Similar to problem-solving, leadership and communication,
listening skills are an extremely important soft skill that can be learned
through activities and practice. Although it may be acquired earlier in life,
however, its development and mastery takes time and a lot of patience!
Spoken language, cognitive development and learning have
been seen to have interesting interconnections. The use of language and
understanding how others use it, allows children to make sense of the world and
their experiences.
Considering the
importance of listening skills in children, American curriculum schools in Dubai
incorporate learning of these
essential life skills in their teaching methodologies, to allow children to
learn these essential life skills.
How
to listen actively
Teachers and parents can inculcate listening skills in their
children and teach them to become active listeners by demonstrating how active
listeners are. By modeling active listening to your child, you are acting like a standard for your
child, and also you're helping the child understand the value and importance
associated with listening activyley themselves.
- By maintaining eye contact
Individuals who tend
to maintain eye contact are considered to be reliable, warm and sociable and
confident. Moreover, focusing also helps with improvement in concentration, and
it enhances the ability to understand what the speaker is saying.
By showing that you are listening and hearing correctly is
to throw questions about what is being said or communicated. This helps provide
clarification and also ensure that you understood what was being said.
Practice this by asking the following types of questions:
Close-ended: questions like Have you finished your
assessment? tends to prompt children to provide specific answers.
Open-ended:
for
example: how was your day out today? Is
a question that expands the further discussion.
Reflective questions
tend to
expand and extend the thinking realm. for example: tell me more about your
favorite subject
Leading questions
encourage
students to respond a certain way
For example: do you
have too much homework?
- Repeat what the speaker just said
When you repeat what the speaker just said, it helps to make
sure that you understood what they are saying.
Present a gist of the whole thing and provide them a chance to correct
you.
- Listen carefully to extract the total meaning
All messages have two
constituents; the underlying feeling and the content of the message. Both
remain equally important and inculcate meaning into messages. Listen to both parts as sometimes the actual
message may be conveyed by the feeling in the message.
Let your child complete their thoughts before responding to
them. Finishing sentences and interrupting, rushing them to say things or
guessing what they are about to say next can limit communication between the
parents and the child.
- Parents and children can practice performing
different activities and playing games that can help generate an understanding
of the importance of listening.
- Reading stories to your child and asking them
what they think could happen next
- Cook with them
and ask them to read the recipe and follow the instructions to the last
dot
- Have conversations with your child about what
interests them
- Create lists of questions your child can ask your or their siblings
- Give short instructions and ask your child to
draw what they understand from your words.
Listening may take a lot of concentration and determination,
however, practicing active listening with your child can not only help them
acquire these skills early in life but can also lay a strong foundation for
other connected skills they will acquire in the future.
Take
away!
Using play-based
learning in kindergartens and early years, and competent teaching
methodologies, teachers at the American
curriculum schools in Dubai, ensure that children acquire listening skills
early in life. These critical skill allow them to not only excel academically
but in other aspects of life too!
