I observed a Listening Lesson on Thursday from 2:00 pm to 2:50 pm. The teacher outlined the class curriculum for the day by writing the agenda on the board: mid-term feedback, listening logs, directions, and review of a song. The teacher asked me to introduce myself encouraging me to provide some background and details. Afterwards, the teacher asked the students to answer questions about me. As the level of the class was near Group two or three, they gave varying responses; some good, some not so good. The teacher constantly asked students for responses to everything from agenda directions to para-phrasing statements. I clearly observed they listened carefully and were fully engaged. One exercize involved listening to a song and then listening to it again, while filling in blank spaces in the lyrics as they followed the female singer. The students were again fully engaged asking pertinent questions to elongated words and questioning assonance where some words nearly rhymed. The teacher touched on such topics as metaphoric meaning and words that blended together. Intelligent questions were asked and the teacher was constantly answering with precise responses. I was impressed with the level of difficulty and the need for creative exercises that tested listening skills. In short, I found the class very helpful.
You're right, this is impressive. Thank you for sharing this; this teacher sounds like a great example of what it means to be resourceful; I probably would not have thought of using every little part of class to embed a skill, even to questioning students about the agenda.
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