HOW TO STUDY

Among the most important things, then, for a student to learn, is how
to study.  Without a knowledge of this his labor may be largely in
vain.  He may pass his examinations and yet know nothing thoroughly and
have little power.  The importance of knowing how to study is evident
when we realize that the amount of knowledge that a student can acquire
in college, compared with the whole mass of human knowledge, even that
bearing upon a single specialty, is entirely insignificant; and
furthermore, that a student is generally quite unable to foresee with
any degree of correctness what his work in life will be.  Unless,
therefore, his education has enabled him to take up a new subject or a
new problem and to study and master it {4} himself--that is to say,
unless he has learned how to study, how to use his mind properly and to
direct it efficiently upon the subject in hand--his education may have
benefited him little and may not have fitted him for the career in
which he finally finds himself.
Important as it is to learn how to study, it is singular that most
students do not learn it, and that little effort is made to teach it.
It is assumed that children know how to study because they have brains.
Probably a large majority of our college graduates today have not
learned how to study properly, and find it difficult or impossible to
take up a new study and master it.  They have only learned how to do
certain routine things in a mechanical way.  They have learned by rote.

George Fillmore Swaine

SOME IMPORTANT SOFT SKILLS

SOME IMPORTANT SOFT SKILLS

• Assertiveness
• Business Etiquette
• Business Writing
• Change Management
• Knowledge Management
• Communication Skills
• Conflict Resolution
• Creative Thinking
• Cross Cultural
• Customer Service
• Email Writing
• Emotional Intelligence
• English Language
• Interviewing Skills
• Motivation
• Negotiation Skills
• Presentation Skills
• Problem Solving
• Retail Training
• Sales Training
• Personality Development
• Stress Management
• Building the Team
• Telephone Etiquette
• Time Management

In all of these list of soft skills some repetitions are found and any how the students should know thoroughly about these skills and work hard towards acquiring them.                          

                                    

Communication Skills

Communication Skills

Most of the students and teachers think that ‘soft skills’ means ‘communication skills’ and that too ‘Spoken English’ skills. Actually soft skills involve more than a hundred skills. Further communication skills involve four sub-skills of English Language. They are the following;

 

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading and
• Writing

The first two skills are left to the fate of the students and the other two skills are not properly taught in the schools and colleges. These language skills are purely self-learning

skills apart from their syllabus.

The skill of listening remains an unused skill among students. They should follow the dictum

                                     “Learn to listen;

                                      Listen to learn”

A student who have secured state First in Tamil Nadu once observed that

                                     “He listened carefully in the class room”

Our present day students lack the power of observation, focus and mind control.  The world famous scientist, Newton professed that

             “If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing to  more  patient attention than to any other talent”.

The best part of communication lies in comprehending the speech of others and answering them in the proper manner. Interest, attention, and concentration are the three pillars of good listening.  Linguistic research suggests that to learn a foreign language one should spent minimum two hundred hours of listening whereas our students spent more than two thousand hours in listening to English spoken by their teachers in the class rooms. That shows their lack of awareness about the skill of listening.

The skill of speaking can be overcome by practicing the class room English. Further memorizing a few dialogues in day to day life will also help them to improve their Spoken English.

The skill of reading is often done by the students but without concentration. While reading the students should use intensive reading skills by underlining the key words and taking notes.

The skill of writing is the culmination of the other three skills and it involves an integration of the skills of listening, speaking, and reading.

The following tips will help the students to improve their learning of English quickly.

• Imitation of English Teacher’s voice in the class room
• Manipulation of sentences
• Creating their own mini or macro dialogues
• Using Electronic gadgets in their homes to learn English
• Integrating the four skills of learning
• Improving their word vocabulary
• Using good dictionary and thesaurus
• Making notes and expand them into complete sentences
• Continuous collection of good phrases, dialogues, and          

o   Sentences and

• Repetition of the above activities continuously

To acquire fluency in English, the following suggestions will be useful:

            

• Improving the word power
• Listening to Radio and T.V. News Reader’s voice
• Learning Grammar
• Listening to English hi-hit songs

All the above ideas are meant for the self-practice of students to improve their communication skills.

Expected Skills of MNCs from their Employees

Expected Skills of MNCs from their Employees

The MNCs expect their employees to be industry-ready and possess two types of skills. The first one is the Technical skills and the second is the Soft skills. The students should have sound technical skills or academic achievement. Further communication skills play a vital role in executing their jobs. The companies are very much concerned about the quality of their products and consumer satisfaction. To satisfy their concern, here some skills are given for the students to improve themselves in these areas.

·         TQM – Quality in all their works

·         Fluency in English

·         80% marks without arrears

·         Continuous progress from their S.S.L.C onwards

·         Excellent Learning skills

·         Curricular activities

·         Co-curricular activities

·         Extra-curricular activities

• Motivation
• Time management
• Leadership skills
• Arithmetic skills
• Problem solving skills
• Decision making skills
• Analytical skills
• Cognitive abilities
• SBM, RBM, RBM
• Personality Development
• Sense of Humor
• Etiquette
• Moral Values
• Stress/ Anger Management
• Body language
• Entrepreneurial skills
• Communication skills
• Interview kills
• Team work
• 24x7 workers
• Adaptability
• Computer Skills or Computer Literacy

·          Leisure time activities

·         Knowing the latest research trend in their subject

·         Speed in typing using Computer

·         Membership in any great institutions

·         Their area of specialization

·         Strong in their character

·         Certificates of Value added courses

·         Minimum two certificates in any other subjects

                                   other than their own syllabus           

                              

All these skills should be acquired by the students apart from their regular studies. Hence they should start their preparation for the placement from the first year onwards. 

                                    

Different terms to mean the soft skills

SOFT SKILLS

‘Soft skills’ is a twenty first century term and industry people use different terms to mean the skills required by their employees. Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance and career prospects. Unlike Hard skills which are about a person’s skill set and ability to perform a certain type of task or activity and they are interpersonal and broadly applicable. Soft skills are often associated with personality traits of a person. The students are expected to sharpen their soft skills by themselves. Soft skills are not opposite to technical skills but they are complementary to each other.  Here are a few different terms used by the corporate people.

1.      Employability skills

2.      Industry-ready skills

3.      Social skills

4.      People skills

5.      Life skills

6.      Survival skills

7.      21^st century skills

8.      Self-improvement skills

9.      Future skills

10.  Personal skills

11.  Job skills

12.  HR skills

13.  Interview skills

14.  Behavioral skills

15.  Key skills

16.  Placement skills

17.  Professional skills

18.  Expected kills

19.  Empowerment skills

20.  Interpersonal skills

30. Workplace Skills     

All these terms directly or indirectly indicate the common phrase ‘Soft Skills’. The following are some of the sub-skills of the soft skills.

• Communication skills
• Learning skills
• Cognitive skills
• Interview skills

Soft skills

Soft Skills are behavioral competencies. Also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills and selling skills, to name a few.