Hi everyone,
The new Eilenburg group is very dynamic. Every group member is very motivated and ready to share their knowledge with the group. There are 13 people with a good mix of female/male, younger/older. Everyone understands and speaks enough English to use English only in the classroom with some bits and pieces of German thrown in occassionally. Here is what we have done the first week:
- getting to know each other (I introduced our team, especially Scott and Roberto)
- taking the TOEIC mini test (from the Official Preparation Guide to the TOEIC Test)
- reviewing the alphabet (using the common abbreviations and the NATO alphabet)
- looking at some differences between English and German (using some of these ideas: Characteristics of the English langauge
- explaining words in English (everyone took turns in explaining one of the words that occur on the first pages of ‘Business Basics’)
We also covered the first few pages of Business Basics including the listening comprehension exercises. All group members have a copy of the book and we also have the audio CD.
On Tuesday Dirk gave a presentation of the current computer hardware market in Germany since he is going found a new company. Today he had a meeting with a potential investor and tomorrow he is going to brief us again in English.
At least three of the group members have worked abroad, two of them in North America and one in China.
On Monday, one of the participants will start a new job at the Arbeitsagentur call center in Leipzig.
Scott, please continue with a mix of interactive pair exercises and some grammar using the book as a framework and adding your own ideas as you have been doing with the other groups. Try to focus on practical phrases and learning techniques that our group can use in their next jobs or businesses. If possible, also talk about the differences between having a job and being self-employed highlighting the advantages of both models.
At this point we don’t have any access to the Internet but Ulrike has an iPhone with Internet access and maybe you can use that when you give the group mini project assignments such as finding out more about Amazon Leipzig or DHL Leipzig etc.
Many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC short conversations: Employee congratulates co-worker on his job promotion.[YSaerTTEW443543]
Eilenburg 22nd – 26th June.
Hello to our ever expanding group of trainers, and welcome to those of you who have joined us recently.
I would just like to let you know a little about this group, it is a very dynamic and interesting mix of people. It has a few people who have used or are using English in business situations in different locations throughout the world. All have a good command of the English language so there is little or no need for any German with them.
During this week we have made great progress, as well as working through the book from page 30 to page 61 we also did other exercises and talked about English culture, idioms and habits.
Most mornings I had a session of ‘hangman’ as I find this is a good warm up as well as a great way to instil the English alphabet.
Below is a brief summary of the main points of this week:
Advertising and marketing, we discussed different mediums and strategies, market research techniques, and target markets. The group then split into groups and designed their own new business, then reported back to the group including details such as: company name, logo, slogan as well as product(s), target market and marketing strategy.
Giving and asking for directions, we worked through the chapter in the book, ‘Away on business’. It highlighted the use of the imperative, prepositions of place, giving and asking for directions as well as the difference between formal and informal letter writing.
Denglish in the German language, I began by asking the group to discuss Denglish words that they are aware of using in everyday life. As expected the list was not so big as a lot of these words are used so frequently that German people (especially the younger ones) think they are German words. This is also the case with some English who use ‘Kaputt’ as in broken and ‘Stumm’ as in ‘keep stumm’ meaning ‘don’t tell anyone’. I then read out my list of Denglish words and the true German translation, and the group were really surprised to realise how many Denglish words they do use.
We then followed this by having a group debate, with a topic title ‘Should we use so many Denglish words in the German language?’ I explained common words and expressions used during a debate to enable them to agree or disagree with each other in a constructive way. It was very good; the group had a lot of fun, and talked about such things as globalization, culture, heritage and identity.
We looked at the different uses of like and would like especially in spare time activities.
Telephone language, we looked at words and expressions used when making and taking calls in English as well as leaving messages, we used a lot of role-play to instil this.
Simple past: regular forms, and the pronunciation of the ‘ed (‘t,’id,’d)
Simple past: irregular forms.
Structure of the perfect past.
Time expressions
Welcoming visitors, words, expressions and dialogue.
Weak forms
Brainstorming session ‘Non-spoken forms of communication’, a lot of good things came up from smoke signals to sms. I also highlighted the different forms of business correspondences from letters of enquiry to letters of complaint.
Reviewed simple past by reporting on last holiday including information such as, flights, hotels and activities.
Continuous forms: (past, present and future), and although there is no comparison to this the group understood it quite quickly. We compared the use of the simple present to present continuous when reporting on company activities and describing company projects.
Describing company trends: Especially during presentations, looking at language and expressions used to describe trends as well as different visual aids that are useful to show these trends. We also compared the use of present cont. Vs simple past when talking about trends.
Group presentation: To finish the week I asked the group to prepare a presentation for their new trainer on Monday. The aim of the presentation is to highlight their ability to work as a group, show their command of English in different tenses, a brief summary of what they have covered so far on the course as well as some information about them as individuals.
So Brian let me take this opportunity to welcome you to English team, and let you know that you have a very dynamic and highly motivated group to start with.
Have fun and they look forward to meet you.
Scott
Hi Scott and Brian,
Here is a summary of what we covered the last two days:
- dictogloss (advertising text from a TOEIC prep book)
- review of the tenses and the third conditional (we used some of the tests on our site)
- negotiation training
- listening comprehension (VOA Special English Development Report)
- Business Basics up to page 66
- review of “Denglish expressions”
Please have the group create a short report too so they can recap we they have learned so far.
Many thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC short conversations: Summing up an interview[YSaerTTEW443543]