Activities and Exercises for Chapter 04: Listening, the mother of all speaking

Activity 4:1

Observe closely an argument between two people at home, at college, at work, or at

any place such as a shop, club, or restaurant. How long does it go on? Does either
party make an attempt to listen carefully to what the other is saying? Do they cut
into each other’s sentences before they are completed? Do they speak at the same
time? Does either party alter their argument based on what the other party has said?
Or does each carry on re-asserting their original points?

What brought the dispute to a close? Was the dispute settled amicably? Why did it
take so long to be settled? Could it have been settled before it actually did? What
would you have done if you were one of the parties?

This exercise will be even more valuable if you can have one or two of your friends or
colleagues to observe the dispute along with you and then join you in your analysis.

Activity 4:2

Audio-record (video-record, if possible) a few or your ordinary conversations with

people at home or at work. Take the other party’s consent before you record the
conversation. You don’t need to tell them exactly what you are looking for. You can
tell them that you are trying to analyse the conversation strategies both of you use.

Initially you and your partner may be aware of the recorder and feel a bit awkward.
Later, as you get involved, you will not be conscious of the recorder.

After the conversation is over, play it back and look for instances of jumping in
before the other party finishes, completing the other person’s sentences, and missing
the other person’s point. All these point to poor listening.

If you find several instances of any of these in your speech, try and keep an eye on it
so that over a period of time you can correct it.

Activity 4:3

Listen carefully to a news telecast. Simultaneously record it on a video tape. After

the telecast is over, write down the main events or ideas that you can recall. Now
check with the video to see if you have missed any important item. Ask why you
might have missed those particular items.

If it is difficult to video-record a newscast, it is enough to audio-record new bulletin

that is broadcast over the radio. You can play it back and check the level of your
listening.

A variant of this exercise is for a small group to listen to a news telecast or broadcast
and check the quality of their listening. Find out items that all of you have retained,
items all of you have missed, and items some retained and others missed. Speculate
on why there are these differences between individuals.
It will be interesting for you to find out how much you retain a week or ten days after
the listening exercise. Again find out why you retained what you did.

Activity 4:4

Ask a friend, relation, or a member of your group to narrate to you an incident from
their life that caused them a lot of tension, disappointmen, suffering, or joy. Listen to
it intently but without taking any notes. When the narration is over, narrate it back
as well as you can. Then ask your friend whether you have captured the spirit, not
just the details, of what they have narrated. Have you missed out any important
detail that has a bearing on their emotional response? If you missed anything
important, why did it happen?

Activity 4:5

Many experts on leadership rate listening as the most important skill that good,
humane leaders display. Read the biography of a great leader you admire and look
for evidence of the way practised listening, the way they understood not only what
the followers said but also why they said it. You can choose a political leader such as
Mahatma Gandhi or a business leader such as JRD Tata. You can choose a local
leader or a leader from a foreign country. What matters is the way you read the
biography – looking for the quality of their listening rather than other qualities such
as extraordinary courage and persistence that they may display.

Resources on the Web

You might like to consult some Web sources to enhance your listening skills. Here are
a few.

http://www.library.kent.edu/commstudies/skills/speaking.htm

http://web.cba.neu.edu/~ewertheim/interper/feedback.htm

http://www.vet.ohio-state.edu/docs/vm700_11/Notes/active.html

http://www.itstime.com/apr2000a.htm