Why shoulds we Teach Listening skill to Children?
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Listening develops attention
Teaching kids to listen attentively:-
Poor listening skills in children do not just create trouble at home - they can cause problems at school and in social atmosphere too.We should learn a few simple steps to teach our children to listen attentively, and form the habits that encourage listening.
Listening is an important skill that we all need to master. Here are few steps that will help you teach your children the good listening skills.It can be really frustrating when kids do not listen. As parents whether we are giving advice, asking a question, or handing out a scolding, we have all experienced children who do not seem to hear a word we say.
The Importance of Listening skill in children :
Read to children to Encourage Listening in them
Reading aloud to young children is one of the best ways to lay a foundation for the listening skills they will need in school. Being reading also increases a child's attention span.
Listen to your children with attention to set an example to them:
Listening,
of course is a two way traffic. As a parent, you need to model good
listening behavior for your children. When your children are talking, be
patient and try not to interrupt.keep an eye contact and discuss the
important points of what your children say If you feel your children are not
been paying attention, ask them to repeat what you just said.
listening to children during dinner
Practice
listening skills at the dinner table by giving each child the chance to
tell how was his day.Listening together as a family will keep you
connected.
It is important to remember that listening is a
learning behavior. So be patient and encourage your children . they will
become better listeners as they grow up.This on the other hand develop
the habit of patience in children .they won't interrupt when others are
speaking .
Their intelligence will grow gradually as they being good
listeners will gather more knowledge than others.you may often see
children running to watch jingles on the TV and then remembering them
,latter they may be seen humming the tune or singing the jingle .it
seems to be a very small thing though, but in reality it improves the
memory of the children,good listener develop good number skill too and
excel everywhere as they have alert mind where as bad listeners may
lack interest and can't excel .Thus its important to develop listening
habit in children, the earlier you take care of it the better.Keen
listeners could easily be recognized amongst your children if you see
your child's eyes stuck on you till you stop talking you may understand
he is keen listener and no one can withdraw their attention .you might
have seen children studying when everyone is sitting around but they
are never distracted ,They are focused on to their task and its seen
such children excel every where.
Another way to develop the listening skill in children is the bedtime stories children listen very keenly before sleeping and thus build great conversational skill .Though bedtime stories are becoming a thing of the past for youngsters as their time-strapped parents say they are too busy to read their favourite books or say a story to them .Unknowingly they are bringing harm to children they do not realise how important bedtime stories are. Sharing stories with children stimulates their memory, vocabulary, social and emotional skills, giving them a real head start in the classroom and society..A great story is like a shooting star for your child's imagination.they after listening create an image in their mind this improves creativity in your children .Today children are getting all cooked things to see on the TV which is retarding their creative skill using bedtime stories may help stimulate communication and language skills along with attention boost and creative mind and finally they will be good listener.Latter they will learn the habit of reading too which is extremely important for kids as they grow
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Comments
Hi,Kevin
You need to be more clear as to what information you require ,I have been dealing with kids from past 25 years as I have my own institution for kids ,i have gained great success at my work with those tiny tots .still let me make it clear why this skill has its benefits .
Parents are active players in building children's communication skills because children spend good amount of time with their parents than with anybody else next comes the teachers at school they too spend good amount of time with children.Children are emotionally involved with parents so parents word is gods word for them and the family as a unit has lifelong contact with them.Parents introduce children to their surrounding .
Elders like family friends, grand parents, parents, and teachers set a powerful example of communicative skill.Communication of the children is influenced by the examples set to them by us,children speak what they see and hear. Parents and teachers who listen to their children with great interest, attention, and patience set a good example and in return make the children learn the habit of listening .this make them patient listeners and nothing can distract them if they do not intend it themselves.
