Don’t just teach listening — teach how to listen (especially for beginners)

🎧 Listening techniques:

- Top-down listening: Using context, prediction, and background knowledge to grasp the main idea.

- Bottom-up listening: Focusing on individual words and sounds to decode meaning accurately.

👉 At Selehelen’s classes, I don’t lean fully toward either approach. Instead, I combine both, depending on the skill layer:

1. Recognising sounds and words

2. Building grammatically correct sentences

3. Understanding the full meaning in context

I also scaffold each layer—breaking it down and guiding students step by step—so they can develop strategic listening skills that help them understand faster and retain longer.

💬 Once I’ve identified the learner’s cognitive level, I select engaging, creative listening tasks combined with other integrated skills—helping them grow into confident, well-rounded communicators.

If you'd like to save lesson planning time and access listening activities designed with this strategic mindset, you'll find them all in my eBook “86 low-prep Activities for 4-skill class” - Easy to read. Easy to apply. Perfect for your next lesson. 

“Miss, I don’t understand… can you play it again?”

It was the third time I’d replayed the audio.

Some students were zoning out.

Others were pretending to follow along.

And I was silently wondering, “How do I make listening less painful for them — and for me?”

That’s when I realised:

Listening lessons don’t have to be a loop of play–pause–repeat.

With the right activities — ones that give students a clear purpose and keep them actively involved — listening can become one of the most engaging parts of the lesson.

This is exactly why I put together my Teaching Listening Skills Effectively guide — packed with practical, ready-to-use ideas like jigsaw listening, message-taking, and creative sound activities.

💡 Let’s turn “Can you play it again?” into “Can we do that again?” 

Listening for pleasure

Listening lessons are not necessarily scary in a an EFL class. Make it a habit so that students are no longer afraid of listening!