1.

What did you learn about yourself from this activity

From this activity, I’ve learned that comprehensive listening is something absent from
my repertoire of skills. While practicing the group exercise, I found it difficult to
attentively listen to my partner and retain a bulk of information from their story.

2. Which of the powerful listening skill did you employ

During the activity, I’ve employed many different powerful listening techniques such as
empathetic listening, reflective listening, active listening and asking open-ended
questions. While these techniques were implemented during the activity, I felt that they
were never fully utilized due to a lack of experience, thus I hope to expand my grasp of
these skills in the foreseeable future.

3. Which listening barrier did you fall prey to

During practice, there were many listening barriers that I have encountered with the most
notable being my internal noise repressing the other person’s speech, therefore making it
difficult to comprehend and fully internalize what they are conveying.

Stories

Khánh Ly – Bảo Nhi

A Tale of Two Birds Summary
A tale of two birds is about a mother bird who lives in a forest. She has two babies who
are new-born that also live with her. The nest in which the mother bird lives is in a tall
tree.
On a stormy night filled with thunder, Consequently, the wind blows away the little birds.
After the storm passes, one bird finds itself near a cave. Near that cave, lives a gang of
robbers. On the other hand, the second bird fell a little distance away, near the ashram of
a Rishi.
As time passes by, the little birds turn young. On one fine day, a king is visiting the area
nearby and rest near the cave.
To his surprise, when he rests, he hears a bird’s voice.
This scares the King and he flees the area as soon as possible on his horse.
What happens next surprises him.
He hears another bird which welcomes him. He looks at it and remembers it resembles
the same brown bird which he saw earlier near the cave.
Rishi clears his confusion and tells him that the one outside the cave was this bird’s
sibling. He tells the king that they have different nature because they grew up with a
different company.

Conclusion of A Tale of Two Birds Summary

A Tale of Two Birds Summary teaches us that we must make friends with good-natured
people. If we live in the company of bad people, we will also turn out like them. But, if
we stay with good people, we can build our character.

The group of frogs

As a group of frogs was traveling through the woods, two of them fell into a deep pit.
When the other frogs crowded around the pit and saw how deep it was, they told the two
frogs that there was no hope left for them.
However, the two frogs decided to ignore what the others were saying and they
proceeded to try and jump out of the pit.
Despite their efforts, the group of frogs at the top of the pit were still saying that they
should just give up. That they would never make it out.
Eventually, one of the frogs took heed to what the others were saying and he gave up,
falling down to his death. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Again,
the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die.
He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said,
“Did you not hear us?”
The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the
entire time.
Moral of the story:
People’s words can have a big effect on other’s lives. Think about what you say before it
comes out of your mouth. It might just be the difference between life and death.

Thiên Nam
The Tortoise and the Hare
The hare is an animal that is known to move quickly, while a tortoise is one to move
slowly.
One day, the hare challenged the tortoise to a race simply to prove that he was the best.
The tortoise agreed. Once the race began the hare was easily able to get a head start.
Upon realizing that the tortoise is far behind. The overconfident hare decided to take a
nap. Meanwhile the tortoise, who was extremely determined and dedicated to the race,
was slowly nearing the finish line.
The tortoise won the race while the hare napped. Most importantly he did it with humility
and without arrogance.
⇒ Moral of the story: When you work hard and persevere, you can achieve your
goals. Slow and steady wins the race.

Bá Nam
The Golden Egg
Once upon a time, a farmer had a goose that laid a golden egg every day. The farmer used
to sell that egg and earn enough money to meet their family's day-to-day needs. One day,
the farmer thought that if he could get more such golden eggs and make a lot of money
and become a wealthy person. The farmer decided to cut the goose and remove all the
golden eggs from its stomach. As soon as they killed the bird and opened the goose’s
stomach, they found no eggs. The foolish farmer realized they had destroyed their last
resource out of greed.
Moral: Greed destroys your resources.
Trà Duyên
The Story of the Grateful Starfishes (Inspiring Story about Attitude)
One morning, an elderly man was walking along the beach when he noticed a young boy
picking something off the sand and throwing it into the sea.
As he got closer, the man realized the child was throwing stranded starfishes that had
washed up on the shore back into the breaking waves.
Approaching the boy, the man asked what he was doing.
“The starfish will die if they’re still on the shore when the sun rises,” he replied.
Perplexed, the old man said, “But that’s pointless! There are countless miles of beach and
thousands of starfish. It doesn’t matter how many you return to the water, you can’t make
a difference.”
Unfazed, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and tossed it into the sea.
“It matters to this one,” he said.
Moral of the story:
No matter the odds of success or the scale of the challenge, your actions can make a
difference. It’s better to light a candle than curse the dark.
Every little counts. Doing something to make a positive change is always better than
nothing!
This motivational story is a little sad, but it contains an invaluable lesson on self-belief…

