Improving your English every day?

English as a Second Language What do you want to talk about?
21

Hi, Torsten, Ralf and Conchita,
thanks a lot for your willingness to help me.
Today’s report of the D-group:
The afternoon I shared with the participants was exciting again, although they would have preferred to enjoy the sunny day outside the class-room. :smiley: :slight_smile: .
I tried to so my best to keep them in a good mod for learning…
I began the class with some exercises regarding computer vocabulary, e-mails, Internet and I connected them with some grammar: Simple past versus present perfect
Then I involved them in short conversations about different topics: appearance, description of people and things, professions, jobs etc…I introduced some important adjectives and their use and enhanced this subject with corresponding synonymous and antonymous expressions (I am planning some good exercises about choosing the right word). We also talked about their region.
We did not notice the class time was over and…
Tomorrow I will be back there, that’s why I am going to bed now. I wish all of you a wonderful night!

Roberto

22

Hi, Torsten&Ralf,
sorry for my typing errors (I mean do and mood, not so and mod).
Today’s class was really funny. We talked about a lot of useful adjectives describing people’s personality, character and appearance. “Fine feathers make fine birds” was the starting point of an interesting discussion. Moreover, everyone was involved in a guessing game, where the one had to describe one person in or outside the class, and another one has to make guesses. In this way, we practiced many adjectives and vocabulary referring to clothes, accessories, etc…
We read a text about body language, gestures in communication and the meaning of proximity in different cultures worlwide. Everyone had the chance to exercice their pronuncation and other skills, such as spelling words, writing dictations, reading aloud, playing roles, translating sentences etc…
Tomorrow the D-group is planning a barbecue in the afternoon.
Best regards,
Roberto

23

Hi Roberto&Ralf and everyone else,

Thanks a lot for your update and your great work. As for the L-group yesterday, we also covered CV writing and talked about the different approaches in Germany and other countries. Thomas has a new work contract with a German construction firm commencing July 1. They’ll do parts of a project in Moscow: a new district containing of 100 houses for Russian business people. His contract lasts for 6 month and after his job he returns to Odessa where he owns a flat. We had a lot of interesting discussions about the German labour market, about the question why people at a certain age can’t find a job in Germany, about the advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed, etc.
Tomorrow we’ll take a look at some r?sum? samples and talk about ways of finding a job.

Have a good Friday,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Giving boarding information to train passengers[YSaerTTEW443543]

24

good class, reviewed simple&continuous tenses, present perfect and the simple future tenses. involved the tenses in a quiz game and made people talk about their future activities, hopes and plans in contrast to their regular and momentary activities.

25

Today we reviewed the use of the tenses with examples and key words. Then we read analyzed some sample r?sum?s and talked about their advantages and disadvantages. We also discussed ways of finding sample CV’s or r?sum?s from professionals with a specific background. In the afteroon we continued with TOEIC listening questions (we listened to the questions twice - the second time I stopped the CD after every single question and had the group repeat the question several times and write down some of the vocabulary). In addition, the group had to determine the tense of every single question.

In between we had several interesting conversations about the upcoming world soccer cup, the labor market, corporate policy, the ‘age issue’ and forms of employment.

Next week we should continue to work on our professional profiles and presentations.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Giving information about medical insurance plans[YSaerTTEW443543]

26

brilliant class. collected vocab for describing outer appearance, clothes etc. then concentrated on character features. analyzed a job ad and explained vocab. wrote a fictitious CV of a person replying to this ad and analyzed a covering letter. on tuesday i’d like to continue writing a proper covering letter ref. job ad.

27

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks for your update, good to hear your group is making progress. Maybe you can collect some information regarding their work placements or jobs? What are they going to do when the English course is finished? You can also incorporate some of the ideas from our UK/Ireland project: Working in the UK and in Ireland.

Please let us also know when you return from Dublin and what day you can start work again.

Have a good week,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Restaurant employee is promoting dinner specials[YSaerTTEW443543]

28

hi torsten

i’ll be back from dublin next monday, so i’d be happy to start teaching again on tuesday 16th. let me know if you want me to bring some leprechauns or other wee folks :mrgreen:

have a good week

ralf

29

Yes Ralf, please do bring some leprechauns, a clurichaun and a couple of other faerie folks. We could have a cross cultural session in which you introduce the basics of the Irish language and Irish traditions.

Anyway, do you want to start on Tuesday with the L or D group? They will all be happy to work with you again and we’ll coordinate things with Roberto.

Regards
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Update on current marketing/advertising campaign of sports equipment company[YSaerTTEW443543]

30

i don’t mind really. how about me doing leipzig on tuesday and thursday and delitzsch on wednesday and friday? see you tomorrow on the forum!

