Paraphrase
Partners practice paraphrasing each other's statements to confirm understanding and demonstrate active listening.
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Related Exercises
Here's What I Heard
Here's What I Heard is an applied listening exercise in which one partner speaks briefly about something real -- a current situation, a concern, a recent experience -- and the listener reflects back what they heard in their own words. The speaker then responds to the reflection, noting what the listener captured accurately and what was missed or distorted. The exercise develops active listening, accurate paraphrasing, and the discipline of genuinely receiving another person's communication before responding.
Repetition
Pairs have a conversation one sentence at a time. Before responding, each person must repeat their partner's entire sentence. Forces active listening through to the end of a thought.
What They Said
Participants practice accurate recall and reporting of what others have said, building listening precision and accountability.
Listen to Understand, Not to Respond
Listen to Understand, Not to Respond is an applied improv exercise that directly targets the most common pattern of inadequate listening in professional settings: the habit of spending the duration of another person's speaking turn formulating a response rather than receiving what is being said. The exercise creates a structured constraint -- participants may not respond until they have first reflected back what they heard to the speaker's satisfaction -- making the response-preparation habit visible and interrupting it through practice.
Yes Based Conversations
Yes Based Conversations is an exercise in which performers practice having conversations built entirely on agreement and mutual support. Each speaker accepts what the other has said and adds their own perspective without contradiction. The exercise breaks the habit of default negation and demonstrates how agreement generates more productive scenes than conflict.
Listen Up ... Listen!
Listen Up, Listen is an applied improv listening exercise structured in two stages: a priming phase in which participants direct their attention outward to environmental sounds and the voices of others, followed by a partner-listening phase in which they practice full-body, full-attention listening without preparing a response. The two-stage structure creates a deliberate transition from ambient environmental awareness to focused interpersonal listening.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Paraphrase. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/paraphrase
The Improv Archive. "Paraphrase." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/paraphrase.
The Improv Archive. "Paraphrase." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/paraphrase. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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