Practical Tips on Communication Skills Development
How to Teach Students Communicate Effectively
Communication plays a pivotal role in student interaction. A sender and recipient of the information are mutually involved, so they are both important participants. While exchanging thoughts and ideas, some details are especially crucial: what to say, how to say, and how not to make your listener feel uncomfortable. The key to effective communication is to exclude any misunderstanding.
The main goal of a teacher is to help students socialize effectively and teach them how to encode their messages in a simple, clear way, so that a recipient can easily and correctly decode a message.
Visual aids and handouts will be especially beneficial in teaching students communication skills. Pictures are the best fit for students. They improve student understanding and force them to talk. Various ideas come up to them, and they are free to convey their thoughts. Visual aids are great thought-provoking facilitators that make even tongue-tied personalities talk.
Handouts are helpful if they are not simply photocopies, but contain a short summary with teacher’s advice. For example, after a presentation of any new content, either a novel or an article, a teacher may provide students with thought-provoking questions to better analyze information, single out the most important ideas and build them in a logical sequence, or find some extra up-to-date information.
Various assignments can also stand an educator in good stead to enhance every student communication skills. The ones given below are practical and they really work.
Speech Presentation
A teacher gives students some examples of different speeches. After that they need some time to analyze them and express their own points of view on what they have understood. For sure, student opinions will differ a lot, yet there will be something in common. Finally, students together with their teacher come to the conclusion about the drawbacks of a particular speech, factors that led to misunderstanding, and think what actions can be taken to prevent this in future.
The Main Functions of a Sender and a Recipient
A teacher presents an example of an effective communication, whereas students should define the Sender and Recipient, as well as identify their main goals and functions. Then, a teacher should highlight that this initial stage in communication is highly important because even this simple step may lead to discrepancies. Thus, the main goal of the Sender is to make an effort to send a clear message. The second stage is when students are given text sample to define functions of the Recipient by analyzing his reponses.
Effective Communication Example
A teacher outlines the main scheme of communication, i.e, the Sender sends a message and clarifies it in order to eliminate any disparity or misinterpretation. The Recipient listens to the message sent, responds to it and confirms his understanding.
Let’s Sum It Up
Effective communication is a crucial factor in a career building and private life. Thus, a really great teacher is able to make a tremendous impact on a student life by developing practical communication skills every person should have to be heard and understood correctly and avoid any cumbersome situations.