A Listening Game

15 May 2018. Written by T Liz

Asalamo Alaikom and Kia Ora Jumanah. Over the last few weeks I have noticed you love to play
games with your friends and you are so eager to share your ideas that you find it hard to listen to
your friends’ ideas. You looked like you were listening as I explained we needed to sit in a circle to
play a ball game today as we were going to take turns to roll the ball across the circle to each
other. You watched as I started by singing “I roll the ball to you, you roll it back to me; what’s your
name” and laughed as another child said their name and rolled it back to me. You had to wait a long
time for your turn in the game. I reassured you that you would have a turn every time you asked ”is
it my turn next”? I said that children who were calling out about having a turn would have to wait
the longest. Jumanah, you grinned from ear to ear when I said “Guess what Jumanah” and rolled
the ball to you. You held it for a little while until I reminded you that you needed to roll the ball
back to someone else in the circle. You asked me which children were still waiting for a turn and
happily rolled it across the circle to Sarah who was waiting for her turn.

What Learning Occurred

Jumanah’s learning pathway this term is expanding her listening skills. She is deepening her
friendship skills as she learns to wait for her turn to participate in a group. Jumanah’s respect for
others is growing as she increases her ability to wait for her turn. Her understanding of the needs
of others in the group is developing as she listens to ideas from her peers and instructions from
teachers. Jumanah is practicing learning to listren to indstructions then wait for her turn. Ka nui
ake tō mātauranga (your knowledge increases) Jumanah!

How can we extend this learning?

We can support Jumanah’s increasing listening skills by facilitating games that require her to listen
to instructions and respond and praising her efforts.