Thanh Ngân
The Value of Money
At the beginning of a new school year, a class teacher stands up in front of her students
holding a $100 bill.
She tells them, “Put your hands up if you want this money”.
Every hand in the room goes up, to which the teacher says, “I am going to give this
money to someone here, but first, let me do this…”
She takes the bill and crumples it up in her hands, before asking, “Who still wants it?”
The hands stay up.
The teacher then drops the bill on the floor, stomps and grinds it into the ground, and
picks it back up. “How about now?” she asks again.
The hands stay up.
“Class, I hope you see the lesson here. It didn’t matter what I did to this money, you still
wanted it because its value stayed the same. Even with its creases and dirtiness, it’s still
worth $100.”
She continues, “It’s the same with us. There will be similar times in your life when
you’re dropped, bruised, and muddied. Yet no matter what happens, you never lose your
value.”
Moral of the story:
Life’s hardships are inevitable and we’ll all be put through the ringer at some point, often
through no fault of our own.
Don’t let these challenges alter your feelings of self-worth. You’ll always be enough; you
have something unique and special to give and offer the world.

Quang Phú
THE BAKER AND THE FARMER
A long time ago, a baker and a farmer lived in the same small English village. These two
men had a friendly arrangement in place, where the farmer would sell a pound of butter
to the baker each day.

One morning, the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he’d received the correct
amount. To his surprise, he discovered that the farmer had sold him less butter than he’d
paid for. Angry about the unfairness, he took the farmer to court. At the hearing, the
judge asked the farmer whether he used any measure to weigh the butter.

“Your honour, I am but a lowly farmer and do not own a proper measure. I simply use an
old-fashioned scale,” he replied.
“How do you weigh the butter then?” Enquired the judge.

To this the farmer answered: “Your honour, long before the baker started buying butter
from my farm, I’ve been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when he
brings me the bread, I place it on my scale and give him the same weight in butter. If
anyone is to be blamed, it’s the baker.”
Moral of the story: You should always be fair, kind and honest to other people and they
will treat you accordingly.

Hoàng Khang
THE BUSINESS MAN AND THE FISHER
Once upon a time, there was a businessman who was sitting on the beach in a small
Italian village. As he sat, taking a brief break from the stress of his daily schedule, he saw
a fisherman rowing a small boat back into the harbour, and in the boat were some fish.

The businessman asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many
fish?”, to which he replied “Oh, not so long.”

The businessman was confused, “Why don’t you fish for longer to catch even more?”

“Why? This is enough fish for my entire family and I can even offer some to my
neighbours,” the fisherman said.

“So what do you do for the rest of your day?” The businessman then enquired.

The fisherman replied, “Well, once I am done fishing by late morning, at which point I
go home, kiss my wife, and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap and read. In
the evening, I go to the village to have a drink with my friends, play guitar, sing, and
dance into the night!”
The businessman then offered advice, “Since I am a successful businessman, I’ll tell you
that from now on, you should spend longer at sea to catch as many fish as possible. When
you’ve saved enough money, buy a bigger boat to catch even more fish. From there,
you’ll soon be able to buy more boats, set up your own company, build a production plant
to can the fish, and move to the city to control and expand your business.”

To this, the fisherman asks, “And after that?” The businessman laughs, “After that, you’ll
be able to live like a king with such a successful business!”

“And after that?” Asks the fisherman once more.

“After that, you can retire, move to a house by the sea, wake up early in the morning to
go fishing, then return home to play with your kids, kiss your wife, take a nap in the
afternoon and join your friends in the village to drink, play guitar and dance into the
night!”

Puzzled, the fisherman replies, “But isn’t that what I’m doing already?”

Moral of the story: You should be content with what you have. Stress is often a choice.
We often stress ourselves out so much for very little gain or none at all. We should also
often remind ourselves there’s joy and peace in simplicity.