Hearing

Actual perception and processing

of sound

Families help children learn languages better

Scaffold and adjust linguistic input

Indicators of hearing loss

Child pulls on ears

Child has frequent ear infections

Child complains about ear aches

Child complains of ringing in the ear

Child requires more audio volume

Child asks for things to be repeated

Child has trouble repeating words and phrases

Teachers help with hearing loss

Place children in the front of the classroom

Make sure children aren’t sitting next to

noisy students

Receptive vs. Productive

Receptive skills: Listening and Reading >

receive

Productive skills: Speaking and writing >

produce

Listening

Listening not passive

Learners should be actively engaged in tasks

and activities

Learning channels

Preferred ways learners receive

information

Auditory, tactile, visual

Types of input for learning channels

Auditory > songs, chants, poems, stories

read aloud

Visual > images, pictures

Tactile > real life objects that children can

touch

Comprehensible input

Present information using all three learning

channels

Important readiness skill

Being able to follow simple instructions

Other skills built on listening

You near to hear a word before you can say it

You need to say a word before you can read it.

You need to read a word before you can write it

Teaching language skills: Listen > Speak > Read >

Write

Listening skills > Prepare for reading

Listen to and follow instructions – Prepares children for a variety of tasks

Follow an oral sequence of events – Prepares children to comprehend

stories

Listen attentively to stories – Prepares children to comprehend stories

Comprehend a story that has been read and/or told – Prepares children to

comprehend stories

Discriminate between sounds – Prepares children to decode words and

helps with phonics instruction

Identify rhyming sounds – Prepares children to decode words and helps

with phonics instruction

Segment words into syllables – Prepares children to decode words and

helps with phonics instruction

Listening and reading similarities

Utilize many of the same processes

Listening capacity

Informal measure of one’s ability to understand or

comprehend spoken language in the context of a story

being told or read aloud

As a foundation for reading, teachers need to develop

children’s listening comprehension and listening

capacity

Phonological awareness

The ability to listen and think about the entire range of

sounds that occur in a word (e.g. un-der-stand, al-pha-

bet)

By developing listening skills that focus on

phonological awareness, children will be better

prepared to participate in phonics instruction which, in

turn, will make it easier for them to decode and read

words.

Importance of patterns

People need to recognize patterns in order to read.

Reading is about patterns.

Detecting the auditory or phonological patterns that

occur in language will better prepare children for the

visual patterns that occur in English-language words.

Total Physical Response (TPR)

TPR is a teaching method developed by James Asher where

learners physically respond to oral commands which are given.

Just as with babies, learners are expected to respond non-

verbally to commands before they are able to speak.

The teacher usually gives an oral command while s/he

demonstrates it.

Learners follow along with the commands and only speak

when they are ready.

When they first begin to speak, learners repeat the commands

given by the teacher.

Positive aspects of TPR

Uses the auditory, visual, and tactile learning

channels

Helps to teach children to follow directions and listen

attentively

Provides a comfortable environment for learners when

they choose to speak

Easily adaptable

Finger plays

Finger plays are little chants that children say while moving

their fingers and/or hands

Popular examples: “The Eensy Weensy Spider” and “Head

and Shoulders”

TPR used effectively with

Storytelling and drawing

Benefits of Yes/No cards

Allows all learners to participate simultaneously and

silently (thereby reducing opportunities for learners to

fidget and be disruptive)

Lets the teacher know if individual learners responded

correctly

Breakdown of words

Syllable clapping

Challenge of using rhyming word activities

Words can be uncommon and very challenging

Minimal pairs

Two words that differ in only one sound

Yes/No cards are an effective way to practice them