Literacy 4

Oral communication

       The skill of oral communication is so important, for so many reasons, it is hard to cover all the reasons why. The skill of oral communication is actually one of the first things we learn to do as babies. The goo-goo ga-gas eventually become Mama's and Dada's, and from there, the next thing you know you have a child that is giving a speech in Washington D.C., in front of an attentive crowd of around a quarter of a million people. Now although the initial steps taken to learning how to speak seem to come naturally and effortlessly, there comes a time where situation becomes a little more complex, and therefore needs a little more effort. So, how does one grow from making indiscernible sounds, to delivering the famous 'I have a Dream' speech? This is where a teacher comes in. A teacher does not necessarily have to mean someone who works at a school or some type of academic institution. A teacher can come in the form of a parent, a sibling, a friend, or even complete strangers on a television screen. It is important for us, as educators to help navigate children through all these outlets.
       Often times, the mind of children are referred to as having super sponge-like qualities, because of how they are able to soak up a tremendous amount of information, from a large variety of sources, in a rather short period of time. This absorptive quality can be both good and bad. It can be good for many reason, in particular, as as it pertains to oral communication is good because it allows the child to increase their vocabulary by attaching context to the sounds that they hear. For example, children may quickly notice that the people around them use the words 'hunger' or 'hungry' when they desire to eat food, therefore, the next time the child desires to eat they will know that they can use the words 'hunger' or 'hungry' to express that they have an appetite for food. The Problems, however, may arise if some of the sources that child is exposed to do not use words in a way that follows the rules of grammar, and/or, may use language that is offensive and hateful. These 'lessons' children receive have the ability to, not only change the size of their vocabulary, but to also change outlook on life. If a child is always used to hearing words, and seeing contexts, that perpetuate discrimination and hate, it will come as no surprise if one day that child grows up to, instead of giving speeches similar to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gives speeches that sound more alike to those of Adolf Hitler. This is only a glimpse of the power of words and oral communication.
       If language was a spider-web, then oral communication would be at the very center; it is connected to everything. It is only once children learn how to speak, that they may be lucky enough to be taken under the wing a teacher and taught how to also read and write. Through oral communication, teachers can go through the alphabet and how the alphabet is used to make symbols that represent the words we want to communicate to others. Oral communication is the essential foundation that all other types of learning are built upon. Although oral communication can be converted into written communication, it is not equivalent. For example, simply writing an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence cannot necessarily do justice in displaying to the reader just how excited the author is. It is also impossible to hear the tremble in someone's voice when they are telling their partner that they love them for the first time, but are afraid that their partner might not feel the same way, so to simply write 'i love you' would not do the story-telling of that scenario justice.

       Oral communication is also essential to the growth of society. If people are communicating by means other than face to face dialogue, they are losing something...something special. It is a lot easier to develop a connection and a close bond to someone when you interact with them in person, rather than through text. Oral communication also does a good job of teaching us to connect with others because when we speak to others we must take into consideration what words we will choose so that others can understand us properly.
       All in all, oral communication is too important, and has too many benefits to summarize in a single blog post. The topic is so expansive that as educators we might not be able to cover all the benefits of oral communication with our students even if we are given the entire school year! However, we should not despair. We should instead try to show them the power of oral communication, and give them the tools they need in order to know what are the good aspects of oral communication that they need to continue to learn and master, and what are the bad aspects of oral communication that we need to be aware of and avoid.