Jena University Graduates

[Ian Spring]

Thanks Georgeta for the update !
I hope your having great fun with this group.
I will keep you updated on our progress.

Thank you again and I wish you a very relaxing evening.
Best wishes,
Ian :-)

[Ian Spring]

Tuesday report from Jena.

I was back today with this lovely group of girls.
This is what we did today:

- Small talk about what the girls weekend and also about what they had learnt the last days.
- Listing the character straights of the students and what elements of themselves they can sell in an interview situation.
- Discussing interview styles and studying both standard questions and also specialised questions, according to each students specialist field.
- 2 minute presentation on the students straights and strongest selling points.
- Interview style questions after each presentation
- Training for individual and team presentation skills. Open discussion on what the students think are good and bad tactics in presenting a person in a professional environment.
- Studying the plan for a new business product.
- Listing the separate steps of a product development process and their according attributes.
- Discussing brainstorming (idea generation) and creative flexibility.

Wednesday report from Jena.

Back again for my second day with this very dynamic and energetic group.

- We started the morning with a revision of what we had covered the day before.
- We then explored the professional approach to idea generation and idea processing.
- Many of the students have plans to become self employed and entrepreneurs after this course and they found this training very poignant for their first business success.
- After explaining the real system of idea generation and selection. We decided to build into this a small project. For teams to design a new product based from the specialist knowledge of the students in each group.
- Then the students did creation generation, selection and final selection.
- The innovative business idea or product was then selected.
- The students were asked to create a list of important elements in a successful business and then to fill out each criteria for this product.
- Basic marketing, demands/trends, costs, environment etc were all considered.
This project style work forced the students to be both very creative and also use a hugh about of their vocabulary.
- The last stage of this activity was that the students prepared a rudimentary presentation of their product idea. Segmented into critical business elements.
The presentation was a fantastic success with a large array of very feasible products and business plans.
-The final step was a very existence open Q&A session. Integrating the teams in finite detail of their ideas, business plans and also thought processes.

This was a day simply filled with incredibly savvy young business women with a lot of capability and simply looking for chances to use it and show it.
A real pleasure.

Good luck tomorrow Georgeta.
Best wishes.
Ian

[Georgeta]

Hi Ian!

Thanks a lot for the update. Please help me with something. What audio recording do you usually use for covering the listening activity on 'Going the Extra Mile'?

I wish you a relaxing evening and a grand day tomorrow.

Best wishes,

Georgeta

[Ian Spring]

Hi Georgeta.

Sorry I can help.
I haven't used the "Going the Extra Mile' activity yet.

I hope you have great fun tomorrow.
Best wishes.
Ian :-)

[Torsten]

"Going the Extra Mile" is one chapter of 'The Science of Personal Achievement' by Napoleon Hill. It's the most important book when it comes to business and success. You really should read and/or listen to it on a regular basis.

TOEIC listening, talks: A theater is introducing a play

[Georgeta]

Hello!

Thursday,November 4th, day 9, Jena.

-The morning activity started with a short review.
-We discussed the job hunting activities the members of the group carried out so far and the situations they faced during interviews.
-For the next activity (I hope I did the right thing), I used Napoleon Hill's ' Think and Grow Rich - Going the Extra Mile' video which I found on YouTube. The trainees made a list of keywords while listening to the audio recording and tried to explain the principle.
-I used an additional text to illustrate the principle( The extra mile despite early deprivation:A REMARKABLE WOMAN - the story of Martha Matilda Harper)
-This was made into a dictogloss activity
-Based on the examples, each member of the group had to prepare a convincing 2 minute presentation in order to illustrate this success principle in their own experience
-Advertising. A brief historical approach. The language of advertising. Information v.s. persuasion. Advertising as means of communication.
-They had to choose the most suitable method of advertising for the businesses they created with Ian (give arguments for their choice), create a logo, a slogan and write the ad proper according to the alternative they chose. (We kept the groups and we added one more business,created by Christin and Stefan-who are actually ready to start their own business). The outcome was absolutely brilliant,and at this point,I would like to ask if it is OK to take some pictures of these great projects tomorrow.
-The other groups asked questions and made suggestions.
-The trainees were given some apparently impossible to sell products and they needed to come up with the best marketing strategies possible
-We reviewed some negotiating strategies.

Dear Torsten,I am facing a technical problem. I downloaded the test for tomorrow,but I cannot open the zip file. Please resend it in the format you sent the previous test. Is it OK to give the test before the lunch break and send you the results?

[Georgeta]

I will read the book,Torsten. The problem is that there aren't too many books in English at the Erfurt Library. Is there any online version of the book?

[Georgeta]

Hi Torsten and Ian!

Day 10,November 5th,Jena.

Before the final test, we did a review using the exercises in 'In Company' ,p.88-117. I selected 1-2 ex. for each verb tense/ adjectives/ adverbs,etc.

TOEIC Test (2 hours).

After the lunch break, we had a dictogloss activity and the TNs learnt about a new Success Principle ,'Definiteness of Purpose'. Discussions followed and all of them decided to read the book.

Tns had to prepare for the final task. I was this time the young graduate looking for a job and they were the counselors. Each trainee was 'specialized' in a certain field. This activity's outcome was a structured revision of all the main topics studied during the course.

Conclusions and a final piece of advice.