Listening and Paraphrasing Essay Example for Free

Listening and Paraphrasing Essay The first person I interviewed was my sister’s friend who is nineteen years old and is in college. She works part-time a crew in a coffee shop just outside our village. I asked her about her job and how she was able to manage her time juggling work and studies. According to her, what she is doing is tiresome but she was able to do both activities since it is not simultaneous and that, she really has to be able to do so. She mentioned how she prioritizes work over her studies. She attends to her class regularly but admits that, most of the time, she isn’t attentive. She said that she had to miss some of her morning classes because she’s too tired to get up in the morning. She gets to miss several classes but never miss even a minute of work. She told me that she doesn’t resent having to work while studying unlike other students because she believes that she is learning more and is getting personally better when she is forced to work and study at the same time. She takes everything as a training for what else worse that could happen. She said she feels like there’s nothing that she won’t be able to get through because she has gotten stronger after all the early struggles in her life. She also said that her job as a crew is not all about the money she is earning. She said that she is also enjoying the work because she wants to put up business someday and she is planning to pursue food business. She has been learning a lot by working and feels more unfortunate than other students because she was able to directly apply what she learns from school. In this interview, I would have to repeat some of her answers to make it appear that I am deeply interested in what she is saying. I have learned that paraphrasing also eliminates bars between two communicating parties because it makes one believe one is interested with the other’s tales (USDVA, 2004). When I repeat what she tells me, I say it in a different manner like this one time when she said, â€Å"I really don’t mind if I don’t get too good grades. Passing is enough for me. I just know that I am more knowledgeable than them and I understand exactly what the principles are saying. They only know it by words! † I would say, â€Å"You are no longer after the high grades because you know you understand the subject very well and school grades are just evaluation of school performance. † And I would follow it immediately with a question to keep our conversation going. The next person I interviewed is my grandfather who is already seventy-eight. We’ve talked about his life as part of the navy, how he met my grandmother and who is his favorite among his children. The talked about who is his favorite child is the most interesting part of our conversation. He said, â€Å"Your father wouldn’t lift a hand to reach something and would wait for his siblings or his mother or me to pass by so we could reach it for him. † I said, â€Å"My dad wouldn’t bother himself trying to reach something and would have to rely on someone else so he could get that something. † Having to repeat their words would mean understanding the matter more clearly (RMIT, 2005). It is also a tool for clarifying ideas. In communication, it is very effective because when one feels that the other understands him, he feels more comfortable to talk about anything without any hesitations (Rowley, 2002). I was able to demonstrate it when I was able to extract information from my sister’s friend that is in a more personal level and when I was able to let my grandfather to bring back the memories he had with my father. References: RMIT University. 2005. Paraphrasing. Study and Learning Center, RMIT. Retrieved February 10, 2009 from http://www. dlsweb. rmit. edu. au/lsu/content/4_WritingSkills/writing_tuts /paraphrase_LL/index. html. Rowley, Richard. 2002. Active Listening. Retrieved February 10, 2009 from http://www. aligningaction. com/activeli. htm. U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 2004. Listening to Paraphrase. Retrieved February 10, 2009 from http://www1. va. gov/adr/page. cfm? pg=46.