Skills Your Students Should Learn

Now, more than before, a lot of students live in a very challenging world that is changing at an incredibly fast rate. With the remarkable development of technology, it is estimated that a great number of students will have jobs that don’t exist today.

While students live in a world where English as the Lingua Franca is being used, a world that is driven by business, commerce, entrepreneurship, and mostly the internet, they still go to schools and study content knowledge and skills that are arguably irrelevant to their real life. We, as teachers, understand the gap between conventional curriculums and students’ future needs and required skills. Nevertheless, we often feel obliged to stick to the plan.

You, as a teacher, have a responsibility to teach your students something beyond factual knowledge and numbers. As a practicing teacher, I will try to introduce students to academic and real-life skills. The best way I have been doing this is through presentations and 5-minutes talks. Students get the chance to know and discuss these skills more in-depth. In this post, I have compiled 35 real-life skills you probably want to introduce to your students.

Surely, nobody can predict the future; however, using the experience we have been accumulating throughout the years, we can safely determine the necessary know-how and real-life skills that will be of great significance to our students.

Let’s go….

35 Essential Real-Life Skills

Here are 35 real-life skills that are incredibly valuable and, frankly, quite fun to incorporate into your class plan.

Time management skills	the ability to use time effectively or productively, especially at work.
Anxiety management skills	The skills students need in order to be able to manage stress, stage fright, and anxiety
Test-taking techniques	The strategies students employ to effectively prepare and take tests
Note-taking skills	Skills that help students take comprehensive and concise notes in a seminar, conference or an event
Vocabulary building strategies	Specific strategies of building vocabulary and lexis when learning a new language
Effective writing skills	Knowledge and skills to write effectively – this involves knowing types, rules, subskills of writings
Interview skills?	Academic and para-linguistic skills to impress interviewers and get your dream job
Research project skills	Skills that relate to executing a research project – this involves collecting data, doing experiments, data analysis and making conclusions
Memory skills	Specific strategies that help students remember what they study
Presentation skills	Skills and techniques that help students present ideas in front of people, and to express yourself more confidently
Collaboration	The ability to work with people to complete a task
Effective listening skills	Part of having good communication skills is the ability to listen carefully and interpret the messages.
Money management skills	Skills and financial strategies that relate to the process of budgeting, saving, investing, spending money
English learning skills	Ways and techniques of effective learning.
Learning styles & preferences	Learning about different styles and how to be able to adapt and accommodate differences.
Goals setting	How to set smart goals and achieve them
Leadership	The ability to inspire and guide people to do something
Pronunciation skills	Effective pronunciation skills are necessary in this ever-changing world where English is the lingua franca.
Critical thinking	The ability to think critically as well as objectively analyze an issue to form a judgment
Tech-savvy skills	Technical skills are the abilities and knowledge needed to perform specific tasks. They are practical skills that relate to the use of information technology
Studying in groups	Skills and techniques to work in groups to share insights and ideas
Using a mobile phone	Skills to use the mobile phone effectively and for academic purposes
The Study Cycle	The ways that students can use to prepare for your exams – this involves preview, skim, note, review and summarize
Effective study habits	How to study smarter – this involves your ability to retain information quickly
Habits of Highly Successful Students	Techniques and skills that make students successful and great decision-makers
Effective reading skills	Skills that help students means engaging with texts, forming links, understanding opinions and research so you can apply what you learn
Organizational skills	Skills related to creating structures and order to increase productivity.
The Forgetting Curve	How to strengthen memory
Self-care skills	Everyday tasks that make you ready to take part in social life such as dressing, eating, cleaning…..etc.
The Learning Pyramid Explored	Skills that help your students remember 90% of you study
Motivation	How students can motivate and inspire themselves in addition to finding their own own passion
Life-long learning	skills to pursuit learning for academic and personal growth
Effective speaking skills	Skills that help students become good speakers and a great language communicator
Self-confidence	How students can be confident, particularly when they speak in front of people.
The law of attraction	The ability to use the power of the mind and thoughts to achieve dreams and desires.

Your job as a teacher is helping your students

These real-life skills are so important, and their acquisition will definitely change the future of students. They are inseparable parts of students’ learning. The earlier the students are exposed to such real-life skills, the better. Apart from making them successful in life, they help them develop and apply effective study habits, become highly effective students, and improve the quality of their learning and retention.

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