Unit 2: Listening for Personal Communication

Outcomes

• recognise and understand various greetings in English,

• understand instructions given in English,

• understand the speaker’s attitude in personal communication, and

• be familiar with various forms of informal English.

Case study

Mrs Ashom was an English teacher at a JSS. Having completed her education in the capital city, she wanted her students to make the most of the education opportunities offered there. With great excitement and enthusiasm, she decided to organise class discussions around students’ future plans and career options. In class, however, she realised her students lacked confidence in using English, especially in personal communication with her and amongst themselves. She noticed they were awkward in exchanging greetings, sharing information or even discussing class activities in English. She wondered how she could motivate them to use English with confidence. She felt it was important for them to learn how to express themselves with confidence in English, as they would have to use English once they left their hometown for higher education.

Mrs Ashom discussed her worries with her husband, a senior government official. He suggested that she could engage them in interesting classroom tasks that required them to communicate only in English. Even if they began with poor English, her husband felt that Mrs Ashom should not worry, as their language skills would develop once they became more relaxed and less self-conscious. When Mrs Ashom told the students about her plans for the special activity classes every week they were very excited about it. In these classes, Mrs Ashom used videotapes and audio recordings of materials she picked up from TV, and engaged the students in a variety of tasks. The strategy worked, and at the end of six months she took them on a trip to the museum in the city. There, she watched proudly as her students spoke confidently to the museum authorities, greeting them and asking about various objects on display and so on. Mrs Ashom felt very happy that her efforts had been rewarded.

Points to ponder

1. Do your students display a lack of confidence when interacting with others, especially adults, in English? What, in your opinion, leads to this situation?

2. Do you have students who seem to read and write fairly well in English, but become tongue-tied when communicating orally in English? What steps do you take to help these students use English with confidence?

Activity 1

One of the first things students are taught to do in the English class is greet teachers with expressions such as “Good morning, Ma’am/Sir,” and respond to greetings like “How are you today?” with “I’m fine, Ma’am.” Such greetings are, however, limited to the English class, and students are rarely exposed to other forms of greetings. This leaves them unprepared when they interact with people in real-life situations, and unable to respond appropriately. In this activity, students will have an opportunity to listen to several forms of expressions used for greetings, and to learn appropriate ways of responding. To prepare your students for this activity, show them the video in Resource 1a, but with the audio muted, and ask them to guess what the people in the video are doing. You can also ask them to guess what the speakers might be saying. Then have a class discussion on greeting people. Have the students suggest expressions that we use to greet one another in English. You might get responses such as “Good morning/afternoon. How are you?” and so on. Encourage them to think of how they greet people in their own language, and discuss how they would translate these expressions into English.

Now announce that they will watch the video recording again, but this time with the sound on. As they watch, they will have to tick off on their worksheet (Resource 1b) the utterances that they hear people use to greet each other. During discussion of the activity, make students aware of the specific expressions related to greeting. These may be different from invitations or small talk.

For further practice, divide the students into groups of four, and have them listen to an audio recording of a conversation (Resource 2a) then fill in the blanks on a worksheet (Resource 2b) with the greetings they hear on the audio. Then, in their groups, have them design their own conversations in a dialogue format, and put in appropriate responses to greetings from the examples they heard on the video or audio. You could also read out the transcripts yourself if your classroom does not support the multimedia files.

Activity 2

Listening to a recipe

In the classroom, students are often engaged in following the teacher’s instructions: Take out your books/Answer the questions on the board/Write three sentences on..., etc. These instructions are, however, limited to academic activities, and may not give students adequate exposure to real-life instances of the language of instructions. In this activity, we will help you introduce your students to a few common instructions that they will be expected to listen to and respond to outside the classroom.

To introduce the students to simple instructions in English, you can have them play a game. For the first part of the game, think of a few humorous instructions like Scratch your right ear/Lift the hand of the person on your left/Touch your shoes with your elbows, etc. Tell the students that they will have to listen carefully to you and do exactly what they hear. This usually draws a few laughs and sustains the students’ interest in the class.

For the next part, put the students in pairs and tell them to write an instruction on a slip of paper, fold it and place it on the teacher’s table. This time the instructions should contain at least two or three activities, such as:

• Take out the pencil box from the bag nearest to you, turn it upside down and place it near the door.

• Hold your best friend’s hair with your left hand, put his/her right hand on your head and both of you turn around twice.

