Job Discussion Forums

fieldsofbarley · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 47 Location: Mexico City

I�ve just had my first session with an executive who is at advanced level. The course he chose carries no specific materials, so we�re not following a book or anything like that.

After the initial needs assessment I asked him what type of things he would like / needs to cover, but he didn�t seem to have many ideas.

What language points / topics / skills would you cover in a case like this?

Thanks for any input!

Mike_2007 · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania

Hi there,

I find it very hard to design a lesson based on specific language points in these cases. The chances are they already know most of the grammar so you'd waste a lot of time covering old ground.

When students are at this level I tend to focus more on content materials, reformulation and fluency and just tackle any grammatical points as and when they come up.

You say that he is an executive. Find some recent story, report or article relating to his field. Read it through together focusing on any words or expressions concerning his job, especially ones new to him. Make a list of them. Discuss the article, practising arguments, questions, 'meeting' language. Note down any common errors he makes and deal with them in a grammar section after the discussion. Set him a written homework based on the text. Assess it and reformulate it together in the next class.

I find this style of lesson works well with high-level business students. It feels less 'classrooomy' which seems to suit them more, but still practises all the disciplines. They tend to see the relevance to their work too, which is a good thing in terms of motivation and the lesson can easily shift one way or the other if you feel you need to focus more on one aspect.

In terms of prep it's not too daunting either. Finding an interesting article can be a pain sometimes as it should be something quite stimulating and with a point of discussion in it. Make sure you read it through fully and look up any tricky industry-specific terms you don't know. After you get to know him better you'll start to be able to predict the areas in the text where he'll trip up and so prepare accordingly. Look for points of comparison too ("Why does the writer use past simple here, but present perfect there?") to test his grammatical knowledge. Finally prepare some related written homework.

This style of lesson can also be easily expanded into other useful skills: e-mail exchanges (you give him an e-mail text and together you formulate a reply, then you bring the reply to his e-mail along to the next lesson), summaries, reports, presentations, descriptions of processes, and so on - things he probably has to do on a refular basis.

All the best,
Mike

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

Yes, what Mike said.
I've had this very situation a number of times. I often use:
www.economist.com
online.wsj.com
www.forbes.com
As Mike pointed out, there are many ways to utilize an article.
I also like www.breakingnewsenglish.com.

artemisia · Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 875 Location: the world

Yes, the Economist and Financial Times can be good for articles. I had advanced classes of business people at one time and articles frequently formed the basis of the classes. I recall sometimes looking at some specific grammar such as Future Perfect to discuss achievements and plans by a particular time (personal and company) and Cleft sentences for emphasis. Also collocations: nouns and verbs plus prepositions and verbs/nouns/adjectives were valuable to review/ extend and you can use the articles to create exercises to further review this (e.g. remove preps from paragraphs as a gap fill). It's generally fine-tuning and honing skills and developing vocab and fluency at this stage.

Articles were always good but some people had specific needs and provided company materials such as contracts. Your student may do this in relation to his area of business once you get properly started with him. Perhaps he has to deal with international negotiations etc. That would open up a lot of aspects in terms of relevant language and cultural interactions and ways of doing business. You'll probably be playing it by ear for a while and assessing his needs as you go along.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

He might also enjoy an analysis (both linguistic and functional) of the ways cultural differences affect business in international settings.

Here are a couple of resources:

www.geerthofstede.nl/culture/dimensions-of-national-cultures.aspx
www.executiveplanet.com

I sometimes first get the student to analyse what is said about his/her own culture and discuss what's accurate and/or less so. Then, they can choose to analyse data from another culture with which they do business or are interested....

It's useful for vocab, and also for discussion and expression of experiences, ideas, and opinions.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Pardon me for saying this, but you didn't seem to do much of a needs analysis if you came up totally empty. Exactly what did you do? Asking him what he wants is pretty pointless; you either get "nothing" or "everything" for answers. Be specific in your questioning.

He's an executive. Ok. What sort of business? Can you start there and see if there is any business English needs? What do his coworkers say about his language ability or experience using it?

Is he 100% perfect in speaking? Listening comprehension? Reading comprehension? Writing ability (covers a huge area)? Making presentations? In pronunciation?

Why did he choose the course in the first place if he's so high?

Can he hold his own in a mock negotiation? A debate?

fieldsofbarley · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 47 Location: Mexico City

Thank you everyone for your useful suggestions.

Glenski, you obviously didn�t understand my question. How do go about teaching someone who, despite having clear and definite flaws in the application of the language, does NOT want to use coursebook materials, deal specifically with grammar or follow a definite work plan?

That�s what I wanted know. Again, thanks for the suggestions.

johnslat · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:05 pm Post subject:

Dear

Well to be fair, I don't see this mentioned (or even implied) in the OP:

" . . . does NOT want to use coursebook materials, deal specifically with grammar or follow a definite work plan?"

OP: "The course he chose carries no specific materials, so we�re not following a book or anything like that.

After the initial needs assessment I asked him what type of things he would like / needs to cover, but he didn�t seem to have many ideas.

What language points / topics / skills would you cover in a case like this?"

Nothing about his not wanting "to use course book materials," nothing about his not wanting to "deal specifically with grammar," nothing about his not wanting to "follow a definite work plan."

But then, maybe my reading skills aren't what they should be.

Regards,
John

fieldsofbarley · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 47 Location: Mexico City

Maybe!

johnslat · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 5:13 pm Post subject:

Dear fieldsofbarley,

Well, perhaps some other posters with equally poor reading skills will chime in.
Or, who knows - maybe another cause will emerge?

Regards,
John

fieldsofbarley · Joined: 12 Nov 2010 Posts: 47 Location: Mexico City

Why, why, why is it that people taking part in online forums love to get edgy and controversial? Why? I don�t get it.

Personally, I log in to request and/or to provide useful information. I don�t like wasting my time doing anything else. I cannot tell people what to write or what not to write, but sometimes it�s really, really hard to keep quiet and not to reply to useless comments.

wiganer · Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 189

mimi_intheworld · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 167 Location: UAE

In addition to the above recommendations (I love breakingnewsenglish!), I have on occasion printed out assorted contracts for comparison and discussion.

Actually, I used the contracts in a classroom of less-than-willing 13-year-olds who felt they'd learned enough English and didn't need any more in order to be NBA stars. So I asked them to explain an NBA contract to me before they signed it.

I can see it being useful for actual grown-ups, too.

killthebuddha · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 4:18 pm Post subject:

santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea

I would probably focus directly on skills that are key to his position as an executive - speaking and listening (assuming this course is business-related). Perhaps focusing on improving public speaking skills, question & answering, etc. It's hard to say without knowing exactly who he is/what he does. Can you look over typical daily tasks with him? Important monthly tasks? What about interviewing him on videotape and watching it back with him? Perhaps he can improve on certain things (tone, pauses, etc)?