How to improve your listening skills

Improving your listening skills for children: 

1) Pay attention -- you'll hear more and learn more.
2) Listen for specific direction -- you'll know what to do.
3) Listen for the MAIN idea.
4) Listen for key words -- first, second, third, fourth...etc... before / after
5) Listen for the tone (sad, happy, loud, soft) -- you'll get the real meaning of the message
6) Take notes or make drawing -- you'll remember things longer with a picture.
7) Think about what you have heard -- you'll understand better.
8) Picture what you hear -- have a mental picture of what you have heard. You'll see things clearer.

Improving your listening skills for parents: 

1) Be a good listening model by showing interest in and responding to your child's contribution. Need to show genuine interests, and children are always smart to sniff out when the adults are pretending to be interested.
2) Talk about topics of mutual interest and encourage your child to listen and respond.
3) Involve your child in adult conversation when appropriate. These experiences will provide a range of language styles, ideas and vocabulary for them to admire and learn from.
4) Teach your child how to use the telephone and note down messages.
5) Play games which provide enjoyment and teach listening / social skills e.g. taking turns, following directions, explaining rules and strategies.
6) Provide opportunities for your child to speak and listen for a variety of purposes, e.g. telling jokes and riddles, listening to rules and instructions, describing and remembering details or recounting an experience.
7) Make use of taped stories with read-along books. (These can be found from NLB.) This is an useful activity which links reading to listening in an enjoyable way.

These are adapted from the listening comprehension booklet, which we have purchased for LC. The author, Zenda Lau, is an experienced teacher.
We have done 5 LC exercises today, and I thought it would be meaningful to share the tips given in the book, and hopefully, we can get them to improve on their listening skills.

It is also interesting to note for the MOE new syllabus 2010, they are focusing more in the oral component. That is, there is decreasing emphasis on pen and paper components, and LC is usually an area which we can strive to get almost full marks to help them pull up their grades.


“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” 
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Cheers,
Mdm Chan