[senco-forum] Developing listening skills in secondary pupils

But the point is LISTENING skills and dictation is just part of the training of the ear and brain to develop the art of listening accurately.  Pre-printed sheets are lovely to revise from but don't actually provide any development of the individual.  Ask any EFL teacher.   
I have a book which I use for listening skills where the kids have to mark on a graph various points according to verbal instructions i.e fill in square 12 across and 6 down etc and it eventually makes a picture and they can tell if they have been listening if the picture looks correct.  I got it from Better Books but can't remember what it is called as I am at home and not in school mode yet!
Ally

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk on behalf of Olanys at aol.com 
	Sent: Thu 17/08/2006 20:13 
	To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk 
	Cc: 
	Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Developing listening skills in secondary pupils

	When I worked with severely dyslexic children the dyslexic  resource base
	teacher informed the staff that these children were not to  take down dictation
	under any circumstances - it is a nightmare for them and a  futile exercise
	when pre-printed information sheets can so easily be provided  with very little
	extra effort by teachers. 

	Taking down dictation involves a myriad of skills and stages, many of  which
	are extemely difficult for pupils with SpLD and for some impossible and  very
	distressing...not to mention unnecessary. The same applies to the awful  time
	consuming task of copying from textbooks in these days of scanners and 
	printers.

	Training  children who struggle to do so is a cruel waste of time and effort
	for all  involved. I also think exercises like this are an unnecessary waste
	of time  after a long and arduous day trying to cope at school and endure
	homework. 

	Best wishes,
	Aly

	Chair Auditory  Processing Disorder in the UK/APDUK
	www.lacewingmultimedia.com/APD.htm
	www.apduk.org

*************************************************************
STANDARD DISCLAIMER

Email communication is not secure and can be forged
or tampered with during transmission.  This message
appears to have originated from The Oratory School Association,
but does not necessarily represent The opinions of the
Association, its employees or students. Should you have
any concerns regarding the contents of this message 
then please contact postmaster at oratory.co.uk.  This
e-mail message has been scanned for the presence of
computer viruses using the Symantec SASE scan engine.

*************************************************************