Listening/Matching Activity

Here is a good post-reading, listening activity for students to work on their listening comprehension skills. I believe that I learned this from Annabelle Williamson at IFLT this past summer (if it was someone else, I apologize!). It is a very basic picture matching activity, but it requires some pre-work on your end prior to facilitation.

Pre-Class

1. Take a known story which you have been reviewing in class. If it is a story which students have already heard narrated in the target language (as a Movie Talk or Story Listening), the better, because students are already familiar with having to comprehend it aurally.
2. Pick 10 sentences from the story. 
3. Randomize the sentences, and number them 1-10 on a document.
4. Create a 3x4 grid on a document, and letter each square in order A-L.
5. Illustrate the 10 sentences plus two more for a total of 12 sentence illustrations. Two pictures will not be chosen and will serve as distractors. Illustrate the sentences randomly. You can use screenshots if you wish.
6. Make copies of the picture grid for every student.

Class

1. Hand out copies of picture grid to every student.
2. Explain that you are going to read sentences from the story and that students are to pick which picture they think fits the description which they hear read aloud.
3. Students are to put the sentence number in the box of the picture which matches the sentence.
4. Read aloud each sentence to the class, and have students match the sentence number to the picture. Example: "Sentence #2 - the bear is eating hot wings." Repeat the sentence multiple times before moving onto the next one.
5. When done, re-read each sentence aloud with the correct picture letter. Example: "Sentence #1 - the old woman is chased out of the train station - is picture D."

Example:

Sentences

1. Parvus vir consilium capit! (The small man has an idea)
2. Parvus vir ad fontem ascendit ut vota expleat. (The small man climbs up to the fountain in order to grant the wishes)
3. Parvus vir conatur vota explere, sed non potest. (The small man tries to grant the wishes but is not able)
4. Vir in arcam nummum iacit. (The man throws a coin into the box)
5. Eheu - nummi adhaesiti sunt! (Oh no - the coins have become stuck!)
6. Parvus vir votum explet, et subito, vir pecuniam habet. (The small man grants the wish, and suddenly the man has money).
7. Vir in fontem nummum iacit, quod votum est pecunia. The man throws a coin into the fountain, because his wish is money)
8. Parvus vir in fontem nummum iacit. (The small man throws a coin into the fountain).
9. Iuvenis in fontem nummum iacit, quod votum est amor. (The young man throws a coin into the fountain, because his wish is love)
10. Parvus vir votum explet, et subito, iuvenis et femina amorem accipiunt. (The small man grants the wish, and suddenly, the young man and woman receive love).

Observations

1. Wow, what a great listening activity! So easy to facilitate after the prepwork!
2. This is a great way to deliver Comprehensible Input, because students are receiving repetitions of understandable messages in the target language.
3. This involves higher-order thinking in students, because it requires them to understand what they are hearing and to match it with a visual picture.
4. Even though students may only need to hear the sentence stated 1-2 times to complete the activity, they are receiving subconscious repetitions of the sentences when you say them 4-5 times.
5. Because the brain craves novelty (thanks for that phrase, Carol Gaab!), this is another way to review a story in a different way without being repetitive. 
6. I have a love/hate relationship with using screenshots. On the one hand, I love that they are available just a cut/paste away, but at the same time, there are issues, such as ambiguity sometimes in what the screenshot is communicating, difficulty in seeing the picture when printing them for black/white copies due to contrast issues, etc.
7. Because I myself learned Latin without any type of oral/aural components, I am always amazed that students are able to do this. Whenever I comment on this to students, they always reply, "It really is not that hard." To which I reply, "But that is because you are so accustomed to hearing Latin spoken to you."