Hi, thanks for response. i hope i can explain my self better.. We tell our children many times as they grow up, this how you read, write, ride a bike, drive a car, do math etc...etc.. and we show how to do it in the best way can and make an active process the child / young adult knows we are teaching them new skills. I am trying to assess if this simple, common practice would be beneficial to improving listening skills, so if we delivered it in exactly the same way as teaching math. e.g. This is how to add up and show and practice. To listen properly you do this this and this and i am now going to teach you how to do it properly. We are failing to do this as businesses the world over spend billions of dollars / pounds / euros teaching their employees (it is a worldwide problem)to listen 'effectively' ,, 'actively',, Schools send children out of the class as they are naughty (poor listeners often disrupt class). Academic success is curtailed due to poor listening. Your web page describes good practice to result in or to gain good listening skills as they grow older, through leading by example, setting an example, this is precisely the point and typical of what i am concerned about. It is as if we are trying to hide how to listen from the child, not telling them exactly how to do it. We should, i believe make it a fully active process 'this is listening' it takes up the single, biggest portion of the school day, every school day, so why not make it very very obvious to the child how to do it other than setting an example, role modelling it and hoping they get it right. Yes set a good example but add to this, and make it like reading, writing and math, i am not an exam or testing freak but i would like to hear the words 'Hey i passed my listening exam today, i really am a skilled listener'.
Hope you can understand my point
Hi,Kevin Moffatt ,well i would like to thank Hubpages fist which have given me a platform to write my articles and then a space to discus them too and clear doubts and expect response .
now let me answer you,At first when the child is born we all know that he can't understand anything at all and neither his eye coordination skill has developed. we try to communicate to them play with a rattle to pull his attention ,but in reality we have already started the process to teaching or listening skill to a child .the child gradually gets attached to his/her family and starts listening to those who take care of him/her .then comes the next thing that why should we set example ? well to this i would say world itself set examples to us ,we gradually take interest in what other say or do ,the learning instinct which developed in us when we were young help us to gain ample knowledge .Regarding setting example means that you get involved into what your child is doing be part of it the wonder results come out , you need not tell them you are teaching them something ,in a way you are building confidence in them that is you are not pampering them you are simply assisting them to do things well as we all know no one is born with skills we need to learn them ,which you and me or rather everyone might had done when they were a child.
Next is about the work force,how to make them efficient workers in business(quote:-(To listen properly you do this this and this and i am now going to teach you how to do it properly. We are failing to do this as businesses the world over spend billions of dollars / pounds / euros teaching their employees (it is a worldwide problem)to listen 'effectively' ,, 'actively',)one really spend billions teaching the employees but your method must be persuasive in which you can make them work without letting them know that you are reaching your goals.its like inspiring them in your own catchy way .
I hope I was able to satisfy your question .
I understand your concept, but i think every child / person should acknowledge the fact they need to learn to listen and that there should be a curriculum with associated strategies to teach listening in the same way as math, writing, reading. As with every other learnt skill every individual has personality traits and these equate to received preferences (these traits can result in poor listening attributes or a excellent listening attributes) If these preferences are avoided and hidden as you propose this means the listener will not be aware, and they should be fully aware of the processes of concentration and memory skills and also that a learner of listening should know that there are many different purposes and reasons for listening and each shold be able to identify the reasons for listening and apply the appropriate above mentioned skills to suit each occassion. Listening is strange mixture, a complex combination of skills that can and should be taught. To do this the person needs to be fully aware of the processes and purposes involved. Yes we should inspireyes we should engage but both child and adult should know why and this will result in self interest in practising listening skill.
Hi,Kevin you are talking about acknowledgment which can only come when you understand what is learning a skill of any kind ,listening reading or learning maths ,you have to be a role model first to get a reflected image ,I hope you are understanding what I mean,I am presently dealing with tiny tots and am also engaged in teaching elder children till class XII and students of BBA. I had been throughout looking at the psychological side of children and even elders ,understanding is inculcated skill ,it need to be developed ,now its up to the person who takes care of a child and how well his abilities are explored to complete the circuit ,Isn't a baby taught a toilet training skill.now a day children wear diapers ,though it makes easy for a parent but in reality we are spoiling them they may pee any time any where ,where as when I raised my children I was always keen to train a child and gradually babies give away signs that they need to pee.So we in reality we are inculcating listening skill and then it will reap with time ,if you make them aware of it directly then you may be hitting the target but then you are taking away a child's lust of learning ,sometimes he may listen to you but sometimes he will just ignore you ,this way negative personality traits may develop.
