AFI Eilenburg

[Scott Graham]

Monday 6th
So here we are Monday again! We started the day/week with a warm up using hangman, which is very useful with this class to revise vocabulary and the alphabet. We spent the first lesson just going through the previous week’s studies making sure we were all clear before we moved on. Next we carried on with the book, 5.2 ‘Company developments’. This chapter concentrates on Present continuous vs. Simple present, which was good for the ss to be able to see the difference between each structure and their uses. We looked at describing ‘trends’ in business using language like, sales fell/went down/decreased/rose/went up/ increased and remained stable. To help with understanding I gave a handout out with different charts/tables and explained what each of the phrases meant in comparison to the visual aids. We then practiced this by splitting the group into pairs, student A had a blank chart/graph and student b had a complete chart. Student B would then describe their chart “between January and February sales fell from-to, by........, if they communicated well then student A’s graph should be identical. All ss managed this with great results.
Then I explained the use of this type of visual aid and its benefits when giving presentations, as well as introducing language like “let’s take a look at this chart/graph/slide/next diagram.”
We finished the day by looking at descriptive adjectives.
Tuesday 7th
Today we began another session of hangman, and to date no one has managed to hang the class! For a bit of fun I introduced the longest word in the English dictionary ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’, which did enable me to hang them. We then moved on with the book ‘Personal developments’, concentrating on exchanging personal news and talking about a trip. We considered these in a formal and informal setting, so which questions are appropriate when! I also highlighted the importance of the English ‘weather talk’, which is actually very important in our culture. I used some listening activities to help with ss understanding. We looked at how to respond to news (good/bad/surprising), we which carried out some role play with ss self written dialogues. I also went through the question forms- What is/was ......like?
I then explained the future using ‘will’ and ‘going to’, and explained how we use the present continuous for future plans.
All in all another good couple of days, everyone is struggling slightly because of the weather but still progress is still good.
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[Scott Graham]

8th-9th April
So let me begin by wishing all my fellow trainers a great Easter weekend.
In Eilenburg the last couple of days were good.
We worked through the book on Wednesday, starting with making arrangements. Which concentrated on the use of present continuous for future plans, which with the use of various activities the ss all got to grips with quite well. While we were looking at the future I explained the difference between each form (presents cont., ‘will’ and going to-) with the aid of some chanting and a game of snakes and ladders most ss found this ok to comprehend. We then looked at dates and their different structures around the world, and the pronunciation of dates using ordinal numbers, which of course they found fun due to the use of –th. We looked at important dates in history around the world, I asked each student to use the internet to find examples of important events for each month of the year, and report back to the group with their findings. This was a great exercise as it was good practice for using English to research information on the internet, as well as interesting due to some of the information we gathered as a group. We also discussed important personal dates.
We then looked at ‘Getting connected’, we covered telephone expressions, I gave the ss a handout with common expressions (with German translations). I read each expression to clarify the pronunciation, then I split the ss into 3’s and gave each group an outline for a 3-way dialogue which they had to complete then we carried out some role-play. The task went very well with all ss participating well and enjoying it.
Thursday.
We spent today reviewing everything to-date and as a group helping each other with anything which was still not quite clear. We compared all time tenses to be sure of their different uses, and most ss said this was very helpful; I also gave them a handout I had created for each tense which included timelines and examples. The last lesson of the day I set them some homework which included revision, research and a small test.
Again I would like to wish you all a great Easter and hope everybody enjoys their long weekend, lets keep our fingers crossed the weather stays so good!
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[Daniel]

Hi everyone,

Though I'm not working with the group anymore myself I still do check the forum occasionally. Seems as everything is progressing very well.
Besides I'd like to wish all of you a Happy Easter, a few nice days of rest and continuous success in training the Eilenburg group. You could possibly transmit them some nice greetings from me just in case they remember who I am.

Regards,
Daniel

[Scott Graham]

We began the day with a quick report on our long Easter weekend; I asked the ss to think about the wh- question words and try to incorporate answers to each in their reports.
Each student read out their reports, and I asked the other ss to correct or ask questions where needed. It was a good warm up exercise as well as reviewing all our past tenses.
We carried on with the book, looking at time expressions, arranging appointments and meetings, also changing existing appointments. This was a good way of revising the use of time tenses and learning common expressions and idioms used in English when making arrangements.(Are you free?/Bring it forward..../rain-check...../good for me...../postpone.....etc
Next we started looking at product analysis, including dimensions, materials, shapes and colours.
I began by describing a mobile phone, then as a group we described numerous items in the class room. To make it a bit more challenging I asked each ss to describe something without telling us what it is, and the rest of the group had to try and guess what it was.
We then covered giving/expressing opinions, agreeing/disagreeing, and advantages/disadvantages.
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[Scott Graham]

