Teacher's Page

Listening to Manitobans - Learning about Manitoba

The Lessons

The stories and interviews presented in the podcast use real language - spoken by real people about real events. They haven't been modified for EAL learners and present language with the speed, intonation, pronunciation and slang used in everyday Manitoba conversations.

The lessons allow you as a teacher to examine and use the language and issues your students will encounter outside of the classroom. This may be a bit of a challenge, as you will find some people speak very quickly on radio! The use of this resource will allow you and your students the extra time needed to reflect on and examine the skills they need to become effective listeners in the real world. It will give them time to ask questions about the idioms, cultural assumptions and pronunciation that may not be captured by standard EAL listening resources.

Most lessons would be best used for upper-intermediate to advanced speakers, for Canadian Language Benchmark levels five and above. You may however want to modify lessons to focus on shorter segments of the story for students at lower levels.

Each week we will list the cultural focus and language points that are within each lesson. We will also suggest the broader functional learning objectives that these lessons may complement.

The lessons found on this site will vary in their presentation, however most lessons will be structured in three parts.

Pre-listening
Students will be asked context-setting questions to introduce them to the week's topic. Targeted vocabulary-development exercises will be presented to prepare students for possible new words specific to the story, and they may be asked to perform predictive exercises.

While you listen
Students may be asked to firstly listen for the gist of the story, and then listen again a number of times for increasing detail and information. It is important to stress to students that they not worry about understanding the whole story right away. They do not have to understand every word or every sentence for that matter. Let them know that you will be playing the audio a number of times, and that they will have the chance to get the answers they need.

It may also be helpful to let students know that listeners who have English as their first language may not catch every word. Sometimes people do not speak perfectly clearly and first language speakers often have to infer meaning from what is said before and after unclear words or sentences. Remind them that this is all a part of improving their listening skills and not just coming to a point where they understand every word that is said. It is more important to learn how to listen for the main message and key details in a conversation.

After Listening
After students have listened for the general idea and have a good understanding of the new vocabulary, themes and language functions used in the story, the lesson may introduce an expanded activity that makes use of their new knowledge.

Tips for Adapting Learning English with CBC Lesson Plans to Lower Level Benchmarks

Although Learning English with CBC Lesson Plans are targeted at CLB Levels 5 and up, there are many ways teachers can adapt the lessons for lower benchmark levels. Here are some ideas!

Selecting a lesson:

• Go to the Learning English with CBC site (cbc.ca/eal/manitoba). The most current lesson is on the home page and all previous lessons are listed under Past Lessons.


• Look through the topics and tasks and select a lesson you think would be of interest to your students.


• Open the teacher's version of that lesson plan. Take a look at the transcript (near the end of the lesson plan) and listen to the audio. Lessons with limited new vocabulary, fewer speakers and less rapid speech will be easier for your students.


• Look at the "Want to Know More" section of the lesson. Some of the websites listed have pictures - you may be able to use these to help students understand the content. If the lesson is current, you may also be able to find newspaper articles with photos.

Adapting Listening Tasks:

• Adapt the pre-listening exercises and/or questions. Teach only the vocabulary necessary for the podcast segment you plan to play in class. You may decide to play only a small part of the audio clip which is part of the lesson.


• Have students practice predicting what the podcast story may be about based on the lesson title and on the pre-listening tasks.


• Listen to the introduction only or to the introduction and a short clip of the audio. The introduction provides background on what the story is about. It is almost always read by Marcy Markusa.


• Use the transcript from the start if that will help your students.


• Have students listen for pronunciation, word stress and patterns of spoken English.


• Activities can include underlining words or expressions on the transcript, answer true and false questions, circling the correct answer, completing a cloze exercise using the transcript, listening for the main idea and answering adapted comprehension questions. Focus more on main ideas and less on inference.

Adapting Reading Tasks:

• Adapt the Manitoba Memo which provides background information at the beginning of each lesson. The memo may be the only reading material you use.


• Use the transcript and focus only on the interviewer's questions or on one exchange between interviewer and interviewee.


• Reduce or simplify other texts which are included in the lesson. Use only one or two paragraphs of an authentic text.


• Adapt the questions for reading texts so students are only looking for one or two points.

Adapting Writing Tasks:

• Most of the writing tasks are guided writing - a note, a letter or an email. All can be simplified and shortened.


• Have students write new vocabulary words and definitions in a journal.


• If the writing task is filling in a form, use only one part of it (for example, name, address, phone number).


• Limit other writing tasks to personal experiences and descriptions of familiar things.

