Art of Eloquence Blog — communication skills RSS

I created a series of memes in January for the fan page to help people understand the importance of communication skills in every day life. Here are some of the best of that series:   

I've been teaching communication skills both online and off since 2002 when I wrote my first study for homeschoolers called Say What You Mean for Teens!  From there, I created this website where I have written several homeschool speech communication materials, several studies for adults, and written hundreds of blog posts!  I've had several of my articles published by homeschool magazines like The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Homeschooling Today and several of those articles have been picked up by Crosswalk .com and Dr Laura .com.  Art of Eloquence materials have been awarded "Homeschool Approved" by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and are endorsed by the Home School Legal Defense Association which links to my materials from their site.   However, in the...

 Effective communication skills are important for everyone every day.  Interview with a Communicator is a column I used to have here on Art of Eloquence many years ago to share how that works in the lives of different people around the world.  Here is a recent interview I did with a Facebook friend, Tanya Art.  Tanya leads a support group on Facebook she started three years ago. She encourages others, like herself, who deal with Fibromyalgia.  She is an encouragement to others she calls Fibro Warriors.  I find that most people think of communication only in terms of formal speech and debate so I asked Tanya what role does speech and debate play in her everyday life.  I don't do a...

For quite some time, studies have shown that there has been a significant decline in communication effectiveness.  College professors report an increase in papers with text speak, slang and poor grammar.  Employers have reported a serious lack of communication skill in their new hire candidates and that it's one of the reasons employees are not promoted. You and I notice it every day when we speak to people, and chat with them on social media.  Sometimes the lack of communication skill is so apparent we can hardly make out what the person is trying to tell us. However, it's not as much a lack of training as it is a lack of interest.  The bottom line is that most people...

These feel good sayings have become quite popular these days.  While they sound good, many of them just aren't true-even if they are said by a famous and well-respected celebrity like Dr. Seuss.  Beware that you don't fall for them, and worse yet, communicate as if they are true. Take this one for example.  Not everything you feel needs to be said.  Those who matter to you may, indeed, mind how you say them even if they don't mind what you say.  And those who mind may not matter to you, but they matter to God. How we say things are often even more important than what we say.  How we communicate with each other is important to God. He...