31

today in L course:

  • brief review of tenses. everyone seems to be able to identify and use 7 of the main tenses now

  • describing characteristics

  • analysing job ad

  • writing a CV

  • writing a covering letter

homework: finish covering letter (ran out of time in the end)

32

Hi Ralf,

Many thanks for your update. With the D-group it will be good to ask them about their work placement plans. After all, the purpose of this program is to improve the job chances of the participants. To that end it is necessary to analyze the different forms of employment and how to create a social and professional network. Yes, our job is to ‘teach’ English but the number of state funded English courses is constantly decreasing because there must be a better way of spending that money. So, we can decide what role we want to play in that new system that is emerging.

Please, have everyone in the group write down a key word list describing the job they want to do. Who has been trying to find a work placement? What are their plans for the next few weeks? Ralf, you are from Ireland, a country that has a very high employment rate. What are the differences between the German and Irish labour markets? What can we do to generate more jobs in Germany?[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Announcing politician as guest speaker at local political event[YSaerTTEW443543]

33

  • made people examine a job ad with respect to requirements and job characteristics

  • asked them what they expected their ideal job to be like

  • made them collect a keyword list

  • explained vocab

  • had them write an application for this job

  • corrected individual letters

  • discussed findings

34

Hi Ralf,

You are right on track, many thanks for your update. We should also talk about how the various ways of finding a job and building networks. We can run a project: to compile a list of companies in our area that have a bilingual web presence. You have translated German site contents into English and
localized’ websites so it will be a useful and productive exercise.

More on that soon,
Regards
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Radio commercial for discounts on major appliances[YSaerTTEW443543]

35

Hi Ralf&Torsten,

Here I am again and I apologize for my silence in the last days.
As for yesterday’s D class:
We had a lot of fun in the class room again, despite the inviting sunny weather outside the class. I introduced new business vocabulary (freehold, leasehold, premises, green-field site, warehouse, relocate, store, staff, complex, acre, firm, derelict, run-down etc…), then we did some exercises using the new words.
Everyone had the chance to write some sentences on the white-board (as a dictation). We were very interactive. We read a business letter, talked about its style and then we translated it into German. All of them were attentive till the end. I was also surprised that they decided to speak a bit English in the breaks.

We did some exercises about deriving words by using prefixes and suffixes (“How to enhance your vocabulary”). After the lunch break we wrote the lyrics of a song (Across the lines: Tracy Chapman).

Verb exercises (Present perfect and simple past)

Today’s class in Leipzig:
Business vocabulary: Applying for a job, CVs…Vocabulary exercises (lease, freehold, premises, complex, relocate, staff, requirements, etc…Written and oral exercises and more exercises).
Verbs: Present perfect continuous.

Song: Tracy Chapman, Across the lines. Words contained in the song: riot, tracks, dare, their use.

Opinions.
False friends/Differences between Britisch and American English.

Money and currencies. The development of money, barter system.

Learning new vocabulary in English. Suggestions…
Etymologies: hound, hunt, bloom, flower, Wednesday, work, Energy, adult, old, spend, money, name, etc…
Dictation: a business letter (different from the one in Delitzsch). We tried to be self-critical.

Bye,
Roberto

P.S I could teach practically every day (I don’t mean that I would teach all of the five days, I mean I could teach e.g. on Monday, Wednesday and/or Friday next week and on Tuesday, Wednesday and/or Thursday after next week,
so I am flexible but it depends on the intensity of my translation work). I will tell you more details in the run of this week.

Bye,
Roberto

36

Hi Roberto,

Many thanks for your update. Could you please do the D group on Monday and I’ll do Leipzig. Ralf returns from Dublin on Monday and he’ll do the D group on Tuesday, so the schedule looks like this:
D on Monday: Roberto
L on Monday: Torsten

D on Tuesday: Ralf
L on Tuesday: Torsten

D on Wednesday: Roberto
L on Wednesday: Ralf

D on Thursday: Ralf
L on Thursday: Roberto

D on Friday: Roberto
L on Friday: Ralf

Let me know if this is OK with you. As for the Leipzig group today, we did a brainstorming exercise to come up with key words related to each person’s industry and occupation. Everyone will do a follow up on this using the top key words of their list for further reading in Wikipedia. In addition everyone will do some research on job portals such as totaljobs.com to get an idea of the structure, features and language. Then we discussed the fact that a large percentage of all jobs are not advertised in public places like the Internet or newspapers.

We came up with reasons for this and strategies to use this fact to our advantage. Waldemar mentioned that he has been using OpenBC.com to generate new business contacts and build a professional network. We also talked about the advantages of one’s own website and how to register a domain and upload files onto a server.

Please continue with creating a professional summary outlining personal strengths and giving tangible examples that illustrate those characteristics. It is important to ask questions about plans for the next few weeks and months. What is the group going to do after the course ends?[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Weather forecast on radio[YSaerTTEW443543]

37

Hi, Torsten, Hi Ralf
here I am again before this week is over again.
The folks in Leipzig were enthusiastic as usually and they want to learn more. So, it is a pity that times flies so fast. We had a lot of pleasure and fun. They are a very dynamic, energetic, positive class.

