As the name of the module suggests, it is to brush up our communication skills as future teachers. No doubt, this is a course that I will be benefit from, as I told myself at the beginning of this course.
In this course, I have learnt more regarding my role as a teacher, like how to communicate effectively with parents, with the principal, with fellow colleagues and with the students. To communicate more effectively, we need to take into account the purpose of our talk, the audience and the context of the talk. That is the first thing I have learnt from this course, the PACs.
I have learnt the correct way of pronunciation and the tutor has introduced us some useful tools such as http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ to check the correct pronunciation of a word when I am not sure about it.
The oral presentation gave me another chance to practice my speaking skills. Even though I have attended a series of training regarding presentation skills, I still find this part useful as we have been given more details regarding different part of a speech, and I have learnt to pay more attention to the detail of a presentation, such as the "s" pronounced unintentionally after a noun. We may not notice such minor errors, but this is an important aspect, as it affects how the students and parents view us as teachers.
In the written communication lesson, we have looked at a few examples written by previous beginning teachers. Through the examples presented to us, I have discovered more about our writing problems, and even the attitude of a teacher. For example, when we have to take leave for urgent matters, is it the job of the tutor to tell us what documents/proof to submit for verification, or is it our duty to let the tutor know what documents/proof we already have regarding the urgent matter. So, that is the most important thing I have learnt from the written skills lesson apart from the important writing skills, and I am very thankful that I have learnt it at this stage, when I am still in NIE. And I will definitely take more ownership of MY duties in the future.
All in all, I am very thankful that I have learnt some useful skills in this course, and the right attitude a teacher should have. Thank you, Ms Ayyavoo.
