CTBE - Unit 6

Unit 6 The BE world

Synopsis

In this unit we will consider some of the cultural issues you should be aware of when teaching in different regions of the world.

We will then look at ways of seeking, applying for and keeping employment.

We will think about your professional development, by consideration of examinations you can take, and some of the professional associations you can join.

Finally we present a webliography of many useful contacts that you may find useful throughout your career

Business etiquette Unit 6 The BE world

In the previous section we were looking at cross cultural errors that can occur due to language differences.

We will now consider other areas of cultural difference that we should be aware of in teaching throughout the world.

There are some general rules that you should bear in mind, wherever you work:

n Find out as much as you can about the country or region before you go, by researching books such as the Lonely Planet guide or the Culture Shock series.

n When in the country, at work, be conservative in your manner, speech and actions until such a time that you are confident that you will not cause offence.

n Use the formal greetings of the country until you find that alternatives are not considered inappropriate.

n Never express political or social opinion unless you are certain that your comments will not be misrepresented.

n Don’t make comments about people from the organization who are not there.

n Don’t be sarcastic with your students (it may not be understood).

This is certainly not an exhaustive list – there are many more.

A very useful website with free, relevant information is www.usemultiplier.com/blog/international-business-etiquette-manners-and-culture

The site states the following:

“Cultural intelligence is the ability to understand, appreciate, and work effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. It encompasses awareness of one’s own cultural values and biases as well as the capacity to adapt behavior and communication styles to interact productively in multicultural environments.”

Unit 6 The BE world

Questions you should be able to answer

Here is a checklist of questions you should be able to answer about the country you are going to work in:

n What is a brief history of this country or region?

n How is the population distributed?

n What are the main cities?

n What religious and political denominations are there?

n What stereotypes exist?

n What truth, if any, is there in those stereotypes?

n How friendly and open are the country’s people to foreigners?

n What language is spoken? Is there more than one?

n What are the main points of cultural heritage?

n What dress code will I have to adhere to in the classroom?

n Are there any dress codes I will need to bear in mind in my free time?

n What body language/gestures should be avoided?

n What gifts are acceptable to give or receive?

n What conversational taboos exist?

n Are there formal protocols to cover in conversations/meetings/negotiations?

Finding employment Unit 6 The BE world

In-country

Opportunities for employment exist throughout the world for Business English teachers. There are a number of ways that you can go about gaining a post.

Advertising

There are a couple of ways you can use advertising:

The internet is a vast source of job opportunities worldwide (see webliography). Here you will find job postings with a brief description of the position and usually something about the school or training centre.

Newspapers such as the Educational Guardian (based in the UK) have a section on TEFL posts. You can find postings on some of the larger training company websites:

ITTT: www.teflcourse.net/tefl-jobs/ International House: https://ihworld.com/job/

You can also work the other way round and post your CV/resume online. (The next section looks at how to write a CV/Resume and cover letter.)

Many people know where they would ideally like to work and if this is the case it can be a good idea to travel to that country and look for work once you are there. You will need to have some cash reserves and may need to take a general position to keep some money coming in whilst you look for your ideal job. The benefits of actually being able to go to schools or training centers are that you can see for yourself the working environment, talk to people already employed there about working conditions and generally get a better ‘feel’ for the post. This method of searching for a job usually pays off.

Unit 6 The BE world

When searching for work there are several things to bear in mind:

n When are the main recruiting periods for the country/region that you want to work in? You will obviously have a greater chance of securing a position during these times.

n Do you know anyone already working in the area? One of the most effective ways of getting a post is through a personal recommendation.

n What questions should you ask a potential employer either before or at an interview?

Here are some questions to ask, which are in no particular order of priority. It’s probably best not to ask too many questions about holidays or pay initially.

