ESP-not extrasensory perception
Good-night all,
I am covered in gooey cookie, but my baby is finally asleep! now only 30 pages of reading to do! (yikes). Anyway, after reading about ESP- English for specific purposes, I recalled my first job (pre-JET) in Japan, working as a traveling teacher at a private language school, catering to Japanese businesses. I guess you could call me an EBP teacher. I went to one particular company called Tokyo Nickel twice a week for 2 hours each session to teach Business English.
Most of the workers were forced to come to my class after a 12 hour day at work. It was bogus watching them nodding off in their chairs...some would even stumble into the next room where they had company beds all in a row for them to sleep in when they got tired (like firemen have here). Some were better English speakers than others and they were very kind and apologetic for their lack of interest in my lessons!
I think ESP can be useful if the curriculum is well designed and follows through with Needs Assessment as outlined on page 49. Unfortunately, most private English companies are just trying to make a quick buck, and "pretend" to create significant curriculi, which they can "sell" to the desperate customer. These companies hire students fresh out of university from overseas, and have them start work the day after they arrive with no training. In order for ESP to be effective, companies really need to have a vested interest in improving their workers' skills. I think if the EBP teacher has a strong knowledge of the company structure and processes they can better provide the workers with authentic discourse. In this case, I think that an EBP or ESP specialist should be native to the country in which they are teaching.
thanks,
Madelaine
I am covered in gooey cookie, but my baby is finally asleep! now only 30 pages of reading to do! (yikes). Anyway, after reading about ESP- English for specific purposes, I recalled my first job (pre-JET) in Japan, working as a traveling teacher at a private language school, catering to Japanese businesses. I guess you could call me an EBP teacher. I went to one particular company called Tokyo Nickel twice a week for 2 hours each session to teach Business English.
Most of the workers were forced to come to my class after a 12 hour day at work. It was bogus watching them nodding off in their chairs...some would even stumble into the next room where they had company beds all in a row for them to sleep in when they got tired (like firemen have here). Some were better English speakers than others and they were very kind and apologetic for their lack of interest in my lessons!
I think ESP can be useful if the curriculum is well designed and follows through with Needs Assessment as outlined on page 49. Unfortunately, most private English companies are just trying to make a quick buck, and "pretend" to create significant curriculi, which they can "sell" to the desperate customer. These companies hire students fresh out of university from overseas, and have them start work the day after they arrive with no training. In order for ESP to be effective, companies really need to have a vested interest in improving their workers' skills. I think if the EBP teacher has a strong knowledge of the company structure and processes they can better provide the workers with authentic discourse. In this case, I think that an EBP or ESP specialist should be native to the country in which they are teaching.
thanks,
Madelaine
posted by madelaine hill at 8:10 PM
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