Business Meetings: A Form of Thought Control?
By · CommentsBusiness Meetings and Thought Control
Lessons from “Coffee…” and Business English
As a busy ESL/EFL teacher, business English language consultant and business woman, I have very little free time. So I guard it carefully in order to get the most out of it. However, one of the things I do indulge in is a weekly “e-zine” called “Coffee With Kevin Hogan”. These articles are so interesting and pertinent for my business English clients that I have often shared sections with the more advanced students.
You see, each week Dr. Kevin Hogan treats some very interesting topics from a business perspective, such as body language, persuasion, influence and in the last few issues of “Coffee With Kevin Hogan” he has been examining thought control in the Alinsky method.
This week, part 2.5, “Thought Control: The President’s Method” Dr. Hogan’s introduction to this subject really caught my eye. He wrote:
“Secret Tactic 1 Alinsky teaches that the general goal is to lead
people through loaded questions to the conclusion he has already
proscribed.
This is a well known tactic in corporate brainwashing sessions …I
mean…. brainstorming sessions…
It’s quite simple after you’ve done it a few times. You begin
collecting answers to questions. you can even put them up on the
blackboard, so to speak.
You then gently lead the group toward the conclusions and directions
you, the organizer, wishes to go.
The illusion of collecting opinions, ideas and “input” is extremely
important.”
The “Language” of Business Meetings
This last sentence, in particular, brought a You Tube video to mind which I have used with business English students as a lighter note when we are looking at the lexical language of business meetings. Many of my students told me that it reminded them of what they’d noted in actual meetings they’d attended – except for the drunk.
However, reading the sentence: “The illusion of collecting opinions, ideas and “input” is extremely important.” stopped me in my tracks. Perhaps this YouTube video is not a light and funny joke after all – but an all too true reflection of corporate reality? Take a look at the video yourself. What is the chairperson trying to do? What do the other members of team learn? How do they change their “language” in the brainstorming? And why?
What do you think? And does corporate thought control really make any difference for our business English clients?
Enjoy Teaching English,
Eileen
Mother’s Day In An ESL / EFL Lesson
By · CommentsSome Ideas For Using
Mother’s Day
In Your ESL|EFL|ESOL
Lesson Plans
In preparing ESL/EFL lessons celebratory days are great to incorporate.
Mother’s Day, for example, can be used in a variety of ways depending on the ESL/EFL students or clients: their purpose for studying English, their level, their age, their culture.
Family, Food, Flowers…
For example with beginning level ESL/EFL students Mother’s Day can be used to introduce or review vocabulary relating to family, celebrations, greetings.
For lower level ESL students, think about gift-giving.
- What kind of lexical material do your English language learners need to know and practice?
- Do they want to buy flowers, candy, or another type of gift?
- Do they know the expressions necessary to do that?
Or if they are ESL adults, are they taking Mom and/or the other significant women in their lives out to a restaurant to celebrate their day? Do they need to know how to order, what are the ways food can be prepared? terms for main courses, desserts?
Remembering The Good Times…
For ESL/EFL intermediate students and up who might not be near the mothering women in their lives, perhaps they could write or record funny stories or significant moments from childhood, interview others on their funniest moments with their mothers, grandmothers, aunts or other primary care-giver…
What Are The Ads Saying?
If you want to move away from the personal, you could have your students discuss in a group, and/or record on audio or video their comments about their favorite or funniest commericals for Mother’s Day….
These are just some idea… Do you have any that you would like to share that would help your students learn and use their English language skills on occasions such as Mother’s Day?
And Happy Mother’s Day to all the “mothers” out there!
Enjoy Teaching English!
Eileen
Is Teaching English As A Second Or Foreign Language A Business?
Professional ESL|EFL|ESOL teaching involves intellectual & hands-on preparation, certification, experience, time & money….
Many English language tutors, teachers, trainers, coaches got into the TESL|TEFL|TESOL profession for various resons – but we’ve made a
career of it & earn our livelihood from it – so, yes, it is a business.
