5 Ways to Teach Communication Skills in School

In this article, we’ll explore five ways to teach communication skills where teachers can nurture these skills in their classrooms. From encouraging active listening to creating opportunities for group discussions, these strategies will equip students with the tools they need to communicate confidently and effectively in any setting.

Effective communication is a cornerstone of success in both personal and professional life, making it an essential skill for students to learn during their school years. Teaching communication skills in school not only helps students express themselves clearly but also fosters collaboration, critical thinking, and empathy.

In this blog post, we’ll explore five practical ways to help students improve their communication skills in school, building confidence, empathy, and clarity as they engage with peers, teachers, and the world around them.

Welcome to our building character education: kitchen to classroom series where we will look at five topics in which the kitchen inspires education. This article will focus on the importance of communication skills both inside and outside the classroom.

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The five points are:

• Audience
• Word Choice
• Intonation
• Clarity
• Body Language

Get a sneak peak at how to improve your communication skills by watching this video below!

Communicate from Kitchen to Classroom

Communication in the kitchen adds to the enjoyment of cooking! Communicating how delicious the meal you ate is one example! It can also be in how you teach someone how to make that recipe into an amazing meal for all to enjoy!

In the classroom, improving language skills through the four means of communication (listening, speaking, reading, writing) is one of the most important goals for both teachers and students. With the right choice of words,  communication in any form will always be at its best.

Watch this video below to see how communication in the kitchen can help build our language skills in the classroom.

For more benefits communication skill brings to education, click to read our kitchen to classroom article.

Improving your communication skills will also help you to better understand and handle your studies since you will be able explain with clarity what you know. 

Tools Teachers Can Use to Help Build Communication Skills

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links to highlighted products  to help master communication skills. By clicking on the links and making a purchase we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Click here for full disclosure.

Communication skills in the classroom are helped if students have the right tools. Below are five useful tools from Amazon that teachers can use to help students improve their communication skills:

Story Cubes
Rory’s Story Cubes are a set of dice with images that spark creativity. Students can roll the cubes and use the images to create stories, enhancing their verbal communication, imagination, and storytelling skills.

Classroom Conversation Starters
TableTopics – Classroom Edition offers conversation starter cards that encourage students to engage in meaningful dialogue, practice active listening, and develop their speaking skills in a group setting.

Flashcards for Vocabulary Building
Think Tank Scholar Vocabulary Flashcards help students improve their language skills by expanding their vocabulary. These cards are designed to strengthen both their spoken and written communication.

Public Speaking Activity Kit
The Speak Up! Conversation and Public Speaking Game is designed to help students practice public speaking and presenting in a fun, engaging way, boosting their confidence in communication.

Language Learning Board Games
Blurt! – The Uproarious Word Race Game is an educational board game that challenges students to think quickly and improve their vocabulary and verbal expression by describing words aloud.

These tools can help teachers create a dynamic, interactive learning environment where students can enhance their communication abilities.

 

5 Ways to Teach Communication Skills in School

We now look at the five points to consider when building your communication skills to help make life more enjoyable inside and outside the classroom. 

I. Audience

Before you think about choosing the words you will speak or write, consider who will be listening or reading what you have to say! 

Your audience is a very important point to consider since if you don’t consider who will benefit from what you have to say, you might as well talk to a wall. 

II. Word Choice

Words matter, so be careful how you put them together! 

Kindness also is the first thing you should consider when choosing the words to say. The golden rule (treat others the way you want to be treated) applies inside and outside the classroom.

The words you choose to speak should be to make what you feel and what you think known to others, all while considering that you speak with the intention to benefit others (your audience) and not yourself.

And if you can’t find anything nice, you can simply restrict your words to be about the weather.

III. Intonation

Intonation is the rising and falling of the voice when a person speaks. 

It’s what comedians (and teachers) use to bring laughter into people’s lives!

Intonation is an important point to consider in speaking  because it adds to what a person says. What it adds is an implicit (unspoken) meaning to the explicit meaning the person speaking is trying to give to others.

In other words, the intonation we use while speaking lets others in on the emotions we feel as we speak, so they should recognize then how to respond in the right way. 

IV. Clarity

If people don’t easily understand what we are trying to communicate, then we need to check our word choice, and intonation. 

Clarity in how we communicate is important to show so that misunderstanding do not happen. 

There are a few things to check to see if you give clarity when you speak;

• first, is the information easy to recall/follow
• second, is the word choice appropriate
• third, is the intonation choice appropriate for easy communication

V. Body Language

Using one’s voice is only one way of communicating. Body language is a very important point to consider when communicating since a person’s actions can ‘speak volumes’.

A person’s body language can show others if they are interested or not, or a whole other range of emotions. 

Related Topics

Connect to our other pages as you navigate through our website. Explore what these pages have to offer you and you will be glad you did!

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Final Thoughts…

Improving your communication skills inside and outside the classroom means you are aware that the points mentioned in this article help make a more positive impact on yourself and others in your daily life.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and found it useful for building good communication skills that will help with your educational goals in learning for years to come!

Share Your Thoughts…

Leave us a comment below to let us know your thoughts on our ideas on the importance of building your communication skills in education.