TITLE: Indispensable Listening Skills
AUTHOR: Ann Douglas, Pauls Valley, OK
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: 9-12, listening skills
OVERVIEW: Many students sit in classrooms and hear by are
not listening to what is being said around them. This is a
skill that needs to be taught and addressed at all levels of
education.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this activity is to increase the
students' ability to listen and to understand what is being
read and/or told to them.
OBJECTIVES:
1. After listening to the story, students will be able to
orally explain the conclusion of the story.
2. Students will be able to list three ways that the
tigers in the story relate to themselves.
3. Students will be able to clarify why they would rather
someone read to them or why they would rather read the
material themselves.
This activity can be used as a guidance activity. The
emphasis is for students to think about what they are
hearing and to be able to respond to the story. This
activity can be used for several grade levels but it seems
to work best with freshmen and sophomores.
RESOURCES/MATERIALS: "The Indispensable Tiger" was taken
from the American Management Association
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. Read the story, "The Indispensable Tiger."
A powerful old tiger, the leader of the pack, was
preparing to go on a hunt. Gathering the other tigers about
him, he said, "We must go out in the plains and hunt, for
the winter is coming. You young fellows come with me;
perhaps you will learn a thing or two."
The young tigers were pleased to hear this, for the old
fellow had hitherto shown no interest in tiger development.
He usually left them behind when he went hunting and they
were tired of doing nothing but keeping order among the cubs
and performing other routine tasks.
The first day out, the old tiger spotted a herd of
elephants. "Here's your chance, Bernard," he said to one of
the younger tigers. "Look at it as a challenge." But
Bernard had no idea how to go about hunting. With a roar he
rushed at the elephants who just ran off in all directions.
"It looks as though I'll have to do the job myself," said
the leader philosophically. And so he did.
The next day, the tigers came upon a herd of water
buffalo. "Suppose you take over now, Jerome," said the old
tiger. Jerome, reluctant to ask silly questions but
determined to do his best, crept up on the grazing buffalo.
He leaped straight at the largest of them, but the big
buffalo tossed him to the ground and Jerome was lucky to
escape in one piece. Mortified, he crept back to the group.
"No, no, no, NO!" said the old tiger. "What's happening
around here? Where is the performance I'm looking for?"
"But you never taught us how to do it!" cried one of the
young tigers. The old tiger was in no mood to listen. "The
rest of you stay where you are," he growled, "and I will do
the job myself." And so he did.
"I can see," said the old tiger as the others gathered
admiringly about him, "that none of you is yet ready to take
my place." He sighed, "much as I hate to say it, I seem to
be indispensable."
Time brought little change. The old tiger sometimes took
the younger ones along with him on hunts, and occasionally
he let one of them try to make a kill. But having received
no instruction, they were unequal to the task. And the old
tiger still made no effort to teach the others his tricks!
He had forgotten that he himself was a product of tiger-to-
tiger coaching.
One day, when he had grown quite old, the tiger met a
friend, a wise lion he had known for years. Before long,
the tiger was launched on his favorite topic of
conversation: the lack of initiative in the younger
generation.
"Would you believe it?" he asked the lion. "Here I am
getting a bit long in the tooth, and I still have to do all
the hunting for my pack. There seems to be no one of my
stripe around." "That's odd," said the lion. "I find the
younger lions in my pride take well to instruction. Some of
them are carrying a good bit of responsibility. In fact,"
he continued, "I'm thinking about retiring completely next
year and letting the younger fellows take over."
"I envy you," said the tiger. "I'd take things easier and
relax myself, if only I had a little leadership material
around me!" The old tiger sighed and shook his head. "You
can't imagine," he said, "what a burden it is to be
indispensable!!"
2. Discussion questions:
a. What does indispensable mean?
b. What did the tiger mean when he said, "What a
burden it is to be indispensable."
c. List the tigers in the story. How does each tiger
relate to you as a person.
d. What did the lion tell the tiger?
e. Why did the lion seem to be the wiser of the two?
f. How does the whole story relate to people?
g. Listening is important. Would you rather have
something read to you or read it yourself? Why?
Why does it make a difference?
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: After talking about the story,
discuss how important it is not to just listen with our
ears, but also to watch the person talking and how their
eyes, hands and even their bodies talk to us. To understand
involves more than just hearing.
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