Things to Know About Becoming a Good Listener
In school, we can often hear our teachers saying, “pay attention and listen carefully.” We can hear parents saying the same thing at home to their children. So, one thing is clear; listening is very important for everyone. Good listening skills build a good communicative power, eventually leading to a student’s academic success. It is a common core learning standard that teachers use to grade students in school.
Here, we have discussed how to be a whole-body listener and how to use different body parts to be a whole-body listener.
What is Whole Body Listening?
There are two types of listening, listening and good listening. Some people do not understand what their teachers say to them. They do not meet every condition to become a whole body listener. So, what is whole body listening? In simple words, whole-body listening is nothing but building the power of listening using the whole body, which involves some body parts like the brain, eyes, ears, heart, etc. To converse with others effectively, listen to your body.
How Can Human Body Parts Help Someone to Become a Whole Body Listener?
Good Listener
When a child fails to respond to their teachers in school, the teachers often misunderstand them and label them as “not a good student”. The reason is that we expect every child to possess the same listening skills. But we often fail to understand that some children do not have the power to build a social skill that helps them to become good listeners.
In the above case, both parents and teachers need to slow down and analyze the situation from a different perspective. That is when the role of body parts for listening comes into the picture. Below we have mentioned the role of the body parts to listen to your body.
As we all know, the ears are the most important body parts for listening. If your children get distracted by background noise, then you can limit the usage of any auditory distraction. You can give them noise-blocking headphones or amplifiers to improve their listening skills.
The movement of hands can be very distracting when listening to something. Some children can manage to listen carefully and effectively while listening to someone else. But some children fail to do so. In that case, the only advice is to put your hands in your pocket or sit on your hands while hearing someone.
If you look at the whole body listening chart, you can see the mouth is as important a body part as anything else for listening. There is a word called 'brain filter.' Children can acquire the skill by practicing impulse control. Some kids may feel the urge for immediate response. But if they learn how to pause and think about everything before voicing their thoughts, it can be very helpful. Drinking water using a straw or chewing any crunchy food or gum provides sensory input to the brain resulting in good and effective listening power. Thinking before talking is one of the best traits of being a whole-body listener.
To decide what to say next, it is very important to realise the intention of the opposite person. It makes the conversation effective and engaging. Looking at a person directly can be a little intimidating but also beneficial. That is why telling children to use their eyes to observe the person they talk to is necessary. Eyes help children to read the emotions and intentions of others which leads them to have an impactful conversation.
Restless feet can make children distracted. If your kids have the same problem, you can tie their legs to a Thera-Band or bicycle tube to give their restless feet little rest so they can focus on listening rather than shaking them.
The importance of heart for listening is for older children. If you go on making kids understand the importance of heart, they are likely never to understand it. But when they get a little older, teach them how to be considerate of others’ feelings and how to share each other’s experiences. All this helps to build a strong communication power. The whole body listening chart keeps the heart as the top priority in becoming a good listener.
What is whole body listening?- As we have discussed before, whole-body listening is when we use different body parts to become good listeners. So, it is clear that the role of the body is essential. To do that, ask your children to practice deep breathing. It helps to control fast thinking and slows down the mind. Adults can practice push-ups and deep breathing to solve the listening problem.
Some Activities To Become A Good Listener
Become a Good Listener
Topics that listening is as challenging as speaking explain how everything in a human’s body is connected to becoming a good listener. To speak properly, people need to listen to what others say to them and understand the intention behind it. So, here are some more tips to become a good listener.
Listening is as challenging as speaking explain the lack of listening power of a child. To improve their listening power, you can tell your children to make a summary of the conversation they have with anyone. It helps them to listen and memorise the necessary words.
Talking to classmates helps kids to build both communication power and listening skills. In this way, children learn how to pay attention to others.
Throw a pretend party in the classroom. Here kids observe other students and feel encouraged to listen and speak to others.
Conclusion
Many students lack the essential skills to build a good listening power. It does not mean a child lacks other skills too. But if your children are the ones who face this problem and get labeled by teachers as careless students,” then you can teach them how to use their body parts to build their listening skills. You can also involve them in other activities to improve their listening power.
