The nature of learning is changing all over the world. With technological advancements and behavioural changes, students must learn soft skills. This is because soft skills are now more in demand than the aspect of hard skills. But unfortunately, our educational system is not being transformed like this. Therefore, students need to learn soft skills on their own. Sometimes, educational institutes can arrange some activities for enhancing their students’ soft skills.
Class activities play a crucial role in shaping students’ skills. Students must prepare for the future. In the future, soft skills will be more in demand as compared to the hard skills. To better prepare students for the future, educational institutes need to teach them skills. Such skills can come only through practical learning of the candidates. Practical learning can come through training exercises that schools can arrange for their children. So what are the top training exercises that students can use for improving their soft skills? Today’s article will revolve around this question. Before wasting any time further, let’s move on to the top training exercises.
Top Training Exercises
The school curriculum sometimes includes some activities. They include only the basic ones. And they give students an overview of the different soft skills. But these activities play a crucial role in improving a student’s skills in general. A brief description of some of the major top training exercises is as follows;
Group Assignment
Group assignment is the first training exercise for building soft skills. It is not an uncommon method. But instead, it is more like a traditional method that most teachers, and students follow. In this exercise, students work in the form of groups. Every student provides his/her input to the project. Some students may agree on a point, whereas the others might disagree. Yet this amazing mixture of agreement, and disagreement proves to be very beneficial.
In such exercises, there is always a group leader. This group leader is responsible for his own group. Whenever the group needs any help, the leader goes to the teacher and asks for the necessary support. Later on, he communicates the information to his fellow students. This exercise will thus improve the following major soft skills of students;
- Teamwork skills
- Communication, and Listening skills
- Conflict resolution skills
- Leadership skills
Presentation Training Exercise
Presentations are common in colleges. The teachers also assign presentations to students for improving their soft skills. Presentation training exercises also improve technology using skills of the students. To make a presentation, a student has to make use of several technological means. It can be using the internet to collect information, images, and viewpoints for adding to the presentation. Presentation activity can also happen in groups. Here the group participants divide each section of the presentation among them. Then each one of them will come, and explain his part.
This training activity enhances the teamwork skills of students. Along with this, students have to prove the points that they will be making in a presentation. In short, it’s a good activity for improving their soft skills. The most notable soft skills that this exercise can improve are as follows;
- Critical thinking
- Public speaking
- Listening, and teamwork skills
TED-Ed Talks Video Exercise
TED-Ed talks are also a great opportunity to improve students’ soft skills. In this context, the schools must arrange regular sessions for students to attend. These sessions will improve the listening abilities of students. Along with this, the students will also get motivated regarding any issues being discussed in the video. Regardless of the subject, there will be a TED-Ed talk video on it. The teachers can play that video in the classroom as well.
The basic purpose of a video exercise is to improve the students’ soft skills. After playing this video, the teacher can hold a group discussion on the topic, and take the views of different students. Another thing that you can do is assign a TED-Ed talk video to your students. The students will have to watch the video at home, and pen down all the information that they gather. From this training exercise, students will learn soft skills like;
- Public speaking strategies
- Listening skills
Assign Homework
If the school allows flexibility, teachers should assign their students homework. Homework is a great activity for learning. This is because students have to think about the problem at hand. They have to think, and analyse things on their own. The students will make extensive use of the internet to get it done. It will ultimately improve their soft skills for their coursework writing assignments.
This activity develops autonomous learning. Autonomous learning is the aspect that an individual does independently. At the university level, students have to study without the help of teachers. It also develops a sense of responsibility in them. This is because it is no more a school where the teacher will tell them everything. It is the university. The teacher may ask students why they choose this subject. Of course, every student will answer according to him. This homework assigning activity fosters soft skills like;
- Decision making
- Self-assessment
- Self-learning
Pair Discussion Exercises
Grouping the students in pairs, and discussing something is a great soft skill learning opportunity. This is because the subjects under discussion can be different. The topics can be related to education, or general ones. It doesn’t matter. This setup of discussion encourages respecting the point of view of others. It also encourages empathy, and listening skills.
The sense of teamwork also prevails in this training exercise. One student talks, while the other summarises the whole idea, and delivers the message effectively. Another activity in this regard can be assigning students with homework. This homework will be like an interview session with a business professional. You may ask your students to go out, and interview people of different job natures. It will enhance their following skills;
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication skills
- Speaking, and Interacting skills
Conclusion
All in all, to ensure proper improvement in students’ soft skills, learning should go beyond the domain of academics. The academic course sometimes lacks such things. Hence modern education system should also be based on things that can improve the students’ skills within this context.
