Reflections on
the Communication Skills for Teachers’ course
My communicative strengths include being
very expressive and uses a variety of tone. I do well in relating to children
as my facial expressions, body gestures as well as tone and pitch are engaging,
especially to young children. In
addition, my articulation is also clear and easily understood. I am able to
communicate my point of view effectively to my teacher and peers. For example, I voice out my opinions and
queries during the class and participate actively in class discussions.
This course has benefited me greatly in
terms of pronunciation. While I cannot say that I have perfect grasp of pronunciation,
the course has raised my awareness of the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA), which is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation and is used as a
standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. Furthermore, the
introduction of resources such as http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
and http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/
has improved my pronunciation and communication skills. The chapter on written
communication has also helped my letter and e-mail writing ability, which is essential
for my teaching career. Previously, I was uncertain on salutations and complimentary
closes. However, this course has taught me which salutation and complimentary
closes to use and when as appropriate to the context. I also learnt that certain
clichéd phrases such as “Any inconvenience causes is deeply regretted” may
sound artificial and do not help to make my writing effective. As I used to end
off my e-mails with such phrases, I have since refrained from using such
phrases. Additionally, I am more aware of ways to soften the tone of message
such as phrasing a request as a question and use suitable modals such as ‘would’
or ‘could’ instead of ‘should’.
No comments:
Post a Comment