Listening is a two-part activity. It requires someone to speak and another to listen. Help your students understand the importance of both the speaker and the listener with an experiment. Divide the students in half and separate them out of earshot. Instruct students in the first group to tell a partner in the second group a story that's important to them. Instruct students in the the second half to ignore the storytelling until they hear a signal, after which they will listen intently. Students can discuss the experience from both sides.
Introductions are a common activity during classes. Have students take it a step further and make introductions into a listening activity. Pair students and instruct them to interview each other without taking notes. Later, ask them to introduce each other to the class. Have each student take a minute at the end of the introductions to let the class know if their interviewer made any mistakes. Take it even further by having the interviewer give the information to a third student, who introduces the first student to the class.
There are many reasons for listening. We listen to lectures to learn, to arguments to understand and to music to be entertained. Make a list of the reasons for listening with your students. Have them list things they might listen to for the variety of reasons. Talk about how some of the reasons encourage deep or enthusiastic listening, while others make it hard to listen.
Once a group of people have had time to get to know each other, play a listening game that tests how well they can recognize each others words and nonverbal language. Write a question on the board. Have each student write an answer in at least three sentences. For instance, ask students to write what they did on their winter break or about their last lunch. Then pass the cards out randomly and have each student read another student's answer, using body language and inflection that the writer might use. Have the rest of the class guess who wrote the card.