English Trainer wanted: Neubrandenburg October 5 through October 16

[Scott Graham]

Hello, I am Rima

Today is the last day with our english trainer und entertainer Scott, who stayed two weeks with us.

This two weeks were very interesting, we have learnt a lot of new words, al lot of grammar, a lot of british cultur, and all was in a simple attraktive method.

Everyone in our group has improved.
Scott is a genial, he is born to be a teacher, the days with him run very fast an I hope we can have him very soon again.

we are proud to have him here in neubrandenburg.
_________________
Leipzig Englisch Sprachschule- a little London in Leipzig
http://www.leipzigenglisch.de

[Scott Graham]

So today was my last day here in NeuBrandenburg, we have spent the day mainly chatting (small talk), in English about anything that comes up. We also an English movie which we then reviewed. The group also wrote a piece which we titled 'the last 2 weeks', which you can see above. I have had a great 2 weeks here, the group and the staff are all very friendly and accomodating. The feed-back from the group is really nice and they presented me with a trophy today on which is engraved 'Best Teacher' which is very humbling.

So today I will return to sunny Leipzig.

Have a great weekend
_________________
Leipzig Englisch Sprachschule- a little London in Leipzig
http://www.leipzigenglisch.de

[Torsten]

Hi Richard,

Here is an update on the current Neubrandenburg course which you are going to take over next week: The group was split into two (beginners and more advanced) with Stephanie Burnett of English-Team currently teaching the latter. WBS have found a great appartment for her for 15 € per night and you might want to use that one too. (Maybe next time).

Next week, you will be going to teach both groups -- the beginners as well as the advanced consecutively for 4 hours each. This means, you first teach one group for 4 hours and then the other for the remainder of the day.

This week there are two trainers each working with one group for 9 hours. Next week there will be only one trainer (you) for both groups. So, you start with one group in the morning while the rest are working on their own in the room with access to the Internet. The advanced group consists of 6 to 7 people while the beginners has about 10 members.

On Monday morning you are going to start with the small group of advanced learners while the beginners will be working on tasks they were given by Frau Hoffmann, the trainer who has been working with them this week.

Maybe Stephanie will give you an update later this week.

Let me know if this makes sense to you.
Many thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: The bicycle relay

[RimcMullen]

Hi Torsten

That sounds sensible enough and thank you very much for the update. Do you know if the more advanced group is at intermediate level, or just a little higher than the beginners? Is the material provided? I always bring my own too but I understood they were working with a specific textbook?

And, I will obviously need to have 4 hours worth of tasks and assignments for each group everyday as I understand.

It sounds interesting and I am really looking forward going there.
I've sorted an apartment for now but maybe in the future.

Best regards
Richard

[Scott Graham]

Hi Richard,

In answer to your question regarding the levels of the 2 groups, I'm not 100% sure who is in each group but I can take a stab in the dark or even better an educated guess.

I would suggest the lower group are at no more than A1 where as the higher level group is A2 creeping over to B1.

While I was there, they were working with the New Headway pre-intermediate book, but I suggest you use more of your own materials especially with the higher group to help prepare them for the LCCI.

Both groups are highly motivated and enjoy a varied day.

I wish you a lot of fun with them and please when you are there please tell them 'Lord Graham' sends his regards.

Scott
_________________
Leipzig Englisch Sprachschule- a little London in Leipzig
http://www.leipzigenglisch.de

[Torsten]

Hi Scott,

Thanks a lot for your excellent support -- I'm sure the Neubrandenburg folks will always remember you. By the way, here is the link I mentioned last time we spoke: http://www.google.com/search?q=linda+arlia&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B2GGFB_enDE220

Let me know what you think.
Regards,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: On parade

[RimcMullen]

Hi Scott - thanks for the info - greatly appreciated.

I will bring materials to work with for them and I look foward to meeting and teaching them.

As for the new set up with 4 hours computer and 4 hours teaching. I will have to have a closer look how it works beofre I can plan too much for that. I would assume they could do plently of tests and webquests. I will think of a project or two they could work on in teams as well.

