his PhD in Applied and Educational Linguistics. He is passionate about TESOL teacher training and has taught and researched various language-related fields, including Second Language Acquisition, Discourse Analysis, Research Methodology, Multilingualism and Assessment.
Gizem Sahin
Experienced language educator specialising in ESL/EFL/EAP and Turkish as a heritage/second language. Proficient in face-to-face and online learning settings for diverse learners, including, young learners, adults, undergraduates and professionals. Holds qualifications in TESOL, applied linguistics, and language teaching management, alongside certifications in assessment, training design and development. Passionate about empowering ESL students and fostering cultural connections through education.