What religion are you?/ Are you X religion?

This could be a legit question if you’re applying to a religious school. If you have the same religion as the school, simply say [...]]]>

Some friends of Naturegirl123 were talking about interview questions that they got. Here are some difficult ones to answer and suggested answers.

What religion are you?/ Are you X religion?

This could be a legit question if you’re applying to a religious school. If you have the same religion as the school, simply say so. They might then ask you if you attend church.

If you don’t practise the same religion, say that while you are not X religion, you will respect their practises during class time.

If the school isn’t religious, simply say that you believe in keeping your personal beliefs personal and out of the classroom.

DO you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?

This could also be legit if the school is very religious or if you are being placed by a recruiter. Often they try to place partners in the same school or city.

If the school is relgious, tell the truth, but you might want to be careful. If you’re living together, you might have to live apart while working for the school. Some places are very strict. I wasn’t allowed to live with my husband because we were only married civilly and not in the church.

If the school isn’t religious, or you’re not dealing with a recruiter, then tell the interviewer that you believe in keeping your personal life separate from your work life.

How much are you earning now?

Bad question. Even worse if you answer it. There are a couple reasons why you could be asked this. First, the school wants to know what competitors are paying. Second, they want to gauge what they will pay you to what you’re currently getting. Third, you can’t really compare. Let’s say that your current school is only paying you 500 usd, but gives you free housing, lunch, medical insurance, contribute to your pension, and transport. Total per month is about 600 usd in benefits. They also paid for your visa, your flight and will give you an end of contract bonus. Total is 2100 usd per year. And this school gives you 900 usd, but nothing else. You may simply assume that you get the extras, but they don’t give them to you. Result? Although you would get 900 usd a month, your current job is probably better due to the benefits.

When asked this question, it’s probably best to tell a white lie. If you don’t have a fixed salary, maybe you teach privates or do consultating, simply say that it varies. If you are on a contract, simply tell them that your employer has forbidden you to discuss your salary and your contract also states this. After all, they have to respect the fact that you promised not to discuss your salary.

If they keep pushing, it’s probably best to pass this one by. A professional institute will have fixed salaries.

How much is your expected salary?

This is even worse than the one above. Basically, you’re being asked, “What do you think you’re worth?” Let’s say you make 500 usd, and they were going to offer 1000, but when they find out that you only make 500, they might simply offer you 750. OR, let’s say you make 1000 usd, but they only offer 700. If you accept, you’ll look desperate, or they might think that you lied about your salary.

So what do you do? Put the ball back into their court. There are a couple of things you could say. It would depend on the English level of the interviewer and your experience/qualifications.

First, you could say, “I would expect to be paid what you’re paying your current teachers.”

If you’re just starting out “I would expect to be paid what you’re paying your teachers who have similary qualifications/experience as I do.”

Or, if you have lots of experience/qualifications, “I would expect to be paid in the upper salary range because I have X”

Or, “I know that (your institute) is a professional one, and as such, you much have a salary scale, what could I expect to earn with X experience and X qualifications?”

Why did you leave X job after only 3/6 months?

There are two reasons for a short term job. First, it was a short contract. If that’s the case, you have nothing to worry about. Second, either you or your employer ended it early. If that’s the case, you’ve got some explaining to do.

If you pulled a runner, I would suggest you take that job off your CV. If they ask about the gap on your CV, there are tons of things that you could say you were doing, like volunteer work, travelling, visiting family, studying, taking a hiatus, etc.

If you quit, and remain on decent terms with your employer, you might want to leave it on your CV. Let’s say you quit because you were paid hourly, but due to the recession, you only had 3 hours a week. That’s a legit reason.

If you were fired, you might want to take it off. Unless the person who fired you has left and someone else at the institute would give you a good reference. If you were fired for stealing, dating students, lying, etc, I would take it off your CV. And if you got fired for something along those lines, I certainly hope that you have changed.

Why do you want to leave your current job?

