The first step in teaching listening is to discuss with students what exactly listening is. Begin by asking your students to describe listening. Then, give them the exact definition, which, according to the Dictionary website is "give attention with the ear;" and "to pay attention." Explain to them that listeners not only hear, but try to understand the meaning of the words that are being said, and draw conclusions from these words. Explain that hearing is a part of the listening process, but not everyone who can hear something is listening.
Teach your students the 10 steps of effective listening; make a chart and post it on the wall. The 10 steps of effective listening, as put forth by Learning Through Listening, a website dedicated to teaching listening in the classroom, are: "1.) Face the speaker and maintain eye contact. 2.) Be attentive. 3.) Keep an open mind to what you are hearing. 4.) Try to picture what the speaker is saying. 5.) Don't interrupt or impose your "solutions" on the speaker. 6.) Wait for the speaker to pause to ask clarifying questions. 7.) Ask clarifying questions, not challenging questions. Wait until discussion time to raise your point of view. 8.) Try to feel and understand what the speaker is feeling. 9.) Demonstrate you are paying attention to what is being said by providing feedback through nodding your head or saying "Uh huh." 10.) Pay attention to what isn't said -- to feelings, facial expressions, gestures, posture and other nonverbal cues."
Make learning about listening fun by playing games that require students to listen carefully to complete a task. Send your students on a verbal treasure hunt, by speaking aloud each clue in a riddle that they must listen closely to and solve to find the treasure. Say each clue only twice. In another game, have each student take out a piece of paper and a pencil. Describe an object step by step without telling the students what it is they are drawing. Using their listening skills, they should each be able to listen and draw a picture based solely on your words.
Test your students on their newly learned listening comprehension. Read a short story aloud in class and do not allow the students to take notes. After you have finished the story, test them on key elements of the story, such as the names of the main characters, how characters felt in particular situations, settings, the story's problem and the story's resolution. This test is not meant to discourage students, but to show them that if they are active listeners they will obtain information they didn't even realize they were focusing on.