DESCRIBE THE TWO INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES
LISTENING SKILL
Listening skills are very important in everyday life. One must understand what people are saying and what is happening around them. In order for this to be done effectively, one must be an active listener. This is achieved when the listener is listening for meaning; when the listener checks if the statement has been heard and understood correctly. The goal of this is to improve mutual understanding. Many people believe that listening skills are taught when in elementary school or during childhood. Truthfully, one can never really learn all the skills and apply them all the time. Many times people will be “listening” to someone talk but in their head will be thinking about something else, or even be distracted by something that is going on around them. Therefore, to become a better listener, one must make eye contact with the speaker, observe the speakers behaviour and body language and also paraphrase the speaker’s words and write them down as notes. Having good listening skills may come in helpful in a variety of situations. For example, during class, while taking notes, during a job interview, while interviewing a person, during counselling, while having a serious conversation with a friend or loved one, or while on the job, especially in a journalistic setting. In groups, listening skills may help attain better information and research or even assist in reaching a compromise or conclusion. Being a good listener has its benefits. By having good listening skills one can avoid having misunderstanding, resolve conflicts, get people to open up, and build trust.
In order to develop pupils’ listening skill, teachers should make pupils listen to songs, rhymes and stories. To show their understanding of what they have heard, pupils can be asked to answer questions that require them to recall ideas, give details and even talk about the ideas
References: From a Webpage 1. Mead, Nancy A.-Rubin, Donald L. (1985). Assessing Listening and Speaking Skills ERIC Digest 2. Kennedy, John F. (2012). Critical Thinking. Retrieved from http://sebs.rutgers.edu/osp/courses/criticalthinking.htm 3. Scribd. (2012). Scoring Criteria School Based Oral Assessment