Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

I am obsessed with  The Cooking Channel, and the show “Chopped” is my favorite show.  When I received this assignment I was stumped because I watch a limited amount of television because most of the other shows are full of sex, violence, and stupidity.  When I watch this show, I get a chance to learn more about the art of cooking and I am entertained at the same time.

This show has a  panel of three notable judges and a host.  The show starts off with four cooks, each cook is given a basket for the first course of the most unlikely food items to cook.  The judges select the one that should be chopped (eliminated).   This continues course by course for a total of three courses until the last cook is standing.  This cook will win $10,000 by the process of elimination.  

I tuned the program off and watched without the volume, and it was amazing that I could read the faces and body language of the judges and the contestants as cooks competed and were judged.   The contestants that were frowning and sweating seemed to be having the hardest time constructing the meal, and the ones that looked comfortable seemed to have the basket under control.  

Once the plates were presented to the judges, their body languges comfirmed the looks on the contestants faces.  One judge smiled and nodded her head after tasting the dish and put the fork down, the second judge after tasting the food looked at the plate and with a look of disappointment fell back onto the back of his chair. The third judge picked the fork up, but he did not touch the food on the plate.

When I played this segment over with the volume, their body language had told the story.  The contestant  that was sweating did poorly.  The judges’ expressions  and body language clearly showed their feelings.  The first judge that smiled and nodded after tasting the dish said her food was delicous,  then said  that the seasoning was perfect. The second judge (fell back on the back of his chair) then said this rice is under cooked, and the third judge (who did not touch the food) said the his meat was raw.  From this exercise I learned that the body can speak unspoken words.

The communication and listening skills and strategies that would be most effective for fostering the well -being of children and their families would be the nonverbal listening skill.  We communicate so much of our inner feelings with our body and our silence.  If we listen carefully, silence can actually be deafening.  We must also understand what our own body language is communicating to others.  A smile goes a long way, and a frown goes even farther, so we must be mindful of how all of the languages we process, and how we communicate them.