Hello everyone, we are looking for native speakers of English who can call German companies to test and improve their employees’ English. Ideally, you don’t speak any German so you are not tempted to speak German when you are on the phone. (If you do speak German you should pretend that you don’t).
Each phone call should be between 1 and 10 minutes and follow a script you will get from us. The script contains questions you should ask the employee you are calling. In addition, you will get a checklist that covers information on the employee’s performance such as responsiveness, vocabulary, pronunciation, politeness, style, fluency, etc.
You can do this job from any part in the world as long as you can make phone calls to German land lines or cell phones.
If you are interested please answer here on the forum stating the following:
your name
the country you are from
the country you are living in now
your availability (when could you make phone calls between 7 am and 6 pm CET
If possible, please respond with a voice message so I can get a better idea of what you sound like.
It’s a great concept, it has a mutual benefit for the trainers or English speakers and the clients.
As we know learning/speaking English in a classroom situation is really miles away from real life. This is a real test, and not of the ‘dreaded grammar’ but of using English as a tool to communicate.
Hello, I was born in Chicago and teach ESL and CALL in Florence, Italy. I would be available some mornings and would like to know how much you pay for these lessons.
Hello Susan, many thanks for your interest in working with us. At this point it is difficult for me to give you a specific pay rate for the calls since we planning to run a trial project first. As of now, we don’t have a contract that includes lessons via phone but just traditional, face-to-face teaching lessons. However, the company in question is very interested in also testing the telephone skills of their sales and support staff. So, at this stage your job is not to teach English but rather to act as a potential buyer/prospect who doesn’t speak any German. I’m sure that this method will be very effective and if we turn this project into a great success it will generate more training/coaching work.
Your payment rate will depend on a number of factors:
Your costs to make phone calls to German companies. (We won’t reimburse you for those since international phone calls are extremely cheap within the EU and between the US and Germany. In addition, you can use VoiP service like Skype.)
Your performance as a ‘mystery shopper’/actor/actress/customer. (At this stage of the project your job is to come across as authentic as possible.)
How precisely and objectively you assess the performance of the employees you call and how useful your suggestions are as to how they can improve quickly.
The number of phone calls you can make within a week.
I’ll talk to the company again in more detail next week and will then post an update on the payment situation. In the meantime, you can tell us what tasks/situations you would like to carry out. (I’ll post a list of suggestions early next week too.)
Hi Torsten,
I am very interested in this training project. I am available: 1) 7:00 to 8:00 am (Berlin time) 2) 4:00 to 6:00 pm (Berlin time).
I may be able to add more time slots in the next while. I think Skype is a great tool and will be useful in this endeavor. I’ve used Skype in my online classes for years.
I think this is a great idea and I want to be a part of the process.
Thanks and take care.
Many thanks for your interest in the project. What is the current Skype rate for land line phone calls from Germany to the US? Is it 2 cents per minute? Below you will find a list of the tasks for the phone calls, more information will follow next week. Please let me know if you have any questions.
telephone English jobs/assignments
Pretend to be looking for their website but can’t seem to find it.
Ask for a product catalog and give them your name and email address, – check their follow up email and review language).
Ask fi they sell their products also in China/Russia/Turkey, etc.
Request their scale price/discount structure on bulk orders.
Ask for their shipping and payment conditions.
Ask if they also repair and maintain ‘foreign’ products and systems.
Ask how many of their staff understand and/or speak English.
Ask if they design, produce and install all their products themselves.
Ask if they also provide training and consulting.
Ask what is special about their products and services.
Ask if all their products are really manufactured in Germany.
Hi Torsten,
It looks like calls to Germany land lines is about $0.02/minute, but goes up to $0.25/minute for calls to mobile phones.
But Skype has an unlimited plan (to specific countries such as Germany) for only $5.95/month. However, I’m not sure if this unlimited plan applies to cell/mobile phones as well.
I’ve included both links below. The first refers to the unlimited plans and the second link applies to rates/minute.
I shouldn’t have trouble calling from Italy. Is it possible for them to call us…letting the company pick up the tab? We can simply set up appointments first. The questions should work…how long are going to speak? How is payment set up? Are we payed by bank transfer? Is there a contract?
We might be able to assist your requirements for online English training. Currently I am the teaching director for one of the largest online executive English training centers in China. I also manage a couple other online ESL call centers outside of China. Please feel free to contact me to discuss more in detail.
I have a Masters in online teaching, collaborative learning and IT skills so I would love to work in this field. I was born in the U.S. but live and teach in Italy so am bilingual.
Please get in touch with me at www.telephone-english.com is my personal website. The website was started a few months ago, it’s my first time making a website and has been taking a lot longer than expected. It’s only me doing the website and would love to start finding partners or others to carry the site out. As of now the social network seems to be working fine (the free section), but I still need to install SSL and probably a dedicated server for group video lessons. If you want to contribute or get in touch with me so we can add you to the freelance online teacher’s section coming soon.
With ref to telephone links to German Company. My name is James Tierney. I’m English, currently living and working in Italy. I work at the University of Milan lecturing in Business Administration. Despite being in Milan all courses are taught in English to meet the needs of the international market. In terms of availability I could provide blocks of 1/2/3 hours either in the morning or afternoon depending on demand. If this is of interest to you I can be contacted at james.tierney@unimi.it