A legit question. It could cause problems if you just started your job a couple of months ago. If that’s the case, see above. But, if you’re simply finishing your contract, be honest. BUT, never ever speak badly about an employer. EVER. You could say something like “Although I’ve enjoyed my time at X teaching primary students, I’m looking for a position teaching secondary students.” Or, “Although I’ve enjoyed my time at X, I’m looking for new opportunies in the education sector.”

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Please don’t think of invoice factoring as a loan because it’s actually something quite different to that: it is more correctly defined as the acquisition of a financial asset. What does that mean? [...]]]>

You’re looking into alternative ways to keep the finances in order in your burgeoning language school. Why not consider invoice factoring?

Please don’t think of invoice factoring as a loan because it’s actually something quite different to that: it is more correctly defined as the acquisition of a financial asset. What does that mean? Basically, as the owner of a small language school, you need your customers to pay so that you can stay in business. This factoring basically helps you to facilitates this!

Thanks to the system of invoice factoring, you can do away with that crippling period of one to three months that it often takes for your consumers to shell out what they owe you. The reason you might want to consider this is that it enables cash flow to move on more quickly and efficiently, which is one of the biggest problems that most small business owners face.

If you’re fortunate enough as a language school owner to find yourself in the position of having a regular flow of learners then invoice factoring could prove to be of tremendous value to you. This system is also great for businesses which have their cash tied up in invoices or are faced with regular cash flow constraints.

The invoice factoring company naturally pays a key role in making sure that everything runs smoothly. Typically, the invoice factoring company in question won’t necessitate you selling all of your invoices. In fact, it’s normal policy for you to merely sell what you need to in order to maintain the level of cash flow necessary to keep things running smoothly.

At this stage it’s probably useful to think about how much it’s going to cost you to implement invoice factoring. As you might expect, this is entirely dependent on several contributing factors. You really have to consider whether or not the people involved are creditworthy, the estimated amounts of money that are going to be flowing through the language school and, perhaps most importantly, the number of learners that are going to be coming through the door at any given time.

Having said all that, this accounts receivable lending approach to keeping your cash flow not only practical but also viable can be invaluable. Remember: if you’re going into business as a language school, there are a lot of expenses for you, such as consumable resources and also teacher wages. These will often need to be paid before your customers are fulfilling their invoice payments. This is why invoice factoring is becoming increasingly attractive.

Communicative strategies are systematic techniques employed by a speaker to express his meaning when faced with some difficulty and the difficulty here refers to the speaker’s inadequate command of the language used in the interaction (Faerch & Kasper, 1983:16). On the other hand, the term learning strategies has been defined as “the higher-order [...]]]>

Introduction

Communicative strategies are systematic techniques employed by a speaker to express his meaning when faced with some difficulty and the difficulty here refers to the speaker’s inadequate command of the language used in the interaction (Faerch & Kasper, 1983:16). On the other hand, the term learning strategies has been defined as “the higher-order skills which control and regulate the more task-specific or more practical skills” (Nisbet & Shucksmith, 1986:26). Based on the previously mentioned definitions, it could be said that learning and communicative strategies refer to language learning behaviors that contribute directly or indirectly to learning. I am not very concerned here with the definition of the two terms as much as I am concerned with the fact that most if not all non-native speakers and second-language learners use these strategies throughout their second/foreign language learning journey. They tend to use them to compensate for their lack of sufficient language knowledge and to get themselves out of troubles when interacting in the target second/foreign language. These are only some of the short term benefits of using learning and communicative strategies. In fact, the successful use of these strategies can promote longer term language development.

In the first part of this article, I will provide examples on some of the commonly used strategies and at the same time, I will focus on the ways in which these strategies promote the language learning process and the development of the learner’s speaking skill. I will also highlight the short and long tem benefits of using both learning and communicative strategies in learning and developing speaking skill. In the second part of the article, I will show how the knowledge of learning and communicative strategies has influenced me to change my old style of teaching the speaking, and how it has encouraged me to adopt a set of new methods of teaching that make utmost use of these strategies. Finally, I will give examples on some of the speaking activities that are based, in some ways, on these strategies, and are designed to promote and develop the learner’s speaking skill.

