September 10-12, 2018

Day 1

I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
A. define listening comprehensively;
B. understand the importance of listening through an activity “The Wright Family Story”; and
C. demonstrate active and effective listening through an activity.

II. CONTENT
Art of Listening (Definition and Elements)

III. RESOURCES
A. References
Oral Communication in Context by Alce M. Sentones, et.al
B. Materials
PowerPoint Presentation, coins/candies
C. Website
http://www.sthelensacl.ac.uk/ilearn/pluginfile.php/1004/mod_folder/content/0/Lif
e%20with%20the%20Wright%20Family%20icebreaker.doc?forcedownload=1
The website contains the activity “The Wright Family Story”.

IV. PROCESS
A. Introduction
Students will form a circle (by group). The teacher will give at least three coins/
candies for each group distributed to the members.
INSTRUCTIONS: I’m going to read a story, and every time you hear any word that
sounds like right or left, then pass the penny to the person on your right or left.
The teacher will start reading slowly, then speed up. After a few passes the teacher
will stop the story and ask how they are doing.

The Wright Family Story

One day the Wright family decided to take a vacation. The first thing they had to decide was
who would be left home since there was not enough room in the Wright family car for all of them. Mr.
Wright decided that Aunt Linda Wright would be the one left at home. Of course, this made Aunt Linda
Wright so mad that she left the house immediately yelling, “It will be a right cold day before I return.”
The Wright family now bundled up the children, Tommy Wright, Susan Wright, Timmy Wright and
Shelly Wright and got in the car and left. Unfortunately, as they turned out of the driveway someone had
left a trashcan in the street so they had to turn right around and stop the car. They told Timmy Wright to
get out of the car and move the trash can so they could get going. Timmy took so long that they almost
left him in the street. Once the Wright family got on the road, Mother Wright wondered if she had left the
stove on. As they turned right at the corner, everyone started to think about other things that they might
have left undone.
No need to worry now, they were off on a right fine vacation. When they arrived at the gas
station, Father Wright put gas in the car and then discovered that he had left his wallet at home. So
Timmy Wright ran home to get the money that was left behind. After Timmy had left, Susan Wright started
to feel sick. She left the car saying that she had to throw up. This of course got Mrs. Wright’s attention and
she left the car in a hurry. Shelly Wright wanted to watch Susan get sick, so she left the car too. Father
Wright was left with Tommy Wright who was playing a game in the backseat.
With all of this going on Father Wright decided that this was not the right time to take a vacation,
so he gathered up all of the family and left the gas station as quickly as he could. When he arrived home,
he turned left into the driveway and said, “I wish the Wright family had never left the house today!”

Students will answer the following questions:

1. Was it hard to listen and pass the objects at the same time?
2. Did you get frustrated when you or others couldn’t keep up with the story?
3. How much of the story can you remember?

To be effective citizens, or students we must be effective communicators. We are

going to begin today to use our listening skills to help us understand the message that
other people are sending to us. We learned that communication is the process of sharing
ideas, feelings, and thoughts with other people and having those ideas, feelings, and
 thoughts understood. Today we will look more in depth at a communication skill and
identify strategies to help us improve our ability to communicate effectively.

B. Interaction
What communication skill could be more basic than listening? We spend more
time listening than any activity except breathing, yet we listen at only a fraction of our
potential.
Listening is the act of giving attention to others. It is a process by using schemata,
sensory experience or background knowledge to attend, recognize and interpret verbal
or spoken language. Listening is an integral part of communication, it is not simple and
passive but it is complex and active.
Effective Listening Means Hearing, Comprehending, and Remembering
Listening is simply the total of what you hear, understand, and remember. It takes
all three elements to be an effective communicator. Let’s look at each element.
A. HEARING
Hearing is not the same as listening. Have you ever heard your friend or classmate
tell you something but you misunderstood their message? To really hear the message takes
energy. It means paying attention physically, asking open-ended questions, maintaining
eye contact, and focusing on what the speaker is saying.
B. COMPREHENDING
Comprehending is understanding the message. It means being able to interpret
what the speaker is saying. It also means being aware when you are not understanding
the message and adjusting your listening strategies so you can comprehend the message.
Some ways you might do this are to ask the person questions, paraphrase what the person
said, try to understand the other person’s point of view, or watch the person’s body
language.
C. REMEMBERING
Once you have heard the message you will need to remember it.

