How can audiobooks be used in the classroom?
These guidelines are intended to provide some suggestions as to how our audiobooks can be used as an effective tool for learning both inside and outside the classroom.
General Fiction (for study)
- Slow readers often lose the chance to join in class discussions because they are struggling to keep up with what has been read. Encourage students to listen to the story before it's read in class. This doesn't have to be the entire audiobook, perhaps ask them to listen to a chapter at a time. This will help them to understand the plot better and to keep up with the discussions in class.
- Reluctant readers are often also reluctant writers because they have missed out on the conventions of storytelling. They are unfamiliar with formal written structures, and they do not necessarily have an extensive range of vocabulary. Using audiobooks can help students improve their writing because they can experience the structures of writing for themselves.
- Help students improve the structure of their writing by getting them to identify the structure of the story they are listening to. This could be in the form of a writing frame or a flow diagram that encourages them to think about how events are linked together.
- Encourage students to extend their vocabulary by listening to an extract that features several words or phrases that you know will be unfamiliar to them. After listening ask students to try and explain what they think the words mean in the context in which they heard them. (For very weak students you could provide them with a list of definitions and ask them to match them up to the correct word).
Set Texts
- Students need to fully understand the characters and plot of a novel before they can analyse the way it is written. Listening to the audiobook before attempting to read the novel and then deconstructing the text can ensure that students are familiar with the story.
- Provide students with simple chapter summaries either before or after they listen to the relevant section. A good revision activity is to provide students with these chapter summaries with sections missing and ask them to fill in the gaps.
- It may also be a good idea to provide a simple overview of the plot before students begin study. This doesn't have to be in linear form, students may benefit from a more visual summary, the pictures acting as clear markers to help them remember what happens at a particular point.
- Using the text as well as an audiobook can increase a student's reading speed and improve their spelling and word recognition. This is because they are experiencing what it is like to read fluently. Using this method is particularly useful for an extract that may need to be studied closely. Encourage the student to listen to the extract a couple of times and to follow what is being read in the book.
- Short activities like highlighting relevant words and phrases whilst listening can help to focus the student on the features of language in a particular text.
- Listening to the audiobook can also enable students to comprehend the dialect or accent of a particular character more fully and to understand the significance of the language used. Encourage students to focus on the sounds they are hearing rather than the words on the page. A good reader will enable students to identify the tone of voice and therefore the emotion behind what they are saying.
Shakespeare
- Many students find reading and understanding Shakespeare difficult especially understanding the rhythm and structure of his writing.
- Students need to be familiar with the plot, characters and setting of the play before they can think about understanding the language. Tell the students the story, read them a summary of the play or watch a film version to begin with. Using an audio version of the unabridged text will not be beneficial for students until they have a good grasp of what is going on. If you want to use an audiobook to begin with, something like 'Shakespeare without the boring bits' by Humphrey Carpenter (catalogue number 9036) is a great place to start.
- Once students have an idea of the basic plot and characters this can be reinforced by listening to sections of the play on audio. Good activities for reinforcing the plot and characters whilst listening are those which require the student to visualize what they are hearing. Encourage students to draw and describe characters, map out how the characters relate to one another, mind map the plot and sequence the order of events.
- To help students remember what happens in particular acts or scenes listen to the appropriate extract and then get students to record what has happened in whatever format is easiest for them. (This could be in words, pictures, diagrams etc)
- The best way of appreciating the stress and metre of Shakespeare's writing is to hear it being spoken whilst also looking at the text. Encourage students to listen to professional actors reading Shakespeare. Use bite-size chunks of the text to start with and remind students that they don't need to worry about understanding everything that is being said, they just need to focus on the sounds they hear. Hopefully the reader will enable the students to work out what emotions a particular character is experiencing by the way the words are being spoken.
- If you are listening to a particularly lyrical extract ask students to tap out the rhythm of the words, this will help them to remember the rhythm of a particular section (and therefore hopefully the words that are being spoken).
General Fiction (for enjoyment)
- Students (especially those who are dyslexic) need to visualize what it is they are reading. If they don't, comprehension, memory and enjoyment all suffer. Listening to an audiobook helps students to visualize because they are freed from the labour of having to decode the written word.
- Listening to the tone of voice, accent, emphasis, timing and the speed that the story is read can all help the student to understand the story better.
- Encourage students to use external landmarks to help them map the sequence of the story. (E.g. if they are listening to a book whilst walking or in a car, encourage them to notice what was going on around them at a particular point in the story, this will help them to remember it)
Teaching Resources (only available for members)
We offer a selection of teaching resources to support two of our most popular audiobooks:
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Skellig by David Almond
If you would like further information or a copy of these resources please log in and go to the resources page or email the Education and Membership Officer lpowell@listening-books.org.uk