Get It Right And Make The Right Impression

Time to bring humanity back to the classroom

COVID 19 has had a profound effect. It really goes without saying. But I am not talking about the heart-shattering loss of life or the cabin fever inducing 3 years we spent locked in our homes. I am talking about the way business is conducted and how foreign language training has evolved here in Japan. With an increased acceptance of video meeting software such as Zoom, Teams or Meet, the classroom shifted into the virtual world as well.

Companies were forced to move the office to people's homes while the pandemic raged and after companies grew to accept that style, many have stuck to Work From Home. Nikkei Asia estimates that nearly 40% of workers are still doing a hybrid style of work (link), saving transportation and even electricity costs for businesses. This shift to video meetings also impacts on the number of business trips as communication can be achieved for a fraction of the cost. This research positively talks about how 64% of companies still find business travel important, but that means that 36% don't.

Of course, what I am leading up to here is that this has impacted the general attitude towards studying foreign languages, particularly English. More private students or companies are turning to more reasonably costing online English training meaning there has been a step back from the beneficial environment of face-to-face English lessons. Aside from the obvious lack of technical issues that sometimes crop up, there are many benefits to a more intimate training environment. A teacher can have quicker reaction times to questions or problems and has a better capability of reading learners' body language. There is a better sense of connection between all members when you are in a live environment, with more live tools at the teacher's disposal. Last, but not least, there are less chances of succumbing to distractions such as pets, children or that temptation to turn the TV on. This website also talks about motivation and focus as a couple of benefits of being in a classroom as some other potential benefits.

Companies offering English training need to embrace a commitment to quality lessons with practical contents set up in a way that is enjoyable for the students. And most importantly, we need to bring the humanity back to the English study environment and get back in the same room. The teacher needs to work closely with the students to help them realize their goals and use all the tools and signs at their disposal. This is at the heart of what Lowrey Global Consultants strives to do.

What is a realistic target?

TOEIC. Japanese companies continue to use it as a measuring stick for English progress. I previously posted about the problems with TOEIC and how it falls short as a true measuring stick for English growth but without it, how does a company measure their staff's growth? If you have any ideas please feel free to put in the comments below!

What this means is that we will often be asked to support a company lesson that uses TOEIC to measure the training program's effectiveness in communication training. Though I will tell them that TOEIC is not an effective measuring stick, I still have to strategize around this hurdle. You see, a communication-based lesson focuses on different (and arguably more practical) skills than a TOEIC lesson. TOEIC is about building vocabulary through a strong reliance on listening or reading. We teach little traps students need to be aware of, or ways to improve the efficiency with which you complete the test (most students are unable to complete the entire test).

The sticky point is that a company will set a target or a bar for the students to achieve. I've seen a 70 point increase target, which I felt was reasonable in a year, but the next year I have seen that grow to 100 points. Sometimes setting the bar too high is de-motivating, in contrast if a student feels their target is more attainable, they might make a stronger effort. In my recent experience working in a company, I saw a 40-70 point growth as a positive result and rarely saw students see a 100 point increase. I have always tried to make English enjoyable and in some ways, self motivating, so I know that we can set a stricter training regimen, but I think the truly realistic bar is 70. If a company sets a 100 point jump over a year, they need to be open minded and possibly set up a secondary interview-based test to measure areas like response time, accuracy, comprehension, the ability to ask for repetition or the students' ability to make long answers.

This is my take on the situation, if anyone reads this and has another opinion, please let me know!

IELTS is one of the important language tests out there, knowing good synonyms helps you succeed!

Your global e-mail needs to include international cultural sense

When I first started receiving e-mails from Japanese students or work contacts, I didn't really notice it. But there is something different to the way e-mails are structured in regards to their communication. Understanding this, being open to it or even trying to follow the customs can go a long way to forging a good business relationship.

Western e-mails get down to business right away, Japanese ones start out with a little bit of friendly banter. I didn't realize I had taken to this habit myself until I tried to work with a Canadian company last year. I was met with short retorts and 'just coaching' messages telling me to cut the friendly chatter. Really? Are you that busy that you can't read 4 seconds of a friendly lead in or some natural commentary. Japanese people want to build trust and create good connections with their business contacts. Some friendly words never hurt anyone. Conversely, I would coach Japanese clients or students to be open to getting rid of the friendly lead in but in my honest opinion, the Japanese style feels a lot more comfortable. I get the impression that both sides are open to a long term business relationship if they approach communication in this way.

I was working within a company and more than a few times students (or just people in the office) would come up to me asking what they should do because their work connection wouldn't reply to their e-mails. It dawned on me that people back home might have taken to not answering e-mails in which they can not readily respond with the information needed. This is just rusty communication. Everyone is working on the same purpose and you have to understand that the Japanese staff are receiving considerable pressure from their bosses to get things done. Similarly, if you couldn't understand the gist of what the contact is asking, don't be afraid to ask them for clarification; "I'm sorry I'm not sure what this sentence means "Quote", could you help me understand?"

