FRD-episodes 2(Active listening )

Active listening involves giving undivided attention to the speaker, understanding their message, and providing feedback. Strategies to encourage active listening in the classroom include setting expectations, engaging students with interactive sessions, using visual aids, and providing opportunities for reflection. Nonverbal cues, such as maintaining eye contact and nodding, play a crucial role in active listening. Implementing active listening techniques can create a productive learning environment. Good listening skills are important for both educators and students. In this episode, I want to talk about active listening. So what is active listening? Active listening involves giving undivided attention to the speaker, both verbally and non-verbally. It encompasses understanding the messages, interpreting it accurately, and providing feedback to confirm understanding. Active listening is characterized by mindfulness, which means being present in the moment and devoting full attention to the speaker. Empathy. What is empathy? Empathy means trying to understand the speaker's perspective and emotions and non-judgmental attitude. So you have to be avoiding prejudgments or assumptions about the speaker's views and experiences. And the last one is verbal and non-verbal feedback. Providing verbal responses such as paraphrasing or asking clarifying questions and using non-verbal like nodding and maintaining eye contact. So there are strategies that can be used to encourage active listening in classroom. So I'm going to discuss them shortly. So teachers can undertake various strategies to foster active listening among students. So number one, the first strategy can be establish expectations, clearly communicate the importance of active listening and set expectations for students to exhibit this behavior during classroom discussion, lectures, and group activities. So you have to tell learners that no, learners, you have to listen very carefully because what I'm going to say now is very important, it can maybe help you with this and this. Okay, moving on to the next one is engage students with interactive sessions, encourage participation through interactive activities such as debates, group discussions, or think-pair-share exercises. These activities require attentive listening as students must actively engage to contribute effectively to the game. And you know, as small as children, they are still small, so they have this winning mentality, they always want to win, so they will listen very carefully. And by them listening very carefully, it is still resulting in them boosting their listening skills. Okay, and the next one is use visual aids. Utilize visual aids like diagrams, charts, PowerPoint presentations, and PowerPoint presentations to support verbal instructions. Visual elements help reinforce understanding and aid in active listening. So the next one is provide opportunities for reflection. So you need to allocate time for the students to reflect on what they have heard. This can be done through journaling, group reflection sessions, or asking open-ended questions that prompt students to think critically about the content. Okay, so this is what we... So moving on to the next one, we're talking about the importance of nonverbal communication in active listening. So nonverbal communication, what do you mean by nonverbal communication? Nonverbal communication includes body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice placed a crucial role in active listening. So demonstrating engagement, nonverbal cues like maintaining eye contact, nodding, and facing the speaker indicate attentiveness and encourages further communication. Understanding emotions, nonverbal signals provide insights into the speaker's emotions or attitudes, helping the listener emphasize and respond appropriately. Identifying inconsistency, paying attention to nonverbal cues can help listeners detect any discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal communication, aiding in better interpretation and ensuring accurate understanding. So by implementing active listening techniques, teachers can create an atmosphere that encourages through thoughtful engagement, enhances understanding, and promote effective communication among students, leading to a more productive, inclusive learning environment. So listening is a very, very important skill. And if you want, as an educator, if you want your learners to progress with their education, you have to ensure that they have the best listening skills. And also, if there are students out there listening to this, you really need to listen very carefully in class in order for you to make sure that you do well in that particular class and understand what is being taught in the class. Thank you for this episode. See you in the next one.