• Give the speaker your full attention. Stop doing other things. Eliminate
distractions, such as the television. Turn to face the speaker.
• Lean towards the speaker.
• Make eye contact with the speaker (unless that would be rude in your
culture or theirs).
• Nod or shake your head in response to the speaker's comments.
• Make sounds that let the speaker know you are listening, such as “uh
huh,” “yes,” and “go on.”
• Change your facial expression to reflect the appropriate emotion, such as
concern excitement, or worry.
• Check out what you are hearing. Say, “I think you are saying ...” and ask
if you understand correctly.
• Try to figure out what the speaker is feeling and check to see if you are
correct. “You must have felt so excited?” “You sound so sad ...” Let the
other person respond with how she/he is feeling.
• Do not interrupt unless time is an issue and you have to be somewhere
else or do something. In that case, apologize and ask to finish the
conversation at another