As usually we did a lot of spelling exercises (writing dictations: one of the group dictates a sentence or more and another one stands up and goes to the front of the class and writes this on the whiteboard). I said to them it
is important to be self-critical and to learn to accept one’s mistakes as a force to improve one’s language skills and make progress).

We spoke about some political topics; so I tried to engage them in a discussion (one of these was insurrected organizations in Latin America).
Besides these topics of general character (countries, nationalities, people, economy, important words, associations with different cultures), we had a short discussion about body language, communication skills, the differences
of culture awareness (specially restricted to some idiomatic expressions in English) in Great Britain, USA and other European and Asian countries.
After the lunch break we decided to be more active regarding business terminology. So I tried to brush up with them some business vocabulary and introduce new words: The main points (to be continued tomorrow): Getting a job, moving up (career ladder), prospects for one’s job, applying for a new position etc…
Grammar: Tenses (simple past, present perfect; simple future; short explanation of the other future tenses, passive voice, the use of you/they or passive voice for German “man”; false friends; yet etc…; the use of prepositions with verbs, transitive and intransitive verbs etc…).

Have a nice day, Torsten/Ralf. improve one’s language skills and make progress).

We spoke about some political topics; so I tried them to engage them in a discussion (one of these was insurrected organizations in Latin America).
Besides these topics of general character (countries, nationalities, people, economy, important words, associations with different cultures), we had a short discussion about body language, communication skills, the differences of culture awareness (specially restricted to some idiomatic expressions in English) in Great Britain, USA and other European and Asian countries.
After the lunch break we decided to be more active regarding business terminology. So I tried to brush up with them some business vocabulary and introduce new words: The main points (to be continued tomorrow): Getting a job, moving up (career ladder), prospects for one’s job, applying for a new position etc…
Grammar: Tenses (simple past, present perfect; simple future; short explanation of the other future tenses, passive voice, the use of you/they or passive voice for German “man”; false friends; yet etc…; the use of prepositions with verbs, transitive and intransitive verbs etc…).

Have a nice day, Torsten/Ralf.

38

HI, Torsten,
thank you very much for the ideas you proposed in your last posted message.
Of course, I see the advantages for posting my messages here on the forum.
Today in Leipzig I also asked one of them what they are planning to do after the course. I’m trying to talk with the class more about this and how their prospects look like.
I am really pleased with both classes, although I find that the L-class far more active and dynamic is than the D-class.
I like to see that their motivation for learning English is o.k or (perhaps) has increased so far. Waldemar told me he would take part in an English course in a Maltese language school (course fees: 8.000 euros for six weeks!!).
So, Torsten, have a nice day. Your suggestions for next week are o.k!

P.S As usual. I wrote in an E-mail as usually…
Bye,
Roberto

39

Hi, Torsten, hi Ralf,
I have just found out that I messed up the appointments for next week! I thought I would have to do the L-class on Monday, so the class thinks now I am coming next week on Monday. The trouble is that they are arriving at eight o’clock and not at ten o’clock, as you wanted them to do.
Sorry!
Today in Leipzig was very satisfactory. We worked a lot.
We learned a lot about strengths and weaknesses in people’s personality (a great deal of adjectives describing character etc. useful for application letters, e.g.). We did exercises about business vocabulary (continuation of Thursday’s class): Moving up, career ladder, hard times in life, being out of job, resign, apply, facing a new challenge, happier times, getting a raise, a promotion, prospects for a job, retirement, etc…
And grammar: We treated simple past and present perfect again (specially exercises where they had to decide on one of these two main verb tenses); passive voice; simple future tenses (will-, be going to- future). We read also some funny sentences where they had to use these two usual future tenses).I introduced briefly the meaning of the conditional tenses. They want to practice more grammar.
Again, the participants were active and did a lot of writing, speaking, reading and listening exercises.

Kind regards,
Roberto
Let’s try to solve this “problem” on Monday! Unless you can get there at eight already…

40

Hi Roberto,

Many thanks for your update, as for Monday morning, it’s actually even better if they arrive at 8.00 so they’ll have some time to prepare for their presentations. I’ll be there at eight and we can use the time review the techniques we talked about earlier this week so just keep the schedule as it is and I’ll follow up on what you did with them today.
The D course went were very well too, everyone created a short professional summary describing their strengths and how they can be translated into benefits for a potential employer. Then we talked about how to find a work placement and how to build a network. We also did a number of TOEIC listening comprehension tests and practised the use of the tenses.

More soon, enjoy the sun.
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, talks: Airplane pilot is welcoming passengers on board giving them information about flight[YSaerTTEW443543]