Listening

Helping children to listen

Some children have trouble tuning in, understanding and remembering what is said to them. Applying the following strategies will help with listening:

• Make sure that you have the child's attention. Be aware of distractions, particularly when the child needs to concentrate on what you are saying
• If it is culturally appropriate, establish eye contact and stand or sit close to the child when you speak
• Slow down your rate of speech. Pause to give the child time to think before responding
• Repeat or rephrase your message when the child does not understand
• Speak clearly. Use gestures, pauses and inflection to emphasise the message
• Model good listening behaviours. Take the time to listen. Stop what you are doing and give your full attention as you listen. Set aside specific times for sharing conversation and interacting with individual children
• Simplify the language of your message. Use clear and concise vocabulary and sentence structure. If the message is too difficult to understand the child will stop listening.

Fun activities to develop listening skills

The following are a few starter ideas for listening activities adapted from Listening with Kids by Linda Serway.

Tuning in

Listening walk

Go for a ten minute `listening walk' with a child or group of children. See how many noises you can identify together. It may help to stop, close your eyes and listen. What is making the noise? Where is it? Is it loud or quiet?

Rhyming

Say a word and see how many rhyming words the children can think of. Some starter words are; boat, toe, cat, lake, cook, wig, chin, clock.

Louder - softer

Play a song on the CD player. Ask the children to listen as you turn the volume up and down. Tell them to stand up when the sound increases and to squat down when the volume goes down.

Listening to remember

Farmer farmer I can hear

Talk about animals you would see on a farm. Identify the sounds they make. Clap and chant in rhythm "Farmer Farmer I can hear, all the animals you have near". Make the sound of an animal. Repeat the chant and the animal sound, then add a second animal sound. Have the children repeat the chant and sound sequence correctly before adding a new animal sound.

Shopping list

The same kind of game can be played as a shopping list - "I went to town and I bought a...." with each child trying to remember what came before and taking a turn to add something to the list.

Story time

Select a story at the child's language and interest level. Read the story aloud. At the end of each page or paragraph stop to ask questions. Ask the child to tell you what just happened in the story. Follow the story with questions relating to the sequence of events.

Listening to understand

What's in the bag?

Fill a bag with everyday objects. Choose an item and without showing the children, describe three or four details about it - color, size, texture, shape, function. Ask the children to guess what it is you are holding. This is also a good expressive language activity when you reverse roles and ask the children to describe what they are holding.

Find it

Look around the room and think of something you can describe by location; for example, the fishbowl. Give the child three clues about how to find it - "it's at the back of the room, it's on the table, there's a net beside it".

Who am I?

Talk about different kinds of jobs that people have. Choose an occupation. Give the child two or three clues about that job. For example; `Postie' - "I ride a bike, I carry lots of letters, I see a lot of houses everyday..."