Part One:

Teaching writing skill has been given the priority over teaching speaking skill in almost all educational syllabus and plans and the case in my country, Oman, is no exception. Writing skill has been considered the most important especially in the area of second/foreign language teaching. On the other hand, speaking skill has neither been given sufficient focus in our teaching syllabi nor has it been represented fairly in our classrooms as opposed to the other skills. In my context, most people in general and educationalists in particular, seem to have taken this skill for granted; maybe because they think it is an easy one and that almost everyone can speak. Speaking is, however, a skill which deserves much more attention in both first and second language. I have chosen to write about this skill because I know very well how important it is as a means of communication especially, for second/foreign language learners. Throughout my teaching of English as a foreign language, I noticed that speaking was the area of weakness for the majority of my students. On the part of teachers, not so much time was devoted to teach this skill, and on the part of the curriculum designers, not so much effort was exerted to promote the development of this skill. Consequently, speaking was regarded by the students as an obstacle in the way of learning English rather than as an important skill. In the following sections, I will attempt to show how this problem can be addressed by the use of some strategies.

1/ Examples on some learning and communicative strategies used by ESL and EFL students

So many studies and research have been conducted in both areas learning strategies and communicative strategies, and many researchers and linguists have been involved. Consequently, different definitions and classifications of strategies have been stated. However here, I will focus on the classification of communicative strategies suggested by Faerch and Kasper (1983), and on the classification of learning strategies suggested by Wenden and Rubin (1987). I will also show how each set of strategies are used by ESL and EFL learners. I have chosen the previous classifications because they confirm with the knowledge of strategies I acquired throughout my teaching experience.

Faerch and Kasper suggest that communicative strategies are classified into two categories each of which is classified or comprised of other subcategories. The first category is avoidance behavior and this consists of formal reduction and functional reduction strategies. Formal reduction strategies could be phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical strategies. Learners tend to use formal reduction strategies either to avoid making errors and/or they want to increase their fluency (Faerch& Kasper 1983: 40). On the other hand, functional reduction strategies include reduction of speech act and reduction of propositional context and these two are used by learners to reduce their communicative goals in order to avoid problems in interactions (ibid: 43). Achievement strategies are also called compensatory strategies and they consist of code switching, inter/intralingual, cooperative and non-linguistic strategies. These strategies are used by learners to expand their communicative resources in interactions (ibid:45). The following figure has been designed based on what was mentioned above:

Wenden and Rubin classified learning strategies into cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies. Cognitive strategies are used by learners when they deal with steps, operations, or problem-solving that require direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials (Wenden & Rubin,1987:23) and these strategies include clarification/verification, guessing/inductive inferencing, deductive reasoning, practice, memorizing and monitoring. On the other hand, metacognitive strategies are used when the learner deals with knowledge about cognitive process and regulation of cognition. These strategies consist of choosing, prioritizing, self-management, advance preparation, advance organization, directed attention, selected attention and delayed production. The following figure has been designed based on the information mentioned above:

2/ The short term benefits of training learners on the use of learning and communicative Strategies

Research and theory in second language learning strongly suggest that good language learners use a variety of strategies to assist them in gaining command over new language skills. In her study of five Chicano students who were learning English, Wong-Fillmore as quoted in Wenden & Rubin, (1987:27), identified some learning strategies used by successful language learners. Wong-Fillmore found that by using a few well chosen strategies, learners could continue to participate in speaking activities (ibid: 21). Moreover, O’Malley (1983), reports on an experiment in which students received training on the use of learning strategies with three language tasks; vocabulary, listening skill and speaking. His major conclusion was that strategy training was effective for listening and speaking, but not for vocabulary.