When you have collected enough instructions, pick some at random and ask different students to follow each instruction. Some of the instructions may not be grammatical, so when you read, you could make the necessary changes to make them read grammatically. This activity generates a lot of fun, and is meant to introduce the students to a variety of situations where they need to follow instructions in English.

For the final part of this activity, you can start by asking students about their favourite food and whether they know how to prepare it. Then tell them that they will have to listen to someone giving instructions on how to prepare a recipe (Resource 3a). They will listen to the recording twice. As they listen to it the second time, they will have to mark the correct options on the worksheet (Resource 3b).

After the activity, you can have a class discussion on other kinds of instructions that people have to listen to in English. You can follow up this activity with a more complex one in which students complete a series of actions while listening to your instructions. Some such actions can relate to making a drawing while listening to the steps in sequence, following a route on a map, creating a paper boat and so on.

Activity 3

One of the interesting things about language is how our words and sentences are accompanied by tones that give listeners information about our mood and attitude. In fact, the same utterance, when said in different ways, can produce very different meanings and show the speaker’s attitude. For example, the short utterance below can mean:

1. Surprise: A birthday cake! (= I didn’t expect this gift!)

2. Confusion: A birthday cake? (= Why should anyone give me a cake — it’s not my birthday!)

3. Pleasure: A birthday cake! (= What a pleasant surprise!)

4. Annoyance: A birthday cake? (= Don’t people have better sense than to give me a cake?)

To prepare students to listen and respond appropriately to English in real-life contexts, it is important to train them to recognise and understand people’s attitudes when they speak. In this activity, you will be able to expose students to several English utterances spoken in different ways that show a speaker’s positive or negative attitudes.

Before you begin this activity, demonstrate different attitudes or moods such as anger, surprise, calm or humour by saying a sentence in different ways as shown in the example above. For example, you could take a sentence like I didn’t eat the ice cream in the fridge! and say it angrily, apologetically, humorously or calmly.

Then ask a few students to say a sentence to practise listening for attitude. Have a short discussion on how and why it is important for them to understand the speaker’s attitude when they listen to people speak English in situations outside the classroom. Follow up the discussion with the activity.

For the activity, tell the students that they will listen to a conversation between two people called Nicholas and Ravi (see Resource 4a). Nicholas is the first speaker, and Ravi is the second speaker. As they listen, they should tick () in their worksheets the correct attitude or tone of the speaker. After they finish, they should exchange answers with the friend sitting next to them, and find out if they agree on the speaker’s attitude. As a follow-up task, ask the students, working in groups of four, to prepare a similar conversation on a situation and then do a role play on it. When a group is doing their role play, the other students should say what the attitude of the speakers is.

Wind up the activity by asking the students to note down (as a homework assignment) at least three different examples of speakers’ attitudes that they hear on their way home from school that day, and on their way there the next day.

Summary

This unit included some activities that you can use in your classroom to help your students understand English expressions in personal communication. JSS students need to learn to listen and respond appropriately to communicative exchanges in situations outside the classroom to improve their proficiency. You could involve them in role plays in the class on different life situations that would require them to listen and respond to people in English. You could even organise class trips to local places where they would need to converse in English. These real-life activities will greatly improve their listening comprehension.

Reflection

• Did all the students participate actively in the activities?

• Did any students not show much interest in the activities or not cope with them?

• As a teacher, how would you address this?

• Which activity took longer to perform, and why?

Resource 1a

Butler: Good evening, Sir. Good evening, Ma’am. Please do come in — Mrs Wilson is in the drawing room.

Diane: Hey guys, good to see you.

Halle: Good to see you too, Diane — thanks for inviting us.

Musa: Yeah, it’s been a while, Diane, since we visited!

Diane: Come on in, it’s freezing outside! Great to have you and Halle join us, Musa — Nelson keeps organising a picnic.

Musa: Oh, that sounds like a great idea! By the way, I haven’t seen Nelson anywhere around. Where is he?

Nelson: Hey, Musa! How are you, my friend? Welcome to the party, Halle!

Halle: Good evening, Nelson! Musa was just asking about you!

Nelson: I was taking care of the last-minute details, Halle. Do join me for a drink.

Musa: Ooh, just the right welcome, Nelson — I thought you would never ask!

Diane: Hey, don’t forget about me, Nelson — I’m dying for a juice, too.

Nelson: I’ll get you one right away.

Diane: Thanks, you’re a dear!

