Exploiting listening and reading texts

Exploiting listening and reading texts
When you are going to use an extended listening or reading text rather than a few individual words, there is a basic
procedure which it can be helpful to refer to and follow if appropriate. This is a model procedure which can obviously be
adapted if necessary but it does provide a generally sensible starting point.
Establish context
In real life, whenever we listen or read anything, we know what the context is, we are aware of the situation, the location,
the kind of conversation, for example. These factors affect our ability to understand and make sense of what we hear and
read. In class, it’s necessary to introduce the students to the context before they listen or read. The context can be elicited
or prompted from earlier work, the course book, pictures, discussions and so on. Without ‘setting the scene’ like this, the
tasks can become unnecessarily difficult.