Adapting Speaking Tasks:

• Use the initial brainstorming questions which begin each lesson. Provide lots of language chunks and examples to assist students in discussing the topics.


• Shorten and simplify role plays and dialogues.


• Have students share personal experiences which relate to the topic with a partner. Do more pair work and less group work.

Adapting Extension Activities:

• Each lesson has several extension activities. Choose one and adapt it to suit your students.

Tips for Extending Learning English with CBC Lesson Plans to Higher Level Benchmarks

Although Learning English with CBC Lesson Plans are targeted at CLB Levels 5 and up, there are many ways teachers can adapt the lessons for higher level benchmarks. Here are some ideas.

• Minimize the pre-listening activities. Have students listen to the audio clip with minimal preparation.


• The full podcast story may be available as a Best of Information Radio podcast. If it is, you can have your students listen to the full three to five minute story as well as the shorter clip which is part of the lesson.


• Look at the "Want to Know More" section of the lesson. Many of the websites listed have additional information which could be used to further challenge your students.


• For current lessons, look for newspaper articles to provide additional authentic reading material.


• Consider other media to extend the lessons. For example, show the movie Bend it Like Beckham as part of Lesson 11 - Hijabs in Sports. Show an episode of Little Mosque on the Prairie as part of Lesson 21 - Getting to Know Each Other.


• Choose a CLB task at a higher level that fits with the topic of the module. Develop an exercise using the content of the module and the higher level task. For example, expressing reservations is a Benchmark Level 7 task. Choose Lesson 11, Hijabs in Sports. Have students practice expressing their reservations about the firm fit hijab as a solution.


• Adapt the tasks in the lesson. For example, focus more on questions relating to inference and less on identifying the main ideas, provide less structure for role plays and writing tasks, turn group discussions into debates and presentations, have students write a transcript based on what they hear, bring in speakers on the topic, have students practice listening and questioning skills and introduce higher level benchmark tasks which build on the lesson themes and content.

EAL Newscasts

The audio file and transcript for the Learning English with CBC Newscasts are changed weekly, usually on Wednesday afternoons. These files are not stored on the Learning English with CBC website but you are welcome to download them onto your own system so you can use them for a longer period of time.

There are three stories each week. Generally, one is a Manitoba story, one is a national story and the third is an international story. The newscasts are targeted at CLB levels 3 and 4.

Establishing Context and Introducing Vocabulary: Ideas for pre-listening activities

• Teach the vocabulary in the headline.
• Predict what the story may be about from the headline.
• Brainstorm other words students associate with key words in the headline.
• Provide a visual if possible. For example, a Winnipeg Free Press or Globe and Mail photo, an on-line news photo, a google image or realia.
• Introduce the vocabulary for the news story in chunks.
• Practise vocabulary with a matching exercise.
• Read vocabulary aloud and tap out the syllables.

While Listening

• Listen first as a class. Listen to one story at a time - one per class may be enough.
• Play the newscast as many times as needed. Draw attention to pronunciation points and / or word stress.
• If the content or vocabulary is still difficult after a couple of times through, play the newscast one or two sentences at a time and check for comprehension.
• Provide the transcript for assistance if needed.
• Copy the transcript PDF into a word file (there is very little formatting) and manipulate the file to create a worksheet.
• Give students an activity to complete while listening. This could include: leaving one or two key words out of the transcript and having students identify the key words; asking students to underline specific vocabulary or language chunks when they hear them; giving students a list of words and having them circle the words they hear.

Ideas for post-listening activities

• Have students answer simple yes/no questions, true/false questions or complete a gap fill on the main ideas and/or details.
• Discuss emotional reactions to news stories or express likes/dislikes. Ask questions like:Did the story make you feel happy/sad/angry? Did the story surprise/shock you? Did you like/dislike the story? Was the story interesting/boring? What else would you like to know about this story?
• Ask who, what, where, when, why questions.
• Use the questions you ask or students ask to teach question word order.
• Ask questions of clarification related to the main ideas or details in a story.
• Ask students to link the story to their own experience or their home countries. Teach simple comparisons (more/less).
• Identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs on the transcript.
• Ask students to re-tell the main idea of the story to a partner.
• Have students use the transcript to help them answer questions about details.
• Have students find a news site in their first language on the internet. Is the international story mentioned there? Can they find any additional information about it?
• Have students write a sentence or paragraph on a situation, experience or event related to the newscast.

Using the Newscasts with CLB's 5 and Up

• Higher CLB levels can use the newscast as an authentic listening task, with very little preparation. You could extend the lesson and include writing, reading and speaking tasks by using the many internet resources which are available for most of the stories featured.