One of the major short term benefits of the use of learning strategies is the fact that they help learners to compensate for their lack of adequate language knowledge. Bygate (1987), states that the use of these strategies can bridge the gab between knowledge of the rules and the students’ ability to express their own meaning. In other words, these strategies help learners to practice using acceptable language with reasonable fluency and reasonable ability to convey meanings and express opinions. On that basis, it could be inferred that training learners on using these strategies would help them a lot in their language learning. Language learners will not be hesitant or afraid of being involved in an interaction where they do not have sufficient language knowledge for it. Bygate adds that being trained to use learning strategies helps the learner to succeed in autonomous interaction. According to this, using such strategies in learning represents a transitional process where control of learning is moved from teacher to learners, leaving the learner with responsibility for his own thinking and learning. In addition, Wenden& Rubin (1987), mention that learning strategies help learners to better utilize the experience they bring to their language class. As a result, learners grow appreciation of their power ability and become critically reflective of the conceptual context of their learning.

The efficiency of communicative strategies training in learning languages has been proved in so many occasions. For instance, Spilka (as cited in Faerch & Kasper 1983:10), points that some trained French learners tend to use specific phrases in order to avoid liaison in French; to avoid French partitive en, the learners may produce the specified form J’ai trios pommes, rather than J’en ai trios. So, the French learners are making use of the avoidance strategy which is one of the communicative strategies. In another occasion, Kasper (1983:43), gave some examples of how trained German learners of English reduce their IL performance with respect to politeness making. Moreover, Faerch (1983:43), gave other examples of speech act reduction, in which learners in conversation with native speakers often do not use initiating acts (reduction strategy). Based on all that has been mentioned, we could say that strategies be they learning or communicative ones, are important for language learning for they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence. I shall now move to discuss the long term benefits of the use of learning strategies.

3/ The long term benefits of training language learners on the use of learning and communicative strategies

As we have seen previously, there are so many short benefits for training learners on using learning and communicative strategies. Likewise, there are other long term benefits for strategy training as well. Faerch and Kasper (1986:189), report the findings of a study where an attempt was made to train learners to use interaction strategies (some of the communicative strategies). They were Danish learners of English and the training for strategy use lasted for three months. The findings were that:

a) Middle proficiency level learners made considerable progress in using interaction strategies.

b) Low and high proficiency learners made less progress.

g) The general attitude in the class towards errors and towards risk-taking had changed. More learners accepted the need to make an attempt even if they did not get the right answer.

Based on the findings of this study, we could say that training learners to use communicative strategies raises their confidence and encourages them to participate in different communicative interactions even when they don’t have enough language for it (e.g. when they don’t have the answer for a question). In another study, Knowles (1975), finds that training learners to use these strategies helps them to develop the attitude that language is a lifelong process and to acquire the skills of self-directed learning. Most importantly, he points out that communicative strategies help learners to be equipped with the skills necessary to continue learning on their own when they leave formal education experience.

Many other studies have been carried out by different researchers and the long term benefits of communicative and learning strategies training have been proved. For instance, O’Malley and Chamot (1990) looked at learning strategies used both by ESL and EFL students and they found that training students to use these strategies helped them become more aware of the whole process of learning a second language. Based on the findings of one of their studies, Wenden & Rubin (1987), state that training learners to use learning strategies helps learners to better utilize the experience they bring to their language class and help them as well, to become critically reflective of the conceptual context of their learning.

Part Two:

1/ The influence of learning strategies on my teaching style of speaking

I have previously mentioned that speaking is an undervalued skill in Oman. All focus and emphasis are placed on the other skills as if the speaking skill does not exist or as if acquiring it has been taken for granted. Out of my own experience as an English teacher, I have noticed that the Omani students’ biggest difficulty when learning English falls in the area of speaking. As teachers, we have not been working so much on this skill due to the fact that there are no formal speaking tests in the whole low-intermediate, intermediate and high-intermediate levels of teaching English in most of the academic institutions in Oman in general and in the Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in particular. We were basically preparing our students to be able to pass the final test which normally contained listening, reading and writing only. Personally, I used to rely on specific activities in my speaking classes and these activities were not always suitable for my students’ levels of English. However, since it was “the speaking skill”, I did not bother to search for more activities or even try to design a simple syllabus for teaching it.

