English · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Active Listening

Active learning works for active listening because young students learn best when they practice skills in real time with a partner or group. When children mirror a speaker’s words or ask follow-up questions, they experience firsthand how listening builds connection, not just silence.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9E1LY01
• AC9E1LY02

• 20–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Pairs

Pair Practice: Listening Mirrors

Partners sit knee-to-knee facing each other. One demonstrates good listening poses (eye contact, nod) and poor ones (looking away, slouching); the other mirrors exactly. Switch roles after two minutes, then share what good listening felt like. Record observations on sticky notes.

What does your body look like when you are really listening to someone?

Facilitation Tip

During Listening Mirrors, remind pairs to switch roles every 30 seconds so both students practice speaking and listening.

What to look for

During a partner sharing activity, circulate and observe students. Note which students are facing their partner, making eye contact, and nodding. Ask students, 'What is your partner telling you?' and 'What is one question you could ask to learn more?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Think-Pair-Share
• 30 min · Small Groups

Small Group: Clarifying Question Chain

Form groups of four. First student shares a two-sentence story about their weekend. Next asks one clarifying question; storyteller answers briefly. Continue around the group twice, with a focus on questions like 'Where did that happen?'. Debrief on best questions.

What questions can you ask to find out more about what someone just said?

Facilitation Tip

In the Clarifying Question Chain, demonstrate how to turn vague questions into specific ones by modeling on the board before the activity starts.

What to look for

Provide students with a slip of paper. Ask them to draw one way their body shows they are listening. Then, ask them to write one clarifying question they could ask if a friend said, 'I saw a funny bird.'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 40 min · Pairs

Whole Class: Response Role-Plays

Project simple scripted dialogues showing good and poor responses. Pairs practice one each, using props like puppets. Select pairs to perform; class votes thumbs up or down on listening skills and suggests improvements.

How can you show someone that you heard and understood what they told you?

Facilitation Tip

For Response Role-Plays, provide sentence stems on posters so students can choose language that feels natural during their turns.

What to look for

After a short story is read aloud, ask students: 'What did your body do to show you were listening to the story? What is one question you have about the story that would help you understand it better?' Record student responses on chart paper.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Think-Pair-Share
• 25 min · Individual

Individual: Listening Self-Check Chart

Provide a chart with body language icons and question prompts. Students listen to a teacher-read story individually, mark what they did, then share one response with a partner. Compile class data on a shared chart.

What does your body look like when you are really listening to someone?

Facilitation Tip

Use the Listening Self-Check Chart as a quiet reflection tool; students mark checks only if they tried each skill, not if they did it perfectly.

What to look for

During a partner sharing activity, circulate and observe students. Note which students are facing their partner, making eye contact, and nodding. Ask students, 'What is your partner telling you?' and 'What is one question you could ask to learn more?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach active listening in short, focused bursts because young learners’ attention spans are limited. Provide clear, repeatable routines like turn-taking timers and visual cues so students know exactly what to do. Avoid over-correcting body language—focus instead on whether responses match what was said, which tells you if listening has truly occurred.

Successful learning looks like students facing their partners, making natural eye contact, nodding at appropriate moments, and responding with questions or summaries that show they are tracking the speaker’s meaning. You will see these skills transfer from partner practice to whole-class sharing without reminders.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Pair Practice: Listening Mirrors, watch for students who believe listening means staying completely silent.

  During Listening Mirrors, interrupt briefly to point out that partners should nod or say 'I see' or 'Mm-hmm' to show they are tracking their partner’s words, not waiting silently.

• During Whole Class: Response Role-Plays, watch for students who think staring hard shows good eye contact.

  During Response Role-Plays, pause the activity to model comfortable eye contact with a student, then ask the class to describe the difference between 'hard' and 'soft' eye contact.

• During Small Group: Clarifying Question Chain, watch for students who think any question clarifies the speaker's idea.

  During the Clarifying Question Chain, if a student asks a vague question, hand them the question card set and say, 'Pick the card that asks about a specific detail,' so they can see the difference between 'What happened?' and 'What color was the bird?'

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Methods used in this brief

• Think-Pair-Share