Hi everybody,
I’ll post some of the points we covered in Nordhausen yesterday:
Main text in class:
Looking for a job:
"The following pages describe Frank Worner’s experiences as he applies for a job, moves to the U.K. and begins his career. Frank has almost completed his university course in Germany in the field of Business Administration. The company that Frank is applying to is BodyFit located in the south east of England. It is a medium-sized progressive company producing sports equipment and clothes. Frank is trying to land a job as a management trainee moving from one department to another on a rotation scheme. To see what happens, read on!
Explanation of the relevant vocab contained in the reading text: experience. The prefix ex- meaning “out (of)”, GErman: aus-, ur-, er-, “über…hinaus”: Erfahrung. exit, exaggerate. The verb “to apply for a job”/ to apply to a company and the German translation: sich bewerben. Application = Bewerbung. The verb “to complete” as a synonym for “finish, end, conclude”. The verb to “move” and the noun “motion” and the use of the prefix “re-”: German: wieder, zurück- or other German suffixes (ent-, um-): repeat, relocate, remove. The noun “size” and the adjectives ending in “sized”: small-sized, medium-sized, large-sized company (compare: clothing or shirt sizes: S, M, L). Some verbs ending in -duce (Latin for “lead”, “carry”): introduce, reduce, produce. The idiom: to land a job = to get a job.
Some learning techniques for memorizing words better were discussed in class:memory aids, looking for connections to German or other languages we are familiar with (e.g.: German ei/ai like in Stein, Eiche, Kleidung, Eid, allein, Heim, heil, Seife, Laib correspond to English o/oa-words: stone, oak, clothing, oath, alone, home, whole, soap, loaf.). Use of games and creativity in class (dice, drawing pictures, rhyming words and sentences, word chains, puzzles etc…)
Learning a foreign language can be regarded as a contribution to peace. In class we also discussed the reasons why we should learn English. The use of the idiom: to my mind, in my opinion. Some reasons could be: for better global understanding, to improve employment potential, study abroad, to sharpen or develop cognitive and life skills (mental flexibility, creativity, and higher order thinking skills, such as problem-solving, conceptualizing, and reasoning); the encounter with cultures different from one’s own leads to tolerance of diverse lifestyles and customs and it improves the learner’s ability to understand and communicate with people from different walks of life. Other reasons: to appreciate international music, music and film, to make travel more feasible and enjoyable, to increase understanding of oneself and one’s own culture, to make lifelong friends.
Grammar: some modal and auxiliary verbs: have to/must, can/can’t/be able to and would like to /'d like to, want to, will…I want to learn English because…, I’d like to learn English because. I must learn English because…I’ll try to learn English because…
Jokes in class:
Our receptionist slipped on a banana skin and went to hospital. After examining him, the doctor said: “I have some good news and some bad news for you. First of all, you’ll never be able to work again.” Our receptionist said: “Okay, now what’s the bad news”?
Other jokes: There are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count and those who can’t (modal verbs: can, can’t, verb to count - account, discount…).
If I had eight apples in the right hand and nine apples in the left hand, what would I have? - Huge hands…
I’d also like to express my gratitude to Wolfgang and Martina for their help. Thanks for the lift! And I thank all of the four participants for their attention and commitment.
Have a nice weekend! Regards
Roberto