Put the Cards in Order: Activity for Listening

(TESOL Ideas--Activities That Can Be Used With Any Listening Text)

Sample 1: docs, pub (put the cards in order for the first listening, then for the second listening, match the cards to complete the phrases)

Sample 2: docs, pub (match all the cards and put them in order first, then listen and check)

Sample 3: docs, pub (put the cards onto the table)

This activity is an alternative to "Word Grab for Listening".  As I wrote in that post:

Another teacher thought that any sort of moving activity (such as grabbing) interferes with the activity of listening, and should be avoided. He suggested an activity where the students put the cards in order instead of grabbing them (still some movement going on, but less disruptive.)

How to Teach Listening by J.J. Wilson also mentions this as an alternative:

Grab the word: Choose about fifteen key words from the listening passage and write them on individual cards.  Stick the cards on the wall or board, or if there are a a lot of students, place the cards on the desks after making duplicate copies.  The students listen as you read the passage or play the recording, and they grab the words when they hear them.  The winner is the person who grabbed the largest number of cards.  As an alternative, instead of grabbing the words, the students put the words/phrases in order.  A tip: warn them beforehand that the activity is violent! Though not strictly true, this tends to get them in the mood! (p.95)

At its most basic, the activity runs exactly as stated.  The students have a number of key words on individual cards.  They listen to the recording, and put the key words in order.  (You can see from the above excerpt that J.J. Wilson does this activity in groups or whole classes.  I myself always do it in pairs, although doing it in pairs involves more sets of cards, and thus more printing and cutting.  You could also do it as an individual activity, but that's more printing and cutting yet.)

Depending on what the text lends itself to, there are also some variations that I've been exploring.

For example, if the text has a series of numbers or statistics, I will have the students listen to the text one time to put the data in order.   Then I hand out the noun phrases that go with those numbers, and students listen a second time to match the nouns to their quantifiers (example here from Impact 4 Video: The Footprint of Fans p.68-69: docs, pub).

Or, if the listening contains a number of different things being classified, I might have the students match all the cards first (as a prediction), and then listen and check their answers (example here from Reflect Listening & Speaking 5 Listening 1 p.4-8: docs, pub).

Or, if the text lends itself to it, you can make a whole grid, and have students place the cards on the correct cell in the grid (example here from Reflect Listening & Speaking 5 Listening 1: 3,500 Years of Hygiene p.40-45: docs, pub)

Sample 1:

70%	of a concert’s carbon footprint
110	kilometers to go to a concert
2,000	cars
75%	less energy
250,000	fans
50 to 100	tons of waste

Sample 2:

We meet the main character, and find out where and when the story takes place.	There is an “inciting incident” which gives the character a new goal.
The main character wants something, but there are a lot of obstacles in their way, and they have to overcome those obstacles.	Everything goes wrong for the main character, and you feel that things can’t get any worse.
The main character shows whether or not they have changed and learned and grown.	The moral of the story

Romeo is a Montague.  His enemies are the Capulet family.	Romeo meets Juliet, who is a Capulet.  They fall in love instantly.
Romeo and Juliet’s family are enemies.  Juliet’s father wants her to marry someone else.	Romeo kills Tybalt, who is Juliet’s cousin.  This means that he has to leave Verona, and may never see Juliet again.
Romeo acts too quickly.  He doesn’t realize Juliet is not really dead, and he takes his own life.	Don’t let emotions rule your life

Sample 3:

order mentioned	year	place	development
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

answers (cut up cards and shuffle before class)

order mentioned	year	place	development
1st	1500 BCE	ancient Egypt	one of the first places where we know soap was used for washing
2nd	500 BCE	ancient Rome	people would cover their body in oil and rub dust into it
3rd	between 400 and 200 BCE	ancient China	bathe in rice water every five days, wash your hair every three days, wash your hands five times a day
4th	around the 14th Century	Western Europe	people decided washing was bad for your health
5th	the 15th and 16th Centuries	Mexico and Central America	visitors from other countries were surprised at how clean these people were
6th	from 1603 to 1867	Japan	public bathhouses became very popular
7th	the beginning of the 20th century	United States	frequent bathing was difficult because of the lack of running water