Active Listening for Active Learning – Short Course
About this course
Active Listening for Active Learning empowers professionals to support children who feel overwhelmed by the classroom and learning experience. Without the right support, children tend to guess, make mistakes, rely on others, and become disengaged from the learning process. Active Listening for Active Learning plays a pivotal role in restoring children’s self-esteem, especially those struggling to ask questions or consider different viewpoints.
Language serves as the primary teaching tool in the classroom, but it often becomes a significant barrier for students grappling with listening and communication skills. Successful learners, who cope with hearing or comprehension difficulties, actively seek repetition, guidance, or clarification. These strategies hinge on active listening skills, encompassing sound judgment, strong listening abilities, well-developed communication skills, and confidence. These are precisely the skills lacking in children with Speech and Language Communication Needs (SLCN) – those who need support the most. Unfortunately, many children go undiagnosed, with the focus placed on their classroom behaviour rather than their language processing abilities. The Active Listening for Active Learning resource incorporates informal assessments to help identify and address these children’s needs.
Professionals embrace Active Listening for Active Learning because they seek strategies and resources that break down barriers to learning. Throughout this course, you will be guided through a series of activities, strategies, and accompanying resources at the core of the Active Listening for Active Learning approach.
For those who already own the hard copy version of this resource, you are warmly invited to attend.
Course Times
The course duration is 9.15 am to 1.00 pm (UK Time) – For a list of course dates and times please go to the Booking page
Course pricing
| Book and pay online | Organisational payment | Student / Returner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full course | £75 | £90 | £55 |
Please book your place here or alternatively, you can contact us if you are you would like to:
- Book four or more courses (we can offer you a discount)
- Make a block booking for a group
- Book a closed course
Course presenter
Maggie Johnson
Speech and Language Therapy Specialist and FRCSLT
Maggie Johnson is widely recognised as a UK expert in Selective Mutism and has contributed to the Primary National Strategy for children with special educational needs (DfES 2005) and Communicating Phonics (The Communication Trust 2012).
Maggie’s publications include:
- Helping Children Hang on To Your Every Word
- Active Listening for Active Learning (QEd Publications)
- The Selective Mutism Resource Manual (Routledge)
- Worry Wheels Anxiety Set (Sense Toys)
- Functional Language in the Classroom (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Course topics
During this course, we will cover:
- Using the Active Listening for Active Learning digital resource
- Creating a safe environment where mistakes are seen as part of learning
- Conducting further investigation and planning
- Helping children grasp the concepts of understanding, guessing and ‘working it out’ (problem-solving)
- Recognising the difference between a question, statement, and instruction (particularly relevant for children who struggle with social interaction, including those on the autism spectrum)
- Helping children seek clarification and how to ask for help
- Practical implementation
Course resources
Active Listening for Active Learning Digital Resource
This resource may be of interest
The resource is crammed with practical activities, strategies and resources for preschool, mainstream and special school settings. With strong themes of peer support, teamwork and inclusion throughout. Active Listening for Active Learning may be the first step towards restoring the self-esteem of children who are finding the classroom an overwhelming rather than enjoyable challenge.
The digital format of the resource enables subscribers to find, view, select and print just the pages or sections needed for upcoming activities. The resource includes materials to assist staff in identifying the children who need additional support. Teachers and assistants see these children struggle to maintain focus and rely heavily on support and prompting. Simple observation schedules can alert staff to the fact that difficulties observed in the classroom may in fact be secondary to a hidden language processing difficulty. A range of informal assessments will allow teachers, teaching assistants or practitioners to record individual children’s performance and subsequent progress.
Activities are coded for individual, group and whole-class support so that children who need one-to-one support are able to transfer their learning into the classroom. When necessary, children are taken back to basics to plug gaps in their early language development in preparation for the more sophisticated active listening skills that underpin successful learning. Ultimately these strategies benefit all children as the emphasis is on becoming active agents in their own learning.
Try before you buy!
Click to browse our view-only version below.
Please note: This resource can be purchased through Course Beetle when booking on to this training, or as an individual order here.
3 year Digital Subscription
| Pay online by card | Pay by your organisation’s procurement systems |
|---|---|
| £75 | £96 |
When you purchase the Active Listening for Active Learning Digital Resource you become a licensed user and are provided with a login to our secure portal giving you access to the full contents. Your purchase gives you access rights for 3 years. At the end of the 3-year period, you may either discontinue or maintain your access for a further 3 years. As an existing subscriber you pay only 20% of the full price to maintain your subscription.
What can I do once I am licensed?
We understand that to get the most out of a digital resource such as this, you would like members of your team to be able to access the materials. To facilitate this when you purchased your license to use Active Listening for Active Learning, we suggested you nominate one email address to be used for the account – for example, an admin account. We need one primary email account on file to use should we need to contact you. If you would like to change the email address we have on file for your account, get in touch. We would expect different teams to fund their own subscriptions to the Active Listening for Active Learning Digital Resource.
Can I download everything to my device?
No – your license gives you access rights to the contents via your browser. You can bookmark activities and save them to your favourites so you can find them quickly. When you select to bookmark specific pages, you can access the content when you are offline, meaning you are not reliant on an internet connection.
You can choose to browse through the entire publication and select pages you want to print or you can use the folder system and jump straight to a step and activity or resource you want to use. To email content you would select to print your selected pages to pdf.
Full instructions are provided when you log in to access the content.
Who this course is suitable for
Booking information
This course is presented Virtual Live – Online over Zoom
This course is available on various dates throughout the year. To view available course dates and book your place click here.
During the booking process, you can select to reserve a place instead (while you confirm you can attend or to organise payment through your employer for example). We can hold your place for up to four weeks, if we have not heard from you after this time, we may need to cancel your reservation so other people can attend the training.
Course Beetle is an approved supplier for NHS Trusts, Local Authorities and Schools.
Course testimonials
“This was a brilliant course! It really made me reflect and question how we look at behaviour and how we support, or sometimes don’t support, children with their language needs. The videos really helped me see the difficulties and behaviours. I like courses that both educate and offer practical resources…this did both.”
“Super informative with practical ideas. Good example exercises to experience the programme. It provided a wealth of practical and achievable therapy strategies, and the videos really bring it to life- so much more than if it were just a book.”
ALFAL, SLCN