Having read about learning and communicative strategies and having known about their crucial role in promoting and developing the learning process in general and the verbal interaction skills in particular, I have decided to adopt a new teaching approach that makes full use of these strategies. I have realized that the new teaching capacities should include identifying students’ learning and communicative strategies, conducting training on these strategies, and helping learners become more independent. That is because when students take more responsibility in the speaking activities, more learning occurs, and both teachers and learners feel more successful and satisfied. Teachers including me, (especially when teaching speaking) should attempt to discover what strategies their students are already using by interviewing them or questioning them about the strategies employed for specific language learning tasks (Wenden & Rubing, 1987). And then, they could direct them to utilise learning and communicative strategies for a variety of speaking activities. Metacognitive strategies such as self-management and self-monitoring can be practised in communicative situations in which the learner wishes to gain the maximum amount of comprehensible speech from others (ibid). Moreover, teachers can provide students with practice in useful strategies for the negotiation of conversational encounter outside of class. They can also suggest alternative strategies for organising and storing information and they can encourage students to consider which strategies work best for them. O’Malley and Chamot (as quoted in Macdonough,1995:122) summarise what has been previously mentioned by stating that the Cognitive Academic Learning Language Approach consists of five phases:

1/ Preparation: develop student awareness of different strategies.

2/ Presentation: develop student knowledge about strategies.

3/ Practice: develop student skills in using strategies for academic learning.

4/ Evaluation: develop student ability to evaluate their own strategy use.

5/ Expansion: develop transfer of strategies to new tasks.

According to these phases, teachers should go through several steps while teaching speaking tasks in order to make sure that students would get benefits from them and would develop their speaking skill. We should base our explanation of the tasks as well as our instructions on the students’ communicative and learning strategies, and we should try focus our activities on developing these strategies. Furthermore, we could provide students with various activities that would enable them to use their strategies in new speaking tasks and to evaluate their use of these strategies.

Macaro (2001:176) gave another way of training students on using and developing their strategies. The following figure shows the sequence of steps that are to be followed by teachers in order to best utilise their students’ learning and communicative strategies while teaching English skills in general and speaking in particular.

Another important aspect every teacher should take into account is materials and syllabus design. In Oman, both syllabus and curriculum design are prescribed by the Ministry of Education (for schools), or the Ministry of Higher Education for some colleges and universities. Teachers have an almost passive role in that process. On the other hand, researchers and educational inspectors play the major role and impose their ideas and opinions which are not always in favor of the learning process, learning situations and students. Teachers are not allowed to innovate or create additional materials and they are severely penalized if they deviate from the prescribed curriculum. It is really a hard task for the teacher to change or at least modify this traditional curriculum but is not impossible. Teachers should attempt to change such curriculum gradually and they should have their role in the curriculum design task. They should be creative, eclectic and adaptive in terms of producing educational materials. Educational authorities on the other hand, should take into consideration that aspects of learning and communicative strategies are to be incorporated in each and every syllabus or curriculum. Finally, it really makes a great difference in teaching and learning if teachers bear in mind the fundamental knowledge of learning and communicative strategies while teaching.

2/New teaching approach and examples on some speaking activities

In Oman, most if not all the teaching approaches adopted by teachers seem to be teacher oriented. Teachers are doing all the work; they teach, explain, ask, provide answers and help students. The students’ role is passive in one way or another; they are being spoon-fed throughout the academic year without being asked to contribute to their studying activities or even being taught how to do it. Being a teacher in that country, my teaching style was influenced to a great extent with the teaching methods used there. For instance, in my speaking class, I used to do all the talk, control activities, come up with ideas, and choose the suitable speaking tasks. I did not use to allow students to express their ideas and if I did, it would be to a very limited extent. Even when my students were giving a presentation or performing a dialogue, I used to interfere either by giving my own opinion or by correcting them every now and then. It is only now after knowing about learning and communicative strategies that I have realised the pressing need for some teaching strategies especially in the area of speaking. I have realised also that it is the turn of the students to do most of the talking in the speaking class, while the teacher’s main function is to provide them with maximum amount of meaningful practice. In this section, I will attempt to give some examples on speaking activities and show how they are best taught taking into account the students’ learning and communicative strategies.

