Throughout
the communication skills course, we have learnt several modules, namely
Pronounciation, Oral Communication, Voice Production and Vocal Health, Written
Communication and Classrom Communication. The course was conducted with a
blended approach, in which students can choose whether they would like to
attend the modules online or face to face. This is the first time I attended a course
with such an approach, and being someone who enjoys sitting in the classroom
and interacting with the instructor and other students, I have opted for all
face-to-face options. However, I think the materials that are put up online
(for those who are doing online) are great resources even for us who did the
face-to-face modules. We could either skim through them before class, or check
on them if we have missed something in class. The organisation and type of
materials put up online is something that I could apply in my future teaching
career. Since now many schools are doing e-learning, having gone through this
module with very rich online material I learnt that the success of e-learning
depends on how the teachers prepare and organise the online learning materials.
Some student-teachers also seem to enjoy e-elearning, so perhaps next time as a
teacher I can put up online learning materials periodically to suit the needs
of those who prefer this learning method.
In
terms of the content of the course, the importance of Purpose, Audience and
Context (PAC) was emphasised throughout. This is something that will be
applicable to almost any situation in my future career, especially as the main
job of teacher is to communicate with the students. I have also learnt that
communication is not only a one way process, but at the end of the day it is
about whether the audience get the intended message. This is something that I
would try to keep in mind every time I teach in a classroom. This is so because
many of times, the teacher can say so much but students will not understand.
Perhaps if teachers are more mindful of PAC, the students will understand
better.
Other skills that were through during the module such as
vocal health and production and email writing will also be very useful in the
future. Writing emails is something that teachers do on an almost daily basis.
Scenarios presented were realistic, and allowed us to practice. The tutor also
shares good practices on email writing, such as breaking long passages into
point form. However, some other activities, such as oral communication test
could be better tailored to fit real situations in school. For example, the
scenarios that require student-teachers to speak to a principal/vice principal seem
rather odd, since these are usually conversations instead of a 2-3 minute
speech.
All in all, many aspects of these modules can be applied to
my future teaching career, and I hope in the future I will be able to improve
as a teacher through incorporating the skills taught in this module.
