Listening. The most daunting of the 4 skills. For me, anyway. Let me explain. First off, there's writing. Writing has something listening and speaking cannot offer: time. It allows you to stop and consider your wording, look up new words and correct your spelling. You can even research the best way to phrase something so that your text is natural and error free. Reading is similar. You can also stop, go back and reread, then mull it over , consider the potential meanings, even slowly analyse the grammar. When speaking you can prepare what you're going to say, look up more words, practise and repeat it to yourself. But listening, folks, is a totally different kettle of fish . You may or may not be able to hear the text again, and if you do, perhaps it won't be said in exactly the same way (when you ask someone to repeat themselves, for example). Plus, isn't it irritating when you can't quite catch a word or sentence and can't simply look it up ...
What the teacher notices when she becomes the student.