Listening Step 5

Listening: The receiving, retaining and processing of information or ideas.

Step 5: I listen to others and record important information as I do

Outcomes

To achieve Step 5, learners need listen effectively and then identify and record key information.

This builds on previous steps that focused on how to listen effectively to simple instructions, to be able to recall longer speech and to understand the different purposes of communication.

Learners need to be able to:

Sustain concentration and focus when listening over a longer time
Identify key pieces of information
Record information in a way that makes it accessible again in the future

Introduction

Important information is the key or essential ideas or words that you need.
For example, if you wanted to know how to take a penalty kick you may listen out for which part of the foot should kick the ball with and what goal position the ball needs to go to.
Many people have cycles of concentration which last for 15-20 minutes – so it is not unusual for someone to find listening for up to 30 minutes to be a challenge.

Skill Starter

Lyrics Detective

Provide each pair with a mini whiteboard and pen for writing notes.

Play the first verse and chorus of football-themed song Three Lions to the group (by Baddiel and Skinner). Learners must listen carefully to pick out and note down any words sang that begin with ‘S’.

Go through the words: seems, score, seen, sure, shirt, still and stop. How was it listening for just 1 letter? How hard was it to keep focused?

5 mins

Paired activity

Discussion

Teach & Apply

To help us concentrate, we can avoid distractions, look at the speaker and make sure we are comfortable.
Remembering everything that someone is saying is difficult, so knowing the key information we need to remember can help us to focus our listening.
Some different strategies for remembering short pieces of information are:

a) Saying the word in your head 5 times

b) Writing down important words

c) Trying to think of a picture in your head that links it

It can sometimes be helpful to think about what you heard and create a summary of the main points.

Optional Activity

Code Breaker

Choose a pair to demonstrate listening to instructions to successfully travel from one side of the spot markers to the other, by stepping on a set combination of coloured cones.

Call out a specific spot route, e.g. Start at yellow 1, move forward 2 spots, move right 2 spots, move back one spot to blue 3, move left 1 spot – which spot have you finished on?

Only say the code twice, so the pair must listen for key information before attempting to copy it. The rest of the group will also listen and can provide the pair with 1 clue as and when they need it.

Learners then take turns calling out instructions in small groups.

10 mins

Group activity

Active

Discussion

Reflection & Assessment

Embed these strategies across your teaching and coaching to help learners apply what they’ve learnt.

When giving any instructions ask individuals to identify what key words were used.

Use these ideas for ways of assessing this skill step to help you check learners’ understanding and confidence.

During the end of a task ask the learners to put the key information they jotted down in the order they thought it was presented
Ask these reflective questions:
- How do you find listening for 20-30 minutes?
- What causes you to lose focus and concentration?
- What strategies could you use to help you concentrate?