1. The exact length of the contract - when does it begin and end?

2. How and when do teachers get paid?

3. Do teachers have to work on Saturdays or Sundays?

4. Are there any extra-curricular responsibilities? If yes, what are they?

5. How many other teachers are there and where are they from?

6. What support systems are there for teachers?

7. What kind of schedule are you going to have (morning, evening, split)?

8. Where will you teach? (At a school/center/in-company, etc.)

9. How many hours do you have to teach?

10. What does the timetable consist of?

11. Do teachers have to work overtime?

12. Is there an orientation session?

13. Is there a probation period?

14. Is the contract renewable?

15. Are teaching resources and materials provided?

16. Will you have your own classroom or will you have to share it?

17. Will you have to teach at various locations? If yes, who pays for transportation?

18. What kind of students will you have? Age? Education level? Nationality?

19. Do you have to teach at the same age level or will you have various age groups or mixed classes?

20. How often are the staff meetings, and what other functions do teachers have to attend?

21. Who supervises the program? Is there a program coordinator?

22. Is the program based on a particular course or do teachers have to develop their own program?

Unit 6 The BE world

23. Is there a photocopying machine or internet access? If so, do teachers have to pay for it?

24. What other resources are available?

25. What is the school policy on discipline?

26. Are there any bonuses at the end of the contract?

27 What is the savings potential (salary/cost of living ratio)?

28. Are there legal restrictions on the amount of money you can send home?

29. Is housing provided? Is it shared? If yes, do you get a separate room?

30. What is included? (Utilities, telephone, furniture, TV, AC, appliances, etc.)

31 How far is the accommodation from school?

32. If not, does the school assist with finding housing?

33. How much is the typical rent? What are the other costs (agent fees, security deposit, etc.)

34. Is health insurance included? If yes, what is the health-service provider? When does the coverage begin?

35. What are the holiday entitlements? Do you get any paid vacation time? How much?

36. Are any sick/personal days allowed?

37 Who pays for your air tickets? If teachers must pay for their airfare, is any portion of it going to be reimbursed?

38. Does the school pay for extra baggage? (Personal course and resource books, etc}

39. Does the school pay for a return flight?

40. Is there ongoing in-house training?

41 What is the currency in which teachers are paid?

42. Are teachers paid in cash or by a direct bank deposit?

43. Is any money held back? (Some schools do hold money back!)

44. Does the school guarantee a minimum salary, irrespective of hours? What is it?

45. How much tax is withheld? Is any portion of it returned upon completion of contract?

46. What are penalties for breaking the contract?

47 Who is in charge of any discipline problems that may occur?

48. Will you buy extra materials I think I need?

49. What opportunities for promotion are there?

50. Will the employer support further professional development?

Unit 6 The BE world

C.V./resume

These are the basics:

n Name in full

n Date of birth (political correctness is a western invention!)

Research on the internet or through books about ‘How to write the perfect C.V or resume’ and you will find a lot of conflicting advice, some of it exact opposites.

The problem is that everyone has their own idea of what should and should not be included on a C.V/resume.

You can take the advice of the C.V gurus or you can go about writing your own in the following practical and realistic way:

Imagine you are an employer or that you are the recruitment manager for a company. You advertise for three new teachers and you get 2000 responses which have not yet been looked at.

It is your job to go through these C.V/resumes and put together a shortlist of 15 candidates from whom you are going to request further information and from these you will call eight for interview

What do you want to know about your candidates?

n Contact details (the most important contact is email – it’s cheap and fast)

n Current address (if you’re already in country this will be an advantage)

n Nationality (you may not be eligible for visas/work permits)

n Marital status (the reality is that some employers don’t want you to be married or have children as they will provide single accommodation)

n Professional headshot photograph

Which of the above you decide to put on your CV/resume is obviously your choice but in the employer’s mind if they have to contact you for information they feel should already be there, then they may not take your application any further. You should therefore ensure that you include on the CV you are sending out everything that a particular employer is requesting.

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Following your personal information the other two most important sections are your work experience and your qualifications.

Qualifications usually come first and are presented in reverse chronological order(most recent first). Only include relevant information here – you may have a certificate for swimming 100 yards underwater but it doesn’t really help your job prospects.

Keep in mind that for work permits you will need to provide original transcripts of degree certificates and therefore you can only put on your CV/resume those things you have documentation for.

Employment history should also be in reverse chronological order. If you have a lot of work experience this section of your CV/resume can become bulky, so just write the dates of employment, the employer and job title, then after your list summarize all the experience in one block so there is no repetition of similar experiences.

The person reading your CV/resume may well end up working with you and so it is useful to put some information about your personal interests. If your employer doesn’t feel they would want to work with you, then it is probably just as well you don’t get the job, as you have to be comfortable at work as well.

In summary:

n Personalize to your objectives - you may well have several resumes!

n Try to give a flavour of your personality.

n Keep it brief and relevant.

n Use a readable font.

n Be totally honest.

There’s a sample CV/resume on the next page.

Unit 6 The BE world

Sample C.V (this is a minimum)

Peter Andrew Davis

Objective

Date of Birth

Nationality

Contact details

Current residence

Marital status

Qualifications

Employment history

Personal interests

Skills

References

To obtain a position teaching business English in Japan

21st February 1960 American pad2003@yahoo.com, tel (+66) 4 745 2236 Bangkok, Thailand

Single

TEFL certificate in Business English (50 hours), Phuket, Thailand June 2004

TEFL certificate (120 hours), Barcelona , Spain July 1999 (Taught ten one-hour lessons, completed language awareness examination with a score of 97%)

Bsc. Mechanical Engineering class 2(1), Bristol University (UK) 1988

The Phuket International Beach Resort Hotel, July 2002 to November 2004

Teacher of English as a foreign language

Taught general English to hotel management and staff at Patchaburi High school, Chumphon, Thailand, August 1999 to June 2002. Teacher of English as a foreign language, Mixed sex state school taught 25 hours per week, classes from M1 to M6

British Aerospace Research and development, April 1989 to February 1999

Turbine blade development

Travel, reading biographies, football, hiking, languages.

Skills Basic Spanish, elementary Thai, computer literate.

References available on request.

Unit 6 The BE world

Sample cover email

This is a sample cover email that you can use to send out your resume to potential employers. Put the ideas below into your own words, inserting your name and contact details, and personalizing as much as possible. This should be treated as a minimum guideline, and be a lot more detailed in reality.

