Teaching Portfolio TEACHING-PORTFOLIO | Page 44

ACTIVE LISTENING! WHAT IS LISTENING? FOCUS AND ATTENTION Listening is receiving language through the ears. Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us. Listening in any language requires focus and attention. It is a skill that some people need to work at harder than others. People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor listeners. Listening in a second language requires even greater focus. CLAUDIA QUEZADA