Current projects

[Torsten]

We currently are running the following courses:

• LCCI Prep Course Dortmund
  This class is run by Bruce Finlayson and I'm sure he soon will give us an update on his current successes.
  
  
• LCCI Prep Course Grimma
  This group consists of 10 young people (aged 18 to 24) who have currently finished their vocational training program and are now preparing for an exam that is similar to LCCI English For Business, Level II. The course will run until summer 2008 and it will be our job to prepare the group for the exam.
  
  
• BZ Nordhausen
  This course started on November 19 and will be running until February 8. The group consists of 10 people who want to improve their English in order to have better chances on the job market.
  
  
• Bike Systems Nordhausen
  This is a so-called "outplacement" project which is run by our partner company, ibs. There are currently 5 groups with 12 to 16 people who until November 2007 worked for Bike Systems, a bicycle manufacturer.
  
  
• BZ Halle
  This is a course for former employees of Karstardt Halle.
  
  
• "High Potentials" Jena
  This is a program for young university graduates who are looking for a job in the Jena area.
  

Today I worked with one of the 5 Bike Systems groups. As of now, the group is called "group II" and today it consisted of 12 people. Since this group have already worked with Rolf and Uli, I thought I might give it a try and introduce myself in English. When I stared speaking I realized that some of the participants were not yet ready to communicate in English. I put some basic questions on the flipchart asking everyone to introduce their neighbour to me in English. Three of group members said they don't understand any English although they had learned English at school so I switched to German asking everyone to tell me when and where they had learned English and what exactly they want to achieve with the current course. Together we established that the group members have at least three different levels of English and that this is an excellent opportunity to practice our "team work skills".

We agreed that one goal of our course is to be able to communicate in English without switching back and forth between German and English. I put the following question on the flipchart: "How do you spell this?" pointing out that this will be one of our most important questions throughout the entire course. We then reviewed took turns spelling our names. They still tend to confuse "e", "i" and "a" but by the end of the day they had made quite some progress as I constantly asked them to spell words. In the afternoon we listened to the first chapter of an audio self-learning course by Hueber which contains a number of drill exercises (repeating word groups, responding to questions, etc.)

Our goal with the bike systems project should be to reduce the amount of time that is spent speaking German to a minimum as soon as possible. We have to prepare the group for a "real life situation" in which they need to communicate with a person who doesn't speak any German. My plan for Friday is to introduce some vocabulary that is related to production in general and bicycles in particular.

Also, there is one person in the group, Mike, who is a professional dart player -- he practices for two hours every day and has been playing darts since 1992. He has been to European championships several times where he also met English players who don't speak any German. Today Mike was rather passive and my goal is to give him materials relating to darts so he'll have a greater interest in learning English.
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[Hans_Ulrich]

Hi Torsten , many thanks for the invitation to this very interesting forum.
Zane is interested to teach only two days in Nordhausen in January.
This way I shall work the three other days.
I propose Uli will work Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and Zane on Thursday & Friday . Is this ok? Best wishes . Uli
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[Torsten]

Hi Uli,

In January and February Zane wants to work Tuesdays and Wednesdays so we are going to work out a schedule that fits everybody's preferences. In January Ray, a new trainer from New York, joins us and since Ray wants to work 5 days a week and I'm sure we'll find a solution. As you know, we have two courses in Nordhausen, both will be running full time from January on.

In addition to coordinating the schedule, it's important that we keep each other up to date on what activities we did with our groups. As for the bike systems project, we did the following this week:

- revision of the alphabet (How do you spell this?)
- creating a list with frequently used verbs
- reviewing the weekdays and months
- listening comprehension (audio course for beginners by Hueber)
- review of the personal pronouns and the be-verb

Uli, please continue with the question words, the simple present and numbers and review everything we have covered so far. Please, try to stick to English so the group gets used to communicating in English rather than switching between languages. Also, please give me an update on the BZ project so I know what to do with them next week.

Regards,
Torsten
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[DanielZ]

Hello,

I worked with the LCCI Preparation Course in Grimma Torsten described above last week and yesterday.
As the group requested we did some grammar revision (so far the basic past and future tenses and their respective differences.
Another focus was the work on vocabulary specifically business-related as well as more general.
After reviewing the essays Torsten had assigned them to write we practised drafting a notice which is one of the types of document they shall be able to produce. We paid a good deal of attention to the formal characteristics which always seem to be of great importance to the examination board.

