“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.”
― Adolf Hitler, Hitler’s Letters, and Notes

History is the witness that those who have conquered and won; not only had a strong army at their backs but also had the power to influence and power of persuasion, which was essential to keep and hold the public’s faith and support. If not, the chaos they caused would have swallowed them too.
Every conqueror in antiquity has one thing in common; their exceptional rhetoric skills. Imagine what would have happened if they never had proper oral skills and had no one to teach them? Our history would have been… Well, it wouldn’t be history anymore.

So as an educator, you have an opportunity to make sure that your potential student doesn’t lack behind because of their oral skills. Here are a few ways in which you can improve your student’s oral language skills:

1. Communication is vital

It is necessary to promote students to engage in conversations and talk in any particular language. Even if in the beginning, what they are speaking is incorrect but they should be habitual of talking in that language. And it will only happen when they will converse and interact with others as they will learn the right way eventually.
If your students are facing difficulty while conversing then you should initiate a conversation with them. It will be helpful for everyone as by initiating- you will encourage and motivate your students to try.
Don’t let them feel demotivated when they fail as it a continuous cycle and no one will achieve proficiency in a day.
To initiate, ask them questions; like-
– How was your day?
And let them follow the model and give the answer.

2. Confidence and Eye contact

Another vital thing is that your students speak confidently, they should believe in what they are saying for others to believe it. Lack of confidence will revoke the illusion and minuses the influence.
While they should know that being nervous is part of the process, they should also know that if they let that nervousness take over their mind, it will be a dead-end for them.
Hence, you may help them by conducting several sessions where they can come in front and subdue their fear.
They should also maintain constant eye contact with their audience to hold their attention and make them believe you. It will also help them in understanding whether they are being too loud or low, or if they are speaking quickly or too slow and they will able to make out if their audience is understanding what they are trying to say.

3. Verbalize and Converse clearly

It is must that students know the importance of verbalization. There is a very faint line between being audible and in yelling. Students should be cognizant of this and cautious that they don’t cross it.
They need to learn where to put stress and increase their volume and where to speak plainly as it makes all the difference in the world. The mix between being loud yet polite should be perfect to avoid appearing arrogant and bossy.
Vocal variations help others to understand which part of the information is important and which is there as a supporting argument.
If students are not clear and audible to their audience, they will lose their attention, which isn’t the goal. Help them by conducting a reading session in the class.

4. Play with tones

It is quite common that people take your loudness as a sign of your rudeness and wrong tones in a conversation, for the most part, are responsible for creating misunderstandings. Therefore, students must know the role of tones while they are conversing.
The speed, volume, and tone can make or break your impression, hence, as a teacher, it is up to you to help them in drawing the difference. You have made them understand how the misuse of these three can change the entire meaning of your statement. Teach them the correct way to implement these factors in their conversation so that they don’t get misunderstood by others.
How you say something is going to reflect your motive and idea, not what you mean at heart, so students have to pay extra attention to the words and tones they are using so that people understand exactly what they want them to understand.

5. Vocabulary and discourse

In the beginning, students may not have a strong vocabulary; however, that will change with time. In today’s date, people tend to measure your knowledge with your vocabulary, which certainly is incorrect as there are two types of vocabulary; one receptive and another is expressive.
But we aren’t here to learn about that so; make sure that your students know the basic vocabulary and their meanings, synonyms, antonyms, etc, to implement them in their speeches and conversation. Knowledge of correct words will help them to put their ideas into the right phrases, avoiding the chance of misunderstandings.
Students should also have proper knowledge of discourse, meaning they should able to make out the format of anything- it’s beginning, middle, and end. These three should be present in all formats of speeches.
You can teach them discourse by conducting comprehension activities in class, followed by question & answer round.

With the proper use of speech, anyone can escape the ordinary.