'Listening to instructions' tutor notes

The aim of the 'Listening to instructions' topic area is to understand some of the basic skills for Listening to instructions, including responding to non-verbal cues and remembering key words. The value of repeating what you have heard and asking questions to check understanding is stressed. Finally the challenge of listening when none of these aids are available - for example with pre-recorded messages on the phone - is tackled.

How does this tie in with the curriculums?

• England
  SLlr/E3.1 - Listen and respond: Listening to instructions:
  
  1. listen for and follow the gist of explanations, instructions and narratives in different contexts
  
  2. know how to listen for gist, making use of their own knowledge, context clues, linking words and sequence markers
  
  3. understand that listening on the phone can be more demanding than face-to-face listening (usually less knowledge of the context, no visual clues, so more reliance on hearing)
  
• Wales
  As England
• Northern Ireland
  As England
• Scotland
  See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.

Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.

In this Skillswise module you'll find...

Listening to instructions - games
The game is Delivery Driver. Learners must listen to delivery instructions the control a delivery van to ensure it stops at the right house and delivers the right item. In the hard version they are also asked to choose the right street.

Please do tell us what you think of these games.

Listening to instructions - factsheets
There is one factsheet in this section. It covers what is required to make a complete sentence, with examples of the use of full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. It goes on to explain how to develop longer Listening to instructions, warning against simply using a comma to join two Listening to instructions. Conjunctions are introduced, as well as adjectives and adverbs. Finally the importance of putting words in the clearest order is stressed.

Technical help:

To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':

• Flash 7
  The game in this topic section uses Flash 7. This is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
  Find out more.
  If you don't have Flash 7 the same learning points are covered in the quiz, worksheets and factsheets.
  
  Please note: the flash game in this section is quite graphical. Please allow about 1 minute for the game to download. Download times will vary according to your connection speed and how busy the network is.
  
  
• Adobe PDF documents
  Note that you will need the free Adobe Acrobat software on your machine to view PDF documents.
  
  
• FlashPapers
  We have provided the worksheets and factsheets as both PDF files and FlashPaper files. For screenreader users you should choose the FlashPaper version as these are designed to be screenreader accessible. If you don't need a screenreader it doesn't matter which type you use.
  
  If you want to print the factsheets we recommend you use the PDF version provided. However, if you do want to print a FlashPaper, you must use the print button within the FlashPaper window (top right). Your internet browser can't tell what size to print these kind of documents, so if you use the print option in the 'file' menu it may print out completely the wrong size.
  
  

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Taking it further:

With Skillswise:
Skillswise Level 1 - there are 2 learning modules for listening: Listening for specific information and Types of listening.

Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans and Teaching inspirations areas for more ideas about teaching listening to instructions.

On the web:
Here are a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching Listening to instructions.

• DFES Readwriteplus: Listening for information
  Practise focussing on key points.
• DFES Readwriteplus: Asking questions
  Practise asking clear questions.
• The Learning Edge
  Canadian on-line learning newspaper - interactive activities - listening, reading etc.
  Click on back issues for previous editions. (Classified ads, consumer awareness, street safety).
• BBC: Video Nation
  Video Nation is a unique collection of short videos from people around the UK. People have filmed themselves talking about topics ranging from Mothers Day to Michael Jackson. Ask learners to watch the videos try to follow the gist of the narrative. This can lead to a discussion on sequence markers such as first of all, after a while and finally.
• BBC: More than just Great Britons
  In a group select and listen to a famous person from the BBC archives. These regularly updated archives feature audio of famous people such as Alfred Hitchcock, Virginia Woolf and Bob Marley. Discuss beforehand students' knowledge of the person and after listening to the clip(s) what extra information they have learnt.
• London Online
  In the Health section, 'Giving directions' lets the learner practise listening to directions, then finding the correct location.

Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.

Do you know of any great online resources for practising listening to instructions? Tell us about them!