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[Torsten]

Hi Ray,

Are you OK for the Bike System folks for tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday? Please remember to move over to Avena tomorrow.
Regards,
Torsten
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[Daniel]

Hi Torsten, hi everyone else as well,

Regarding your first question: I use the player they have at the school. It plays MP3 even from CD-RW's. For the second question: yes, I finally got the book on Saturday and I find it quite useful because besides exam questions and model answers it contains answers from previous candidates and discussions of reasons that a particular answer received a particular mark.
This takes me to something else: I've been told today that the exam they're supposed to take is not LCCI-Englishnfor Business but IHK geprüfter Femdsprachenkorrespondent which consists of a translation from English into German, another one from German into English, writing a business letter and a reply, a summary in German of something they are to twice, a business related conversation and a phone call, with instructions given in German for everything but the conversation task.
A good deal of the topics I've covered so far are part of the section we are to study with them anyway. Frau Kaant said the topics to prepare had been divided into a section we are to do and another one they're to study with Mr v. John another trainer.
Something I was told last week is that students should be tested regularly so that IFU could get an impression of their development. So I started with a test this morning: an exercise that had them explain some business terms, another one requiring the rewording of sentences and at last writng a memo.
After breakfast I did listening exercises again and used last week's VOA report on Blu-ray vs HD-DVD. Then I divided the class into two groups and had each prepare a presentation one group holding the opinion that people will have a choice regarding these new standards and the other one holding the opinion that people won't. This turned out to be quite difficult and a bit disappointing.
Since some of them still have problems with some aspects of grammar I did some exercises on the passive voice afterwards.
At last we translated the first two paragraphs of a BBC report on the Detrit auto show
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7196931.stm
and asked them to summarize the rest of it. I'm not sure whether they will have done this tomorrow but it's something you can ask them about, Ralf.
I've neglected speaking practice a bit so it might be a good idea to intensify this. Here especially Christin and to a lesser extent Susan and the brown-haired Doreen need encouragement.
That's it for now

Best Regards,
Daniel

[Ralf]

Hi there,

Grimma went really well.

Here's what I did:

- word-memo game
- students introduce their neighbours
- pronunciation drill exercise
- several aspects of present continuous, future tenses and simple present
- general conversation skills (cultural dimension of "how are you" etc)
- prepositions of place
- giving directions
- basic telephone and email skills

They're good people, looking forward to seeing them again.

Next week I'd like to watch "Cruel Intentions" with them.
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TOEFL Preparation & TOEFL Vocabulary
Learn more: How to Become an English Teacher

[Torsten]

Hi Ray,

Just a quick note to let you know the TOEIC test with the Nordhausen group will take place on Monday, February 4. I left some photocopies on the desk for you -- those are TOEIC reading materials you might want to go through with the group on Monday. We did a complete set of TOEIC listening comprehension questions on Thursday and Friday and it turned out that the group needs a lot of listening practice. Maybe you can use audio files from voanews.com next week or read business related articles to the group so they can practice their listening comprehension.

Please do the bike systems group next Wednesday again and I'll work with the BZ folks.

By the way, you can buy a Sachsenticket for 19 euros to get to Nordhausen.
Thanks,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Torsten]

[Hans_Ulrich]

Hi Torsten, many thanks for your good and very constructive advice for my tomorrow class WITH THE SIX KARSTADT LADIES. I SHALL CONCENTRATE in these fields for enabling these Ladies to cope with English speaking customers in their next department stores. Have a nice day. Best Regards, Uli

[Ralf]

Hi Torsten,

In today's Jena course I concentrated on interview training the whole day. First I asked folks to think of their strengths. I introduced my mind-mapping concept to help them come up with adjectives describing themselves. Then I had them think of possible questions and answers in interview situations. After the break, we had role-play situations which went really well. Only Andreas had a blackout, and I don't think my efforts to console him came off all that well.

Anyway, all in all twas a good day for everyone.

Talk soon,

Ralf
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TOEFL Preparation & TOEFL Vocabulary
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[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Thanks a lot for your great work -- I look forward to sharing with you the next series of the "high potentials" sessions in Jena. The next round might start at some point during February and I'll send you an outline of the program I have in mind this time around.

Regards,
Torsten
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Nomisyar]

I have been recalcitrant in my responsibiltities, and I apologize. Everything is going well, I have been splitting the BZ group, with Torsten and that is going well. Working with the participants from Bike Systems is quite a challenge. They definietly do not go home at night and practice. Although I know that they do not see this class as anything more than a minor diversion, they all do seem to care about learning a bit of English for one reason or the other. I don't have high expectations, and try my best. I have resorted to going over basic vocabulary and plenty of spelling, to practice the alphabet. I need to occupy every second of the day with some type of activity, exercise or game. Once involved, the class is very goal orientated, and is willing to stay late into their (few) breaks to finish a puzzle.