THIS IS A PRETTY GOOD TOPIC TO DISCUSS YOU MAY GO AHEAD ASK WHAT YOU WISH ,I WILL REALLY TRY MY BEST TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS ,
CHEERS
Great Hub! Here's another good one: http://hubpages.com/hub/schoolrelatedissues
I have discussed this point of personality traits in depth with primary teachers who are currently aware of some school children's increasing ability to 'multi-listen' and are intrigued as to how they gain this skill, i believe that changing personality traits (for the worse) exist where a child can 'achieve and please whilst misbehaving'. I will give an example which i have frequently observed in primary classes this exasperates teachers - a child is in class he hears the teachers instructions and can respond immediately with an appropriate on task answer, but he is also knowingly misbehaving by interacting with friends, listening, talking, fidgeting, looking around, taking in information, he is without doubt 'multilistening'. It is of course challenging my topic of having a need to teach listening head on but i need this type of example and more to verify my argument like your toilet training situation. I am continously made aware of the fact that poor listening is endemic within businesses who are struggling with new recruits, graduates even -- i qoute directly from Lee Iacocca -- "I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions."--Lee Iacocca, Former CEO Chrysler Corporation.
I struggle to place exactly where i propose that a child should be taught to listen, i am currently working in a nursery 2-4 yrs of age here a child flits excitedly from one activity to another they play and talk with their peers they interact and listen to adults, i do believe that it is too early at this stage to teach, i suppose i really believe listening should be taught when we begin teaching reading & writing etc. A child should know what good listening is and what poor listening is. The UK Curriculum currently identifies listening as a key skill that should have attention drawn to it, but they refrain from testing or assessing but merely focus on having the skill in a minimal way so as to support / aid to learning reading and writing and speaking. Some behaviour strategists suggest children who mis -behave in class are either poor listeners or even have listening deficit this is an area which i have also considered along with poor acoustics within the classroom. Other areas of interest are listening relationships for example who is speaking, what they are saying, why they are saying it, how they are saying it. These are all crucial factors in the way a listener learns to listen and it affects how a person develops their listening skills and I think your analysis / detail is appropriate for very early years up to 2 years of age early coaching of the skill in an unintrusive way this makes me more confident that my proposed age range of 4 and half - 5 years may benefit from a focussed, stand alone listening strategy of some kind.
Hi.Kevin ,lets proceed with our discussion,well it was nice to see your response,we are really becoming attentive on this topic ,according to studies the learning age of a child is basically 3 years,its like laying a foundation of a child after which you are simply going to develop the laid foundation and it's a well know fact that a child is an un molded clay at this age, so what you present to them they learn ,but again ,no one can tell them that here I am teaching you a skill that will help you through out your life ,though if that would have been possible we would all have done so,next is keeping an eye over the child development process ,in this we again want to tell them this is how we develop our listening skill ,but then we do not want to burden a child with our thoughts yet we try our best to present an example in a play way method ,this again is part of devotion from the people who interact with him at home or a teacher at school ,often teacher loose their heads when children do not listen to them in class ,even though they are good at answering question asked regarding the lesson at school(they may be multi tasker),now here I THINK YOUR QUESTION MAY BE ANSWERED THAT TEACH THEM HOW TO LISTEN.It should come in a group discussion then set examples that you were wrong when you did that in class there is specific time to do everything in life, that is play when its time to play chat when you are free at break time and be a keen learner when you are taught in class .specific talking with a child may not be good at this stage .still if the condition prevail talk to the child politely and find a solution ,here we test our patience too .I do have few children in my class who are do not listen and are extremely mis behaving ,to tell you the truth by god's grace I managed to capture them and convert their naughtiness into a boon of learning they are now praised for their work .This happened in the name of competition among them selves and the number of stars and smiles each will gather in the class ,we have to do one or the other trick to capture their attention which will gradually take a start and will lead a long way ,but yes your intentions count ,that is how sincere you are with your task .
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Kevin Moffatt says:
3 months ago
Is there any readers who can give supporting or otherwise evidence for my dissertation topic which is gathering an opinion from tecahers eductaionalists etc on whether children should be taught listening as a specific skill within the curriculum such as reading and writing. Any help would be appreciated.