To what extent do you think you will be able to apply what you have learned in this course to your future teaching career?
It has been 12 weeks since this course started and it has no doubt been an enriching and enlightening learning experience; dwelling deep into the fields of professional communication. Personally, this course has been particularly relevant and useful for beginning teachers as in this profession, one needs to not only be able to pronounce accurately but also be aware of the appropriate tone and register to be used. The module on Pronunciation gave me an opportunity to learn about phonetics and it was only then that I realised I have been mispronouncing many common words. For example, "salmon" and "almond" should be pronounced with a silent "l". As an English teacher, I recognise my role as a good model to speak good standard Singapore English at all times. Furthermore, as teachers, one will definitely have to speak to people coming from different ranks and background (colleagues, superiors, parents, vendors etc). Through the Oral Communication course, I have learnt when and how to apply the correct tone and register when speaking.
In the teaching profession, we need to constantly remember the need to carry ourselves well as this would ultimately affect the school's reputation. Written communication plays as important a role as oral communication. The module on Written Communication has imparted to me the skills needed in writing good emails, students' testimonials and comments for report cards. For emails, one must not only be succinct in stating the objectives, but also watch the words that we use as that would display the tone of the email. As a professional working adult, I have learnt to avoid using cliché words and more importantly, be consciously mindful of the purpose, audience and context (PAC) when writing an email. With regards to students' testimonials and report cards, I have recognised the importance of giving constructive feedback and positive comments to motivate the students and help them improve.
The online module on Vocal Health and Production has enlightened me on the different ways and techniques that I can employ to protect my voice and enhance my voice quality when teaching. Needless to say, as teachers, our voice is one of our most important assets. If not taken care of properly, it would adversely affect our classroom delivery. The videos were insightful and practical, providing a platform for us to practise the different techniques of breathing and voice projection.
In terms of classroom communication, this module has given me new perspectives of how different type of questions can and should be used to aid classroom teaching. In order to make learning meaningful, it is beneficial to integrate a variety of questions in the teaching. Predictive and interpretative questions should be asked on top of factual questions as it can instil higher-order thinking and train our students to be thinkers and not take information at face value.
On the whole, this course has been really insightful and practical. The skills and techniques learnt are relevant and will definitely come in handy for beginning teachers like myself.
