"My English..."

"My English is so poor" is a tiresome sentence.  Next week I'm going to do a business meeting simulation lesson with the freshmen and I'll start the class by writing on the board:

"My English should be good enough to..."

Then elicit claims.

This segues into the meeting class when I write on the board:

"... take a meeting."

We briefly discuss what people do in meetings, and discuss whether or not they have the skills.  And if they think they don't, we discuss coping mechanisms.

The base lesson is intended for upper intermediate/advanced level speakers, and I figure the groups will produce magical happy solutions to the set business problem, but who knows...

They're Intermediate level, by my reckoning, and bored with the usual set ups.  A dumbed-down advanced lesson calling for more independence in the students might work.  To try enforcing actual work on the problem, the class will finish with the designated personnel managers going around to other "companies" recruiting based on their solution to the set problem.  The company with the most new employees wins.

This could really give them some confidence.
 

Hey, I'm gunna use it on my new corporate class next week.

I was trying to think of an approach like this to start them off. Perfect.

I get heartily sick of it too.

Thanks.

It occurs to me that "should" in that sentence has a meaning Intermediate-level speakers may not be familiar with: deduction (as opposed to obligation.)

"I believe my current English level will allow me to..."

vs

"I am such a wretched example of filial duty complexes that even if I had wanted to be a ballerina I must obey everyone else and secure a bright future through grinding grindstones in my heart and skull until my soul is gone and English lets me..."


It should have been interesting should I not have thought I should have known I should be aware that that should should be taught. 

"My English is so poor"

Reply:

"So there's no point talking to you then, bye"

I admit, on occasion people have told me, "Oh, my English is so poor," and I have succumbed to temptation. 

"Yes," I would answer.  "Yes, it is."

To this sentence I have replied:
"Really? What do you expect me to do about it?"
"Your English is probably better than my Chinese".
"Ting bu dong".
"If you want an English tutorial, I charge 400 Yuan per hour".
"Then you need to practice your English. Watch a movie. Preferably far away from me".
"Jeg forstår dig ikke. Niksen, jeg kan ikke snakke engelsk. Sprechst du Deutch?"

I hate that sentence.

I can't see the title to this thred without hearing that irritating Milkshake song with the word 'English' substituted in.

"My English brings all the boys to the yard. Damn right, it's better than yours..."
 

The Wash-up:

My freshmen were puzzled by the unfamiliar usage of "should."  It should probably be taught properly before hand, or the seed sentence should be reformulated.
Once they got the idea they were to talk of what they feel they can do now with their English after so many years of training, they were shy.  They could do with a kick in the pants to lift them a little higher, or perhaps they just aren't used to assuming responsibility for their own abilities yet.
I found that it was better to elicit a few things they think they can do, then actually have on the board this:

My English should be good enough to...

present information on topics I understand
share, compare, discuss presented ideas
together reach a conclusion about a common problem.

And once these things are spelled out (for example, I used "Yes, you can do these things, because that's what we do every week in class!"), they can sort of agree.  And when they agree, then you write up

"My English should be good enough to ... take a meeting."



After all that in my class, the meeting they took was staged.  Groups of 4-5 were given cards with identities and opinions.  The meetings worked best when the students realised that each card had an opinion they could state and that opinion would be answered by someone else's card opinion, and all they needed was to work out agreement.

The weird, interesting and satisfying thing was... for reason I don't understand the students did NOT automatically just exchange cards and read the answers from their partners.  Perhaps it's because the cards don't actually have answers.  Who knows.  But actually, they did take their meetings.  And talked up a storm.

Some meetings devolved into pretty happy laugh fests where the members argued over by how much they should raise their own salaries.  Some meetings followed the cards and good listening, speaking, discussion and compromise were done.  And whatever happened, the last part where the designated personnel manager goes to other companies and recruits is a must for the lesson.  They yelled at each other a lot at that time.

In short, I'd do the lesson again.  It'd last longer and be more compelling with older, less naive participants, but even with freshmen it was fun.  They looked good being faux adults.

The meeting I had the students take was set in a Korean manufacturing company with factories in three countries.  The company makes toys, has 20% market share, has clean, safe, comfortable, efficient and modern factories, and they pay above average salaries.  But there's a problem: after six months, 25% of the workers will have left, after 1 year 50% have moved on.  In other words, high employee turnover.  The meeting is to work out some solutions.  (Too much for freshmen English majors to handle?  It doesn't seem so.)

The meeting cards I used were these:



You are: 

The Personnel Manager

Chairing the meeting: You chair the meeting and make sure everyone joins in.  Organize the meeting in the following way.
First, discuss why employees stay such a short time with the company.  Ask each participant to explain the reason for the problem.  Discuss each point of view.
Second, together find ways of improving working conditions and employee’s motivation.  Choose three suggestions.  Discuss. 
Finally, together make a concrete decision on a course of action to be taken.

Your own point of view: you think it is obvious that employees stay so little time because there is no real advantage in staying.  You suggest letting the employees have four weeks paid holiday per year.  (Currently the employees have two weeks paid holiday per year.)  The workers would like this, and it will make a good public image for the company.  But you think the company should be careful: if the company is too generous for no reason, the workers will start asking for more and more benefits and bankrupt the company!

Together you must decide:
how to improve working conditions
how to give more motivation to the workforce
how to increase average length of stay of employees to three years.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

You are:

An Operator (Korea)

You want something that will really increase worker motivation on the job and in the factories.  This is the only real way to encourage employees to stay, and improve quality.  Long holidays each year are too far away and won’t make workers from day to day.  It will be better to make the factories nicer places to work in, and really look after the workers.

