Listening is a skill. This instructional activity will provide your pupils with clear guidelines for what to do when someone else is speaking. Whether you ask them to note key words in a talk, to prepare two questions about the presentation, or to note favorite phrases, the expectations of listeners will be explicit. Pairs also take on two sides of a topic, responding in a positive way (the optimist) or in a negative way (the pessimist). Each partner will have to listen intently to respond.         the