ABSTRACT
Listening takes up more of people’s time when they are awake than any other activity. Most people spend about 30 percent of their time talking and 45 percent listening. The more appropriate the role play situations are to the group members, the more effective the exercise will be. Choose situations that are relevant to individuals’ lives. If there is time, this exercise can help to make people aware of some of the things that have a negative effect – it can be helpful to spend a few minutes discussing with the group the effects these have. Prepare by thinking through times when facilitators were trying to get someone to listen and the actions that were displayed which indicated facilitators were not being listened to or were being ignored. ‘Listening’ involves encouraging others to continue speaking while enabling facilitators to understand what is being said.
