How to teach listening through technology????

       How to teach listening through technology????

         Although listening has been a neglected skill in terms of research and how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to receive more attention. There is now a greater awareness among teachers that we have to help learners develop their listening skills. The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills brings attention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our learners to. In the rest of this article the writer would like to suggest a process for helping learners develop their listening skills, and make suggestions as how this might be achieved with authentic materials.

        There are three stages for the developing of the listening language skills: Pre-listening, While-listening, Post-listening activities. The writer will use this established format of pre-, while-, and post-listening activities and make some suggestions as to how they can be used with authentic materials delivered through technological media.

        First of all radio one of the more easily accessible forms of authentic listening practice. Stations such as BBC World Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air. In order to use radio programs with learners, teachers need to select a program at a suitable time for their class and decide on some global listening tasks.

1: Pre-Listening Task Today we are going to listen to a travel program on the radio for ten minutes. radio guide tells us in that this program is about Egypt. What do you know about Egypt? What would you like to know about Egypt?
2: While-Listening Task While you listen to the program, try to listen for the main things the presenter recommends doing while in Egypt.
3: Post-Listening Task In groups of three have a short discussion about what you heard from the program.

        Using television or videos in the classroom allows the learners access to more information when listening. That is, the learners can now see what is happening as well as listen to the text, so learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context. The writers applied the three stages on the TV/Video programs as follows:
1: Pre-Viewing Task This weekend there is an English movie on TV. Does anyone know what it is?
2: While-Viewing Task: Focus on listening to the movie instead of reading the subtitles. Try to collect the following information: kind of movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters
: Post-Viewing Task (the next lesson) the internet Who watched the movie last weekend? What can you tell us about it?

        The teacher can do the same stages with internet and computer devices. They are able to direct our learners to sites on the Internet where they can practice their listening as long as they have access to the appropriate computer hardware as follows:

1: Pre-Listening Task Tomorrow in class we will have to access at least two of the following websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk, http://www.avoa. gov or http://npr.org (National Public Radio) and listen to different versions of the main stories.
2: While-Listening Task Students may either work at home to collect the information they require.
3: Post-Listening Task (the next class) First I would like you to sit in groups according to one of the websites you visited. Discuss what the main news stories were. Only exchange information at this stage.