a/ Dialogue and negotiation

Dialogue and negotiation present the language as directly in the contexts in which they are most commonly used, and permit the learners to practise it in the same way, thus establishing a firm link between language and situation (Byme, I976:2 I). My teaching of dialogue was a kind of memorisation task; I used to type the dialogues or negotiation task and give copies to the students. All that they had to do was to read them, memorise them and present them in front of the class. Taking the students’ learning and communicative strategies into account, I should do some pre‑speaking activities and prepare the learners in terms of vocabulary items and tenses that are going to be used throughout the dialogue/negotiation. This will direct their attention to the task and will help them operate their planning strategies so that they are ready to some extent to tackle the task. During the task, I would interfere where possible to provide the learners with suggestions and to give some alternatives. I would not focus so much on correcting their mistakes since I am concerned in the first place with developing their communicative abilities. I would rather compliment and praise the good performance in order to create a stimulus and motivation for the rest of the learners to improve their work. I guess this way would work well with my students since they are very afraid of making mistakes and they are easily motivated by praise, compliments and marks.

b/ Imaginary situation

I did not really make use of this task although it is very important in developing the students’ ability to be involved in problem‑solving tasks, to improvise, guess and brain storm. I was not really aware of it and of its role in promoting speaking skill. However now, after realising the importance of this task, I would try to prepare and design some imaginative tasks that are culturally appropriate and related to the learners’ day to day life. For instance, I might ask them to imagine that there is a specific problem in their village (e.g. water is getting salty due to overuse) that needs to be solved and then, will ask them to come up with solutions and to try to talk about their own solutions in front of the class. Since the topic represents a very serious problem due to the scarcity of water sources in Oman, most of the students will be involved and will participate in the discussion. I might ask them to discuss it together in groups or I might ask individual students to talk about and justify their opinions. Of course, there are so many other exciting and relevant tasks (to the students’ daily life activities) that could be made use of in order to hook the students’ attention, sustain their interest in the subject and appeal to their needs and desires.

c/ Role‑play and Narration

I taught this task before and I noticed that students liked very much especially when it is incorporated in a narrative task. I used to give my students a story and ask them to play the roles of the different characters; it was really very simple and fun. Actually, it was another way to train them to memorise some language phrases. If I am to do this task now, I would ask the students to compose their own story (in an attempt to focus on past tense for example), and then to act it out in front of their colleagues. I strongly think that this task would work very well with most of the students even the weak ones because they would be working in groups and they will have the chance to choose the role that they really like and that suits their linguistic ability. While performing this task, the learners will be practising speaking, prioritising and choosing their role, and memorising some language chunks. In other words, they will be practising the language and developing their learning and communicative skills.

Conclusion

The research evidence that has been mentioned throughout this article proves to some extent the short and long term benefits of using strategies in learning second/foreign language. It also suggests that some learners are using more strategies more effectively than others. For this reason, teachers and researchers should work closely together to discover the role of motivation in learner strategy use (Macaro, 2001). It has also been shown that strategy training is effective in promoting a great predisposition towards language learning and a framework which enables the learner to take more responsibility for their learning in the immediate, medium and long term. In this regard, policy‑makers should be closely involved in supporting teachers’ effort by facilitating local and national programs of strategy training. They should not set up learning frameworks (curriculum, syllabus) which place obstacles in the way of teachers to adapt their teaching to the strategy­-related needs of their learners. They should rather allow teachers some freedom so that they can be creative in terms of designing tasks and activities that would appeal to their students because teachers are the ones who are in direct contact with the students and therefore, they should be the ones who know exactly what their students need. On the hand, teachers should bear in mind that the strategies which plan and evaluate learning and the strategies assumed by the learners who go out and make contact with language outside the classroom are the ones that teachers should increasingly tum their attention to (ibid).