How Are We Involved In The Business of Teaching English?
Now some ESL, EFL, ESOL professionals work for state schools, private schools or language institutes with an established contract and salary.
Other members of the TEFL, TESL, TESOL profession are free-lance and have varying forms of contracts or arrangements with language schools or institutes. Members in this group may also work as tutors taking on individual clients and students, personally arranging with them the rates and conditions.
For this last group, in particular, teaching English as a second or foreign language is a business and they need to run it as a business endeavor.
The Internet Has Opened Up New Opportunities
With the internet revolution and the advent of social media, ESL, EFL, ESOL salaried and free-lance teachers, tutors, trainers and coaches can now reach out to a world-wide field of potential students.
The big question is: HOW?
Over the next weeks and months I want to go more in depth on this topic of how to use the internet and, in particular, social media for:
- TESL and ESL marketing,
- setting up an online ESL business
- online ESL, EFL tutoring
- marketing an ESL, EFL, ESOL school or language institute
Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how TESL, TEFL or TESOL teachers, tutors, trainers, coaches can approach their profession with good business sense and practices? Any questions? Please feel free to comment or question in the comment box below.
Thanks and Enjoy Teaching English,
Eileen
ESL Lesson and Flexibility
By · CommentsESL, EFL, ESOL Lessons and Flexibility
While an ESL, EFL, ESOL lesson plan is important for every class, flexibility and following the lead of the students can bring the whole class to new and important insights and life lessons….
ESL Learning & Projects…
The business English students in one of my classes are preparing a short presentation on driving safety for their sector in the company. Their company puts a very strong emphasis on safety in the workplace, behind the wheel and at home; so these students want to do a good job.
In order to help these ESOL students use this experience also as a way to improve their English language skills, I set aside time to work on their project during the classes. Although the presentation will be given in their own language, I felt the coming presentation offered a great opportunity to work on business English skills that they could carry over into other aspects of their job.
So during past lessons, these ESOL learners have discussed how they want to present the material and have prepared a working script.
Today we were looking at possible photos on Flickr that could be used in their Power Point presentation.
The idea of incorporating a short video came up and they searched on Flickr and You Tube for possible material ….
…With The Brutal Realities of Life
… In the search they came across the following graphic video of a tragic true story… It was prepared by a former BBC producer and filmed in Wales.
After viewing it, we could barely speak… it is an excellent, well-made film - but very moving… When we recovered a bit – it led to a very profound discussion in English on the horrible consequences of texting/sms-ing and driving. Their presentation on safe driving took on a whole new dimension.
I am posting the URL here, because I think it is worthwhile going to the YouTube site and reading about who made it, why they made it and how they made it. This video is just a “taste” of the 30 minute that has been prepared to help people remember ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I54mlK0kVw
I am embedding the video here as well because I think we all need to be reminded that “Good Drivers JUST Drive” as one video motto put it!
But please … if you watch this 4 minute video, be forewarned that it is graphic and deeply moving – and it is based on the true story of a teenage Welsh girl who killed 4 people because she was texting while driving.
“Good Drivers JUST Drive”
Eileen
ESL Teacher: What’s In It For Me?
By · Comments
What Do We Get Out Of Being ESL, EFL, ESOL Teachers?
ESL, EFL, ESOL teachers, trainers, coaches, business English language specialists got into the profession traveling on various roads….
TESL / TEFL: A Quick Way To Ean Money?
Many began teaching EFL students when they were overseas and needed a bit of extra money; others first got themselves certified then traveled abroad to see the world and finance their way by teaching English as a foreign language. Others, such as mothers, retired seniors, college kids needing extra cash worked in their local communities helping immigrants learn English as a second language….
TESL / TEFL: A Career?
Most moved on to other professions…. but a few TESLs and TEFLs stayed on, developing their knowledge and skills. But why? What’s in ESL or EFL that could lead people to make a career out of it?
Most ESL/EFL teachers will tell you it’s not the money – I have still to meet a ESOL teacher/trainer who got wealth teaching English! It can’t be the hours – they are usually long and involve a lot of personal, i.e., unpaid, time preparing lessons, writing up reports, attending meetings.
