talk less, listen more
1. listen to what comes out of your mouth
don't just speak, listen to yourself and assess: does it make sense? do I need to re-phrase? repeat? am I speaking too quickly? boring myself? waffling? talking about something which has no relevance to the training? which words do I use too often?
2. face your students
how else can a trainer know if they are making sense to the student's? watch their faces and body language, then question yourself, are the students confused? bored? ready for a break? interested and want more information?
3. use short and simple words
never use a long word when a short one will work just as well (see here for more details). this is something native English speakers find difficult to begin with, long complicated words seem to indicate intellectual ability. remember this: training aims to give students skills to use in the work place. using long and complicated words mean non-native speakers are wondering about what the words mean, rather than learning the skill
4. use work-place examples and anecdotes [ann-ech-dotes]
relevant examples from the workplace explain quickly and easily what should be done, or what shouldn't be done and makes the training feel more relevant and realistic. don't forget to summarise these when planning the training, they can go on for far too long if not.
don't just speak, listen to yourself and assess: does it make sense? do I need to re-phrase? repeat? am I speaking too quickly? boring myself? waffling? talking about something which has no relevance to the training? which words do I use too often?
2. face your students
how else can a trainer know if they are making sense to the student's? watch their faces and body language, then question yourself, are the students confused? bored? ready for a break? interested and want more information?
3. use short and simple words
never use a long word when a short one will work just as well (see here for more details). this is something native English speakers find difficult to begin with, long complicated words seem to indicate intellectual ability. remember this: training aims to give students skills to use in the work place. using long and complicated words mean non-native speakers are wondering about what the words mean, rather than learning the skill
4. use work-place examples and anecdotes [ann-ech-dotes]
relevant examples from the workplace explain quickly and easily what should be done, or what shouldn't be done and makes the training feel more relevant and realistic. don't forget to summarise these when planning the training, they can go on for far too long if not.
5. stop talking
every so often ask the students questions, ask them to describe their experiences or do an activity. it's tiring to listen to someone else talk and talk and then they talk some more. and more.
Practice
1.
listen to what you say for 10 minutes for the next six days. then replace all words with four or more syllables (and this means every single one) with words of three or less syllables.
2.
go through the handout materials and do the same thing. remove all words with four or more syllables and replace them with words of three or less syllables.
3.
time the amount of time spent talking in a training session. track every single minute, then work out how to remove 10% of this talking time. then do it again in the next session.
image taken from here
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