Be careful not to duplicate information on your CV/resume.

This should be completely re-written, in case two people using this template apply for the same job!

To whom it may concern,

My name is XXX XXXX, and I have recently completed the certification course in teaching Business English with ITTT

I’m contacting you with regard to the current vacancy you have advertised at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. I believe you or currently have a vacancy at your institution. I am very enthusiastic to continue my teaching career with your organisation.

My experience of XXXXX and its people has been of great benefit to me in many ways. I intend to remain in XXXXXX [country] for the foreseeable future, to gain a greater understanding of the culture and attempt to exchange my knowledge of the English language with the people of XXXXXX. [Brief summary of BE experience, if any]

Please find attached my resume, detailing my qualifications, experience and suitability to positions that you may have available.

Please contact me at XXX@XXXX or call me on xxxxxxxxxx for any further information or to schedule an interview

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

XXX XXXX

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Examinations/

courses for teachers

The British Council offers a variety of further professional courses For a range of available courses visit the British Council website at:

w

overseas/professional-vocational

The USA in particular prefers the Masters level qualification to the Diploma level.

Many British universities offer MAs in TEFL with particular reference to Business English. You will find information on these courses at the websites for, Bristol, Luton, Leeds, Lancashire, and Middlesex Universities.

Take a look also at the TEFL Professional Network ( ) teacher training courses. www.tefl.com

Many of these courses are quite expensive, so there are obvious benefits to the on-line versions of such courses. You can work at your own pace and you don’t need to leave your current job or country to take the course.

ITTT also offer a 250-hour Diploma course in TESOL (DipTESOL). Details here:

www teflonline net/tefl-online-courses/online-tefldiploma

Unit 6 The BE world

Associations and

organisations

There are many professional bodies and organizations that you can be a member of, or have an affiliation with.

These bodies provide a wealth of information for teachers and often hold conferences where you can learn about new developments and take part in discussion forums.

Here are some of the Associations/organizations you could become involved in:

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)

The Australian Council for TESOL Association

The British Council English Language Contacts Scheme (ELTECS)

The Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers

The European Council of International Schools

Japan Association of College English Teachers (JACET)

International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL)

Royal Society of Arts (RSA)

The TEFL board

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)

There are inevitably costs associated with joining certain groups in this list but they can repay themselves with information that you will find useful.

Unit 6 The BE world

This final section lists useful websites arranged by function.

We would recommend that you visit as many sites as possible to gain further practical information, both for your teaching and professional development.

Cambridge University Press: www.cambridge.org

Longman ELT: www.pearsonelt.com

MacMillan Heinemann: www.macmillaneducation.com

Oxford University Press: www.oup.com

WWW Virtual Library: www.comlab.ox.ac.uk

The web addresses were correct at the time of going to print and are inevitably subject to change over time.

ESP discussions http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/index.php

IATEFL SIG ESP http://espsig.iatefl.org

Unit 6 The BE world

Reference material

Encyclopedia Britannica: www.eb.com

Oxford English Dictionary: www.oed.com

Roget’s Thesaurus: www.thesaurus.com

Online dictionaries: ,www.alphadictionary.com www.dictionary.com

ESP sites

The English teaching professional: www.etprofessional.com

The English Language Gazette Online: www.elgazette.com

The Financial Times: www.ft.com

The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk

Applied linguistics

Applied linguistics virtual library: https://libguides.ncl.ac.uk/applinguistics/journals

Journal of Linguistics: www.journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=LIN

BAAL: www.baal.org.uk

Linguistics Society of America: www.linguisticsociety.org

Unit 6 The BE world

Task sheet

Check your knowledge before attempting the unit test.

Please note that this task sheet is solely for checking that you have understood the course unit content. You do not need to submit this task sheet – just use it to check you have understood the major points.

Note: not all the information needed for the answers can be found in the unit, so you may need to do further research from other sources.

Task 1 –

Complete a C.V/resume and an accompanying cover letter, written as if you were applying for a position teaching business English.

Task 2 –

What is the meaning of GDP?

Task 3 –

State the currencies and GDPs of the following countries:

a. China

b. South Korea

c. Viet Nam

d. Kuwait

e. Oman

f. Bulgaria

Unit 6

The BE world

Task 4 –

List three things you should never do (due to cultural issues) in a classroom in Thailand. Give as much detail as possible, and list your sources or references:

(I)

(ii)

(iii)

Task 5 –

Choose a country in which you intend to teach, and construct a full ESA lesson plan for a business English class revolving around the scenario that the students are going to have an initial meeting with a group of mixednationality European businessmen. There’s a blank lesson plan on the next two pages.

Before starting the plan we suggest you visit the site below for ideas:

www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-adults/resources/english-business

Unit 6 The BE world

Teacher:

Class level:

Language point:

Teaching aids:

Observer: Room:

Learner objectives: For the students to be able to

Anticipated problems for students:

Solutions:

Date and time:

Expected number of students:

Anticipated problems for teacher:

Solutions: Personal aims:

Lesson Plan

Unit 6

The BE world