TESL / TEFL: Many Skills Needed
It takes a lot of patience: organizing lesson plans, listening attentively – for mistakes – and then deciding if this is the right moment to constructively correct, encouraging when the person feels they are not learning fast enough or not speaking English like the natives, pushing the students forward to the next level, keeping the lessons interesting and useful no matter the time of day or disposition, understanding what’s causing errors and working to eliminate them, to name just a few of the daily challenges….
TESL / TEFL: Creating Relationships
Talking with fellow ESL & EFL teachers through the years, it seems to me that what keeps us in the profession are the people.
Like several other professions, ESL & EFL teachers have the privilege of working closely with other human beings and helping them communicate in a new language, in a new cultural backdrop. By so doing, we empower people to be able to create relationships with new people.
We don’t just touch the future, we touch the present.
As we work with ESL & EFL students we watch their progress as they slowly master vocabulary and grammar and communicate their thoughts, desires, hopes, necessities.
One of the most frustrating things I can imagine for a human is the inability to communicate – second language acquisition enables us to bridge that gap and reach out to people in other languages and cultures and slowly make ourselves understood, as well as understand those who speak the language we are learning.
What’s in it for ESL, EFL, ESOL teachers?
Creating wonderful relationships and opening windows and doors for people who are temporiarly vulnerable in their inability to communicate in a new language, who feel lost in a new culture, who don’t understand the “strange” behavior of the people who speak the language they want to or must learn.
And you, how did you feel when you first were able to communicate with others in a language you had learned?
ESL Lesson Plans: Nannies, Babysitters, Au Pairs
By · Comments
Nanny, Babysitter or Au pair in ESL, EFL, ESOL lesson plans
Interviewing a nanny, babysitter or au pair
ESL, EFL, ESOL and Child Care?
Are some of your ESL, EFL, ESOL students mothers and fathers? Or perhaps you teach ESL, EFL, ESOL teens who babysit? Or maybe you are a part-time EFL teacher working in another country and caring for and teaching English to children as part of your au pair arrangement with a family…?
If any or all of the above fits you, then you will find this blog post from Lisa McLellan, a child care expert, very useful in your ESL, EFL, ESOL lessons. In this post article, Nanny Interview – What To Ask, Lisa guides parents through at least 8 basic questions they should be asking potential babysitters or nannies – and I would add - au pairs. Besides being excellent information for your ESL, EFL, ESOL clients or students, this is a good review of vocabulary, new expression, as well as grammar structures, especially the conditional, for upper-intermediate and advanced students.
ESL, EFL, ESOL Lesson Plan Elements
Some of the vocabulary expression you want to note are:
"Here comes the plane!"
- to post an ad
- waking hours
- modeling behavior (note here, if needed, for your English language learners’ attention the difference between British and American spelling)
- mask (as in “mask behavior”)
- tough (as in “have a tough time” or “to be tough”)
- second hand smoke
- back-up plan
- to handle something (as in “how will vacations be handled”)
- CPR
- pool
- background check
- social networking sites
In addition to these lexical elements, you can also tap into a wealth of videos over on YouTube: type in the keywords: nanny, babysitter or au pair and you will harvest a wealth of video material that you can accentuate your lesson with. Or if you are looking for an oldy but goldy, you might want to rent the film of that charming Queen of the Nannies, “Mary Popkins” and have a sing-a-long! It all depends on the age, cultural, linguistic characteristics of your students….
Enjoy teaching English!
Eileen
ESL, EFL, ESOL Lessons: Blog, Feet & Romance
By · Comments
What do feet have to do with romance and your ESL, EFL, ESOL lesson plans?
- Paws, Feet, Footwear and Romance
Well, if you want a lot ! and it’s easy to combine them with the help of blogs!
Reviewing and Expanding ESL, EFL ESOL Foot and Footwear Language with blogs!
