Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 47

DEVELOPING SOFT SKILLS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Marinela Onițiu, Colegiul Național „Gheorghe Lazăr” Sibiu
Abstract: Teaching today’s digital high school students involves a switch from the traditional
approaches, methods and techniques as the outcome expected covers a wider range of skills which
the learners will use throughout their lives. Soft skills are those which ensure the students today
and adults tomorrow the necessary equipment to transcend the present and adapt to their future.
Presentation skills, growth mindset, resilience, self-awareness and self-confidence are only some
examples of such skills to be considered and developed during English classes to the long-term
benefit of the students.
Key words: soft skills, develop soft skills, presentation skills, growth mindset, resilience, self-
awareness, self-confidence.
Today’s teaching-learning-assessing environment has been redefined lately,
involving more activities meant to develop lifelong skills the students are to use
throughout their lives. Thus, 20th century innovative teaching covered extensively
teamwork and communication skills, while some others like presentation, stress-
management skills were either overlooked or simply left aside, being considered
unimportant and obsolete, neither interesting nor useful enough so as to be tackled
separately and differently. Indeed, these soft skills are not to be considered or
developed in special teaching-learning sessions, nor are they to be overlooked
completely as they highly contribute to one’s holistic approach, with results not only
on short-term assessment but also on long-term development.
Moreover, soft skills, as opposed to hard and even technical skills, are to be used
beyond the classroom or other limited environments. They can be defined as those
skills that will be there for you no matter what position you apply for or what kind of
work you have to do. According to Stanford engineer Lei Han, soft skills can be
defined by three characteristics: they are not black and white, meaning that how
effective you are when using a soft skill changes due to external factors, people
you interact with or your emotional state; they are also portable skills, being
transferred to the job you are to do; mastering them is considered an ongoing
journey as new situations will trigger the need to develop them more.
There is an array of activities which could be included in the English class so as to
develop such soft skills, these suggestions not being confined to the teaching and
learning of this language, but they can be easily adapted to other school subjects.
The students can be easily persuaded to take part in them as their relevance to
real life situations, although not directly measurable in points or marks, can be
clearly noticed and felt. More than that, they will make the classes and
subsequently the learning more appealing and relevant to the learners.
Presentation or Public Speaking skills, although basic and simple at first sight,
could pose tremendous problems to both the students today and the adults
tomorrow. Most of the working people feel reluctant when it comes to speaking in
front of a small or large audience, some never overcome this fear, with clear
consequences on their career development or chances of promotion. Developing
such skills might have a notable impact on their career boost and future life. A
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