Listen, baby...
No, really -- LISTEN, dammit!
(D'oh, this isn't working! How do I explain it?)
Be the ear.
Visualize yourself as a gigantic ear, your entire body is an ear. That's the amount of listening attention I want you to give me. I want to know you're focused and absorbing and processing what I say. I want to know that you are more than just passively hearing me.
Are you all ears?
*perk*
Good. :)
Now let me tell you some more about American Idioms...