Japanese culture is collectivist and they face continual pressure to get everything right, especially in business. Because they are nervous about their English in the first place, understanding and acceptance of their style of communication are not only essential, they are non-negotiable standards that international companies should adhere to.

Are movies good for English study?

Many students over the years asked if it is good to use watching movies as a way to study. Essentially I would say that it is a good thing. I have always believed that we need to enjoy studying English which acts as a self motivator. So interacting in English in a way that we enjoy is a great enabler for your language skills.

That's the key though. There has to be something active to the process. You could, for instance watch the movie once purely for entertainment and at that time you can pick up some listening practice and basic comprehension if you aren't focused on the Japanese subtitles. But they you should watch the movie again. Either with English subtitles or none at all. Have a notepad nearby and take notes of words, difficult to hear points or idioms that you encounter as you go. Pause the movie. This time you are studying. After you finish, watch it again, purely in English with no subtitles at all and just practice listening and use the points you took notes about as review opportunities.

The key to any study success is to do it actively and to review what you have learned, or even better use the new expressions. Studying passively can get some results but it will take far longer for them to be noticeable than if you actually approach it as a learning opportunity.

That being said, just watching the movies with English voices and hopefully subtitles is better than not doing it all. This is just my suggestion for how to get the best results.

What is the best rate of study?

I had an epiphany while I was standing in the rain watching my son's team practice for soccer. My son was in junior high school at the time and he has been doing soccer since he was in kindergarten. I had been a teacher and language coach for around 16 years at the time but I never could settle on how much was the best amount of time to study to really achieve results. So, there I was standing in the rain watching my breath dissipate in the air in front of me wondering why the heck they had to practice every day. My mind flashed to Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers and his theory about needing 10,000 hours to become proficient at something. That was it, not only the amount of time but the total immersion of the mind and commitment to a regular rhythm were a key to reaching the next level.

Doubtlessly the more time you dedicate to something, the more you can see improvement, but the rhythm of soccer practices suggested to me that constant and frequent repetition is also important. I thought this was the way to get the students at the company I was teaching at to remember some words for their TOEIC goals. I set up a practice sheet where every three days they had to focus on a single word. The first day, they look up the word in English (afterwards Japanese was permitted) then on the second day they had to come up with a practice sentence. If they followed this program, they would think about the word on successive days and interact, making a better chance to remember. On the third day they would get another chance and they would find some synonyms for the word. The following day was a new word and the cycle began again. The problem is that the students didn't follow the theoretical path and only studied everything on one day, before their class. The most serious students did follow it and I thought it was a good program. The beauty of it was that the students should be thinking about English everyday. They established a rhythm, even if just for 10-15 minutes. If I were stricter about it, I think we would have seen more results.

Looking through the Internet at ideas about how much to study, theories range between 20 minutes and 3 hours per day. An interesting post by Ouino (We know, get it?) language says 30 minutes of active studying and 1 hour of exposure is good. Of course they are promoting their business so it's merely a theory. If you don't subscribe to Medium, you will be trapped by the pay wall, but this post says 1-2 hours is best for rapid language acquisition.

I will say it again though, I believe that the true key lies in the daily rhythm more than the amount of study, though logically more time spent should yield more results.

What is your favorite English word?

Sometimes when teaching English, it is great to engage the students in exploring language purely. No I don't mean drilling them on grammar rules, they will mutiny and steer the ship to free talk in no time. I mean the words and the peculiarities that exist within the realm of the language.

I started doing an activity I called Think Fast, in which I would ask them a question and they would then have to say the first answer that come to their mind (no repeats, no thinking time). Completely wrong answers are okay too, the point is to see their comprehension capabilities. One of my favorite questions in that series was, "What is your favorite English Word?" Naturally I have asked this in other contexts as well. Here are a few of my favorite answers and some thoughts on them when appropriate;

I love you (hmm not a single word)

Gotcha

Sleep/holiday (same idea so I lumped them)

bargain

difficult

easy (they were in different classes, I swear)

Of course I often offer an answer but I never standardized but sometimes my answer are quite random such as;

onomatopoeia

luscious

modest

perpendicular

How about you? Do you have a favorite English word?

*note- I am Canadian and the actual spelling should be 'favourite' as British English dictates. However, I have been studying in an online American university so have taken to American spelling, apologies to my Canadian brethren.

Put the test mentality behind you

I was aware of the big problem in Japan before seeing my own children battling through it. It hinders language students from the beginning. It remains, wrongly, the criteria that companies use to gauge success.

