Читать книгу Emotional intelligence speaking activities for ESL classrooms - María Teresa Victoria - Страница 12

1. All ears

“It is a huge welcoming gesture of kindness and hospitality to sit and listen”

For a speaking activity to work well a good “active” Listener is required. Take, for instance, group discussions, trialogues or dialogues. It is the case that sometimes the person you are talking to is, as a matter of fact, not listening. Therefore you cannot expect to get engaged in a conversation then, or follow instructions, receive the right answer to your question or the appropriate comment to your statements.

Closing up our Masters studies at the University of Málaga [February 2019] the importance of opening up conversation in silence to just listen to your partner was pointed out to all participants. As professor Jose María Doria put it himself “It is a huge welcoming gesture of kindness and hospitality to sit and listen”. The Emotional Intelligence group dynamics suggested then were to sit quietly for five minutes in small groups of three and pay full attention to your partner. The instructions were to Listen only and not Think of what to say next. Just stay there in silence and observe and welcome their words.

For five minutes one, then the other, then yourself. The experience was phenomenal as we realised how much one misses in conversation when not paying full attention. It shows a conversation can actually flow naturally when you engage into it, connect and respond instead of reacting or over reacting.

My invitation is to practice this exercise first before delivering dialogues to begin with, then trialogues. Once the procedure is understood move finally on to group discussions.

A student who listens carefully and actively is fully prepared to engage in conversation and put into practice all the knowledge obtained by experience or study over the years. As teachers we are accountable for teaching this to our students and for offering encouragement and support so they can achieve their best performance.