Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 1, Session 1: Me and My Assets | Page 7 of 128“This handout shows five types of things you can say or do if you want to show you are listening. Using
them, you can learn more about the person’s situation and have a better conversation. Being able to
identify one’s feelings is very important because often she or he is not sure about such feelings. It can
be a big help just to become clear about what one is feeling. Summarizing is also very important
because it can help the person begin to see a solution.”B. Summary
Summarize by saying:
“Each of you probably uses many of these listening skills without realizing it. But being able to
recognize them means you can begin to use them more often. That’s how you can start to improve
communication for yourself and others.”III. Practice (15 minutes)
Materials:
One set of Demonstration Cards for each pair of participants.
A. Mirror, Mirror
Participants practice using and interpreting nonverbal communication behaviors.
- Say:
“I’d like to give you a chance to practice showing the skills of good listeners. First we’ll focus on the
communication we can do without words.- Demonstrate what they will do.
a. Show them a set of cards. Shuffle the cards and put them face down.
b. Draw a card and then act out what it says.
c. Invite the group to guess the listening skill you are trying to show.
d. Return the card to the bottom of the pile it came from. - Then say:
“You will work together with a partner who will try to guess what you are trying to communicate. Then
your partner can take a card and try to act out what it says. Remember, you cannot use words, only
your Body, Eyes, Movement, Focus, Emotions, and Voice (without words). Try to act out as many cards
as you can in the next five minutes. If you run out of cards, shuffle them and start over.”Note: Because we are trying to teach ways to indicate to a speaker that we are really hearing what they have to say, the
emotions on the Demonstrate Cards are positive. This is not intended to be an activity about displaying a wide variety of
emotions.- Match each participant with a partner and give her or him a set of Demonstration Cards. Say,
“Shuffle or mix the stack of cards I have given you and place them face down. When I give the signal,
one of you take the top card and read it silently to yourself, then act out what it says.”