How to provide Spanish listening practice during distance learning
One of the biggest struggles for many of us as language teachers during distance learning has been finding ways for students to hear the language. Twenty minutes on Zoom just doesn’t cut it! We are looking for ways to mimic the immersive environment we know is best for language acquisition. I’ve seen people asking:
How can we provide more opportunities for spanish listening without spending hours creating and editing videos of ourselves?
One possibility: Audiobooks
Audiobooks allow students to listen to the story at home. This means students are still getting good-quality Spanish input outside of your twenty-minute Zoom call. Audiobooks have so many benefits, including allowing students to go at their own pace, providing the opportunity to re-read, speeding up or slowing down the narrator, making a visual connection between the words and their pronunciation, and so much more!
Furthermore, by having students listen to the story at home, you will gain back precious time, so that you can maximize your precious in-person minutes! Use your Zoom or Google Meet sessions to connect and engage with students, rather than introduce new material. If everyone comes to class having listened to the story already, you can dive right into discussing it! Isn’t that why so many teachers prefer the upper levels; you can do so much more! Ask personal questions to recycle the vocabulary or grammar structures, work on extension activities (provided in the audiobooks), or use the story to play games.
Absent students
Audiobooks are also great for absent students. If Bobby missed your killer interactive reading of the story in class, send him the Spanish audiobook so he can listen at home! At least he will hear some Spanish that day!
Are you going to be absent? Audiobooks to the rescue again! Choose the best one to share with students and let the non-Spanish speaking sub work on her crossword while your kiddos are still learning!
For more audiobook previews, visit my YouTube Channel.
