Active Listening Series, Part 4: Authentic Listening Texts

I came across a multi-part lesson on the skill of listening, taught by Professor Mahmoud Al-Batal of UT Austin. In his lessons and discussions with his students, the use of authentic listening texts is explored. They readily admit that one of the biggest challenges is finding authentic texts that are challenging yet on level for beginners. It is definitely more engaging for students to listen to an authentic piece such as a radio broadcast, a music video, a clip of a TV show, etc. but it is difficult to find something that is on topic for your unit, and neither too difficult nor too simple.

I agree completely with Professor Al-Batal that 21st century technology gives us a great connection to authentic texts in the languages we teach. However, sifting through the materials can be time consuming, but if do the work and save the links, you can have what you need for years to come. Take a look at this fabulous list of resources curated by Michèle Campbell.

The temptation to stick with the ancillary materials provided by the text book publisher is tempting...but is that what is really going to make language "click and stick" with our students? Will it make them order for themselves when we take them to the French restaurant, or better yet, when we take them to France? Or will it leave them only feeling "safe" using the language within the confines of the classroom?

When working with authentic texts for listening activities, it is up to you how deeply you want to explore the text. Since I spent the last five years teaching French 1 in a school with no French 2, I would often focus on a specific element of an authentic text, and not necessarily exploit all possible levels of meaning in the document. However, if I had a French 5 class, I would absolutely take one text and squeeze out every drop of meaning as long as it was engaging and useful.

Check out www.lyricsgaps.com to find lots of great songs for Cloze activities.
Here is an example of a Cloze listening activity that is always one of students' favorites:

• When I teach the days of the week, I love to use the song "Quand Vient la Nuit" by French pop star Nâdiya. Give it a listen here. With a clear class objective (to learn the days of the week and to practice reading, writing, speaking and listening to them), we listen to the song three times with three different goals. The first time, we listened for the structure of the song. Students must identify where in the song they hear the days of the week. This tends to be fun and students simply enjoy the music, while preparing themselves for the written activity. They notice that the "hook" is sung by a little girl. She sings the song containing the days of the week that accompanies a popular children's game that resembles "Duck, Duck, Goose." (You can read the rules of the game here). But each time she sings, she mentions only a few days of the days of the week, until the final hook of the song. 
• During the second listening, students have a listening sheet on which they fill in the blanks with the days of the week they hear each time they hear the "hook."
• During the third and final listening, students check their work and complete any missing blanks before we check out work.
• Once the work has been checked, if you can, have students play the game! Even if they are in high school, they will love to play like children again, and it is a great opportunity to encounter French culture in a playful way.

Students know a "fake" when they see it. Right? Whenever you can, offer them authentic listening passages that will give them insight into both language and culture.