On Tuesday we practiced our listening skills. We moved our tables and placed our chairs in a circle to talk about Kali Nikita's presentation. I didn't talk, but I listened carefully to what my classmates were saying. In Dan O' Hair's, A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking, he defines this method as, "Active Listening-listening that is focused and purposeful-isn't possible under conditions that distract us" (16). Most of us were attentive to focus on what a classmate was delivering to us, by not being disruptive and waiting for her/him to finish talking before another classmate continued on with the criticism. One of my classmates was asked a question by another classmate, and at first she gave the impression for not listening attentively when addressing the question. However, she was able to answer it after a brief moment. O' Hair states, "Each of us devotes about 40% of our daily lives to listening. Executives dedicate even more time to this highly valued skill, upwards 50%. Yet if asked to recall a message immediately following a listening event, the average person can only summon up about half of what was said" (16). I believe that my classmate was trying to retrieve the information given in order to answer the question as best as she could. I know that if I was in her situation, I would be in a very similar situation '^,~\
After we finished with the criticism, Professor Jimmy introduced us to a bizarre and very challenging game that concentrates on listening skills. The game is played by giving names to two objects, in order not to identify them as a coffee mug/cup and a cell phone... which were the two objects that we used. Instead, the cup was named a "what" and the cell phone a "who." Sounds bizarre, but it's very challenging and fun as it requires team work to fulfill the game. A person has to start with the two objects, and he/she must give one of them to the person sitting to his/her right, and the other object to the person sitting to his/her left. When the person hands the objects, she/he must hand them in a form of a statement; for instance, for the cup (what) as, "this is a what." The receiver has to accept the object in a form of a question as, "This is a what?" If the receiver was sitting on the left side, then he/she must hand down the "what" to the person sitting to his/her left, and follow the same process. However, when the new receiver asks, "This is a what?" the previous receiver must turn to the first person who released the objects, and ask him/her, "This is a what?" and the releaser then states again, "This is a what." Notice the difference, the releaser doesn't ask, but states that the object is a "what." Then the first receiver follows the same process by stating that the object is a what to the new receiver, and the game continues in a repetitive process. The same applies to the cell phone (object) "who" which goes in the opposite direction. If a player failed to recall the object in its correct statement or question form, then the game had to be started all over again. The challenge is when both objects cross, and the person receiving them has to concentrate by listening critically when receiving the objects by not breaking the routine. The goal is for both objects to get around until they get to the releaser... it may sound as an easy and insignificant game; therefore, I dare you to play it with a group of at least six people, and you'll be surprised how challenging it is /^_Ö\
Our class was divided into two groups, and one group had to go to another classroom, in order for both groups not to get disruptive while playing. I was the third person sitting away from the releaser. When my group began the game, I misunderstood the question part, by receiving the "what" as a statement instead of as a question, causing the game to start all over again. One of my classmates, who is very egocentric, put me in the spotlight for my misunderstanding, but what fun would it be if we were all perfect and complete it with no challenges. Eventually, there's a phrase that points out, "what goes around comes around," because when her turn came she got confused too, and we had to start all over again. Unlike her, I didn't get annoyed due to the fact that I know how to have fun when it comes to playing games. In addition, we weren't the only one's to break the routine... because everyone playing got confused. That's how challenging the game is. We even switched seats, and when Prof. Jimmy told us to change the cell-phone to a "what" and the cup to a "who," which took us time to adapt to the shifting of their names because we were already used to calling the cup a "what,"and the cellphone a "who," which Prof. Jimmy informed us that was not the point of the game, as we didn't have to get used to their names, since the purpose was to listen to what we were receiving to eventually receive anything as naturally as possible. We also didn't start by playing the game correctly, since we needed to practice to understand the game, so we used one object at first. Another problem was that we had two releasers instead of one, but it was still fun. We had so much fun changing the objects names, especially to a "cat" and a "dog," which were the last names that we used. I learned that listening is a challenging skill to master, and that it can be improved with a lot of practice and concentration. O' Hair states, "Rather than being a passive activity that simply "happens" to us, listening is the conscious act of receiving, comprehending, interpreting, evaluating, and responding to messages (15). I had to concentrate by avoiding to look at the objects and at my classmates sitting next to me, to be able to distinguish if they would either ask or state about the objects in order to follow the process without breaking the routine. I appreciate for practicing our listening skills by playing this game, because most of us had so much fun, considering how challenging it was to listen at a higher level. I wouldn't have been enthusiastic if we were to approach our listening skills as a regular academic exercise compared to a game, because games provide the effect of an exiting experience no matter what challenges it provides. The game became so meaningful to me as it challenges all of its players to do their best, because if a player failed then the team wouldn't advance. Fortunately, we met the goal just before the class was over, making us feel proud and happy, which led us to place our hands together in the middle of our circle followed by the shout of, "Teamwork!!!" /^o^/ /^.~/ \^0^\ \^o^\
Works Cited
O' Hair, Dan, Hannah Rubenstein, and Rob Stewart, eds. A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking. Second edition. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.
Golden Adjectives:
1.) Fallible: Capable of making an error.
2.) Egocentric: Center of attention. Selfish.
3.) Passive: Not affected by others negative actions/occurrences.
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