How do you make yourself understood? Sometimes I overhear a conversation where someone is clearly having difficulty understanding. After you get the message that, you have not been understood simply repeating, the message is not your best option. Reasons for not being understood can be varied. For instance, dropping the endings of words in English …
Category Archives: Communication
What did you say? I didn’t understand you
When someone is not clearly understood, it is left to the listener to ask for clarification. In a one on one conversation, this is not difficult and asking, “What did you say” may be inconvenient, but most are willing. Nothing is lost. However, when speaking in front of a group, relying on the listener request …
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Recognizing and honoring our strengths
Today a student asked me why he had to take college preparatory classes when he wanted to become an auto mechanic. It was hard to explain to him how adults have decided that every child has to be college bound even if their strengths lie in another direction. This student knew that he needed hands …
Blogging
I recognize that blogging is a challenge for me, not because I don’t have ideas. No, it’s a challenge because writing for me requires some passion and time. However, I realize there is so much to say about working with people that struggle with communication. I am going to link my blogging to my twittering, …
Public speaking
Another quality that is necessary for good public speak is intelligibility. Can the listener understand each word? This is were accent comes into play. I love a beautiful accents, but Americans unfortunately are not accustomed to strong accent variation. Therefore when making presentations to Americans it is important to be intelligible if you want to …
What makes a good public speaker?
Have you ever been to a conference and afterward felt motivated to conqueror new challenges? What is it that makes someone an effective speaker? Is it simply the words? I would love comments on what qualities people have admired in a good speaker.
Speak up I can’t hear you: Public speaking
Public speaking can be difficult for most of us. Speaking in front of strangers requires good verbal and nonverbal communication. I attended a lecture were the speaker spoke very quickly and mumbled, constantly looked down, and had a thick accent. Needless to say, he was difficult to understand which was too bad because he had …
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Motivated by interest
Everyone is good at something. Real life experiences in areas of strength help to balance the feeling of failure. Encouraging and developing other areas of interest offer another way to motivate during difficult tasks or when working in difficult areas. The love of a computer or football, can be used to help make task bearable.
Summer break
I’m off for the summer. Please come visit in September when I will start again.
Break it down
Positive comments and small successes can begin to repair motivation, but motivation can not be maintained if the tasks required are not felt to be achievable. For many students with language-based learning disabilities, repeated failures have destroyed motivation and undermined competence. Small encouragements may not be enough, so breaking down challenging task into manageable pieces …