Learning English and employability

Tas Viglatzis
Business people stood together around a laptop in a office
所要时间: 4 minutes

English not only opens up career opportunities beyond national borders; it is a key requirement for many jobs. It’s also no longer a case of just learning English for employability, but mastering English for business – and that means an on-going commitment to learn.

My experience is consistent with this trend. If I had to estimate the value that being fluent in English has had on my career, I'd say it was my entire life’s earnings. Learning English has offered me educational options beyond the borders of my own country and enabled me to develop the skills to work for global companies that operate across national boundaries. I have been privileged to work in different countries in roles that have spanned functions, geographies and markets – and my ability to learn and evolve my English skills has been an underlying factor throughout.

Mastering English for employability
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How I improved my English

I grew up in Greece, where – as is common in many European countries with languages that aren’t widely spoken – learning a second European language is part of the education system. As a result, my first encounter with English was through the Franklin approach, which focuses on grammar and writing rather than all the four core skills. This meant I could read and write very well, yet when I first arrived in the UK I couldn’t hold a simple conversation in the pub.

It’s a common problem with traditional educational approaches that don’t cover all the learning skills – something still evident in many countries globally. In Japan, for example, after years of focusing on reading and writing there’s now a strong desire to teach students to understand spoken English and speak fluently.

I was fortunate to complete my postgraduate studies in the UK. This was challenging because I had to raise my English to a much higher standard. I also had to improve my conversational English to enjoy a social life, which was a pretty powerful motivator. I surrounded myself with people who only spoke English, because hearing and using the language regularly are powerful tools in more easily understanding others, and making yourself understood.

Precision learning in the workplace

This approach, together with formal learning, eventually paid off for me. However, once I entered the workplace, I found that there were many new aspects of English to learn.

One of the main barriers to learning at different levels and applications of English – for university, for friendships, for work – is knowing precisely where you are at any stage of your learning journey, and knowing where you need to go next (and how best to get there). As I found, this is compounded when you enter the workplace where you also have new skills to learn in a second language, from IT to soft skills such as negotiation.

If I had been given a precise learning path to help me in my first job, or to get my second job and so on, then my end goals could have been reached more quickly and easily. Yes, I was highly motivated to learn, but what worked for me does not necessarily work for others – especially since professionals who learn English for work often have very little time.?And with greater technology advances, we all now expect much faster results.

Crucially, whatever the learning methods and tools are, this points to two most challenging factors in English teaching and learning: making real progress and staying motivated.

In the past, progress in language learning has been measured in broad levels. Common scales, and the curriculum tied to them, are not always best designed to reflect the four skills or different applications, such as academic versus business.

These measures were increasingly being exposed as incomplete and no longer being fit for purpose. It is that need that led to the extensive global research and development into the Global Scale of English (GSE) – a precise, standardised measure of proficiency from 10 to 90 across the four skills.

The GSE extends the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR); its steps are much more granular and it provides a powerful, focused motivator for further learning throughout your career. It includes sets of learning objectives as "can do" statements at each level; because these are tailored to the learning environment – for example, for work – learning goals and measures of progress are more relevant and accurate. That, in turn, leads to greater engagement and increased motivation.

The future of language learning in the workplace

The key trends of personalisation and adaptive learning are driving the future of English language learning. Online methods and the use of big data analytics and tools continues to expand and increase in sophistication, enabling English language learning to become more specific to individual needs, learning styles and capabilities while offering improved measurement of impact and results. This is vital because language learners learn at different rates and in different ways.

Technology is also helping us support another trend: increasing demand by learners for specific interventions and focus on micro-skills and competencies. As our ability to understand individual needs improves we will become better equipped to provide solutions that concentrate on what’s important for English learners and their careers, such as interviewing in English, running an effective meeting or being able to better express thoughts in writing.

There is a big opportunity for English language learning to embrace those trends, which is why we’re so excited with what we’re doing with the GSE: it gives us the necessary framework to offer flexibility of learning and increased levels of personalisation to English language learners, while ensuring that our products and solutions complement each other. Crucially, it also allows us to measure and show our learners their actual progress.

Finally, it’s important to remember that we never stop learning. Even after living in the UK for 20 years, I still find new words and expressions that open up new possibilities – both in and out of the workplace.

Read our blog posts "Internships: how they improve language skills"?and "How adult learners navigate English language learning".

Learn about the GSE

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  • A teacher showing her students a globe, with her students looking at the globe, one with a magnifying glass in hand.

    What’s it like to teach English in Turkey?

