Somewhere in the activity schedule, every day, there should be a listening activity. There are those individuals who simply prefer a passive activity, who do not like to be singled out for responses, or who simply hear better than they do anything else. Provide a variety for better listening enjoyment and, if you have not been a reader before (aloud), practice first. Reading aloud to a group is not as easy as it sounds. Make these considerations before you begin.
Are the individuals in your group of the same cognitive ability or will you need to provide some explanations as you read.
Do you have a deep voice or a high voice. The ability to hear a reader often hinges on their voice quality. Make sure your reader has a pleasant, easily understood voice.
It is important to direct your voice at the listeners. This requires the reader to look up, at the audience, as often as possible.
In conjunction with voice direction, it is also important to make eye contact with listening individuals, showing them that you are concerned for their listening pleasure.
Use personal names whenever you can to keep the attention of the group. Ask a quick yes or no question of a specific listener and then return quickly to the page.
Depending on the material, plan for sharing time so the listeners can become more active participants. You don’t want to interrupt the flow of a story but at the end of a chapter or end of a story, or at the end of a particularly intense action in the story, you might ask a question of several listeners.
There are many choices of things to read. Short is better than long. Television and movie inspired readings are not so interesting because many of our current nursing home residents didn’t grow up with TV or movies.
Stories of days gone by, animal stories, and short personal interest stories are good. Inspirational stories, nature stories, and historical information of local interest (weather stories, bootlegger stories, bonanza farm stories, etc.) are good.
Mix it up so participants will always be interested in hearing what you will read today. When listing the listening activities, using the title of the material is OK if it is a recognizable product with a good reputation. If you plan to read from a “gossip rag” such as the Enquirer, or even from recipes, I would list it as “Listening Adventures”. Just have fun!
Listening Options:
Good Old Days/ Days Gone By
Reader’s Digest
Recipes
People Magazine
The Enquirer/Star/etc.
Short Stories
Good Old Days/Days Gone By
These are two good magazines that contain stories pertinent to the time when current nursing home residents were busy making a life. These stories will have credibility for them and spark memories that the reader can build upon. Short articles about wash day, gopher hunting, picking the eggs, or hunting for June Berries can be the catalyst for enjoyable shared conversations. Always provide time for participants to talk.
These magazines also enhance their articles with pictures. Be sure to share those as well by passing around the magazine. Listening activities aren’t always about listening….They are about enriching and invigorating the mind. If most of your time is spent in shared memories, that would be a positive outcome.
Reader’s Digest
The Reader’s Digest contains a wonderful collection of short stories in a wide variety of topics. Be sure you review those you have decided to read before presenting them to your listeners. Not all are relevant and you could quickly lose your audience if you insist on ready every story available. Don’t skip the jokes! Regardless of age, everyone enjoys a good joke or a funny story. Again, review the jokes before reading them and make certain they are appropriate for the age group. Jokes about people currently in the entertainment spot light are probably not the best as individuals in their 80’s will most likely be unfamiliar with them. General jokes about being a farmer, a housewife, or a parent would be much better.
Recipes
Search the second-hand stores or used book stores and locate a few old recipe books, the older the better. You might also find a cook book by the Lutheran Ladies or the Church Basement Ladies. These books are also good for their colorful commentaries. Most cooks in the homestead era did not have cookbooks, they didn’t even have recipes; they simply put stuff together, “like mother did”. When these cooks tried to write down their methods and ingredients, some wonderfully entertaining books emerged. This group would largely be for the women through everyone should be welcome. Ask for their memories of recipes handed down, cooking secrets of their mothers and grandmothers, and their own favorite things to prepare for their families. Ask them if they had a specialty item that everyone wanted to see at the potluck or church supper.
People Magazine
People magazine is another magazine of short articles. Some are entertaining and some are not, so choose wisely. Remember, the people that interest those in their 30s and 40s, probably have no meaning or interest for listeners in their 80s so, choose articles for their generation and not for your own interest. Although this may seem like a trivial magazine to present to a listening group at a nursing home, it does provide a different perspective into lives of people everyone has heard of or, in some cases, people who have done extraordinary things, or people with innovative ideas. These would exercise the brain by provoking thought. The facilitator, or reader, can provide even more exercise by asking follow-up questions if applicable. Speak directly to a specific listener and use that individual’s name to hold attention.
Enquirer
The Enquirer is a fun paper because it covers so many different and sometimes unusual topics. Did the Princess really give birth to a space alien and is there really a three headed calf in Wisconsin? (actually there is a different but similar paper that has the most outrageous stories…find that one!) These short “exposes” can be very entertaining, funny, and incredulous! They can also be great conversation starters. (Who doesn’t want to talk about a three headed calf. Haven’t you been to a side show at the carnival?) These articles are a bit crazy but that is exactly what makes them fun so, just have a good time with them.