Listening Activities in The Classroom: PURPOSE: To Create and Model Good Listening Strategies

GUIOMALA, AMBIA P. PROF.
SALVACION SANTANDER INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS DESIGN
LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM

Here’s a fast fact: over 60% of all misunderstandings come from poor listening and only 1%
from poor reading. If you don’t currently teach your students specifically how to listen, it may
be time to add activities to your curriculum that strengthen this skill. The benefits of strong
listening skills may begin in class, but they extend through all aspects of your student’s
academic and personal lives.
Here are some examples of classroom activities that can be used to foster and enhance the
listening skills of students:
SIMON SAYS
PURPOSE: To Create and Model Good Listening Strategies
In front of the classroom, play a short game of Simon Says with one child volunteering
to be “Simon” and you are the game player. Model good listening strategies such as
looking the speaker in the eye, repeating the directions to yourself (aloud so they can
hear you), not starting until you’ve heard all the instructions (say aloud, “Ok, he’s
finished giving me the instructions so now I may begin”), and speak aloud what you’re
going to do as if you were picturing it in your mind before doing it. After “Simon” gives
you a few short instructions, ask the class to tell you what they witnessed you did well.
Write their answers in a thinking map on the board.
Classroom meetings are another great opportunity to model and practice listening skills.
The class sits together in the circle and takes turns sharing their thoughts and feelings
on the topic being discussed. Children are encouraged to look at the speaker and listen
to what they say.
THINK-PAIR-SHARE
PURPOSE: Encourage Partner Conversations
Pair children up and give them a general discussion topic. Each child takes turns being
the speaker or the listener. When the speaker is finished speaking, have the listener
repeat one of the speaker’s main points, and offer them a compliment. Having “Think,
Pair, Shares” during lessons and discussions is a great way to practice receiving and
sharing what is heard.
20 QUESTIONS
PURPOSE: Be able to review students while practicing listening skills.
In this classic game, lots of listening skills are practiced without even explicitly calling it
a “lesson in listening skills”. Play this game any time you feel you need subject review,
and practicing listening skills at the same time! For instance, tell the class you are an
item that starts with a certain letter, a fictional character, or a Science object you’ve
recently learned about. Have them ask you 20 yes/no questions to try to figure out what
you are.
GUIOMALA, AMBIA P. PROF. SALVACION SANTANDER INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS DESIGN
THE INSTRUCTION GAME

PURPOSE: To create enjoyable Daily Listening Activities
One way to see a marked improvement in your students’ listening skills is to give them
short, daily skills practice. Any daily practice should be fun, and practical. In this case,
the skills should include encouraging kids to focus on oral instructions, visualizing the
tasks given, and completing them accurately. Give them short instructions verbally for
completing a task, or two or three tasks in succession (depending on their age/cognitive
development), and have them practice listening and completing the tasks without
repeating the instructions.
One idea for this activity is to have them pull out a blank sheet of paper and give them
instructions.
For example, “Draw a large brown oval in the center of your paper. Add an orange
letter V in the center. Use a black crayon to draw two large circles, side by side, above
the V” (and they end up with a basic sketch of an owl on their paper that they can finish
drawing details and color on their own).
STORYTELLING PODS
PURPOSE: Developing both listening and speaking skills.
Sort children into groups of three. In these “pods,” they are to play the storytelling game,
only in successive story events rather than one word.
For example, the first student starts with an event such as “The rabbit found a carrot in
the garden.” Then the second student adds an event that happens afterward in the
story, such as “The carrot was too big to carry.” The third student adds, “So the rabbit
put it in a wagon to pull it to his burrow.” After the time is given for the pods to come up
with their three-event stories, instruct the students to move to a new pod. In those
groups, they must retell their stories with perfect accuracy to their new pod members.
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
The Storytelling Listening Game
In this game, you start a story with a beginning phrase, and then each child in the
classroom adds one word to the story in turn. Students must be active participants and
follow the story closely so that when their time comes to add a word, the story will make
sense. Another way to practice this is by playing a traditional game of Telephone where
a message is passed around the room to see if it stays the same.
Teach “Whole Body Listening”
A much-used concept in the early primary grades is “whole body listening.” In whole
body listening, a student practices keeping particular key parts of their body focused on
the speaker. Their eyes are watching, ears are listening, brain is focused on the
speaker’s information, mouth is closed, shoulders are squared toward the speaker,
heart is caring about the message, hands are folded or in lap, feet are still on the floor.
In other words, they are actively “listening” with their entire bodies. Teach your whole
class this concept and practice it as a group, before expecting them to put it into
practice. I use this book, Whole Body Listening Larry at School by Elizabeth Sautter, to
teach this concept. More go-to books for reinforcing listening skills are Listen,
Buddy, Listen and Learn, and My Mouth is a Volcano.

Listening Activities in The Classroom: PURPOSE: To Create and Model Good Listening Strategies

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Listening Activities in The Classroom: PURPOSE: To Create and Model Good Listening Strategies

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Listening Activities in The Classroom: PURPOSE: To Create and Model Good Listening Strategies

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

GUIOMALA, AMBIA P. PROF.

SALVACION SANTANDER INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS DESIGN

LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM

THE INSTRUCTION GAME

You might also like