Our verbal skills are interconnected: increased skills in one improves the other three (speaking, listening, reading, writing). Students often assert they do not need to take class notes, as they remember well. Their tests prove them wrong. Listening is focused attention. Careful listening, like carefuk driving, can be exhausting, especially if one is also attending to visuals and taking notes of key points (as for minutes). How to improve listening skills? I begin classes with a name-remembering execise, explaining the skills used, and repeat it during the first 2-3 weeks of classes. Any exercise like the "telephone" game can improve listening/focus skills, or any form of immediate testing. Flash cards improve focus. Meditation is focused attention.