Everyday listening and speaking

Skills for Success says strong communication helps you share information so others can understand you, and helps you listen, pay attention, and understand other people. These skills matter at work with co-workers and clients, including people from different backgrounds.

Official communication components you can practise this week:

• Listen with intention. Pay attention. Notice words and simple non-verbal cues (for example, whether someone looks toward you). Use body language that shows you are listening — the official page mentions keeping focus on the speaker. Ask questions to confirm you understand. Repeat the key point in your own words when you need to.
• Listen to understand. Think about the speaker’s purpose. What do they want you to do?
• Speak with clarity and purpose. Use simple, clear sentences. State why you are speaking (to explain, to ask, or to give information).
• Adapt to the situation. Choose a polite tone for a clinic, a shop, a workplace, or a neighbour.

Try these (your own words are fine):

• “Could you please say that again more slowly?”
• “I think you asked me to [step]. Is that right?”
• “Hello, I would like to book an appointment for Tuesday morning.”
• “Excuse me, could you help me find [aisle / form / office]?”

These sample lines are practice only. They do not come from a government phrasebook, and they are not magic words that every Canadian must use.

If you cannot hear someone (a noisy shop, a phone call, a mask), it is acceptable to say so and ask them to repeat. That is communication, not failure.