Note: paid subscribers can see some of the AI prompts used to create the exercises below and easily download the complete lessons and all the materials at the end of the post.
It’s just struck me this term how widespread and useful earbuds are in the classroom.
Anecdote 1 On the first day of term I had some pre-tests going and some students - out of my 60 student class - came late. Usually, that’s a problem, as in the past, listening exercises had to played out loud with everyone listening at the same time. If students came late, it was quite inconvenient, as you had to do the listening after class or arrange another time. So, I just enquired offhandedly if the late students had earbuds or headphones. Soon, I could see around a dozen students doing the listening test with earbuds. Everyone had earbuds. Problem solved.
Anecdote 2 I have another class of around 40 students in the late afternoon. These students have already had several classes already and want to get home. They are good students, but want to get through the lesson as a quickly as possible. At the end of each lesson - a TOEIC practice course - we have a mini-test, which includes listening. A problem started to arise, as the more advanced students were ripping through the material, and wanted to start the mini-test, while slower students were lagging behind. Once again earbuds came to the rescue. The advanced students could now complete everything and leave earlier. But not only that, it soon became apparent that every student in the class had earbuds or some kind of headphones. It’s now normal for all listenings to be done this way. It’s great for me. I don’t have to interrupt the students to do the listenings. And I have more time to move around and chat with and monitor individuals.
1 Earbuds and headphones
I should note here that I sometimes had a bit of a problem deciding whether to use ‘earbuds’ or ‘headphones’. Generally, I mean them to be used interchangeably, unless a specific context is given. Below are some fairly general and introductory exercises related to the use of headphones.
2 Can you take off your headphones?
These are exercises related to the use of headphones in the workplace.