Every day, we listen to children, but how often do we practice active listening?
Talking with children is a daily event. As an adult, one of the most important experiences that can provide for children is to talk and listen to them. Through daily interactions, children and adults can develop relations that help children learn about themselves and the world.
Communicating effectively with children
Communication is one of the empowering ways to improve the lives of children. Adults who care for children have a responsibility to create and maintain positive and healthy relationships with them. One of the most practical and mutually rewarding ways to achieve this goal is through positive and effective communication.
Young children need to learn to talk. Adults can help them by listening to them.
Active listing
Listening is not something that just hearing, it is an active process in which a conscious decision is made to listen to and understand the messages of the speaker. Like critical thinking and problem-solving, active listening is a good way to improve communication with young children. There is a set of skills to help adults learn to listen. These skills can help to work well with children.
Active listening skill needs to be practice in the early years setting. Active listening is a key to gaining children’s trust, interest, and thinking process as children quickly pick up when adults are only half listening or have no interest in what they are saying.
There are some key active listening techniques that we can use to help us become active learners while working with early years.
Make consistent Eye contact:
Make good eye contact that shows you are ready to listen and the child has full attention. We can get initial eye contact by using the name of the children as they mostly turn to look when they hear their own names. At the same time, we need to be aware that there is a fine line between staring which can be very frightening for young children.
Show that you are listening by body language:
Use body language and gestures to show that you are engaged. Your body language should be open, encouraging, and positive. Smiling, using facial expressions, nodding, being down at their eye level, and facing towards the child shows that you are interested in a child’s conversation.
Ask open questions:
Ask questions to show interest to the children. It’s better to ask open-ended questions. Closed questions are ones that can be answered with a simple “YES” or “NO”, while open questions are designed to promote longer, more thoughtful responses.
When you ask closed questions it can seem like you just want to get specific information or, that you only have limited time for them. On the other hand, open questions show your desire to engage in a proper discussion and your interest in getting into the child’s mindset.
Use body language
Use body language and gestures to show that you are engaged. Your body language should be open, encouraging, and positive. Smiling, using facial expressions, nodding, being down at their eye level, and facing towards the child shows that you are interested in a child’s conversation.
Wait for the turn:
Try not to jump in with your own comments. Show that you are not in a rush, you could sit down with a child.
Doing this meaning you are listening fully but thinking of your response. Interruptions may disrupt children’s thinking and the moment will be lost. However, you can use “fillers”, which are encouraging noises such ad “Aha”, “Go on” and “Hmm” which indicates you’re following their line of thought and you’d like to hear more.
Time to talk:
In the busy environment of the early years setting, it’s easy to forget the value of simply talking. Give children time to put their thoughts into words. This especially important if you are resolving a conflict and the children need to describe their emotions. Try labeling some of the emotions to give children an opportunity to agree with, or correct you.
For example, if you say, “you sound sad”, the child may reply,” I’m sad because she is not y friend”. , opening up a conversation about friendships and how this can be resolved.
Paraphrasing and summarizing:
Paraphrasing and summarizing are both fantastic communication skills that help you to make sense of a child’s points and also allow you to demonstrate that you are listening closely. Repeat back what the child has said, this will help the child hear it correctly.
No Destruction:
Reduce the number of external distractions. These could include excess noise, activities going on, or other children. If you are having a conversation with a child, encourage other children to wait and not interrupt. If necessary, consider moving to a quieter area so you can really concentrate on the conversation.
What are the benefits of active listening with Early Years?
Children can learn to understand their feeling, understand themselves better- what happening — why he/she is upset, sad etc. They start controlling their emotions once they understand what they are feeling.
Children also learn to solve their own problems, they become more confident and have better self-esteem.
Children learn to develop a close relationship with parents or with their secondary carer or Early years practitioners. They are able to work through his/her problem more easily and develop resilience and empathy.
IT’s YOUR TURN:
What do you think, what are key active listening techniques that we can use to help us become active learners while working with early years?
