The training has been organised within the framework of a systemic project „Mobility of educational staff within the framework of institutional projects” implemented by the Foundation for the Development of the Education System in Warsaw co-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund, Human Capital Operational Programme.

Session on Listening Skills and Rapport by Bonnie Tsai

Beata Długozima and Alina Mazurkiewicz, Poland

Beata Długozima and Alina Mazurkiewicz, the participants of a project “How to be a teacher trainer”, August 2014 at Pilgrims English Language Courses, Canterbury, Great Britain, cooperating with English Unlimited Teacher Training Centre in Gdańsk, Poland.

The following text outlines the session led by Bonnie Tsai that focused on rapport building activities for students. The training was organised in August 2014 at Pilgrims, Canterbury by English Unlimited Teacher Training Centre in Gdańsk within the framework of a systemic project „Mobility of educational staff within the framework of institutional projects” implemented by the Foundation for the Development of the Education System in Warsaw co-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund, Human Capital Operational Programme.

For a group to be strong, there must be a good rapport amongst its members.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, rapport is a close and harmonious relationship in which the people and groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well. Most rapport-building happens without words and through non-verbal communication. We create and maintain rapport subconsciously through matching non-verbal signals such as body posture (e.g. body position, arms/legs positions), body movements (e.g. hand gestures, hand/feet tapping, facial expression, breathing, and voice qualities.

In their classes teachers can use a range of activities which will help students build , develop, break or maintain rapport. One of them is presentation. Each student gives a two-minute presentation. She/he leaves the classroom and the teacher gives someone in the group a listening attitude (e.g. the feeling of being bored, disbelief). The speaker comes back to the classroom, and while telling their story must guess who and when is not in rapport with them. Then the speaker must tell the group what made them pick out this listening attitude, that is, whether it was a posture,or facial expression .

Another classroom activity the teacher can use is related to the way we use our voice. We can vary our voices, pitch, volume and pace in ways to make what we are saying more interesting but also to come cross as relaxed, open and friendly. The class works in pairs. Student A counts from 1 to 10 while thinking of someone they like and then does the same thing with someone they dislike. Student B must tell the difference between how their voice changes when they talk about someone they like and someone they dislike. Then it is student B’s turn to do the exercise. As a follow-up activity pairs discuss the strategies they used to distinguish between the two tones of voice.

Some other exercise for students to do is telling stories in pairs. Student A tells three stories one of which is true , while student B guesses which one. Next student B makes a comment on student A’s body language while his/her telling stories.

There is another activity similar to the one above . Students work in groups of three. Student A talks to student B about a topic they are both interested in for four minutes, while student C observes their interaction and later reports back what they have noticed. The teacher gives student B listening instructions which they change after a minute.

To sum up, if the teacher wants to build a strong and effective group, he/she can conduct the above mentioned activities, as they are a good way of building team spirit and boosting learning.

PROJEKT: „Zagraniczna mobilność szkolnej kadry edukacyjnej w ramach projektów instytucjonalnych” współfinansowany przez Unię Europejską w ramach środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego

Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.