Very True! Listening is just one part of learning a language. If you structure your class to appeal to all sorts of students and add a variety of different types activities to your class, you can reach those students with different learning styles and get them to participate in class. Then, if you vary your lessons, this participation will include listening along with writing, speaking, etc.

Here are some things you could do to vary your lessons to include different learning styles:

One thing that I like to do is if my students are going to have a project of sorts, then I offer different options -- each with a focus on a different learning style but that still requires the use of the specific skills that we are focusing on for the project. So, if I want them to demonstrate their use of food vocabulary, I could have them write a rap about their favourite meal, create graphs to explain how their parents use the weekly food budget or (with a group) put on some sort of skit that involves the types of words I'm "testing".

That said, I also like to only offer a few of the different types of learning styles with each project instead of all of them because it also forces the students to explore areas outside of their comfort zones while still giving them a choice in their work.

Using learning games are also a great way to encourage listening because they have to listen to the directions, their teammates and their "opponents" to participate fully.

Kind regards,

Shelley

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