The address of WBS look easy enough to find - just the other side of the ring road from the city center right? Is there a particular person I report to when I get there or just the main office?

I will certainly say hi to them.

[Torsten]

Hi Richard, your opposite number will be Ms Simmet who is in charge of organizing the course. For administrative questions you can also talk to Ms Lachs.

TOEIC listening, photographs: In the desert

[RimcMullen]

Monday, October 4th

The class has ca. 12 students (always fluctuating) and was divided last week into and upper and lower level, which I can see, was necessary after I met with the students in the lower group. There are only three of them in the lower group but their level is well below that of the rest of the class – they are about mid-way thru A1 if that. Last week there were two teachers however and this week there is only me so I am teaching the upper level in the morning and the lower level in the afternoon. The ss in the lower group are happier about this than the upper level. It is not an ideal situation but we are making it work as best we can.

I give the students project work or assign reading and writing tasks while I am teaching the other group.

Upper group: The ss are working with Business Start Up 2 and have finished up to Unit 7. I began where Stephanie left off after the usual introductions and discussion warmer. We talked about education and career and focused on when to use present perfect and past simple.

Lower group: the ss had been working with a German-speaking teacher and were given workbook assignments from unit 8 – 12 from New Headway pre-intermediate. I spent the day going over the written work assignments they had completed. I used the lesson from New Headway Unit 8 which they had been working with and let them continue with their workbook assignments for tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, October 5th

Upper group: We continued practicing using the present perfect with yet, just and already giving good news and bad news and the discussing feelings and experiences.
The students worked ahead in their textbook while I went to teach the lower group in the afternoon.

Lower group: They had done well on their own using dictionaries to translate vocabulary, however, very little of the real function and meaning of the work was sinking in. They got firmly stuck on the function of ‘used to’ and I supplemented this area with some materials from Murphy’s. It was still way over their heads but we stuck at it and I gave them some assignments for the next morning to practice using used to.

Wednesday, October 6th

Upper group: Today I began with a conversational warmer about the different types of news and newspapers coparing tabloids to real news sources before we began Unit 8 which focuses on media of financial markets, economic trends and financial indicators. Unfortunately, the material in the book is well out of date since the global downturn so we had to imagine that the British housing market was still booming and use the appropriate tenses. In the afternoon, I gave the ss different research assignments which included reporting on the unemployment figures in Germany from 2007/8 to the present and also comparing housing prices around Germany. I had another group research the top 5 business and news stories from CITY24 in Toronto and another group compare housing prices in German cities to other cities around the world.

Lower group: today we continued our work with used to which is still causing a great deal of confusion. I decided to try a grammar-discovery task where students talked about a rich Wall Street banker and his lavish lifestyle. I drew a picture of a man on the board and, after making notes and drawing pictures of his lifestyle, I then told them that it was 2008 and he worked with Lehmen Brothers and that now we are in the future and I drew bars over his face and explained that he was now in Jail for theft. We contrasted how his life had changed to humorous effect, i.e. Johnny used to eat caviar at fancy French restaurants, now he eats sausages in the cafeteria; Johnny used to have 2 girlfriends, now he has 2 boyfriends etc.

Thursday, October 7th

Upper group: I began with a conversational warmer, Price and Value, from Instant Discussions Intermediate which focused on comparing how much people spend on different things and what value they get. I was able to use my experience living in Canada, Ireland, Germany and Wales as a good source for comparing the measure of value in different places and in different economic circumstances. We then heard the presentations from the groups about various different topics assigned yesterday. All were quite successful except comparing the different international cities. This is likely because it would be easy for them to get the information in German, especially about Germany, but searching in English for information about Kyoto, New York, Paris and Dublin would be more challenging of course and they only had access to one computer for all groups. I hope to attempt this one again next week. The group worked ahead into Unit 9 (Strategy) doing all the reading and writing work in the afternoon.