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
This week has been another good one, with the most of the ss making very good progress especially in the reading and listening exercises. Due to the fact we are now into the last two weeks of the course, as well as carrying on with the book and learning activities, I have been giving the group a test to start each day to help with revision.
We have done quite a lot this week including:
Brainstorming: Communication through the ages
Personal Qualities.
We looked at:
Making/dealing with complaints .
Offering to help using should and can, and using future tense contractions.
‘Getting a job’, looking at the applying and recruiting process.
Talking about likes and dislikes using language such as “I hate......, I don’t mind.....”, and using the verb + ing.
I finished the week by starting looking at the different forms of business correspondences, and the types of correspondences eg covering letters, enquiries, offers, orders, etc.
We started to write a C.V., using the list of personal quality words we had compiled during out brainstorming session, each student wrote a short personal profile to head their CV. I brought in some examples of live job advertisements which we looked at as a group to understand the language used. As a small bit of homework for the weekend, I gave the website address for the job-centre in England, and asked ss to find a job they might be interested in and to print it and bring it in on Monday. I explained we will go through the process of applying for the selected jobs.
As I said we’ve had a good week, most are still enjoying it and making lots of effort.
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[Daniel]

Hi everybody,

You don't seem to be too many working with the eilenburg class now. It sounds great, Scott.
I'd have a request that's got nothing to do with Eilenburg. I'd like a Brithish native speaker to read the abstract of my thesis. It's a three-pages text and supposed to be directed to a Cambridge professor in the first place.
Many thanks in advance and it might even be interesting to read.

Trainers in training,
Daniel

[Scott Graham]

Monday 20th
We began the week with a warm-up game of ‘Hang-man’. On Friday I gave the ss the address for the Jobcentre in UK and asked all to find a job they would like to do, which they were to print out and bring in. We started by each person explaining their advert, telling us:
Job title, location, hours, salary and job description.
I then explained the basic rules of a business letter, including structure and format, salutations, the body of the letter, and complimentary closing.
We then wrote a covering letter to put with our CV as if we were applying for our chosen jobs.
To continue the theme of ‘Getting a job’, I gave the group a worksheet which concentrated on common Questions and answers and language used in interviews. We also carried out some role-play.
We talked about different types of business letters that are written. In preparation for tomorrow I asked the ss to look for a product they want to enquire about and find a company’s details on the internet that we will write a letter to.
Tuesday 21st
We began the day with a game of ’20 Questions’, each ss had to think of a person, place or thing and the group would ask investigative questions to try and ascertain what they were thinking of. It was a very good way to revise forms of questions and answers.
I then gave the ss a listening test based on a piece of writing I had prepared, i first read the text then asked 10 questions.
To carry on where we left off yesterday I gave the group a handout with examples of expressions and phrases used when writing a letter of enquiry to aid with their own letter. All ss carried out this task with competence and understanding.
We then carried on with the book, ‘Checking and correcting information’. We concentrated on:
Ordering and supplying.
Clarifying information
Contrastive stress.
Complaints and apologies.
We finished the day with a translation exercise, I brought a book in with photos of dogs which has very basic expressions with each picture. Each ss had a chance to translate the expressions.
_________________
By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

[GalwayBoy]

Report number EILEN001:
Date: 03.07.2009
Location: AFI Private Akademie für Informatik GmbH, Bergstr. 62 04838 Eilenburg
Time: 8.00 AM - 15.00 PM
Teacher: Ian Spring

Report:

Today was my first day with the Eilenburg class. This was their last week.
As I normally do, I first Introduced myself and quickly formalised myself with the students.
We spoke for a short while about myself and my background.
Afterwards we discussed what had been covered and what the students felt would be helpful material for their last week.
After this, we first started with Telephone conversations and typical business calls.
In this instance I was a upset customer and the students were the caring helpful customer care personnel.
It was a interesting experiment as we alternated the roles and also speed of speech over the phone and also attitudes of speech.
The students in this case were well able for the challenge and in some cases were so acute and quick in response, that they left the berated customer speechless.
After this exercise, the students transcribed some of the text from the customer care conversations and I helped in correcting their grammar.
Finally for today, we went back over positions in space and with the aid of diagram on the whiteboard, the locations and distances and titles were clarified.

These students showed a amazing flare for finite detail and perfecting English to a astonishing level.
I was very impressed for my first day.

