Strong oral communication skills are consistently rated of high importance for job applicants. Seventy-five percent of employers want colleges to place more emphasis on developing written and oral communication skills, particularly at the undergraduate level. Despite the recognized importance of strong discipline-specific oral communication skills, providing practice opportunities in real-life settings can be challenging for programs. This is particularly the case in dietetics programs training their students in counseling skills. A Counseling and Communication: Theory and Practice course was re-designed based on student focus group and internship preceptor input. The revamped course included counseling sessions with paid actors simulating real-life scenarios; actors were trained on their particular medical condition and life circumstances prior to the small-group session. Of students completing the course with actor-simulated sessions (n=13), 100% felt confident in their counseling skills three months after completing the course. Students responded to the question “This course stimulated my interest in the topic,” as 3.6 on a 4-point scale, higher than the 2.5 and 3.2 in the previous years of the course. This innovative teaching and learning approach supports the benefit of creative methods of teaching to foster oral communication skills, thus better preparing students for future employment and success.