Introduction
Communication is the passing of information from one person, in this case known as the transmitter, to another person or person who is the recipient through a particular medium which could either be verbal, written, and visual or sign language. Communication skills therefore are the skills needed in or to enable proper transmitting and reception of information from one person to another, unless what is communicated is received an understood by the recipient, there is no communication. Social skills on the other hand are the skills that help in dealing in relating properly with the other members of the society (Cummings, 2000). These skills include skills such as networking skills, bonding skills, problem solving skills, conflict solving skills, leadership skills and much more.
Communication skills and social skills are an essential part of our daily life. We need to communicate in order to have tasks done and to pass and receive information. They also help people in relating well to one another. They are useful in the survival of the community.
There are various contents of instruction that ease the passing of information from the transmitter to the recipient. This includes things such as vocabulary and expressive communication. They help to ensure proper communication and endear an instructor to the listener. Good command of a language enables on to communicate appropriately. Each language has distinct vocabulary that developed due to the unique characteristics that were prevailing in different areas and influenced the development of these languages. Before making any communication it is important to consider the type of audience you are communicating to, because this determine the kin d of vocabulary and the level of expression one is going to use among others. The domains of instruction include, making communication clear and accurate, making use of questions and discussion techniques, involving the learners in learning process, providing feedback to students and demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness. To communicate clearly and precisely the teacher should use directions and processes that are straight forward to the learners (Francis, 1999).
The teacher should make use of the appropriate vocabulary. This means that the teacher should bear in mind the background of the students and the age. He/ she should show great ability to enrich the lesson. When using question and discussion techniques, the teacher should use high quality questions. He should also give his learns adequate time for them to formulate their response. The student should also be given some form of control to run discussions.
Engaging of students in learning is also another very important aspect which should be coupled with allowing students’ experiences to come into action as they are mentally taught the goals of the lesson. It is also very important to give some feedback to the student. The feed back should be of qualitative and consistency. The feed back should also be provided at the appropriate time. Lastly by the teacher being flexible and responsive he or s he should be able to make smooth adjustment to lessons without interfering with the learning and. The students’ interests should be accommodated sufficiently.
The social skills are supposed to give rise well formulated people. Students with special needs can be enabled to blend well with the rest of the society (Margaret & Gideon 2001). They can establish lasting, rewarding relations with great and vibrant confidence. Although social skills may be learned during the normal development of normal children, learners with disabilities may require direct instructing and tutoring to be enabled to learn the skills. Such a category of students may entail students who have learning disabilities (LD), those with pervasive development disorder (PDD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), those with fatal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and attention- deficiency hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Students who face the risk of school failure also require direct tutoring in odder to develop social skills (Cummings, 2000). There is great need to include social skills in the curriculum so that student can be taught these skills while in school. This is because these skills are normally obtained during the learning process which mostly occurs in the class room.
Methods of language and Social skill instruction used in natural environment
The natural environment includes the usual class environment. In such an environment it is important that to effectively teach social skills the teacher should first identify the skills he/she is going to teach. The second step will be to determine the method that will best meet the requirements of the student. The teacher should seek on how to model the skill, create opportunities for students to rehearse the skills and give feed back. Lastly the teacher evaluates the skills the students have acquired. If the student are allowed to practice and use the skills daily they end up internalizing the skills.
The teacher can also use proper arrangement of students in a class to provide for adequate student to student interaction as well as teacher student interactions for proper development of social skills.
The teacher should also ensure that the classroom schedules facilitate learning and practicing of these social skills by the learners.
The teacher can use direct structured approach to give instructions to learners. This may include social skills exchanged in daily classroom learning through: using the teacher student interactions as a basis for practicing the skills, reading of children stories and other literatures that may be helpful. Discussing a child’s actions and their outcome and what the child should do if faced by a similar circumstance again.
Methods of language and social skills instruction appropriate for isolated and “simulated” situations
Isolate and simulated situation are normally created to produce condition that are not naturally available for the training of the students but occur in life. This is done through creation of mini plays to be done by children or the students. The plays ape various situations in real life (Francis, 1999). It can also be done through children games. Learners may be isolated according to their individual needs or group needs. Learners with alcoholic tendencies can be isolated and kept in places where they can’t access alcohol to help in fighting their addictions.
Conclusion
The present day society requires people to be able to deal with one another appropriately thus the need for proper social skills. People with disabilities especially children need great assistance so as to acquire these special skills that are useful in their daily life. There is need to increase the number of teachers who can handle students with various disabilities and special needs. This will give these students an opportunity to develop social skills like their able counter parts.
Proper planning is also very important as it ensures that all the necessary tasks are done properly and according to schedule. It is also worth noting that these skills can’t be learnt within a day. This calls for patience. The teachers or trainers should be very patient with their students if they hope to achieve something out of their efforts.
Reference
Cummings, C. (2000). Winning policies for classroom management. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Francis, B. (1999) The intermediation in the classroom setup learner teacher understanding m, 22-28.
Margaret K and Gideon F, (2001). Important passage of information following the ethical perspective: a vision from east Africa. Longman publications.(1)2, 9 -10.
Margaret K and Gideon F,(2001) Antisocial behavior in school: Strategies and best practices. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.