[GalwayBoy]

Report number EILEN002:
Date: 04.07.2009
Location: AFI Private Akademie für Informatik GmbH, Bergstr. 62 04838 Eilenburg
Time: 8.00 AM - 15.00 PM
Teacher: Ian Spring

Report:

To start the day I asked the students to tell me a little about there privies evening.
After this short conversation, the students were asked to write a short report on there evening.
When this was completed, we read the text and helped correct each other, the grammar etc.
After this task, we then continued on the topic of free time and composed a concept of better health in free time.
The core idea was that the students must compose a interesting collecting of new activities that would benefit themselves and there family, both for there mental well being and physical health.
After lunch we then used the website www.ego4u.de
We systematically went thought the different grammatical tests and clarified the small mistakes that the students continued to make.

[GalwayBoy]

Report number EILEN003:
Date: 05.07.2009
Location: AFI Private Akademie für Informatik GmbH, Bergstr. 62 04838 Eilenburg
Time: 8.00 AM - 15.00 PM
Teacher: Ian Spring

Report:

As usual I first asked the students to tell me a little about their privies evening.
After this was completed, I gave the students the task to search for a interesting news article from CNN or BBC news website.

The students had to read the text and then read out to the other students.
Tell the students what each sentence meant and then at the end, explain the overall big picture of the text. The students were allowed to help each other and when necessary I was able to clarify any misinterpretations of the sentences.

[GalwayBoy]

Report number EILEN004:
Date: 06.07.2009
Location: AFI Private Akademie für Informatik GmbH, Bergstr. 62 04838 Eilenburg
Time: 8.00 AM - 15.00 PM
Teacher: Ian Spring

Report:

To begin the day, the students and myself discussed our evenings from the previous night.

After this, we discussed some new topics that were discussed in the news.
We also discussed the political differences between Ireland and Germany.
The students then composed a text, explaining the differences and what helps to build a national identity.

This was a very interesting project that bore fruit. The students were able to structure their thoughts and ideas into high quality sentences with good straight forward logic. The grammar and structuring was overall very good, with only minor errors to be corrected and clarified.

After lunch, I gave the students one page of text each. The text consisted of new text from a Irish economic and political newspaper.
The student had to read the text and translate it to German. After this the students must read out the text for the other students and explain each sentences meaning.
Finally, I was able to clarify some of the more subtle elements of the political text.

[GalwayBoy]

Report number EILEN005:
Date: 07.07.2009
Location: AFI Private Akademie für Informatik GmbH, Bergstr. 62 04838 Eilenburg
Time: 8.00 AM - 15.00 PM
Teacher: Ian Spring

Report:

Today is the last day for the students and they are all very happy to be finishing. All the students had received their certificates the Friday before and now the students were ready to finish.
For the final day, we began with one more sample text from the London Times.
We spend some time reading these texts and then explained and discussed.
After this we discussed a little about each of the students plans when he or she was finished in Eilenburg.
Before lunch time, we all made a nice cup of tea and coffee.
We sat down and watched a very good English language film "Fort Apache" or in Germany "The Bronx" with Paul Newman.
All the students really enjoyed the film and found little problem in understand the spoken English.
After the film was finished, we all went into Eilenburg for a Donor Kebab and said our good byes.

This was a astonishingly good class with a fantastic knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
I really thing Torsten's approach to English learning set these students in the perfect direction for success.

Best wishes.
Ian.

[**jens]

Hi, my name Jens and I visited this course to improve my English knowledge. My English before this course enfolded only phrases and some vocabulary. Now, at the end of this course my English is much better and it was a very good possibility to increase my English level. The teaching manner was well and we also had a lot of fun. All in all this course was very useful and we did have a good time. Thanks an all teacher and maybe we will see each other.

Jens Sigismund
member of the course from the 10th Aug. - 2nd Oct.09

[Steffen]

My name is Steffen. I have English lesson since 10th August in Eilenburg.
I attended this course to improve my English and also I would use it in a new job to possibility.
This course is very demanding for me. The other members of this course are very nice and friendly we have a good time.
I like that any teacher are native speaker, it´s very interesting and informative for me. So we learn many things from their homeland and culture.
It is easier to understand for me than even to speak. I think I would be the tips from the teacher to learn better to more listen on radio or internet.

Greetings Steffen

[Hiretho]

My name is Thomas

I like this education. The education is friendly.
We to had good students and good people.
This ratio is fir the short time, very good.
I am happy the people and the teacher have learned to know to have.
I am happy to have met the other people and teachers
I have learnt better English for my next trip on holiday or for other jobs.
My problem is remains the words and remembering the words.

Yassou Thomas