Skills for an Effective Communication

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As an early childhood educator being able to communicate effectively is very important; without the ability to do so would make it very difficult to successfully teach children and build working relationships with parents and staff. Communicating is the ability to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings both verbally and non-verbally. Verbal communication can consist of spoken conversations (face to face or phone calls) or written messages (letters, emails & newsletters). Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, body language, eye contact, tone and pauses and is less direct but just as important. Good communication skills are essential for anyone working in the early childhood industry, because being able to communicate effectively allows adaption of teaching methods in order to individually cater for and maximize the child’s learning and development, as well as effectively informing and involving the parents in the needs of the child.
Learning occurs in different ways, some learn through watching, others through listening. There are also those that learn through participation as well as repetition. There are many ways to communicate with children to promote their willingness to learn such as singing songs, drawing pictures, creating art books and making models or objects. Visual aids can be useful for those who are visual learners and oral communication will benefit the others. Dau (2005) states that using rhymes can encourage language growth by offering a repeated pattern of words to a tune, many children with slower language development benefit greatly this way. Having words sung to a tune makes it easier for them to recall.
Young children can learn by mimicking or copying people and objects around th...

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