Regards,
Daniel

[Torsten]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks a lot for your update. Could you please tell us if you used any materials in your classroom and if so which? I think "How to pass LCCI, Level II" might be quite a good choice for this group as it contains exercises that relate to their upcoming exam.

Please let me know what you think.
Regards,
Torsten
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Hans_Ulrich]

Hi everyone,

Today I worked with one of the bike systems groups and we went through the basics again. This means, we started by reviewing the alphabet again (spelling words), then practiced using the numbers and then I introduced simple present and simple past. There were 11 people in the group today and the motivation was pretty good. Tomorrow I'll be working with the same group and we'll practice how to deal with every day situations such as booking a hotel room via telephone, reserving a car, asking the way in a new town, using the public transport system, etc. We are mainly using the whiteboard and if somebody doesn't know a word, they have to ask how it is spelled and I explain the word in English. One of our goals is now to be able to communicate in English rather than switching back and forth between German and English.

I'll send you another update in a few days. As for the January schedule, maybe Zane can do BZ Thursdays and Fridays? If you'll be doing Tuesdays and Wednesdays then one of us will have to travel to Nordhausen for just one day which is a bit difficult.

Please let me know what you think.
Regards,
Uli
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[Daniel]

Hi everybody,

Yesterday I worked with the LCCI Preparation Course in Grimma again and as the other days I used recent business news from different Internet sources for economy-related vocabulary building, reading comprehension and to stimulate discussions.
For other oral group activity such as asking for and giving information on company details or leaving and taking messages I used material from onestopenglish which I had found amongst Bruce's documents.
Regarding the writing tasks they are to accomplish at the exam I've introduced them to notices and memos so far and used the "How to Pass English for Business" second level preparation book for for this purpose. It does not really contain exercises that relate to exam but genuine exam questions and a model answer to each one. This means I needed to give a big deal of direction particularly concerning correct sentence building and choosing an appropriate style according to the person(s) they would be addressing as many of them tended to just copy the notes given in the question.
I will try to have a look at the student's book which is a separate component of the official EfB preparation material to check how this could help.

I wish a Merry Christmas to everyone and am looking forward to continue cooperating with you next year.

Best regards,
Daniel

[Torsten]

Hi Daniel,

Daniel, it's great to hear you are using authentic materials as well as ESL resources with your group since their English is rather advanced and they need to use all the knowledge they have accumulated over the past few years. Your group is rather homogeneous in terms of their background and skill levels. I'd be curious to hear how the essay writing project worked out -- you mentioned that you reviewed the essays they had composed. Could you please elaborate as to how long their essays were and what their thoughts were? I'm asking because you might want to give them another essay assignment. Brainstorm possible topics or go through this list to get some inspiration. Your group already has rather good writing skills and it would be great if they continued expressing their thoughts through composing essays.

Also, it's excellent that you have introduced LCCI based exercises so they are getting a better idea of the structure and contents of their upcoming exam. In addition to written materials you might want to use some audio recordings -- VOA News might be a good resource for this purpose. You can download these audio files and replay them in the classroom.

As for the BZ Leipzig course, let's brainstorm some ideas during the next few days so we'll be prepared when it starts early next year.

You too have a relaxed Christmas time and I'm sure 2008 will be a successful year for you.

Talk to you soon,
Torsten

[Daniel]

Hi Torsten

As for the length of the essays the students of the Grimma group had composed they were between one and two pages (handwritten or typed: about 500 words). Discussing the reason why English has become so important most focused on Britain's colonial legacy and the US part in the creation of the computer industry. Assessing the advantages their most important points were that it simplifies communication and furthers mutual understanding between peoples. Most identified the decrease in importance of other languages and the fact that especially older people don't understand English as major disadvantages. Some were more concerned with the advantages and disadvantages of speaking/understanding English for themselves particularly in terms of career opportunities.

