Can you flip listening practice?

This is a common question that I get from people who are asking about the flipped classroom, so I felt it should be addressed.

In my opinion, listening is the most crucial skill in any language. It can also be the hardest to teach and practice. Before I flipped my classroom, when we worked on listening, I played the CD and students answered comprehension questions. I would play the selection three times and then we would go over the answers. Great, right? Well, not so much.

What I realized (not as quickly as I should have) was that listening to a selection 3 times was fine for 50% of the students in class. Not nearly enough students were really understanding the listening. By doing listening in a large group, quite a few students would just copy what their neighbors had written down, and a few more would just give up entirely. This method was not really helping my students learn the most valuable skill in communication. So, the second year I flipped my class, I knew that I had to better incorporate listening into the classroom.

I began by just putting listening selections online and having student answer written questions. However, now there are so many great technology methods that can be used to help with this process. My favorite is EdPuzzle. With EdPuzzle I can easily embed questions into videos where I want them. This makes it easier for students to listen and listen again to the appropriate section to find the answers to the questions. It also means that students have to listen individually and I found that the students worked hard and really focused on comprehension of the listening to be able to answer the comprehension questions. As a result, listening comprehension scores improved, which is always the primary goal.

An added bonus of using Edpuzzle is that I was able to quickly grade student responses and see data which showed where students were struggling. Here is a snapshot of the quick grading on EdPuzzle.

This enabled me to better focus my instruction and continue to help my students improve. Sometimes by looking at the student data all together, I also realize that I need to work on the wording of a question, or that the question was too difficult.

Here is a sample of the video and questions that I am using in the review for Spanish 2 at the beginning of the year. 

What is Google Voice?

In response to my last post, I have received numerous questions about Google Voice. So, rather than answer everyone individually, I thought I would write a quick post. (I don't want to grade these tests and projects anyway!!)

Google Voice is a website through Google that allows you to create a dummy number that is linked to your cell phone (I am not sure if you can use a landline). The website is www.google.com/voice . If you already have a gmail account you can use that, if not, you have to get one. Now, I do not remember exactly how to do the initial setup, but I know it was easy. My advice- make sure when you create a number, it is a local number. Last year, I set up a phone number that spelled the school and my name, which I thought was brilliant. However, it ended up being long distance which was the occasional problem. You can change the number (it costs $10), but instead, this year I just registered with a new email (shhhhh...don't tell!) and created a new number that is local, but doesn't spell out anything cool.

Basically I am using the Google Voice as a voicemail service. I record a new message every Monday, and the students have until Sunday night to respond. Then, I change the voicemail on Monday and we begin again. I grade the students fairly leniently. It is a 25 point assignment. 10 for demonstrating they understand the prompt, 10 for content/grammar/pronunciation and 5 for length. I require the messages to be 45 seconds to 1 minute in length. I encourage the students to call and say something, even if they don't understand the prompt, and depending on what they do, I give them 10 points.

Now, I realize that many of my students listen to the prompt together. Many listen multiple times. They talk about what the prompt says and some even ask me if they are right. To this I say, Hooray!! They did a listening 10 times to figure it out!! Woo hoo!!

I also realize that students write down what they are going to say and read that. Well, they are thinking about the grammar and vocabulary. They are still practicing their speaking. So, again...WOO HOO!!!

As for themes for the voicemails, I try to make sure that three out of five during the (five week units) are somehow related to the unit we are studying and then two on "every day" topics like current events, Homecoming, etc.

As I have mentioned in other posts, making sure I get listening and speaking done in class is something I really struggle with, so worst case scenario, using this, I know that they have done some. To be honest, I have yet, in the almost two years I have been doing this, have every student do the assignment. But, the vast majority do it, because as a weekly assignment, it really adds up if you skip it every week. It is also wonderful at conferences because kids have no excuses for not doing it. They have to take responsibility for getting it done when it fits into their schedule. And, yes, if they have time during my class, I let them do it in class.

I hope this helps all of you. Please feel free to comment and ask questions.

**Another good point someone emailed to me- In the settings, you need to set the "do not disturb". That will keep your phone from ringing when the students call the Google Voice number.