What is Listening Skill?
Listening skill means understanding spoken language. It is the first step of language learning and helps students understand, respond, and communicate effectively.
Why Listening Skill is Important?
🌺 Build comprehension (understanding meaning).
🌺 Improve pronunciation and vocabulary.
🌺 Enhance speaking skill because students learn natural sentences by listening.
🌺 Make classroom communication active and student-centered.
Types of Listening (Important for TSC Exam + Classroom Use)
1. Global Listening – listening for the main idea.
2. Detailed Listening – listening for specific details.
3. Selective Listening – listening for certain information (name, date, number).
4. Critical Listening – listening to evaluate and judge.
5. Creative Listening – listening to imagine and respond (stories, poems).
Method: The Three-Stage Listening Process
It is a stage before listening and the main purpose is to prepare students’ mind for the audio. Teacher should:
🌺 Ask simple questions: “What do you see? What might happen?
🌺 Pre-teach difficult words.
🌺 Tell students what they will listen for.
🌺 This activates their background knowledge.
B. While-Listening Stage
While listening stage the purpose is to help students understand the audio. Teacher should:
🌹 Play the audio or read the text clearly.
🌺 Tick the correct picture
🌺 Fill in the blanks or True/False
🌺 Answer short questions
🌺 Allow students to listen 2–3 times
This is the main listening practice stage of listening skills.
The main purpose of this stage is to check understanding and extend learning.
🌺 Ask students to summarize what they heard.
🌺 Let students discuss in pair or group.
🌺 Ask follow-up questions.
🌺 Do speaking or writing activities based on the audio.
This stage connects listening to speaking and writing
Classroom Techniques (Practical & Relevant in Nepal)
🌺 Use short and simple audios suitable for the grade level.
🌺 If no audio device, teacher can read the text with clear pronunciation.
🌺 Give clear instructions before playing audio.
🌺 Keep background noise low.
🌺 Use real-life listening examples: announcements, phone calls, dialogues.
🌺 Encourage students to guess meaning from context.
Useful Materials for teaching listening skills
🌺 YouTube short audios and videos
🌺 Real-life sounds or conversations
🌺 Stories, rhymes, poems
Role of the Teacher (According to TSC Nepal)
🌺 Act as a facilitator, not a lecturer.
🌺 Guide students through all three stages (Pre-While-Post).
🌺 Create a positive learning environment.
🌺 Provide feedback after listening tasks.
🌺 Encourage active participation from all students.
By following the three-stage method and using simple, clear activities, teachers can make listening lessons successful, interactive, and aligned with TSC Nepal’s teaching-learning expectations.
