Thursday, March 21, 2013


Active Listening-- What is it?

Babies come into the world with brains hard-wired for listening. A fetus in the third trimester can already hear its mother’s heartbeat and other environmental sounds, including music. During the first year of life, infants develop their listening skills further, responding increasingly to music, language, and tone.

Listening is a major avenue for learning: hearing and recognizing the voices of different familiar people; recognizing the connection of certain sounds (e.g., lullabies vs. active songs) to certain activities (sleep vs. play); or simply knowing that a parent’s voice or footsteps signal that food, a dry diaper, or comfort is coming.

Listening seems like such a simple thing, hardly something that takes training—but how many times have you thought I know he can hear me, but he’s just not listening!  In cases like these, the word listening (in contrast to hearing) is really being used to mean paying attention, focusing, understanding, or “getting it”. This kind of listening, called active listening, is a skill that does, in fact, take practice and even instruction.

But here’s the rub—it’s also a skill that is essential to school success. The way most schools are set up, up to 75% of the time your child will spend in a classroom will be spent learning through listening!

Here’s where music comes in. Researchers believe that music instruction helps children build active listening skills. By “tuning in” to music and other specific sounds carefully, one at a time, and with full attention, children hone their listening skills. Through songs and chants, children develop an ear for the patterns of sounds in words, phrases, and sentences. And as children listen to and sing words set to music, they become familiar with other sounds, rhymes, rhythms, and patterns in language.

Listening

By the age of three, many children can:

_ Point to the source of a sound,such as a telephone ringing.

_ Understand and respond when you say “Let’s put the blocks in the box.”

_ Respond to a question like “Where are your shoes?” by showing you his or her shoes.

_ Point to his or her head when you sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”

NOTE: Every child is unique, and different children may reach milestones at different
times. If you’re concerned about your child’s development, talk to your pediatrician.



How It Works in a Kindermusik Class

_Listen. You and your child stop, focus, and listen to the sound, for example, of a frog.

_Connect. Your child hears the teacher’s directions, hears your voice repeating the words, and learns to focus on the sounds entering his or her ears and then connect them to the concepts you describe: Listen to the sounds of a frog.

_Imitate. You and your child use vocal play to playfully repeat the sounds you hear.  You use a variety of of frog sounds:  croak; ribbit; kouack-ack-ack.  You also experienced first-hand, the wooden rasper instrument to also use as a ways of imitating a frog.

_Discuss. Together, the class may discuss what they heard, what it sounded like, and how it was different from other sounds they’ve listened to.  We add movement to the discussion and leap like frogs.  We add a frog puppet as a visual and continue to imitate the various frog sounds.

What Your  Can Do at Home

_Sounds Around the Home. Listen actively to the sounds around your home: a clock  ticking, the creaks of floorboards, a garbage truck outside . . .. Imitate and discuss the sounds.

_Be a Good Listener. Model active listening by being very attentive to what your child says, whether words, short sentences, or just sounds.

_Stop the Music. Use the songs on your Kindermusik CDs for a simple version of musical chairs that teaches careful listening.  Listen for the music to stop, then freeze!

No comments:

Post a Comment