Bibliography

Bygate, Martin.(1987). Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Faerch, Clans & Kasper, Gabriele.(1983). Strategies in Interlanguage Communication. London: Longnnan,

Byrne, Donn.(1976). Teaching Oral English. London: Longman

Faerch, G. and Kasper, G.(1986).Strategic competence in foreign language teachin. Aarhus University: Aarhus University Press.

Knowles, M.(1975).Self Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers. Chicago: Association Press.

Macaro, Ernesto.(2001). Learning strategies in foreign and second language classroom. Great Britain: CPD, Ebbw Vale

Macdonough, Steven H.(1995). Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language. London: Edward Arnold, a division of Hodder Headline PLC.

Nisbet, John & Shucksmith, Janet.(1986).Learning Strategies. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Plc.

O’Malley, IM & Russ, R.P, et al.( 1983). A study of Learning Strategies for Acquiring Skills in Speaking and Understanding English Language. Rosslyn, Va: InterAmerica Research Associates.

O’Malley, J.M and Chamot, A.U.(1990).Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wenden, Anita & Rubin, Joan.(1987).Learner Strategies in Language Learning. Cambridge: Prentice Hall International.

Rivers, Wilga M. (1972). Speaking in Many Tongues, Essays in Foreign‑language Teaching. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.

Wong‑Fillmore, L.(1976).The Second Time Around. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University.

About the Author:

Rashid Al Maamari holds a BA in English for English Specialists from Sultan Qaboos University (2001), an MA in ESP from the University of Warwick (2003) and has been teaching English Language in the Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos University since 2001.

Employee assessment tests are extremely important in enabling you as a recruiter of teachers to be able to make measured and well-informed decisions about the type [...]]]>

Are you looking for new teachers? Make sure you do into the process with a clear strategy for how you ensure you end up with the best candidate.

Employee assessment tests are extremely important in enabling you as a recruiter of teachers to be able to make measured and well-informed decisions about the type of people you recruit into your school, or those you decide to promote to senior positions. Such tests offer a clear and transparent perspective of the capability – an aptitude test does this in particular – of the prospective employee and can make it much easier for you as the recruiter to narrow down the field from a wide range of applicants. Forming a competent group of staff will help raise the contentment levels of all your teachers, so adding new employees is of key importance.

The times when people got a job and stayed there until they retired are consigned to the history books: modern professionals are likely to change jobs several times during their career if something better comes along. Consequently, you will lose employees regularly and just as often have to search for new teachers. Finding the right person is more important now than ever.

Forming a competent group of staff will help raise the contentment levels of all your teachers, so adding new employees is of key importance.

Let’s just imagine a scenario in which you have short listed a number of candidates for the teaching position, but you are finding it difficult to make the final decision as they all have their own unique qualities and expertise to offer. This is where an employee assessment test comes in handy: it can enable you to verify their individual characteristics, such as their ability to work well in a group, and their future goals.

Staff assessments are also on the whole a good way of in identifying current members of staff who have leadership qualities, as well as indicating areas of individual development that require more training.

Before taking an [...]]]>

Research has shown that online learning is better suited to people who are verbally oriented, rather than those who have visual or kinesthetic skills. For this reason, notes Jonathan Ginsburg, whether or not a student is successful in an e-learning course can depend considerably on their personality and their learning type.

Before taking an online course, students should think about how they learn and what they like and dislike about interacting with others in a virtual environment. The introduction of online learning has been able to enhance options for the introvert and extrovert to be able to communicate in the classroom. The introvert appreciates the one-on-one dialogue of an instant message session, while extroverts gravitate toward chat rooms and postings on social network websites to connect with other students. To this end, with opportunities created through the online learning for new forms of interaction, new challenges for student retention have emerged, as not all students at colleges and universities are well-suited to traditional forms of study.

