Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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.
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.