Listening Skills: An Introduction

[Music] no no no no no no no no no listen [Music] these are sounds of warning we rely on our hearing for sounds that Warn and sounds that informal is considered one of the finest examples system from the west of light showers later this afternoon or evening today's high will be around 75 degrees [Music] what did he say take away your hearing and you lose a primary source of information frustrating not to hear what someone is saying but this is cheating you say we're taking away the sounds themselves not your hearing right yet there are times when you cheat yourself there are many occasions when the sounds are there and you still don't get much out of your listening unless you have good listening skills we'll use silent film titles to indicate useful listening skills as we go you want to know what we did in science class while you were out we did an experiment to learn about different kinds of soil and how they hold water Mr Adam's got two milk cartons he cut away one side from each of them that was so he could put samples of soil inside then he punched several holes in the bottom the same number of holes in each carton looks like Bill's attention is wandering foreign you've got to pay attention well then after he found several holes in the bottom of each milk carton he propped up both of the milk cartons at a slant he arranged them so they are both inclined the same amount both inclined the same amount think about what is being said relate the ideas to other things you know next he brought in two samples of soil a bag of sand and a bag of loam he filled one carton with sand and filled the other with loam then he poured a cup of water at the upper end of each carton then we waited to see how long it would take for the water to flow out of the bottom of the cartons respond to the person talking dig out additional facts and show him you're interested how long did you have to wait only a few minutes before the water came through the sand and how long before the water came through the loam well we waited until the class was over about half an hour and no water dripped out no water at all no the loam held it like a sponge pay attention think about what is being said and respond to the person talking these same skills are useful in other situations as when you're with a group of people talking we'll demonstrate once again did you eat at poem for English you mean how they brought the good news from Gantt to eggs yeah the one by Robert Browning yeah didn't read it seriously has anyone read it know what you thought about it I read it but I didn't get much out of it it was hard for me to get the setting in the time straight [Applause] I think what bothered me is that the poem doesn't explain the purpose of the ride I enjoyed the poem and I'm sure why probably because it gave an excuse to do homework instead of washing dishes he's trying to be a regular guy I think it's that you get such a clear feeling of the action [Applause] listen I sprained to the Stirrup and jorus and he I galloped her galloped we galloped all three it gives the rhythm of horses and into the midnight we galloped a breath not a word to each other we kept a great Pace neck by neck stride by stride never changing our place you can almost see them riding from the rhythm of the poem I agree definitely the Rhythm and sound get across the idea I guess that's what we're supposed to get out of it yeah Mrs Hawthorne will be proud of us thank you another typical listening situation is the lecture let's see how the same listening skills apply in England during the early 1600s men founded a religious group called The secretist these people had religious beliefs which brought them into conflict with the established religion of England to escape religious persecution some of these people were forced to flee their neighborhood the captain of the Mayflower feared that the pilgrims might interfere with the running of his ship and so you ordered his crew to make sure the passengers stayed below deck make sure the passengers stayed below deck over 30 of the passengers were children in their gloomy surroundings they had to be very resourceful in finding ways of passing the time sometimes their search for diversion LED them into Mischief as when some boys tried to set fire to powder kegs this was one of the few moments of excitement and for it the boys were punished so they had a stable deck all that time I wonder how they lived through it many of the passengers became ill with scurvy to help endure long weeks of living under difficult conditions they often sought spiritual comfort by reading from their Bibles after two long months of voyaging across the sea they arrived at Cape Cod before going ashore they met in the captain's cabin where they wrote a document which became known as the Mayflower Compact it was to become one of the great foundations of American democracy in part the Mayflower Compact reads we having undertaken a voyage to plant a colony do solemnly in the presence of God and one another combine ourselves together in a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation yes bill you said that the Mayflower Compact was one of the foundations for American democracy in what way are you getting the message pay attention think about what is being said and respond to the person talking the skills we have demonstrated can be applied to most listening situations practice these points and you'll get more out of your listening