Active Listening Skills Activities

One of the fundamental modern-life skills is effective communication. This is true at any age. Communicating is a skill that must be taught and requires both speaking and active listening. Because listening skills are learned, a planned program beginning in early elementary school is needed to increase the quality of listening. Effective listening is fundamental to speaking, learning and even thinking. Conflict resolution requires good listening skills.

Active Listening Defined

Active listening is a way of listening to and responding appropriately to another person. It helps to avoid misunderstandings by intently focusing on the speaker. According the Conflict Research Consortium at the University of Colorado, during a disagreement most people are preoccupied with what they are going to say next and are not actively listening. Through active listening, the speaker must focus his attention on the speaker. Active listening skills are taught and need to be practiced regularly before becoming second nature.

Listening Objectives

The primary goal of activities to practice listening skills in the young is to make students aware of words and sounds in different settings and to recognize and differentiate them in everyday life. In order to become a better speaker, a student must learn and practice active listening. Listening begins with the process of acquiring word meanings and understanding those words heard. Concentration is a requirement in active listening.

Not all students learn best through listening. Some are visual learners, while others may learn better through hands-on training. But students from all learning modes benefit from active listening and should be taught effective listening techniques.

Differentiating Sounds

One of the most effective methods for teaching listening skills to children is to use a simple game format, such as "name that sound." To the entire class or smaller groups, play recordings of everyday sounds such as birds singing, traffic noise, musical instruments and voices. This makes a worthwhile discrimination-through-listening activity for students. Distractions should be kept at a minimum during this activity. Listening with their eyes closed encourages better listening in children and improves their recognition and discrimination skills.

Participate in Storytelling

Storytelling activities also encourage students to listen intently in order to participate. For example, the teacher writes a sentence on the board and students take turns orally adding to the story. Children must repeat the previous part of the story and then add their own. Focus and concentration are required in order for the activity to be successful.

Assessment of Listening Comprehension

Listening comprehension is the goal of active listening. Evaluation of listening comprehension can be ascertained through various activities. The teacher reads a story aloud once and then reads it again. The students answer questions from the story on a multiple-choice quiz. The questions can be literal or involve critical-thinking skills.

Another activity involves the teacher reading a story or article about a preselected topic. The students are to note each time something is read that does not relate to the topic. These notes are then evaluated by the teacher.

Role Models for Active Listening

Children learn best from modeling by the teacher and other adults. Open communication should be practiced in every classroom and each student should be encouraged to actively participate.

A teacher's tone of voice is a major factor in either encouraging or discouraging a child from participating in active listening and speaking.

Good listening skills learned in childhood help adults to become better communicators.

References

• Learning Through Listening
• Listening Comprehension

Resources

• Active Listening