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As an English language teacher I am always telling my students to be active, independent learners and that language-learning doesn't stop at the end of a lesson - it continues when you get on the tube, or on the bus, are in a queue, sitting at your computer at work, listening to music, watching TV. The most valuable part of living or staying in the country where the language you are learning is spoken is that you are surrounded constantly by opportunities to learn. Listening is possibly the skill which benefits the most from these opportunities.
So how does one improve one's listening skills outside the EFL lesson? Is it a matter of just sitting on a train, listening to a conversation and learning simply by osmosis, hoping to somehow absorb knowledge from this passive activity?
I find it always helps students to focus on a particular aspect of the language when they are listening - something to listen out for. Often I ask my students to listen for 5 new phrases that they have overheard people using, write them down and bring them to the next lesson, where we discuss their meaning (This activity is also good for highlighting issues of pronunciation, accent and spelling).
It might also be a matter of asking them to listen out for any contractions that they have learned, or a grammar point or new phrasal verbs that we have been discussing. It is also a way of learning about different registers, intonation, stress and weak forms.
Of course, one of the easiest ways to do these things is by watching TV or listening to the radio. But something else I always advise my students is to be nosy - listen to the conversations going on around you. Sometimes they are shocked by this. 'Isn't this rude?' they ask. 'Not if you hide it,' I tell them. We are all secret eavesdroppers sometimes. And it's one of the best ways to learn the ways in which the English language is spoken.
