While the skills of listening and observing are crucial to productive discussions, many of us are ill-equipped to simply listen and observe.

The following exercises focus attention on these basic skills and give trainees an opportunity to practice them in a focused framework.

The idea is to work through some or all of them as part of a session on communications, and then discuss what the group has learned from them, and how this will help them in their group and discussion work.

If trainees are already working with groups, this is also the time to raise observations from what goes on in their groups in this particular area of communication. This will give you, as the trainer, the opportunity to follow through in subsequent sessions – for example, by demonstrating and discussing appropriate exercises and activities that appear in other chapters.

Tell your group members to close their eyes.
Ask the group what they are aware of right now.
Say, “Now I am aware of my heart beating; now I am aware of a plane passing overhead,” etc.

Hand out pen and paper to each group member. Ask for silence. Ask each group member to listen to the sounds present, and record every sound.

Do a round whereby each group member reads his or her list.

:: Are we used to listening carefully to the sounds around us?

Stage a sudden happening in the room or focus on some action that just occurred. Each person describes exactly what transpired in their own words. This can be done either in writing or orally.

Have them compare their description with those of others.

:: Are they the same?

:: Why, or why not?

4. More exercises of this nature can be found in the Internet Edition of Hadracha Digest No.#2, “Creative Drama.