hearing comprehending remembering

C. Integration
Recall our game “The Wright Family Story”. Listening is more difficult than you may
have thought. You were focusing on the coins, which were a distracter and not useful to
the meaning of the information. The distracter changed your focus. This can happen at
any point in the communication process.
ACTIVITY:
Students will bring out paper and pen for this activity. The teacher will read the
instruction twice so they need to pay close attention.
Step 1: Turn your paper horizontally. That means “landscape" or long ways.
Step 2: Draw a two-inch five point star in the left hand corner. The top point and the left
point should touch the edge of the paper.
Step 3: Now, move your pencil to the middle of the paper. Draw a one inch square. Shade
or color in the square.
Step 4: On the bottom right hand corner of the paper, draw a two inch circle. Leave
about a one inch margin, which means to come over one inch on the edge of each side
of the paper. Inside the circle, draw a happy face.
Step 5: For the last object, you are going to draw a two-inch equal lateral triangle. It goes
in the top right hand corner. Leave a one inch margin on both edges of the paper.

Assessing Students’ Listening Skills

 Students who drew all four shapes in the right place and the right size are excellent
listeners.
 Those who had three shapes correct are above average listeners and need to
work on listening to details.
 Students with two shapes correct are average to below average listeners and
need to make a conscientious effort to improve their listening skills.
  Students with one shape correct are poor listeners and need to focus on becoming
better listeners.
 For students with zero shapes correct, the student didn’t listen at all and needs the
teacher’s help.

V. ASSIGNMENT:
None

Day 2

I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
A. identify the types of listening;
B. verbalize the importance of listening through a reflection on the given short story; and
C. demonstrate active listening through pair discussion.

II. CONTENT
Art of Listening (Types of Listening)

III. RESOURCES
A. References
Oral Communication in Context by Alce M. Sentones, et.al
B. Materials
PowerPoint Presentation

IV. PROCESS
A. Introduction
The teacher will let the students read a short story:
A zoologist was walking down a busy city street with a friend. In the midst of the honking horns and
screeching tires, he exclaimed to his friend, "Listen to that cricket!"
The friend looked at the zoologist in astonishment and said, "You hear a cricket in the middle of all
this noise and confusion?"
Without a word, the zoologist reached into his pocket, took out a coin, and flipped it into the air.
As it clinked on the sidewalk, a dozen heads turned in response.
The zoologist said quietly to his friend, "We hear what we listen for."

The teacher will give students time to reflect and react of the story.

B. Interaction
Different situations require different types of listening. We may listen to obtain
information, improve a relationship, gain appreciation for something, make
discriminations, or engage in a critical evaluation.

Types of Listening:
1. Informal Listening (Listening to Learn)
It is listening with the goal of learning, understanding, and grasping information. This
is true in many day-to-day situations, in education and at work, when you listen to the
news, watches a documentary, when a friend tells you a recipe or when you are talked-
through a technical problem with a computer.
Informative listening, or listening to understand, is found in all areas of our lives.
Much of our learning comes from informative listening. For example, we listen to lectures or
instructions from teachers—and what we learn depends on how well we listen. We listen to
instructions, briefings, reports, and speeches; if we listen poorly, we aren’t equipped with
the information we need.
 2. Critical Listening (Listening to Evaluate and analyze)
It usually involves some sort of problem solving or decision making. Critical listening
is akin to critical reading; both involve analysis of the information being received and
alignment with what we already know or believe.
In evaluative listening, or critical listening, we make judgments about what the
other person is saying. We seek to assess the truth of what is being said. We also judge
what they say against our values, assessing them as good or bad, worthy or unworthy.
Evaluative listening is particularly pertinent when the other person is trying to persuade us,
perhaps to change our behavior and maybe even to change our beliefs. Within this, we
also discriminate between subtleties of language and comprehend the inner meaning of
what is said. Typically also we weigh up the pros and cons of an argument, determining
whether it makes sense logically as well as whether it is helpful to us.
On the job, in the community, at service clubs, in places of worship, in the family—
there is practically no place you can go where critical listening is unimportant. Politicians,
the media, salesmen, advocates of policies and procedures, and our own financial,
emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual needs require us to place a premium on
critical listening and the thinking that accompanies it.
Evaluative listening is also called critical, judgmental or interpretive listening.

3. Therapeutic or Emphatic Listening (Listening to Understand Feeling and Emotion)

It is to put yourself into the speaker’s shoes and share their thoughts. It involves a
deeper connection – a realization and understanding of another person’s point of view.
When we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to seek a truer
understand how others are feeling. This requires excellent discrimination and close
attention to the nuances of emotional signals. When we are being truly empathetic, we
actually feel what they are feeling. In order to get others to expose these deep parts of
themselves to us, we also need to demonstrate our empathy in our demeanor towards
them, asking sensitively and in a way that encourages self-disclosure.
Therapeutic listening brings to mind situations where counselors, medical personnel,
or other professionals allow a troubled person to talk through a problem. But it can also be
used when you listen to friends or acquaintances and allow them to “get things off their
chests.” Although relationship listening requires you to listen for information, the emphasis is
on understanding the other person.

