The author of several EFL course books  Paul Seligson gave some pretty interesting ideas on how to teach your students the four skills -, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Will it surprise you to know that people in their everyday life spend much more time listening and speaking than reading and writing. So, why do we, teachers, spend most of our time teaching our students reading and writing. The presenter talked about separation of these skills. So if you listen to something and then ask your Ss to answer your questions in English, how do you know that the Ss who are the first to speak are the best listeners, Perhaps they are just the best speakers. And how often does it happen that if you ask a question its' the best student who answers first? Try this trick: stop mid-sentence and ask your Ss to finish it for your but not crying aloud - whispering the ending to their neighbour. In this case all students will be involved.

A very interesting observation made at the session was that the most difficult task for a teacher is to keep their Ss focused. Can we lay the blame on the Ss? How long can you keep concentrated when you listen to a long text? Advice: break any activity you do with your Ss in tiny  part (10-20 sec), you'll see how easier it will be to hold your Ss attention.

Do your Ss always listen very carefully to what their fellow students are telling them? I doubt! Paaul's  tip: assign a role for the listener as well as for the speaker!

If you have any questions, just send a message to the presenter: seligson04@yahoo.co.uk