Here’s a great blog, Your Chance For Romance that you can integrate into your English language lesson plan and review language for:
- the parts of the body
- foot-related language and feet problems
- the suffix “-wear” and its various collocations
- as well as strong adjectives vs regular adjectives and their intensifiers
and give your ESL, EFL, ESOL students an enjoyable lesson.
Here’s the website and blog article: The Most Romantic Footwear Is…..
An ESL, EFL, ESOL Lesson Plan with Romantic Feet Language!
I used this blog article with intermediate/upper-intermediate adult ESL, EFL, ESOL students.
- I started by asking them to tell me what they thought of as being romantic.
- Then I asked them if they ever thought of their feet as being romantic.
- Then I reviewed with them 8 words or terms that I knew could be new for them:
- fashion spreads
- the state of Minnesota and where its located
- the 2 meanings of heel, as well as high heels
- grimace
- calves – in relation to the legs and the animals
- bunions, blisters and other foot-related problems
- hideous, and reviewed other strong adjectives and their intensifiers
- boomer and boomer age
- rhinestones and trim
- bare and its other collocations
My busy young university adults and business people found this blog post enjoyable and we had great discussions about what they considered romantic, their feet, their footwear and local customs.
Ah, one question to the author, Sonya…. the women want to know if some or all handbags could be considered romantic?
Enjoy teaching English!
Eileen
Can Liberty Fit Into An ESL, EFL, ESOL Lesson?
ESL, EFL, ESOL teachers live in the reality of their students’ everyday lives. With our students we rejoice when there’s a holiday – just as much as they do – especially if it’s a beautiful spring day!
Liberation Day!
April 25 is one of those special days! Today we recall how precious the gift of
British POWs near Nettuno, south of Rome, 1944
freedom is: 2o1o makes the 65th anniversary of the overthrow of the Mussolini government and the beginning of the fall of the Nazi regime in Italy. Today we remember all those who fought, suffered and died for the liberation of Italy from tyranny.
As the President of the Republic laid the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier, The Altar of the Country, at Piazza Venezia in the heart of ancient Rome this morning, we remembered all the victims of that horrible occupation and war: the foreign soldiers who sacrificed their mind, bodies and lives that the Italian people might be free, the Italian Resistance movement, the many civilian deaths, victims of atrocities, friendly-fire and bombings.
World War II – Echoes in Everyday Life
The Ardeatine Cave, Rome
But World War II is not just a memory in a history book – the scars of that bloody war are still with us: every year many unexploded ordinances are still being unearthed; whole sections of cities have to be evacuated as the deadly bombs are diffused and removed. And here in Rome and its environs we have the sharpnel walls of the buildings on Via Rasella, the Ardeatine Caves where the horrific massacre ordered by Hilter of 335 Italians was carried out in 1944 and many military cemetaries to remind us of the horror of aggression and war – and the cost of our freedom.
ESL, EFL, ESOL Lessons Bringing in History with Social Media
For an EFL/ESOL teacher days like April 25 are an opportunity to bring in photos, film footage, old press releases of the BBC and BBC radio broadcasts - all of which are available for free online.
On YouTube there are several videos of actual footage from the WWII period that bring those past events to life again and commemorate the value of freedom.
Here is one with US General Mark Clark who explains the hardships of the Italian campaign and dedicates a documentary by John Huston to the memory of all those who fought for freedom.
For classroom discussions, teachers can talk with their ESL, EFL, ESOL students about their families’ memories of these events and the value of freedom. They can write in their e-notebooks or publicly blog about those family stories and the liberties that they are now enjoying.
In our modern consumeristic world, we have perhaps gotten a bit soft. We take the freedoms we have for granted…. we forget the liberties we now enjoy were bought at a horrific price: the lives of thousands of people who sacrificed what was most precious - their lives - so that we may be free.
And you, my reader - what days do you want to remember and thank those who sacrificed their lives that we might be free?
Happy Liberation Day to all – may we also prize and protect our freedoms from any tyrant….
Eileen
What does an ESL lesson plan for kids, a birthday, age, Rome and social media have in common?