    投稿者 Steffanie Zazulak
    所要时间: 3 minutes

    Alice Pilkington qualified as a CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certified teacher in October 2009. She started working in Rome before moving to Istanbul, where she’s spent the past three and a half years teaching English to “everyone from 8-year-olds to company executives; students to bored housewives”. Having taught in two very different countries to a diverse range of English learners, Alice shares with us the five lessons she’s learned:

    1. Don't take things personally when you're teaching English

    "I am probably not emotionally suited for this job. I take everything very personally and if a lesson goes wrong or an activity I have taken time and energy to plan doesn’t work, I feel like a complete failure. It’s a trial and error experience but when things go wrong, they can go very wrong, and it really makes you doubt your abilities as a teacher.

    Having said that, the lessons that do go well can make up for these negative feelings. I shouldn’t take things personally; the majority of my colleagues don’t and it saves them a lot of sleepless nights"

    2. Teaching English is incredibly rewarding

    "There are very few feelings that I’ve experienced that compare to seeing a student use a word that you have taught them – it makes you feel like a proud parent. Equally, seeing a student improve over a series of months is so joyful.?I have been teaching English university preparation students for the past year.

    In September, they could barely say what their name was and what they did over the weekend. Nine months on and they’re capable of reading academic texts and speaking at length about marketing strategies and environmental problems. It’s a wonderful thing to observe"

    3. Teach more than just English

    "Turkish students love hearing about how you appreciate their food and cultural traditions. Equally, they are genuinely interested in understanding how things operate in the UK and enjoy hearing personal anecdotes.?I tend to be very open with my students – even about my personal life.?I think it is partly because I have striven from the very beginning of my career to be seen as their equal.

    Turkish students are used to having a huge respect for teachers, and there is a hierarchical system in schools here, which I can never go along with. In my first lesson with most students, I tell them that they must call me by my first name (usually you refer to teachers here as ‘hocam’ which means ‘my teacher’ and shows respect) and this can take a long while for them to get used to."

    4. Failure to prepare is to prepare for failure... or is it?

    "Lessons that you spend hours preparing for generally don’t go as well as you had hoped. There were several times when I’d spend hours cutting and sticking things on pieces of card and placing pictures all over the classroom, hoping it would get some vocabulary action going, only to start the class and receive no response from the students.

    Conversely, lessons where you don’t feel very motivated or have no idea what you are going to do until you get into the classroom (which I call the ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ lessons) can turn out to be the best ones. I once had a lesson in which I was, admittedly, rather hungover. On the way to the lesson, I grabbed a book called ‘Taboos and Issues’, full of discussion topics, which I used as a basis for a rather impromptu lesson on addictions, which was very successful indeed."

    5. Teaching English isn't easy

    "Teaching English is a love/hate profession. There are weeks when you absolutely loathe it and want to quit, but then within the space of a lesson or two, you get inspired by something completely unexpected, rediscover your joy for it and love it again."

  • 教師が立って大きな教室で生徒を助け、他の生徒が座って働いていました

    动机の违いにより、生徒の学习方法はどのように変わりますか英语

    投稿者 Steffanie Zazulak
    所要时间: 4分间

    世界中の学生がさまざまな理由で 英語 を学びます。これらの動機のいくつかは、学生自身から来ているかもしれません - おそらく彼らは 英語話す地域に旅行しているから学んでいるのか、それとも 英語話す友人や同僚と会話できるようにしたいのか。学習のその他の理由には、学校の要件を満たすこと、留学すること、またはキャリアを積むことが含まれます。

    英語を学ぶさまざまな理由だけでなく、さまざまな目標もあります。多くの学生は依然として流暢に話せるようになることに焦点を当てています 英語そして、特定の理由で言語を学びたいと思う人々が増加しているのを私たちは見ています。たとえば、特定の文化に没頭したり、海外旅行中にメニューから注文したりします。

    教師は、生徒が実際の目標を達成するのを助けるために、これらの個人的なニーズに焦点を当てています。あなたはすでに生徒に、なぜ彼らが 英語を学びたいのかについて話している可能性があります。さまざまな動機が言語学習に対する学生の態度に影響を与える可能性があるため、これを理解することは重要です - そして、それはあなたがあなたの教育戦略を学习者の異なるグループに適応させる必要があるかもしれません。

    さまざまな学习者グループに 英語 を教える

    いくつかの異なる学生グループに会い、彼らの動機についてもう少し学び、さまざまな動機が学生の学習方法を変えるかどうかを探りましょう 英語。あなたはあなたのクラスでこれらの学习者のいくつかを認識するかもしれません。

