Schedule 

 

The schedule for Day 2 is as follows:

 

09.30 - 10.30 Kirsten Waechter: Learning how to learn: making language trainings more effective
11.00 - 11.45 Evan Frendo: "We know the language and they know the content.” Erm …
12.00 - 13.00 Barry Tomalin: Teaching Business Communication in the '3rd Space'

 

Scroll down the page for more detailed information about the speakers and their talks.

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How to join these sessions

The instructions below will perhaps seem a little complicated, but those who have already attended a BESIG workshop or webinar will confirm that once you're in the web conferencing room it is actually a lot clearer - so please do not be put off!

 

Please read the following carefully:

 

Logging in 

 

1) Use the link below to go to the login page shortly before the event is due to start. Before entering the room you will be prompted to "Enter as a guest". Please use this model to enter your name:

 

Carl Dowse (Germany)

 

That is,

 

• first name
• family name
  
• where you are based.

 

This will make it easy to see at a glance who is attending and where they are from and give some sense of the no doubt very international nature of the event.

 

2) To reach the web conferencing room for these talks please click here: Day 2 online conference login

 

Taking part in the session

 

1) Once in the room, you will be able to communicate with other attendees and the moderators using the text chat window at the bottom of the screen. The team of supporting moderators will comprise of

 

• Andi White
• Carl Dowse
  
• Cornelia Kreis-Meyer 
• Mercedes Viola
• Mike Hogan
  

 

They will be monitoring the text chat and relaying any comments or questions privately on to the speakers and the audience.

 

2) If you would like to ask a question, please use the text chat to do so. To help things go smoothly and ensure that your question reaches the speaker, please write something along these lines:

 

Question for speaker - Do you think that ….? or
Question for Kirsten - Would you say …?

 

The moderating team will collate your questions and pass them onto the speaker at an appropriate time.

 

3) In the text chat, it is possible to select specific recipients for your messages by using the "To" menu which has the default setting of "Everyone". You'll find this at the bottom of the web conferencing screen towards the right.  Please feel free to use this channel of communication to network with others during the event if you wish.

 

It's easier than it seems

 

Apologies for the complicated instructions, but as I mentioned above, in this case, it actually is easier done than said, so please do join us if you can!

 

We are looking forward to greeting you to this online BESIG event!

 

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Speakers & talks

Session 7: Learning how to learn: making language trainings more effective   This workshop will focus on how teachers can improve the effectiveness of their business English courses by becoming more learner-oriented. Do your students know how to learn? How can we make sure that they learn how to learn best? This strategy will be an important one to boost learning success as students will be able to recognise their own progress more clearly. Usually, this means better course retention for the teacher or recommendation for new courses which is in a teacher's interest. Participants in this workshop will be asked to reflect on their own learning styles and experience, i.e. putting themselves in the learning situation. The workshop will also introduce tools of how to identify students' learning behaviour and what exercises will work for them, looking at examples of how this is reflected in teaching material. In addition, the workshop will also discuss the question to what extent learner-oriented teaching can be rolled out to all topics including grammar issues and teaching business skills (e.g. e-mails or telephoning).
	Kirsten Waechter studied English and Media Studies in Bochum and Glasgow. She has been working as a freelance trainer of Business English, technical English and as a teacher trainer since 1998. In addition, she also works as a translator and intercultural trainer and has published several guide books on Business English skills for Cornelsen.

Session 8: "We know the language and they know the content.” Erm …   On the BESIG blog earlier this year I argued that the claim that “We know the language and they know the content” is a myth. Even as an experienced trainer I often find that my knowledge of the language people need to use in their jobs is limited. And yes, sometimes my learners do know the content, but rarely in English. As trainers we have a number of techniques to get round this problem. We ask people who are already members of the target discourse community, we work with texts (spoken or written) which are used by that community, we read relevant research, and so on. The trouble is that we often don’t get enough time to do this sort of analysis. One alternative is to exploit business English / ESP course books. In this session I would like to explore the concept of discourse communities and the role that course books might play in helping us to close the gap. I will be using excerpts from English for Construction to illustrate my talk.
	Evan Frendo is a freelance trainer, teacher trainer and author based in Berlin. A frequent speaker at conferences, he also travels widely in Europe and Asia, either to run courses or to work as a consultant. One of his current projects is instructing on the ESP module of the online MA TESOL at the New School in New York. He has written a number of books over the years, including “How to Teach Business English”, and most recently four books for the new Pearson Vocational English series, two of which are for the construction industry.  He writes the regular research review in BESIG Issues, and also runs an active blog, English for the Workplace, which explores issues relating to ESP and business English teaching.

Session 9: Teaching Business Communication in the '3rd Space'   The '3rd space' is a new phenomenon in globalisation. It describes the situation where managers' reporting lines are internationalised and they are reporting to mangers in different countries, who they never meet and whose economies and local work environments they know nothing about. In this situation, effective international communication skills in English are vital to overcome the problems of space, time and unfamiliarity in which contact is only maintained by emails and conference calls, (conf. calls). Using case studies of recent work in global companies this workshop practices techniques and methodologies which successfully combine business English teaching with effective international cross-cultural communication in virtually distributed teams.
	Barry Tomalin is Director of Cultural Training at International House in London, author of 'The World's Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them' and 'International English for Call Centres' as well as 'Cultural Awareness' and 'Film'. He is also Director of the IH Business Cultutal Trainers Certificate and lectures on Cultural Awareness at the University of East Anglia, London Academy of Diplomacy.

Further information

Please contact Carl Dowse here for any further information you may need concerning the event, or if you would like to provide feedback or suggestions.

 

 

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BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of IATEFL, is a truly professional body representing the interests and serving the needs of the international business English teaching community.