120 hr. TEFL Course Module 6-Listening (Pt.11 Presenting New Ideas)

Module 6: Listening

6.4 Using what you hear to present new ideas

The next important step to take with your students is to help them learn and/or practice how to take what they are hearing and use it to present new ideas. While conversational English is great because it requires your students to reply to speakers with appropriate and cogent responses, it is time for them to start presenting ideas of their own. In this section, we will discuss where this will come in handy as well as how to help them practice this skill.

• In a school or business setting, it will be very helpful for students to be able to synthesize what they hear in English and generate new knowledge from it. This is extremely relevant since most of your students are likely learning English so that they can attend an English-speaking school or get/maintain a job where speaking English will help them advance. In a classroom, students will have to be prepared to listen to English lectures and then do something to synthesize the knowledge they have learned. In business, workers will have to be prepared to listen to what their boss is telling them and then create something that fits the requirements. You can help them practice this skill by giving them more assignments and projects that mimic ones they would see in an English-speaking classroom or workplace.
• This skill will definitely improve their conversational English. Keeping this skill in mind, students will be able to carry on a conversation that is give and take rather than simply answering and responding to questions that are asked of them. You can help your students practice this by extending your lessons in conversational English to account for this need.

• If a student is creating something completely new, such as an invention, an innovation, or an idea, then it would be very difficult for them to express their ideas if they only have the ability to respond to questions in English. Students need the tools to extend the mastery of the English language and speak about things they have not heard anyone else say. This takes a great understanding of the basic framework of the language, which you have hopefully provided. 
• Students need to be prepared to speak “off-the-cuff,” without a language safety net. To truly demonstrate fluency and mastery of the English language, they need to be able to improvise with the language and understand it much the same way that they understand their native language. With the right amount of commitment from both you and your students, you will be able to get them to this point. It will just take patience, preparation, and follow-through.