LOOKING AT THE PICTURES BEFORE LISTENING:
This activity can be used when students are not able to read English, but does not, of course, have to be limited to that situation.
Students are asked to look at a picture (or pictures). You may want to assist by checking that students can name the items which will feature in the listening text. This can be done by question and answer or by general or group discussioni giving long lists of unknown words and long explanations should be avoided as this does not help the students to listen naturally.
Pre-listening “looking and talking about” is an effective way of reminding students of lexis which may have been forgotten (or perhaps never really known) and of focusing attention on the topic to be listened to.
In the following example, discussion in pairs gives the students a chance to hear and use some of the language they will meet in dialogues they subsequently hear.
PEOPLE AT WORK:
TASK:
Look at these photographs of people. What do you think they are saying? Discuss your answers in pairs.