Family and local history projects are based on oral communication between generations, and are largely dependent on listening skills. To enhance your listening skills, arrange for a local history project that can have the goal of, among others, publishing a book, creating an exhibition or delivering a school presentation. In the process, you are not only performing research through libraries and online resources, but you will also have to interview and listen to accounts of local historians and established members of the community. The success of your project will largely depend on how well you listen and respond to stories you hear, and the way you use the information gained through listening skills.
For good reporters and journalists, listening skills are not only a virtue, but a livelihood. To train your listening skills, start a local or school newspaper project with topics based on material collected in the neighborhood. Use your ears to get stories by listening to what is said in shops, on the streets and in parks. Interview local celebrities, politicians or teachers, and listen carefully to their answers to determine the relevance to your story, and the truthfulness of the person to which you are talking. While completing your stories, you will notice that your listening skills might be more important than your writing skills. Grammar and style errors can still be fixed by an editor. Information lost through careless listening, however, is not easily regained.
Self help and support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, base their progress on giving people with problems an audience that will not only listen intently, but will also offer advice with regard to what they have heard. To enhance your listening skills and make an impact on your local community, join or start a support group that helps lonely and elderly people by visiting them at home and listening to their problems. Alternatively, start a project where you gather volunteers and phones to offer a helpline for compassionate listening. While you might not be able to offer financial, legal or medical advice, you will soon realize that your listening skills can encourage other individuals with problems to sort out their lives by talking things over.
Write an audio play either alone or in cooperation with others as a project for the school or local radio, or for publication online to entertain family and friends. Get some friends together and record the play in a studio, on your computer or another audio device. Without the use of pictures, you have to focus on the content of the dialog and the manner in which it is spoken. Being aware of the various nuances that lie within a voice, and realizing that atmospheres and content can be changed through different tones and vocal mannerisms, will greatly enhance your listening skills.