Video

Resource files

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

• Scripts\Module1\Unit2\Activity1\Resource1a\Video\At the Christmas Party.mp4

Audio

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcdmyVAGTso

If you have trouble playing the video, you can have your students listen to the audio recording (below) of the same conversation:

• Scripts\Module1\Unit2\Activity1\Resource1a\Audio\At the Christmas Party.mp3

Resource 1b

The table below contains the utterances used by the people in the video. Which ones are used as greetings? In the Check Box, tick (✓) the expressions that you think are used for greeting one another, and as responses to greetings. Cross (X) the box if the expression is not a greeting.

NO.

Expression

Check Box

1.

Good evening, Sir. Good evening, Ma’am.

❒

2

Please do come in — Mrs Wilson is in the drawing room.

❒

3

My dear friends!

❒

4

So good to see you — come on in, it’s freezing outside!

❒

5

Good to see you too, Diane —thanks for inviting us.

❒

6

Yeah, Diane — it’s been ages since we visited!

❒

7

Great to have you and Halle join us, Musa.

❒

8

Nelson keeps planning to organise a picnic.

❒

9

That sounds like a great idea!

❒

10

By the way, where’s Nelson?

❒

11

I haven’t seen the host around anywhere!

❒

12

Hey, Musa!

❒

13

How are you, my friend?

❒

14

Welcome to the party, Halle!

❒

15

Good evening, Nelson!

❒

16

Musa was just asking about you!

❒

17

I was taking care of the last-minute details, Halle.

❒

18

Do join me for a drink.

❒

19

Just the right welcome, Nelson — I thought you would never ask!

❒

20

Hey, don’t forget me, Nelson — I’m dying for a juice myself.

❒

21

Of course, my dear — I’ll get you one right away.

❒

22

Thanks, you’re a dear!

❒

Resource 2a

Edward: Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the Silver Jubilee Celebrations Meeting of Riverglade High School. Some of you might have kept in touch over the years, while some others might be meeting after 25 years! I know you are all eagerly looking forward to catching up on each other’s lives, sharing your experiences, getting to know each other’s families and spending an exciting time together. Let me not keep you from this exciting reunion! God bless!

Samuel: Hey, Edward Bloom. Is that really you? What happened to your hair? Ha ha!

Rodney: Samuel! Samuel Ngege! Samuel the Snake — you’re just the same!

Samuel: You haven’t changed, either, Rodney Red Knee! It’s SO good to see you!

Nikita: What about me, guys? Remember me?

Samuel, Rodney: Nikita — how ARE you?

Sheila: Hello, boys — so NICE to meet you all!

Nikita: Hey, Sheila — it’s wonderful that you came all the way from Toronto!

Edward: How’s life been with you?

Sheila: I’m fine, just fine, Ed. Nikita — how lovely you look!

Samuel: Girls, remember me?

Sheila: Oh my God — it’s Samuel, isn’t it? How have YOU been, kid? You look different.

Samuel: First class, my dear! I’m fat, fit and forty!

Everyone: Ha ha! Still the joker, our Samuel!

Audio

Resource file

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dktjwpAhru8

See in the enclosed DVD an audio recording of the activity:

• Scripts\Module1\Unit2\Activity1\Resource2\Audio\Exchanging_Greetings_In_A_Meeting.mp3

Resource 2b

Edward: __________! __________ the Silver Jubilee Celebrations Meeting of Riverglade High School. Some of you might have kept in touch over the years, while some others might be meeting after 25 years! I know you are all eagerly looking forward to catching up on each other’s lives, sharing your experiences, getting to know each other’s families and spending an exciting time together. Let me not keep you from this exciting reunion! God bless!

Samuel: Hey, Edward Bloom, __________? What happened to your hair? Ha ha!

Rodney: __________! Samuel Ngege! Samuel the Snake —__________!

Samuel: You haven’t changed, either, Rodney Red Knee! __________ SO ______________________!

Nikita: What about me, guys? __________?

Samuel, Rodney: Nikita — __________?

Sheila: __________ boys — _______________________!

Nikita: Hey, Sheila — __________ that you came all the way from Toronto!

Edward: __________ with you?

Sheila: __________, just fine, Ed. Nikita – __________!

Samuel: Girls, __________?

Sheila: Oh my God — it’s Samuel, isn’t it? ___________, kid? You look different.

Samuel: __________, my dear! I’m fat, fit and forty!

Everyone: Ha ha! Still the joker, our Samuel!

Resource 3a

Kama: That was delicious, Asha! What do you call it? Teach me how to make it!

Asha: Oh! This is a very common Indian dish. It’s called aloo paratha, which is like a bread stuffed with mashed potatoes in spices.

Kama: Tell me what goes into it.