4. Appreciative Listening (Listening to be entertained)

Appreciative listening includes listening to music for enjoyment, to speakers
because you like their style, to your choices in theater, television, radio, or film poetry or
maybe even the stirring words of a great leader. It is the response of the listener, not the
source of the message that defines appreciative listening. That which provides
appreciative listening for one person may provide something else for another.
In appreciative listening, we seek certain information which will appreciate, for
example that which helps meet our needs and goals.

C. Integration
The teacher asks students to think of a time when they felt that someone really
listened to them when they had something important or significant to say. How did it make
them feel?
Students will discuss in pairs. The main reward for the speaker is that it often
reaffirms their sense of self-worth. It can help to raise self-esteem.
Now, the teacher will ask them to think of a time when they felt that a person was
not listening to them when they had something important or significant to say. How did
that make them feel?
Processing follows.

V. ASSIGNMENT:
None

Day 3
I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
A. identify the seven techniques through discussion;
B. give the importance of listening through sharing of experiences; and
C. draw a simple representation of them as listeners through an activity called “Ear Me”.
 II. CONTENT
The Art of Listening (Ways to Improve Listening Skill)

III. RESOURCES
A. References
Oral Communication in Context by Alce M. Sentones, et.al, p.14

B. Materials
Powerpoint Presentation

C. Websites
https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/coaching-others-use-
active-listening-skills/
This website contains the seven techniques to use in listening.

IV. PROCESS
A. Introduction
Motivation question:
1. *Was there a time when you listened and was thankful you did?
2. *Was there a time when you did not listen actively and suffered a
consequence?
Processing follows.

B. Interaction
Here are some active listening techniques to use.
1. Be attentive. Convey a positive attitude to the learner and a willingness to talk
through the situation. If timing is a problem, let the other person know you’re interested
and commit a time for the 2 of you to have a focused conversation.
During the conversation, remind yourself that your role is not to interrogate the learner,
jump to advice-giving, or solve the problem yourself. Listen. Near the end of conversation,
you need to be able to accurately summarize the learner’s main ideas, concerns, and
feelings.
Allow “wait time” before responding. Don’t cut the learner off, finish their sentences, or
start formulating your answer before they have finished. Be conscious of your body
language.
2. Ask open-ended questions. These encourage the learner to do the work of self-
reflection and problem solving, rather than justifying or defensing a position, or trying to
guess the “right answer”.
Examples include: “What do you think about …?” or “Tell me about…?” and “Will you
further explain/describe…?”
3. Ask probing questions. Again, the emphasis is on asking, rather than telling. It invites
a thoughtful response by the learner and maintains the spirit of collaboration.
You might say: “What are the specific things you’ve tried?” or “Have you asked the team
what their main concerns are?” or “Does (name) agree that there are performance
problems?” or “Are there any issues in your own leadership style that might be contributing
to the situation?” and “How certain are your that you have the full picture of what’s going
on?”
4. Request clarification. Double check any issues that are ambiguous or unclear to
you. If you have doubt or confusion about what the learner has said, say something like,
“Let me see if I’m clear. Are you talking about …?”or “Wait a minute. Try that again. I
didn’t follow you,” if you have any doubt or confusion about what the learner has said.
5. Paraphrase. Recap the learner’s key points periodically. Don’t assume that you
understand correctly, or that the learner knows you’ve heard.
For example, your learner might tell you, “(Name) is so loyal and supportive of her people
– they’d walk through fire for her. But, no matter how I push, her team keeps missing
deadlines.” To paraphrase, you could say, “So (name)’s people skills are great, but
accountability is a problem.”
6. Be attuned to and reflect feelings. With active listening, you’ll be able to identify
the feeling message that accompanies the content. This is an effective way to get to the
core of the issue.
When you hear, “I don’t know what else to do!” or “I’m tired of bailing the team out at
the last minute,” try to the learner label his or her feelings: “Sounds like you’re feeling pretty
frustrated and stuck.”
7. Summarize. Give a brief restatement of core themes raised by the learner: “Let me
summarize to check my understanding. (Name) was promoted to the manager and her
team loves her. But you don’t believe she holds them accountable, so mistakes are
 accepted and keep happening. You’ve tried everything you can think of and there’s no
apparent impact. Did I get that right?”

C. Integration
The students will make the activity “Ear Me” in their textbooks (page 20).

V. ASSIGNMENT
None

Day 4
No classes due to In Service Training.