Japan's education system is anchored around a focus on tests. Every course, every textbook is centered around the students taking and passing exams. It is very common that the children will go to cram schools called juku, where they essentially are trained the ins and outs of how to pass the tests to get to the next tier of education. And this stands in the way of their ability to actually speak the language that they speak, because schools don't set a curriculum based on activating the language they use.

This continues on to the adult level. TOEIC, the Test of English for International Communication is the standard that companies and some institutions measure people's ability to communicate. Which means that company workers are bound by a similar constraint of a system focused on the wrong thing, the ability to actually speak. I have taught students with strong TOEIC scores in the 700's (990 is best) but are unable to string together a few sentences. Similarly I have taught students in the 400's who manage to communicate consistently. It is just not the right focus.

English training, or any language for that matter, needs to be centered around a focus on actually speaking and relaying information. Classrooms need to be loud with students using the target language in structured, productive, activities. And it needs to be the students' voice you hear the most, not the teachers'. Activating and getting practical experience can help push Japan towards a stronger average level of proficiency. Japan is ranked at #87 in the world in the global English proficiency rating (LINK), which is labeled as 'Low Proficiency'. It would help to see this over-reliance on tests change from the Elementary level, but as trainers of Adult Speakers we can make a difference by giving our students every chance to speak, but ensuring that the lessons are productive and there is always a takeaway.

I should qualify that tests are not all bad. They do provide a motivation to study and some people really grow their vocabulary trying to do well in their tests. Also companies do need some way to measure people's progress, especially if they are spending money on English training programs. But the current test systems are insufficient and there needs to be a way to measure people based on their ability to communicate. I don't have the easy answer to this, but my eyes are open to how we can achieve this. Either way, for now, I am focused on improving the opportunity to speak while ensuring the students have multiple takeaways from each class.

Why people say they can't study English and why they are not legitimate

There are some people who have no interest in learning another language and they don't feel that they need it. While that might not always be true, there is no budging people from that hard stance. However, there are those that have thought about studying at the back of their mind for years but seem to always be met with obstacles. But are they real obstacles? Let's explore some of the reasons;

I have no time -> Time. It is so precious and it seems in our adult life a lot of us are battling with the clock constantly. I can't get my project done, I wanted to relax but I had to drive my kids to soccer, I just started writing the essay and it's already midnight! The truth is, when you make something important, you find the time. Just ask that couple that found themselves pregnant even though they said many times there just wasn't the time for a baby.

I hated studying English in school -> If you are in Japan, I don't blame you. Japanese schools often center their English curricula around test prep and most students rarely get a chance to practice speaking English. I talked about that situation here. Studying as an adult is different. Us teachers know that students want to experience language in a new way and need to get practice activating what they have studied.

English is too difficult -> Sure, a new language is difficult. So was riding a bicycle, did you give up? So was learning how to do your job or how to study for your university program, but that didn't stop you did it? There is so much to learn with a new language, it looks like a huge mountain to climb, and I am not going to lie, it is. But when you decide to hike up Mount Fuji, you focus on where your feet are touching the ground, not on the peak. That is because you still have to take the journey to get there. Start simple, learn words daily, start making simple sentences and build from there. The key is, don't be worried about making mistakes, that is how you learn!

I probably won't be able to travel for a while, so I will do it later -> I have taught students many times that have just been informed that they are being transferred overseas. Their company gives them 10-20 lessons to build up their language skills which is just not enough. Of course, something is better than nothing, but it just isn't. You can feel their tension and stress about the upcoming transfer and an anxiety to cram as much as possible into their brains. Learn the language before it becomes an emergency situation. Take the time and go through the ins and outs and build up your confidence on top of your skills.

These were just a few examples, but you can see there is always a counterpoint. Do you have any other ideas about excuses people make? Leave a comment and I can talk about them in the future.

Chat GPT for language positive points

I posted a few times about why I felt it was dangerous to rely too much on ChatGPT for your English needs in business (here and here). I also allowed ChatGPT itself to counterpoint, teaching us some of its positive points. But I would not be a fair and impartial person if I didn't acknowledge some positive points.

It can work as a proofreader. You could copy your writing into the interface and ask it to proofread. If you ask it to preserve your own words as much as possible it could be a win-win.

It could take care of some routine communication that is not vital or involving company secrets.

If you feel your business partner is sending you ChatGPT e-mails, why not return the favor?

It can keep you company if you work alone or at home. Have a fun chat with it.

I still feel it is important to stick to your own word when you are building a business connection or you need to deal with sensitive information. But I exist in the real world and understand that people will use it sometimes, much as they use Google Translate when they are short on time to write an e-mail. But always proofread it and make sure that ChatGPT is saying what you would like to be communicated on your behest.