Good Communication Skills are Essential for Early Childhood Educators - Article Example

Good Communication Skills are Essential for Early Childhood Educators Author’s Name Institution Good communication skills are those that enable effective communication between educator and the child. Effectual communication engages technical know-how, the best channels of communication, skill to understand responses received from the child and presentation of information to the child. There are three types of communication skills, listening skills, expressive skills and skills for communication management. The fundamentals of all communications are emotional skills. Expressive skills are required in order to deliver the right message and convey it properly to the child. These involve body languages and facial expression. Without this, an educator looses the connection with the young one since one appears to be cold. As an example, when one smiles while delivering the message, the child will be more interested with what you have to offer in contrast to a stern look. Listening skills are those that are used in obtaining information and messages from others. It is imperative that you have the ability to receive feedback from the child so that you may know their needs. It helps to understand what a person thinks and feels and hence to understand the child closely. Skills for managing the process of communication will help the educator in recognizing information required and developing strong hold on the rules of interaction and communication (MacCallion, 1988). Communication has been described as the process where information is transmitted from a person to another. This includes the use of both verbal and non verbal means to convey a message. Non verbal communication includes facial expression as well as body language. Good communication skills involve listening, reading, writing and speaking. An early childhood educator deals with children between the infancy and 8years. It is at this age when the child learns to relate with others as well as the society. Good communication skills are thus essential for early childhood educators as they may influence the relationship between the teacher and children. The educators’ interpersonal skill will determine whether the children will accept or reject the teacher (Hubley, 1993). Teaching involves sending and receiving information from the students. Good communications skills will encourage the students to participate in the teaching process. This helps portray school as a place where the students can share ideas as well as relate with the society. At this early age, most of the children perceive school as an institution that separates them from their family. It is likely that most of the children at this age will prefer to stay at home rather than attend school. Good communication skills will help encourage students to appreciate school as an institution of learning as well as expressing their own ideas (Joram, 1998). Good communication skills are essential in early childhood education. This is because at this age the child is learning how to express themselves both verbally and non-verbally. According to recent studies, children at this age learn by observing how their parents and caretakers behave. It is thus essential that the educator has good communication skills as this will affect how the children express themselves in the future. The main aim of early childhood education is to encourage academic, emotional and physical growth. However at this age the learning abilities of a child are not fully developed. In a recent study the concentration span of an adult is below 15 minutes while that of a child is less than 5 minutes. This means that the educator has to find ways to engage the child by maintaining a long concentration span. This involves the use of illustrations as well as demonstration that help attract the interest of the child. Good communication skills are thus essential in enhancing the educators’ ability to maintain the child’s concentration span (Joram, 1998). Childhood education involves the use of play as the mode of education. This is important in fostering the child’s development as well as learning. Good communication skills are essential in providing an environment in which the children feel free to play with each other as well as participate in the class activity. Play involves participation of the children as well the educator. It is thus essential for the teacher to be able to create a free environment where the child is confident to interact with others and express themselves. The role of the educator does not solely lie in teaching but also protecting the child in the absence of their parents. The educator should promote the child’s wellbeing both at school and home. It was reported that most of the child abuse cases are noticed by the Kindergarten teachers. This is because they interact and spend most of the time with the child. Good communication skills can thus not be ignored in providing an environment in which the child is free to express their fears. Listening is a key role in enhancing good communication skills. In cases where the child is abused at home, listening as well as empathizing with the child will help in detecting the abuse cases (Hubley, 1993). It is essential that the educator observes the children playing first before participating in the play. This helps the teacher understand the strengths and weaknesses of the children. It also helps the teacher avoid imposing adult ideas in the children’s play. Observation is a key aspect in developing good communication skills. It is through observation that the educator is able to take an initiative role. This means coming up with new ideas or processes that are based on the children’s ideas (McCarthy, 1996). Communication is important in order to facilitate learning and development. Research has shown that children benefit and enjoy from short group sessions in which they acquire the art of listening to the teacher and each other, singing together and developing a habit to remember to keep time and to plan. Good communication skills will enable an educator to focus children’s attention on process, concept or skill and provide the chance for self-initiated practice and investigation. Children benefit from guided discussions and field trips. All these will lead building of interest and enhancing of self-initiated activities. Excellent communication skills are required in order to accomplish the above. Small group activities encourage the young ones to contribute to free flow of ideas and to focus on a topic. Here, the educator may pose problems or questions so that the children may express the solutions, relevant ideas and words. Listening skills will enable the teacher to accept contribution without judgment or criticism. The skill of managing the process of communication will enable the teacher to make every child participate in such an activity and hence clearly demonstrating the importance of good communication skills. Children are therefore able listen to what others say and express ideas and hence adjust their previous understanding or knowledge, increase their level of awareness and accommodate new information. Emphasis is laid on active listening during such sessions (Wubbels, 1992). Other activities such as choral speaking need a good communicator so as to undertake. Choral speaking involves oral interpretation of literature. It refers to experiences where children recite passages from memory. This activity deepens the child’s enjoyment of literature and understanding by experimenting with elements of voice, gestures and movements within a supportive environment. With such activities, children experience success. This requires an avid listener to oversee and hence displaying further the benefits of good communication skills (Hubley, 1993). Good skills of communication can enable a teacher to organize child conferences which provides the opportunity for teacher and student to discuss experience, drawing or projects and to plan for future learning experiences. Good skills will enable the teacher to guide the children to resources that are relevant to the needs and interests and to more challenging activities. Teachers can then be able to learn a lot about their students. The educator can also engage the young ones in cooperative learning where children complete a project or task. Pairs work best in kindergartens. The tasks are in such a way that success of the performance is based on the pair rather than the individual. A good educator should therefore be able to ensure that communication is established in such learning experiences (Wubbels, 1992). Another area where communications skills are essential is in the facilitation of discussions. Discussion is noted to be the oral exploration of an object, topic, experience and concepts. All children need the frequent opportunities come up with and share their ideas and questions in a class setting. Skillful teachers are able to accept the comments and questions without judgment and are able to clarify understandings by paraphrasing terms that are difficult. These stimulate exchange of ideas in a class setting. Use of illustrations has been shown to build the imagination of a child immensely. Good communications skills emphasis on the power of expressing yourself not only facial and gestures but also employing other teaching materials such as illustrations. By illustrating sections of a story or particular events, children can improve their interpretation and comprehension. Children employ responses and personal understanding when they depict story characters visually. This develops child’s imagination and the ability to visualize and interpret printed and aural information (Hubley, 1993). The importance of communication cannot be stressed further when it comes to early childhood. Communication skills are core of almost all activities that are practiced at this tender age which dictates the type of a person that one will grow to. Neither can the importance of communication skills be neglected or ignored. Effective communication promotes the interest and needs of the young one. The child will show interest only if the teacher is loaded with gestures, confidence and softness. Improving of the communication skills have been shown to bring about a tight bond between the childhood educator and the child. The integral aspects of life are largely influenced by good communication skills. This leads to reverential and effectual relationships between the educator and child. Hence, these skills help the educator’s endeavors while fighting for a cause and waiting for results. In order to feel and have the bliss of healthy emotions at home, there is need to develop communication skills when it comes to children. Most educators are not meticulous when it comes to communication and hence emotional attachments are seldom. Emotions connect human beings in a complex fashion. It is therefore paramount that early childhood educators acquire good skills of communication so as to ensure that the young brain is able to gather as much as possible and express as much. In doing so, the literacy level of the general population will reach unimaginable levels. Reference List Hubley, J. (1993). Communication Health. London: Macmillan. Joram, E. (1998). Transforming obstacles into opportunities. Teaching and teacher education, 14(2), 175-191. MacCallion, M. (1988). The voice book. London: Faber & Faber. McCarthy, P. (1996). Speaking Persuasively. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. Wubbels, T. (1992). Taking account of teacher child communication. Teaching and Teacher Education, 8, 137-155. Read More