Amongst learners, there are a variety of learning styles. Some students prefer auditory, others visual, some tactile and still others kinesthetic. Online communication is devoid of facial expression, intonations, and body language, which is both a positive and negative aspect of distance learning and which denotes a greater focus on verbal learning. For some students, due to this lack of emotional context, online communication is sometimes not compatible with course success and may very well undermine important elements of overall student success, retention and degree completion.

Based on these ideas from academic research, it has been said that, for online courses to be success for certain personality types, some students need more time on-campus and need to interact with faculty and other students even more than for traditional courses. For online systems to be effective for students’ personal success over the long run, students must realize that taking an online course is not necessarily easier or less time-intensive than an in-class course.

Given these findings, for students who are interested in taking an online course through a college or university, thought must be given as to whether this method of instruction suits their personality. If students have the right attitude towards online learning, they can and will be successful.

About the author

Jonathan Ginsburg writes for Essay and Term Paper Assistance.

The importance of a healthcare mba

In today’s bloodthirsty world, [...]]]>

Tired of the hoi polloi of everyday life as a language teacher? Why not train to become an operations manager instead? An mba in healthcare management is an absolutely indispensable industry qualification which enables those who take it to hone their decision making abilities.

The importance of a healthcare mba

In today’s bloodthirsty world, we are all searching for the chance to get ahead in life, a chance that some of us can’t realize as an English teacher. Regrettably, despite possessing the requisite aptitude, many of us miss the opportunities to advance our careers. What is the cause of this? Sadly, many of us choose to cruise along as teachers when a change of career could probably do us the power of good. A further qualification offers us alternative fields of employment that we might not even have considered.

An mba healthcare management course, for instance, helps you appreciate business theories and creative ideas, inventive thought process, analytical approaches and razor-sharp executive qualities. Consequently, such a course enables aspiring leaders to become the next generation of business leaders in their particular field. Basically, this comprehensive coursehelps you find your place in today’s business world.

Fast-developing nations such as China could do with professionals who are capable of developing the infrastructure and industrial framework of their country and lend a hand in developing their presence on the global platform.

The scope of operational management

People who make the leap and leave English language teaching for an mba in healthcare management can look forward to a rewarding career in insurance, manufacturing, banking or even in the governmental sector. Alternatively, those blessed with this qualification could find themselves looking for jobs like plant manager, department controller, purchasing supervisor, quality control manager, administrator, analyst or even purchaser. The opportunities are practically endless.

Anyone teacher actively seeking to enhance their career prospects could do much worse than considering taking a degree of MBA in Operations Management.

As our subconscious sends us only constructive information about our existence, it [...]]]>

Dogme ELT is rooted in the experiences of the learner and what they bring with them to the classroom. Our unconscious mind regularly sends us communication in the form of dreams: it is an advantage to understand the meaning of these messages.

As our subconscious sends us only constructive information about our existence, it is extremely vital to acknowledge the content of our dreams. Nevertheless, a mistaken belief that our sleepy imaginings expose pessimistic messages about us remains. Our subconscious tries to enable us to be safe and happy, rather than frightened and bewildered. What we need is some kind of dream dictionary.

Our dreams make known on countless occasions scenes that seemingly fit in to other lives we have lived previously. In such dreams we are able classify the things that our conscious mind cannot immediately deal with. Our cellular recollections include all the intelligence we have gathered and can consequently be difficult to interpret.

We can indeed use our dreams to generate ideas for our classes: any one particular dream might lead to any number of different interpretations and the learning outcomes are potentially multifarious. Here are two examples:

1.      Some dreams may be very general in nature and could lend themselves to the uncovering of language such as daily routines or events that only occur for a short period of time.

2.      Some dreams come from your internal core and reflect emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety or sadness. Such dreams could be used in class for investigating emotive language, or discussing ‘what if…’ scenarios.

Using a dream dictionary online tool will help you with your preparations for such a class. Good luck!