What? Tell Me Again?

Materials:  

Has an adult (teacher, mom or dad, etc.) ever asked you to do something and you did not hear what they said? Maybe you were busy playing or watching TV and did not hear, or, you did not understand what it was they were asking you to do or the words they were saying. Has that happened to any of you? Today, we are going to learn how to ask people to tell us something again when we did not understand what they said the first time, or we were not listening very well.

Objective/Purpose:

Child will discuss ways to ask an adult to repeat a direction.

Procedure:

1. It is important to know what people say to us. If I said something like "I've got some candy for you, you would want to know what I said, right? (Yes!)

2. What if I said something like "I put some currency in your coin receptacle." Would you know what it was that I meant? (No!)

3. Have you ever had a teacher or a mom or dad get mad at you because they told you to do something and you didn't understand what they said? (Yes!) Allow discussion. Did the adult get mad? (Yes!) Allow discussion.

4. What if I said something like (whisper, whisper, whisper) so that the children don't understand. Now, I am going to get mad and yell at you because you did not understand what it was I said. Why didn't you do what I asked you to do? That's right! You couldn't hear me and you couldn't understand me.

5. So, what can you do if you did not hear or did not understand what an adult said? Allow discussion. (Kids will usually give ideas such as asking the adult to repeat what was said. Remind kids to use the appropriate social language such as 'excuse me.')

6. Let's practice. I need two volunteers. One volunteer can give a direction that is either mixed up or too quiet for the other to hear.

7. Now, the second child can say, "Excuse me? I did not understand what you said. Can you repeat it?"

8. Continue practice with other sets of children.