Well, you have probably guessed that ESL/EFL lesson plans, whether for children or adults, need to teach about age and birthdays – they do go together.
In early ESL/EFL lessons for beginners teachers introduce the language for asking “how old are you?” with the verb “to be” construction for these questions and answers – so loved by children and abhored by many adults. Later, as ESL/EFL students progress we can tie age in with birthdays, especially for children who love to celebrate that special day.
Birthday Grammar and Vocabulary
Both age and birthdays are great to introduce or review:
- the cardinal and/or ordinal numbers,
- days of the week,
- months of the year,
- capitalization of first letter for days and months,
- the correct pronunciation for the year
- correct word order for questions and answers with the verb “to be”
- the question word “when”
- the different ways English speakers speak and write dates, e.g., the 21st of April, April 21, 21 April
- prepositions of time: in April, on Monday, on April 21
- the past of the verb “to be”, as in “When were you born?” “I was born on …”
- the verb “to be born”
Rome in an EFL Lesson?
But in the title I mentioned Rome and social media…. how do they all fit together in a lesson?
Bringing the city of Rome into the ESL/ESL/ESOL lesson adds a touch of history, especially during the month of April. Why? …because April 21 is the birthday of Rome. The ancient city, also known as “Caput Mundi/Head of the World” is 2,763 years old – for extra practice have your students say that number outloud!
There are many stories about the birth of Rome that, depending on the age and level of the ESL/EFL students, are very interesting. I find that a favorite with my older kids is the story of the she-wolf and the abandoned twin brothers. The mother wolf feed the infants and kept them from starvation.
ESL/EFL Review Happy Birthday Video
In my EFL class of 9 year olds, I reviewed birthday and language, question word order and spelling by using Xtranormal animation videos. (I explained how to use Xtranormal in this blog article, if you would like to review.)
However, the kids decided that instead of doing something on Rome they would make a video for one of the little sisters of a classmate. It is a simple animation – but it accomplished its purpose! They students really enjoyed the process, laughing and giggling as they chose the music and camera movements, wrote the script - and then shared it with their parents and other class members…. And I don’t think these EFL students will forget this language or the Happy Birthday song anytime soon!
Here’s the simple video (not exactly competition for the Oscars… but a great learning experience):
Enjoy teaching English!
Eileen
Blog Posting & Commenting in ESL Lessons
By · CommentsUsing blogs as tool and content in ESL lessons
An ESL Lesson can get exciting – and sometimes a bit heated – when the students are using social media by posting on their blogs (in our ESL|EFL class we call these e-notebooks) and commenting on other students’ blogs (e-notebooks).
Today I wanted to share with you a blog conversation that began between “PaulaInRome” and “Material Man”.
PaulaInRome had written a reflection on her blog wondering about the impact too much money might have in one’s life. Another student, who ended up calling himself “Material Man” disagreed with her position and commented on her blog to let her know. PaulaInRome politely but firmly responded….
Benefits of Using Social Media
The conversation continued both on and off-line and led to a new outlook for both….
And I feel that this is one of the great benefits we receive when we use social media correctly: they can help broaden, clarify and enrich our horizons as we politely and respectfully engage others with different positions in conversation…. and is that not what relationship-building is all about?
And I found that using blogs in ESL/EFL lessons as a tool and content can help students express themselves orally and in writing and – as in this case – stretch the students to areas of ESL/EFL language learning they might not have attempted without the desire to express themselves clearly on a topic they felt deeply about. Material Man is at a much lower linguistic level than PaulaInRome but he felt deeply about his position and wanted to make this clear to Paula. She in turn respected his language abilities and adapted her response to his capabilities.
Your Position
And you what is your position… do you agree with PaulaInRome that perhaps too much money is not good or do you agree with Material Man that behind every balanced Material Man there has to be love?
As I noted above PaulaInRome began the conversation so here is the link to her blog PaulaInRome’s Blog - but in case you need it - here is Material Man’s Reply on his Blog
Eileen