Asha: You mean the ingredients? Well, for the stuffing, you’ll need two or three boiled potatoes. Mash them well, and add a teaspoonful of chili-ginger paste to it. Spice it up with a few sprigs of coriander leaves, finely chopped. Add salt to taste and a tablespoonful of oil.

Kama: What about the bread?

Asha: To make the dough for the bread, which we call chapatti, take two cups of wheat flour, add salt to taste and a little oil. Knead the dough with water until it becomes soft.

Kama: That sounds easy! What next?

Asha: Make small balls of the dough and stuff them with a bit of the boiled potatoes. Then dust the balls of dough on wheat flour so that they are easy to roll, and don’t become messy. Now carefully roll out each ball of dough with a rolling-pin until it becomes the size of a quarter plate.

Kama: Is that all?

Asha: No, unless you plan to eat it raw! To cook the paratha, heat up a frying pan and pour a teaspoonful of oil on it. Place the paratha on the pan carefully, and turn it over a few times so that both sides get cooked evenly. Your aloo paratha is now ready to eat! Serve it with a green chutney or dip.

Video

Resource file

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

• Scripts\Module1\Unit2\Activity2\Resource3a\Video\Listening_to_Instructions_Recipe.mp4

Resource 3b

Listen to the conversation between Kama and Asha on how to cook an Indian dish. As you listen, underline or circle the correct answer from the options listed.

1. The name of this dish is chapatti/aloo paratha/chutney.

2. This is a popular Indian/Kenyan/Japanese recipe.

3. The words aloo paratha mean a bread stuffed with onion/potatoes/ bananas.

4. For the stuffing, you will need a chili-ginger/green chutney/wheat paste.

5. The wheat flour has to be made into a syrup/paste/dough.

6. Roll the chapattis so that they become the size of quarter plates/cups/ bowls.

7. Cook the paratha on a grill/oven/frying pan.

8. Pour oil/water/ketchup into the hot frying pan.

9. You can eat the paratha raw/fried/baked.

10. Serve your aloo paratha with ketchup/green chutney/cheese.

Resource 4a

Nicholas (angrily): Hey, mister, what’s up? Why are you following me!

Ravi (surprised): Following you? You must be joking!

Nicholas (firmly): Of course you are! You have been stopping wherever I stopped, pretending to look at the shop windows!

Ravi (calmly): My dear man, you are unnecessarily getting worked up. I do not know you, and I have been looking inside shop windows because I want to buy something special for my wife’s birthday. Ask any shopkeeper!

Nicholas (sceptically, not believing him): Do you really expect me to believe that? There are no shops in this street selling women’s gifts!

Ravi (gently, with a smile): I think you’ve been watching too many detective movies, my dear man! By the way, I’m Ravi, and my office is just over there.

Nicholas (apologetically): I’m sorry, Ravi! Maybe I WAS imagining things. Perhaps it’s because I’m very tense about something at work. Sorry again. Oh, my manners! I’m Nicholas, and my office is a block away.

Ravi (pleasantly): Don’t apologise. It’s all right. Nice meeting you, Nicholas.

Video

Resource file

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

• Scripts\Module1\Unit2\Activity3\Resource4a\Video\Listening_for_Attitude.mp4

Resource 4b

1. In the first utterance, the speaker is

a) angry            b) happy          c) polite             d) confused

2. In the second utterance, the speaker, Ravi, sounds

a) respectful      b) angry          c) calm               d) surprised

3. In the third utterance, the first speaker Nicholas replies to Ravi in a ___________ manner:

a) friendly           b) firm             c) disrespectful  d) respectful

4. In utterance 4, Ravi sounds

a) amused          b) sarcastic     c) scared           d) apologetic

5. In the fifth utterance, Nicholas replies to Ravi in a/an __________________ tone.

a) apologetic       b) polite          c) friendly          d) respectful

6. Ravi ends the conversation in a/an ______________ manner.

a) angry              b) obedient      c) unpleasant   d) pleasant

7. The conversation shows that Nicholas was in a __________ mood

a) worried            b) happy         c) sad               d) friendly

8. During the conversation, the second speaker Ravi’s attitude was

a) positive           b) negative      c) neutral        d) unpleasant

Feedback

Question: How can I motivate students to practise listening for personal communication if they feel they do not need to speak in English to anyone in their hometown?

Answer: Encourage them to think of spending a part of their life outside the limits of their hometown. You can motivate them to think of going to university or later working in a distant place, where they will need to interact in English with people from various provinces.