Teaching reading and listening can sometimes feel a bit dull or too academic, or maybe some students just don’t connect with these types of lessons. This might be due to their learning styles. In case you missed it, check out our last blog post, where we talked about four different types of learners (visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic) and how giving students choices in their activities can make learning more exciting.
Today, we’re diving into fun activities that make reading and listening classes more engaging and spice things up in the classroom by giving students the power to choose.
Table of Contents
1. Fun Reading Activities
🏃💨 Are you dreading your upcoming reading lesson, knowing that your whiz kids will zoom through it while others get bored? Want to make the class lively for everyone again and help students improve their reading skills, understand the content better, and remember new words? Let’s break down that text into chunks that can be followed by everyone in one of these fun reading activities!
1.1. Ball Toss
How to Play:
- Prepare some strips of paper with sentences from the first paragraph of the reading.
- Each student will get one strip of paper, which they have a few minutes to memorize.
- Have students stand up in two teams facing each other.
- Team A will toss a ball to Team B.
- The student who catches the ball says their sentence, and the opposite team will repeat it.
- Team B tosses the ball back to Team A.
Who Loves It:
- Kinesthetic learners who like to move around.
- Auditory learners who learn through listening and speaking.
Why It’s Cool:
- Keeps everyone on their toes and involved.
- Helps with quick thinking and better understanding.
- Encourages teamwork and sharing knowledge.
1.2. Spot the Difference
📌 How to Play:
Put students into pairs or small groups.
Students get a paper with a reading text on it, but the texts are slightly different from each other.
Student A will read their passage, Student B will listen and mark the differences.
Who Loves It:
Visual learners who are great at spotting details.
Reading/Writing learners who love working with text.
Why It’s Cool:
Sharpens observation skills and attention to detail.
Expands vocabulary with different word uses.
Boosts comprehension by comparing and contrasting.
1.3. The Bathtub Effect
📌 How to Play:
Display a short reading passage where the letters in the words are scrambled but with the first letter kept in the right place.
Students individually try to read the passage and write the correct version on their papers.
Students then check their answers with a partner.
Who Loves It:
Reading/Writing learners who enjoy reading and summarizing.
Visual learners who enjoy puzzles.
Why It’s Cool:
Builds confidence as they tackle tougher passages.
Enhances understanding skills.
Helps remember new words by seeing them in action.
2. Fun Listening Activities
Running out of ideas to make listening activities engaging and interesting? Do the listening tracks put everyone to sleep immediately? If you want to help students catch important words and phrases, improve their pronunciation, and get better at understanding what they hear, try one of these activities in your next listening
2.1. Stand Up!
📌 How to Play:
- Prepare short lists of phrases chosen from the listening passage and hand them out to your students.
- Play the listening track.
- Students stand up if they hear a statement that matches what they heard.
- Discuss the statements afterward to reinforce comprehension.
Who Loves It:
Kinesthetic learners who like to move.
Auditory learners who learn by listening.
Why It’s Cool:
Keeps students alert and attentive.
Reinforces key points from the listening passage.
Combines physical activity with learning.
2.2. Swatter Stories
📌 How to Play:
- Write some key words from the listening passage on the board.
- Students stand at the board with a flyswatter.
- Play the listening track.
- Students swat the words when they hear them.
Who Loves It:
- Kinesthetic learners who enjoy hands-on activities.
- Visual learners who link words to actions.
Why It’s Cool:
- Improves recognizing and remembering keywords.
- Turns learning into a fun game.
- Enhances listening skills with focused attention.
3. Things to Remember
❗ Giving students choices in reading and listening classes can make learning way more fun and effective. But remember, too many choices can be overwhelming and time-consuming. So, keep it simple by offering 2-3 options and set a time limit for choosing.
✨ With these fun activities, you can create a lively and inclusive classroom where every student gets a chance to shine. Let’s make learning a blast!
Credit: “Empowering Multiple Intelligences: Effective Practices to Teach Receptive Skills”
by Nguyen Hai Trieu (Ashley) from VUS Nguyen Oanh.
For nearly 30 years of pioneering English education in Vietnam, VUS has built a strong reputation with 71 campuses and more than 2,700 internationally qualified teaching staff nationwide.
VUS proudly affirms its leading position with a double victory at the Vietnam Technology Excellence Awards 2025, and two consecutive years being honored as an Inspirational Brand at APEA, alongside many other prestigious national and international awards.
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