Lower group: I put the pre-intermediate headway text and workbook on the shelf today as it was really causing more problems than solving them. I have some beginner and elementary material from Talk Time 1 and World Link 1, which I introduced today, and the lesson went much more smoothly. For the following morning, I left them with assignments which focus on the simple present and daily routines. I told them we also use another tense (present continuous - which Germans do not have) to discuss the present but for now we will just to focus on the base form.

Friday, October 8th

Upper group: we began Unit 9 (Strategy) focusing grammatically on passive present simple and past simple using the language of marketing and advertising and business development. We were lucky too because two of the students, plus myself, had experience in running a business from the original idea to fruition. One student had started his own restoration firm, which built facades, and another had started a modern, coffee/muffin to go type shop in Leipzig, which she had discovered were so successful in the US during an extended trip in the late 90s. We discussed entrepreneurship and how this is good for competitiveness and can really benefit an economy. We also discussed how a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs are people who have lived abroad or are immigrants. As with the coffee shop idea – it’s a matter of seeing things done differently and then applying that to your home market. I talked about how I saw Germany as a place of opportunity when I first arrived and the same was true with Ireland. I shared the successes or failures I had marketing my Celtic music promotion company in Germany from 2002-05 and my language school in Ireland which helped to get students to relate the material to real-life. We talked about what sort of businesses might boom in the future, and in the end … it was decided that while coffee & bagel shops are still a good bet, sushi bars and pet grooming business might be a good choice for the future. I discussed how I had great success at first in Germany promoting Celtic music but that interest in Irish music and culture was no longer quite the hip thing it used to be and that business – no matter what it is, must be prepared for change and be able to react. We then talked about different types of business that were popular in the past and are still popular to reinforce passive present and past simple.

The ss then worked on a communicative task activity whereby groups of students worked as a consultative team and made recommendations on how to increase profits at an English pub which needed to re-invent itself. We had some very good and creative suggestions to reduce costs, improve productivity and marketing the new pub in the most cost effective way.

Friday seems to be Movie Day here so while I went to continue reviewing present simple and the language of introductions and descriptions with the lower group, the rest of the students watched I, Butterfly. I’m not a big fan of movies in the class really unless there is a real language focus for them which can be checked but we will discuss the movie on Monday morning anyway.

I have really enjoyed the week here in Neubrandenburg on many different levels. The students are very nice with most being highly motivated. The center staff have been very helpful and accommodating as well.

[RimcMullen]

My apologies, my dates are one day behind :) It should have begun with Monday, October 5th to Friday, October 9th.

[Torsten]

Hi Richard,

Thank you very much for your detailed report. I've spoken to Mrs Simmet and everyone at WBS Neubrandenburg is very happy with your work. More on that soon.
Regards,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: In the classroom

[RimcMullen]

Hi Torsten

Thank you very much. Aside from the high rate of absenteeism, which can frustrate planning and practicing, it is a great place to work and I am really looking forward to my next contracts here in Nov. and Dec.

Monday, Oct 11

Upper group: we began the day discussing ideas using the second conditional. I reviewed the first conditional and second conditional just to put things in perspective. We then talked about creativity using the second conditional to practice the function. i.e. If we did such and such we could/would blah blah and also using the language of suggestion (how about/why don’t we, etc to bring forth new ideas.) In the afternoon, the students worked ahead in the Business basics lessons and did a practice activity whereby the ss imagined they where at a meeting where they needed to make suggestions about a new business strategy using second conditional and the should/have to modals.

Lower group: the two students grew to four today and then back down to two at the end of the day as the new students re-joined the upper level. They are too high for the lower group but too still struggling in the upper group – they had been absent with leave for several weeks tho so hopefully they should catch-up. We worked on food vocabulary using present continuous. Unfortunately, there is a well-established culture of absenteeism with this group so it is hard of the ss who are always there as the other ones are always catching up.

Tuesday, Oct 12

Upper group: today we continued with Strategy Unit 10 from Business Basics doing some of the communicative activities involving De Bono’s 6 Hats. None of the ss had ever been introduced to this concept before. I told them it was common in many English speaking countries and from my own experience in Ireland, I have attended many meetings which operate this way, to get as many angles covered as possible in the hope of getting the best result, with fewer learning curve mistakes. The unit ended with a section on travel problems.