I have taken Torsten's advice and began using VOA for listening training. After one article, the class as a whole announced the difficulty in understanding the lyrics. I then picked a couple more songs (Paul Simon's America, and Don McClean's American Pie) I figure that listening to music is good excercise, and that listening to regular dialogue will be much easier in comparison.

On Tuesday we will focus on more one on one dialogues, and then some role playing. OK, that is all. I need to hight-tail it out of Avena and return to Pension Lapp.

[Ralf]

Hi Ray,

First I'd like to offer my commiserations - NH is a dire place, but you may obligingly cast yourself on the devil's mercy since there is a light at the end of every dreary tunnel, however dim it may seem. I've been to NH many a time, and some of the best times I've ever had I experienced very shortly after leaving the place. Freedom feels so much better once you've left the nick

[Hans_Ulrich]

Hi Torsten, today our Halle group class with the Karstadt Ladies went excellently. We followed your kind advice and concentrated on some basic retail sales vocabulary such as the different departments of a department store, payment methods, words like 'discount', 'sales price', 'special sale', 'coupon',”we are on sale”, “cash payment”, credit card payment, whole sale and retail sale , export & import etc. such as the ordinary and cardinal numbers, in addition, we have reviewed basic things like the weekdays, the months, the seasons of the year, welcoming resp. greeting the customers in our department store, etc.

The Ladies are very interested to express their ideas as simple as possible and we have managed to do so. Tomorrow and after tomorrow we shall continue in the same cooperative atmosphere.

Have a nice day.
Best regards to Slava. Now I can enter the forum without any delay. Thank you.
Uli

[Daniel]

Most of the morning with today's Grimma class was dedicated to reviewing the test they had written last week. I gave them a detailed feedback and explained how I got to their marks.
We discussed some aspects of the current situation in the US before I had them summarize the latest VOA report on the economic stimulus package.
After noon we practised writing letters of enquiry and making appointments on the phone.
Ralf, they're really excited about listening to songs tomorrow. Since IFU would like them to be tested every 40 hours you might want to figure out a test of some oral task that has already been covered.

Regards,
Daniel

[Hans_Ulrich]

Hallo Torsten,
BZ Halle today went excellently with selling, marketing, and controlling vocabulary. Now the Karstadt Ladies have a one week holiday interruption. Best regards from Mrs. Arlt , Mrs. Simt and Doreen. Our next BZ Halle date will be in April this year .
Tomorrow I shall be with the BZ Nordhausen Schachtbau group in preparation for your test next Monday. I shall read some texts about the credit crunch crisis, subprime mortgage contradiction etc.pp. Regards Uli

[Ralf]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for your update. Next week I'll have to take the train to Grimma; what trains do you usually take and what ticket(s) do you suggest to buy?

Our class today was a breeze. In the morning, everyone presented a song and we discussed its lyrics. I had the feeling that this was quite a useful exercise to learn new vocab and phrases. In the afternoon, we watched The Green Mile. Nice and easy.

As for the oral test, I'll think of something. Thanks for letting me know.
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TOEFL Preparation & TOEFL Vocabulary
Learn more: How to Become an English Teacher

[Torsten]

Hi Ralf,

Thanks a lot for keeping us posted -- it's great that you and Daniel are exchanging all this information because this will give the group a feeling of importance and achievement.
Did you discuss "The Green Mile" after watching it, Ralf? Maybe you, Daniel can refer to the movie next week and take a closer look at some of the vocabulary as well as talk about the story itself. I think using lyrics, songs and movies is very good as it gives the group an idea how they can learn English outside the classroom. It also helps raise their level of self-confidence as they see that they can understand authentic materials.

Speaking of self-confidence, since this is a prep course for the "Fremdsprachenkorrespondent/IHK" exam, please help them prepare for that exam. You can use materials like "Yours faithfully" or "How to pass LCCI". I'm not sure if there are any prep materials for the "Fremdsprachenkorrespondent/IHK" but any business correspondence exercises will be good training. Please create business letters with them and have them translate different types of business documents. Yes, IFU does want us to give the students a test on a regular basis and I suggest you use TOEIC prep materials for that purpose since they are very transparent and easy to evaluate.

Let me know what you think.
Regards,
Tosten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary