Handout for Listening Activity CINT 905 DE
Activity Active Listening 101: Are You Listening?
Learning Objective:
To demonstrate the power of listening in communication
Brief Summary
With few exceptions, we all have experience at being good and bad listeners. We know what it
looks and feels like to listen well.
In this activity, two people will have a chance to experience both sides, that is, listening and
speaking. You, as the third person, will act as the facilitator and observer.
First, each person will experience ‘bad’ listening and then they will repeat the exercise
practicing ‘good’ listening.
Instructions
Step 1: You will need two people to participate in this activity
Step 2: Decide who will listen first and who will speak first
Step 3: Instruct the speakers to think of something they feel strongly about and
to be prepared to speak on this topic for 3 minutes to the listener
Step 4: Instruct the listener that they are supposed behave as ‘bad’ listeners while their
partner tells their story
(you do not have to explain what bad listening skills are... simply instruct the person to act in a
way that they think would be wrong)
Step 5: Instruct your two people to begin and to keep speaking and listening for at least 3
minutes.
Step 6: At the end of three minutes, interrupt your people and instruct them to switch roles
(the person who was speaking is now the ‘bad’ listener) and repeat the exercise
Step 7:Repeat the activity again, however, now the listener is instructed to
demonstrate ‘good’ listening skills
(again, you do not have to explain what ‘good’ skills look like)
Role of the Observer
As the observer, silently note interactions between the listener and the speaker. Note all
verbal and non-verbal behaviours that you see.
Handout for Listening Activity CINT 905 DE
What I Noticed
(Bad listening behaviour)
(Good listening behaviour)
Step 8: Your Debriefing Questions
Have a discussion about this experience starting with the following questions:
How did it physically feel to not be listened to? Emotionally? Mentally
How did you feel about your story when you were telling it to a ‘bad’ listener?
How did you feel about your self?
How easy/hard was it to tell your story?
How did this change when you felt listened to?
Have you ever listened to another person in such a way as to make them feel like you
did?
o How does your listening ability impact on a conflict situation?
o How much of an impact did your partner have on what you were willing to say?
o As a listener, what was going on in you head at the time?
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What they Experienced (use this space to make notes)