You should:
- reduce noise levels at work
- let workers take ten-minute breaks every hour
- allow free medical care by opening a doctor’s surgery in the factory
- let workers vote in company decisions, including decisions about pay rises.

Together you must decide:
how to improve working conditions
how to give more motivation to the workforce
how to increase average length of stay of employees to three years.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
You are:

A Technician (Portugal)

You are certain the staff in your factory don’t stay with the company very long because they have no career prospects.  For example, operators needs only one day of training to learn how to work their machines, and then they only ever work on that one machine.  You would suggest giving training and promotion to workers who choose to stay for two years.  You also think staff who are 50 years old can have early retirement (with benefits)

Also, four weeks holiday per year is not a good idea.  Instead, staff can have two weeks plus two extra days for every year of work.  In that way, new employees have two weeks paid holiday at the end of the year, and after three years of work, they could have three weeks of paid holiday, and so on.  Another thing is, it would be nice if the company built a gymnasium in the factory.  Workers could use it for a variety of physical activities.

You don’t think workers should vote on company decisions.  They’ll just waste a lot of time talking about things they don’t understand.

Together, you must decide:
how to improve working conditions
how to give more motivation to the workforce
how to increase average length of stay of employees to three years.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

You are:

The Production Supervisor (Mexico)

Productivity and quality are not bad in your factories, and in your opinion the factories are spacious and pleasant to work in.  Most important is no decision should disrupt production.  Taking breaks from work, or taking long holidays will disrupt production.  You think workers don’t need to talk about company decisions, but they can meet to talk about production methods.  This would satisfy the workers and make them feel more involved in the direction of their work.  Also, they might have good ideas.

Any decision we make should not reduce work time or change the work conditions.  But sports facilities can be installed.  Maybe a soccer field would be popular.  Also, why not let the company subsidize the canteen and make the meals cheaper?

Together you must decide:
how to improve working conditions
how to give more motivation to the workforce
how to increase average length of stay of employees to three years.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

You are:

A Sales Representative (Mexico)

We should not damage the company’s reputation.  You are worried that if the company is too generous to the workers, the customers will wonder why you still ask high prices for your goods.  They will say you are generous with the workers, but not generous to the customers.   Also, if the company is generous now, the customers will think you were not generous in the past, and they will call you a bad employer.

Something out of the ordinary could be very motivating for the employees, and look good to the customers.  For example, the company could give the workers headphones and while they work they could listen to the radio, or to some CDs they like.  In fact, the company could create a company radio station for the workers to listen to and take part in.

Together you must decide:
how to improve working conditions
how to give more motivation to the workforce
how to increase average length of stay of employees to three

One fun aspect of this particular meeting is you as teacher can walk around the class and when you spot a bored, uninvolved student, you can go to their group and tell everyone, "Dudes, in six months 25% percent of your workers will be gone.  That's one out of four.  I think it's going to be... her!  My God, she's going to quit!  What can you do for her!"  Or you can talk to the student directly and ask her to quit her job and join another company.

You can fire the personnel managers for speaking too much Chinese.

You can represent the Korean government anti-trust commission and close companies that collude.

And so on.

Keeps things dynamic when the discussions are wearing on a bit.

This (the "My English is so poor." thing) made me think of the 'can do statements' commonly used in language learning in many European schools:

http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/?M=/main_pages/levels.html  (summary)

www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/documents/appendix2.pdf  (detailed version)

It's supposed to be in the students L1, but I haven't seen a Chinese version.  There's  whole lot more theory behind this, but basically, if students honestly self-assess using this system, they can then go on to set their own realistic short term language learning goals and measure their own progress.  That's the idea anyway...

CP, I had no idea where you were going when you started this post originally. But as you finally fleshed it all out, this is an excellent lesson. Permission to use?

Re: this particular point

My freshmen were puzzled by the unfamiliar usage of "should."  It should probably be taught properly before hand, or the seed sentence should be reformulated.

The English "should" is usually mapped to their Chinese "yinggai" which is used as a listing item in Chinese rules. You've probably seen this in the English version of the SAFEA contracts. (Paraphrasing) If the teacher quits the contract early, he SHOULD pay $500-$2000..." [Right! as if any FT would say, "Yer right! I should so I will!']

Anyway, that's the usage they are most familiar with. Should = Yinggai

Should as a suggestive of expectation is ... well, not off their radar, but they do have to scroll down through their elctronic dictionaries to get to it. Thus their puzzlement, and thus the need to pre-teach it for the larger lesson.

I'd like to use your lesson, but I'll change it to "With my English, I need to be able to ....." or "I need to be able to do this ..... in English" 

CP, I had no idea where you were going when you started this post originally. But as you finally fleshed it all out, this is an excellent lesson. Permission to use?

For surely.

The "My English..." step comes from... Rinvolucri, I think.  I forget where I read it first.  The meeting comes from wherever a certain nameless but popular chain school first copied it (and originally it had about 10 roles but that would have been way too many for my freshmen to handle).  Knowing my classes, it was I made up the part where the personnel managers go to other companies.  Merely completing the lesson by concluding the meetings isn't enough of a closure for younger participants, I figgered.

And *sigh* just reading back over the text I see I rushed preparation of the materials a little and included a few grammar mistakes in the role cards.