The main aim of early childhood education is to encourage academic, emotional and physical growth. However at this age the learning abilities of a child are not fully developed. In a recent study the concentration span of an adult is below 15 minutes while that of a child is less than 5 minutes. This means that the educator has to find ways to engage the child by maintaining a long concentration span. This involves the use of illustrations as well as demonstration that help attract the interest of the child.

Good communication skills are thus essential in enhancing the educators’ ability to maintain the child’s concentration span (Joram, 1998). Childhood education involves the use of play as the mode of education. This is important in fostering the child’s development as well as learning. Good communication skills are essential in providing an environment in which the children feel free to play with each other as well as participate in the class activity. Play involves participation of the children as well the educator.

It is thus essential for the teacher to be able to create a free environment where the child is confident to interact with others and express themselves. The role of the educator does not solely lie in teaching but also protecting the child in the absence of their parents. The educator should promote the child’s wellbeing both at school and home. It was reported that most of the child abuse cases are noticed by the Kindergarten teachers. This is because they interact and spend most of the time with the child.

Good communication skills can thus not be ignored in providing an environment in which the child is free to express their fears. Listening is a key role in enhancing good communication skills. In cases where the child is abused at home, listening as well as empathizing with the child will help in detecting the abuse cases (Hubley, 1993). It is essential that the educator observes the children playing first before participating in the play. This helps the teacher understand the strengths and weaknesses of the children.

It also helps the teacher avoid imposing adult ideas in the children’s play. Observation is a key aspect in developing good communication skills. It is through observation that the educator is able to take an initiative role. This means coming up with new ideas or processes that are based on the children’s ideas (McCarthy, 1996). Communication is important in order to facilitate learning and development. Research has shown that children benefit and enjoy from short group sessions in which they acquire the art of listening to the teacher and each other, singing together and developing a habit to remember to keep time and to plan.

Good communication skills will enable an educator to focus children’s attention on process, concept or skill and provide the chance for self-initiated practice and investigation. Children benefit from guided discussions and field trips. All these will lead building of interest and enhancing of self-initiated activities. Excellent communication skills are required in order to accomplish the above. Small group activities encourage the young ones to contribute to free flow of ideas and to focus on a topic.

Here, the educator may pose problems or questions so that the children may express the solutions, relevant ideas and words. Listening skills will enable the teacher to accept contribution without judgment or criticism. The skill of managing the process of communication will enable the teacher to make every child participate in such an activity and hence clearly demonstrating the importance of good communication skills. Children are therefore able listen to what others say and express ideas and hence adjust their previous understanding or knowledge, increase their level of awareness and accommodate new information.

Emphasis is laid on active listening during such sessions (Wubbels, 1992). Other activities such as choral speaking need a good communicator so as to undertake.

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