    1. 学习者大学?一般学习者向け

    これらの学生は、楽しみや個人的な理由で 英語 学んでいます。それは、旅行、社会的または家族的な理由によるものかもしれませんし、 英語 をよりよく理解することが彼らのキャリアに役立つかもしれないからです。移民要件として 英語 を学んでいる可能性のある成人学习者もいます。

    例えば、23歳のアリスは、人と出会い、英语を话す隣人とより有意义な交流をするために、英语を学ぶことにしました。「私はとても耻ずかしがり屋で、人と话すことにあまり自信がありませんでした。でも、英语を学ぶことで、他の人とつながり、新しい人と出会うことができました。私は大きく変わりました。」

    アリスのようなモチベーションには、教师の强力なサポートと、构造化された学习に织り込まれた仲间のモチベーションが必要です。アリスは自分の目标を设定し、 GSE 学習目標 を使用して、その目標を達成するために何をする必要があるかを計画できます。教師の励ましと個人的なサポート、そしてデジタルコースワークへの簡単なアクセス、 英語を学ぶ他の人のソーシャルコミュニティ、会話を強調する少人数のクラスにより、アリスのような人々は彼女の言語目標を達成するために関与し、やる気を起こさせます。「彼らなしではやっていけません」と彼女は言います。

    2.プロの学习者

    これらの学习者は通常、より正式なタイプの 英語 プログラムに参加しており、昇進などの特定のキャリアマイルストーンを達成するために言語を学んでいます。彼らの雇用主は彼らの学習に対してさえ支払っているかもしれませんし、彼らは彼らのレッスンの費用を払い戻されるかもしれません。

    ヴィンチェンツォは33歳で、ミラノで世界中にオフィスを構える国際組織でプロダクトマネージャーとして働いています。「私は専門能力開発の一環として、 英語 クラスを受講するように頼みました。私の会社は 英語 プロバイダーを選び、グループクラスまたはマンツーマンクラスの選択肢を与えてくれました。私は気が散りやすいので、1対1のクラスを選びました。」

    ヴィンチェンツォのようなプロの学习者は、クラスと自宅での学習の混合学習モデルを使用して成功し、自分の生活に合わせて調整できます。彼らは成功への強いモチベーションを持っています - それが彼らにとって家庭での学習が彼らにとって効果的である理由です - しかし、 GSE 学習目標によって提供される段階的な進歩も、このモチベーションを維持するために重要です。「私は週に一度、先生と会い、 英語話すときに犯す間違いに取り組みました。また、面白いゲームやビデオなど、自分の時間に聞くための追加の練習教材もくれて、言語の理解を深めるのに役立ててくれました」とヴィンチェンツォは言います。

    3.

    アカデミックな学习者

    英语を学ぶことは多くの学校のプログラムの要件であり、学生はこれをカレッジや大学で継続します。これらの学生の多くは、ハイステークス试験の模拟试験を提供する正式なコースで英语を学びます。

    17歳のスブラはマレーシア出身で、学校で 英語 学んでいます。彼女の家族の何人かは Australia に住んでおり、彼女はヘルスケアを専門とする大学に通うために留学することを検討しています。彼女が若い頃、彼女は自分の進歩を確認するのに役立つテストに裏打ちされた伝統的な教室で学びました。現在、彼女はAndroidのHuawei電話などのテクノロジーを使用して 英語 の練習を行っていますが、軌道に乗っていることを確認するためには、定期的なテストの検証が必要です。

    スブラさんは「中学や高校への进学に向けて一生悬命準备をしていたので、テスト勉强には惯れています。それはテスト结果で决まるものでした」と话します。

    Subraのようなアカデミックな学习者は、モチベーションを維持し、ハイステークステストで必要なスコアを取得するために必要な 英語 のレベルに彼らを導くために、実証可能な結果を見る必要があります。明確な GSE 学習目標とプレースメントテストにより、アカデミックな学习者は、自分が今どこにいて、アカデミックな目標を達成するためにどこにいる必要があるかをマッピングできます。これらの学习者は、軌道に乗るために、教師からの励ましと進歩の検証が必要です。

    生徒のモチベーションを理解することで、生徒の特定のニーズに合わせて教えることができ、目标达成に集中力とモチベーションを保つことができます。

  • 男と女が微笑みながら立っていた

    ６つの奇妙な英语フレーズ

    投稿者 Steffanie Zazulak

    以前のブログでは、理解しずらい奇妙な英语フレーズをいくつか紹介しました。 英語には、流暢な話者でさえも混乱させる可能性のある独特のフレーズがたくさんあります。今日の投稿では、レパートリーを増やすのに役立つそのようなフレーズをさらにいくつか見ていきます。