Teacher Resources: Using ListenLoop in Class
Lesson plan templates, discussion prompts, and ways to integrate ListenLoop into ESL teaching.
ListenLoop's lessons work as standalone self-study but slot easily into classroom teaching as well. The structure — vocabulary, video, gap-fill, comprehension questions, open questions, transcript — matches the rhythm of a typical sixty-minute ESL session. This page describes how teachers can use the platform with students, what to add in class that self-study cannot provide, and how to repurpose the editorial content for warm-ups and writing prompts.
A standard sixty-minute lesson plan
Open with the lesson's introduction and learning objectives, projected for the class to read. Five minutes. Move to vocabulary preview — go through the vocabulary list and check pronunciation, then have students predict in pairs what the video might be about based on the title, vocabulary, and any cultural notes. Ten minutes. Play the video once at normal speed without pausing. Five minutes.
Have students attempt the gap-fill individually or in pairs. Ten minutes. Review answers as a class, replaying the relevant segment for any disputed answers. Ten minutes. Move to comprehension questions. Have pairs answer the true/false questions and then discuss two of the open questions together. Fifteen minutes. Close with the lesson's key takeaways and study tips, and assign the transcript as homework reading. Five minutes.
Discussion prompts
The open questions in each lesson are written to support classroom discussion, not just self-study. They are deliberately broader than the true/false questions and reward students who can synthesize multiple parts of the clip. Use them as the basis for pair work, small-group discussion, or short written responses.
Cultural notes are particularly useful for mixed-nationality classes. Ask students to compare what the cultural note describes to their own country or region. This kind of cross-cultural comparison is one of the highest-engagement classroom activities and almost always surfaces material that students remember for weeks.
Adapting lessons for different class sizes
For small groups (up to six students), the lesson can run almost like a conversation. Spend more time on the open questions and let the gap-fill run as a collaborative exercise — students call out answers as they hear them. For larger classes (fifteen or more), shift toward individual work for the gap-fill and pair work for the comprehension questions. The transcript is useful as a take-home reference for slower students.
For online classes, the platform's structure works naturally. Share the lesson URL at the start of class, have students join the page, and use a video call for discussion. Students with weaker bandwidth can read the transcript while the audio plays for those who can stream the video.