BZ Course

Apart from basic and general language skills I think what would most benefit them could be:

- anything related to numbers, times and dates
- vocabulary related to the workplace (e.g. tools, products to be stored)
- packing materials and modes of packing and labeling
- understanding/composing different types of accompanying documents to goods (incl. safety
and shipping regulations)
- queries/complaints on the phone

This is what first came to my mind. Please let me know what you think.

Regards,
Daniel

[Torsten]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks a lot for your great work with the Grimma group and your suggestions regarding the BZ course. Yes, it's probably a good idea to start reviewing the basics covering all the items you listed plus the alphabet and frequently used verbs. In addition you could do prepositions of location and time. Also, describing objects and naming materials. I'll do some research to come up with resources that relate to warehousing and elementary logistics. It would be great if we could create our own word list that contains words, phrases and abbreviations that are frequently used in warehousing industry. More on that soon.

Regards,
Torsten
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Hans_Ulrich]

Hi everyone, in our Karstadt Ladies group (plus Ralf - the only gentleman in this seminar) we have practiced some exercises with the english-test.net training opportunities according to the different individual levels. Many thanks for Torsten's advice how to improve the learning atmosphere and motivation. Next time we shall practice pronouncing short phrases until all group members will have them down. best wishes Uli
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[Daniel]

Hi,

Yesterday the new course at Bildungszentrum des sächsischen Handels in Leipzig started and I was a bit surprised to learn that its participants were not trainees in warehousing and logistics but young adults doing an apprenticeship as shop-assistants in various settings. So it's basically the same as last year.
There are five groups the first of which consists of about ten students. Three of them showed a rather good level of English compared to the rest of the class. We started reviewing the alphabet, did some spelling exercises and refreshed personal pronouns and present tenses.

Regarding the warehouse workers' course Mrs Zeisner said she was still discussing this issue with her boss and that it might begin in February.
Thanks for your suggestions, Torsten. I'll try to come up with something as well.
Mrs Zeisner also said she would like some type of test and certificate for the shop-assistants too. I'll work on this and it would be great if we could meet and discuss it by the end of the month.

See you,
Daniel

[Torsten]

[Torsten]

[Zane]

Hello,

To give a little overview of what I have been doing in Nordhausen, I generally follow this schedule:

I. First, we do speaking practice and grammar review until breakfast by asking each other questions and then reviewing the grammar that has been taught as mistakes are made.

II. Next, we usually move on to grammar review, building on the grammar they have already learned. I have written down all of the grammar I taught in the classroom journal on location, but in general we have covered:

a. simple past, present, and future
b. continuous past and present
c. conjunction words (e.g. and, but)
d. conditional sentences (if... then)
e. modal verbs (Most of them have trouble with these)
f. prepositions of time and place
g. question formation with both question words and inversion
h. negation

To review, I usually have them do worksheets, then they read their answers together. Finally, I ask them questions to get them to use the new grammar by creating their own sentences. I also have them explain to me what they have learned from Uli since I saw them last.

III. After this, I usually move on to reading and phonetics. Usually, this means a reading from the internet, but I have brought readings as well. Some of the websites we have used effectively are Kid's BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery. After selecting an article, I have them take turns reading a few sentences, and then I reread them so that they can hear the pronunciation. Many times, I also have them pick out the grammar we are working on as it appears in the actual reading (e.g. simple past). The reader attempts to translate their sentences for the class, and the class helps with unknown key words.

IV. They also have accounts on dict.cc to create personal vocabulary quizzes from words they learned that day from readings and discussion. That way they have new vocabulary stored and can go back to it at home and after the course ends to review. Sometimes they will do these quizzes and database management next. Sometimes we will find a news report or video for them to try to understand, so they don’t just learn to understand Texan English. There is also a skype network for people who want to do a language exchange, which would be great for continuing practice after the course, but you just need to get some microphones to get it started.

V. By the end of the day, people are generally a bit exhausted, so we usually play a game like a modified version of hangman (where someone stands at the board and writes several blanks, and then people ask them 'yes or no' questions (a favorite is “Can you buy it at the Marktkauf?”) and guess the letters of the word). Other times, they will ask questions about culture, or we just address specific questions they have about how to say something in a context (e.g. business telephone).

All in all, it is a great group of people, and it has been interesting to get to know them and see their English improve.