Children who are good listeners often become good communicators. Listening comprehension is more than just listening to others. It involves the ability to receive information, respond to instructions, and the ability to share ideas and thoughts.
In general, listening comprehension is the ability to understand the words heard and react to them in some way. When your child listens to a story, listening comprehension skills allow them to understand it, talk about it and repeat it in their own words.
Becoming a good listener is an important skill that students need to develop and practice to grow stronger. Parents can teach children to become active listeners by giving them a reference to develop their own listening habits.
As explained by Vignan, one of the best schools in Medchal, Hyderabad, below are seven ways you can help build your child’s listening comprehension skills at home.
1. Get their attention
Encourage your children to stay attentive when they listen to your words. Their attention is so important, which gets them into the habit of giving their focus and concentration to what is being said.
2. Make reading a fun activity
While reading aloud, stop before turning the page and ask your child to guess what will happen next to see how well they have been listening. Aim to get your children into a fun habit of foretelling what will happen next.
3. Help your child to build vocabulary
Children often get stuck on the words they do not understand and they miss the rest of what is being said. Therefore, help your child to build their vocabulary and make sure to read together regularly.
4. Play listening games
Listening games help children develop listening comprehension skills in a fun and rewarding way. Try these games at home, for example, ask your children to find objects around the house by giving them verbal instructions.
5. Play story chain
This is a fun activity that builds listening skills for your children. Start an original story by saying one line and go around in a circle so that each person should be involved to tell a sentence to the story.
6. Maintain eye contact
People who maintain eye contact are seen as reliable, sociable, honest, and confident. Focusing on eye contact also helps improve concentration which helps your child to understand what you are saying.
7. Ask questions
One of the best ways to make sure that your child is listening is to ask specific questions about what is being said. Try asking open-ended and closed-ended questions that provide clarification and show that your child is listening.
8. Ask your child to repeat the conversation
Repeating conversations can help you make sure what your child has understood. For this reason, ask your child to summarize the main points of the conversation, so that you get a chance to correct them, if necessary.
9. Be a good listener too
Avoid interrupting your child when they are talking and show them that you are listening to what they are saying. Give positive indications like smiling, saying encouraging words, and following up with questions on what they are talking about.
Remember that most younger kids have short attention spans. Vigan, one of the top CBSE schools in Hyderabad suggests that you don’t expect your children to process information if it is lengthy or not particularly interesting to them.
