The art of listening

This lesson plan is dedicated to active listening, and how we can become better at it. It is most suitable for B2-level students, and can be used both as a Business and General English class. Other communication-related lessons you might find interesting are: “Communication styles: assertive vs aggressive”, “Why debates turn into arguments“, “Hard skills vs soft skills”, “Business relationships“, “Idea generation techniques: brainstorming”, “Business meetings: getting your point across, “Small talk”, “Giving and receiving feedback“, “Emotional intelligence at work”, as well as the worksheet: “Phrasal verbs: communication”.
The lesson starts with a few speaking activities. First, students look at a list of communication skills (e.g. active listening, non-verbal communication, giving and receiving feedback, public speaking, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution) and discuss their importance.After that, they look at 4 quotes related to listening and talk about them. Next, they discuss 5 questions given.
Vocabulary: Students take a look at different barriers to active listening (e.g. external distractions, prejudice, mental distractions, lack of interest, information overload) and match them to the short descriptions. Then, they discuss a few questions. After that, students read about different types of ineffective listening (e.g. assumptive, judgemental, authoritative, defensive) and discuss situations in which each one might occur.
Listening: Students watch a TED talk called “4 things all great listeners know” and complete the notes with the correct words.
Confusing words: Next, students look at the difference between the words listen and hear, and complete a gap fill activity. As a vocabulary extension activity, students learn expressions with “listen” and “hear”. They take a look at 7 short dialogues, and they need to choose the correct word to complete the expressions (hear me out, listen with only half an ear, listen up, I hear what you are saying, never hear the end of it). Then they complete 7 sentences with the correct expression. Finally, they are asked to write down 3 conversation questions using the expressions, and discuss them in pairs or small groups.
For more speaking practice, you can use the conversation cards.