Lower group: I gave them various grammar assignments of areas we have covered from Murphy’s and for the morning and for the first hour of the afternoon we focused on these. We then used World Link Unit 4 Cities and Towns focusing on prepositions of place in your neighborhood.

Wednesday, Oct 13

Upper group:
We continued with the theme of travel problems as a warmer with Holidays From Hell and the emerging culture of compensation from Instant Discussions Unit 9. We had a lively morning recounting all the best and worst holidays and deciding what problems deserve compensation. The ss were introduced to a lot of language of complaint and a few legal terms as well. We then used World Link 2 Unit 9 The Big Job Interview, which reviews present perfect to describe skills and models the modern job interview. In the afternoon, the students worked ahead in the business Basics book unit 11 Transport and the ss also did a research webquest to choose a cost effective city break in Europe taking into account all the potential advantages and disadvantages using the 6 hats where possible.

Lower group:

We marked some more assignments on prepositions and had some fun practicing their new knowledge. I had the students translate as many prepositions as they could think along a variety of classroom items and then one student would leave the room while moved items around. Then she would come back in and the other student would have to describe where things are. I then used a discovery activity had the students draw a scene on the whiteboard as I gave them instructions i.e. in the middle of the scene is a house, behind the house are mountains, there is a doghouse next to the house, there is a tree beside the doghouse, there is a bird on top of the house/in the tree etc. We started Unit 5 World Link 1 Weather and travel using possessives adjectives and pronouns. Although this material is A1/A2 it is still difficult for them, however, we are taking the time needed to make sure they fully understand and retain what they’ve learned. I will give them a test tomorrow to check their retention.

[RimcMullen]

Thursday, Oct 15

Upper group

We covered the work done yesterday afternoon and then continued with our lesson from world Link 2 Unit 9 The World of Work and The Big Job interview. I gave them a quiz following this and then we discuseed ideal jobs based on individual preference and what skills, training are needed fort them.
We then began Unit 11 from Business Basics (Transport) which focused on prepositions of position and movement. The next üart of the unit focused on work safety procedures and re-inforced use of must.
In the afternoon, the ss worked aherad to finsih up the last unit of Business Start Up 2

Thursday, Oct 15

Upper group

We covered the work done yesterday afternoon and then continued with our lesson from world Link 2 Unit 9 the world of Work and The Big Job interview. I gave them a quiz following this and then we discussed ideal jobs based on individual preference and what skills, training are needed fort them.
We then began Unit 11 from Business Basics (Transport), which focused on prepositions of position and movement. The next part of the unit focused on work safety procedures and reinforced use of must.
In the afternoon, the ss worked ahead to finish up the last unit of Business Start Up 2

Lower group

The students worked on assignments and translating the work we would do in the afternoon. We began by reviewing the Murphy’s tasks i gave them on propositions of place and movement. We finished World Link 1 Unit 5 and then I tested the students on what they had covered this week.

[RimcMullen]

Friday, Oct. 16

Upper group.

We started today began with the weekly test covering Units 7-9 and world Link 2 Unit the World of Work. All the students passed with grades ranging from low 60s to high 90s. We then finished the last unit of Business Start up 2 covering reported speech and agendas and meetings. We then did a communicative activity where ss talked about their ideal jobs, the skills needed to do such a job and how they might set themselves up to eventually do a job they really liked/loved

In the afternoon the ss will view a movie as usual.

Lower group:

We continued with tests of the units covered this week and finished up to Unit 6 world Link 1 which practices verb plus infinitive and verb plus known using language to describe free time and leisure activities. I think we have come a long way in a short time. I have the students doing a lot more speaking and I hope the next teacher continues. I spoke with them yesterday and was surprised to find that they had taken another full time
English course for nearly three months in the summer. I think it is essential that we continue sending up native speakers so they get more exposure to native English speakers.

It has been a great two weeks here in NB and I look forward to meeting with some of the ss from this course again in November after they have finished to see how they did on their exam.