English Language Proficiency and Today’s Workplace

By Arthur Rubin

 People are more than ever focused on how to navigate today’s tortuous economy. In an increasingly English-speaking world, command of that language is critical to everyone in the workplace. Linguistic proficiency is advantageous for getting and keeping a good job, for career advancement, for enjoying work and simply keeping up with day-day-to-day life.  

Vocational education is non-academic in orientation; its purpose is to prepare trainees for manual and technical jobs. Language proficiency plays an important role here: the skills learned via voc ed are more easily acquired by students working to improve their oral and written language skills (VESL, or Vocational English as a Second Language).

Then there is language training designed to help people fulfill academic and career goals, often referred to as English for Special Purposes. This can be used for career development, job search preparation, starting or growing a business, customer relations, sales skills, functioning in teams, presentation anxiety, dealing with stress, “thriving vs. surviving” in the workplace and other relevant topics. Moreover, such language training can focus on specific industries: healthcare, finance, law, psychology, social work and others.

To conclude: whatever their ultimate goals, young people desiring secure and satisfying careers can benefit from the acquisition and/or improvement of English language skills.

SELF-STUDY AND HOME SCHOOLING

By Elaine-Kirn Rubin and Arthur Rubin

There are many adults and near-adults who choose to learn a language on their own rather than in the classroom.  There are a variety of reasons for this, among them: a shortage of appropriate, cost-effective language courses, available or accessible at convenient locations and/or times; a lack of transportation; a distaste for “one-size-fits-all” lesson plans, pacing, assessment instruments, or other traditional features of formal education. Furthermore, many find teacher-centered or collaborative-learning classroom styles constricting, or don’t want to bother acquiring academic credits or certificates of completion.

Whatever the rationale, it is indisputable that there many out there who want to “learn it themselves.” And with the right tools, such students can remain motivated, follow through and get the most out of their own custom-designed (but flexible and fun) courses of study.

In addition, more and more parents are arranging to “homeschool” their children.  Also referred to as “home-based learning,” homeschooling can best be defined as an education provided by parents or tutors to children who, for whatever reason, cannot attend or do not thrive in the formal setting of an educational institution. Some families even choose “unschooling,” based on educational philosophies and practices that allow youngsters to learn in more “natural” ways than those usually provided by standardized school curricula and requirements

Common to each of these scenarios: language acquisition and improvement, good listening and speaking skills, are critical to any student’s educational progress and success.

THE “FAMOUS PEOPLE PORTRAIT GRID” – A COST-EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL TOOL

By Arthur Rubin

Authors & Editors offers a wide array of low-cost but highly effective visual and/or print materials. I’d like to dwell at length on one such tool - our “Famous People Portrait Grid.” It’s amazing the number of uses to which this item can be put.    

On one side of the “Famous People Portrait Grid” can be found the faces of 16 public figures (for example, Bill Cosby, Indira Gandhi, Bill Gates, Mohammed Ali); on the other, their names. The teacher can use these names to improve pronunciation of syllable-stress patterns in words, as well as in memory improvement exercises which can help with building vocabulary.  One memory and name pronunciation game involves using copies of the “Famous People Portrait Grid” without printed names. Each participant tries to give the names of 1, 2 or 3 public figures in order – from left to right and from top to bottom. The participant who correctly pronounces the name of the figure depicted in the last grid wins the game.   

Another way to utilize the portraits involves categories or classifications. The idea behind this is to develop organizational and outlining skills. The 16 figures from the “Famous People Portrait Grid” are printed on cards and the teacher encourages students to classify them (the most obvious classifications would be 4 athletes, 4 businesspeople, 4 entertainers and 4 political leaders). The cards are shuffled and distributed to the participants, who then divide up into groups of 4. Each group explains to those in the other groups why the people pictured in the cards they hold qualify to be in that category.

In addition, there is “Concentration,” a game in which group members spread out on a table shuffled decks, each comprised of 16 cards. The purpose of the game is to make the most “matches” – that is to say, pairs of cards with famous people in the same category. Furthermore, players are called upon to turn 2 cards up and then name the public figures, and describe what they do. Players who succeed in making a match get to keep the cards and are entitled to another turn. If they fail to make a match, the cards are again turned face down and another participant takes his or her turn.

The next learning activity idea involves describing people. Here the focus is on grammar – simple present statements, questions and answers, the verb TO BE and adjectives. Using the “Famous People Portrait Grid,” participants will, without identifying the famous person by name, describe his or personal appearance. The player continues with the description until someone else is able to name the famous person. Conversely, the teacher can have participants employ negative statements (“This person isn’t wearing glasses,” “She isn’t smiling”) to describe the public figures, while the other players try to identify them using the process of elimination.

These are only a few of the strategies we at Authors & Editors can suggest regarding the use of the “Famous People Portrait Grid” in the ESL classroom. There are doubtless very resourceful teachers out there who can come up with many more.

In this piece, Sparks herself unwittingly presents a partial rebuttal to the views she apparently shares with Calarco. She reports the findings of a study conducted by an neuroscience expert that suggest that joint training in cognitive techniques for at-risk children and their parents can help improve the former’s “attention, nonverbal IQ scores, associative memory and receptive language skills.”

Please read the full article: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/12/neuroscience_education_award_w.html

An Alternative to Calarco's Thesis

I recently gave my response to Sarah D. Spark’s post “Study: Middle-Class Students Are Better at Asking for Academic Help”  (See my “A Response to a Recent Study of Social Class and Readiness to Seek Teacher Assistance” below).

In this piece, National-board Certified teacher and author Kevin Mixon presents promising alternatives that I believe will work. Mixon suggests that more two-way communication between parents and teachers is needed because “parents and families usually know students best and can give valuable direction on how their children learn.” Teachers should call parents at home more often, and home visits can be especially helpful to “underserved students.”

You can read his article at: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/12/07/fp_mixon.html?tkn=NYMFQz2SgjpxKhRyQ2Cfz8QgVbGSKYnyexIE&cmp=clp-edweek

A Response to a Recent Study of Social Class and Readiness to Seek Teacher Assistance

By Arthur Rubin 

MSW, Partner at AUTHORS & EDITORS Language Learning

December 21, 2011

I recently read with interest the post “Study: Middle-Class Students Are Better at Asking for Academic Help" by Sarah D. Sparks, an education reporter for the blog Inside Research (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/12/study_middle-class_students_ar.html). The writer renders a service by drawing attention to an important problem, but, I believe, presents a painfully inadequate approach to possible solutions.

Sparks writes of a just released paper “'I Need Help!” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School” (http://asr.sagepub.com/content/76/6/862.abstract), by University of Pennsylvania sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco, published in the American Sociological Review, discussing a study involving a group of elementary school students from middle-class and lower-income homes. The findings suggest that middle-class students are much more likely than their working-class counterparts to ask teachers for help when they are having problems with school work.  Sparks writes: “Across the board, Calarco found teachers did not give clear directions for what students should do if they ran into trouble or how they should seek help.”

Based on my 40+ year career as a social worker, with ample exposure to lower-income youth of all ages, I am skeptical as to whether the problem is that simple. I believe that much of the reluctance of such children to speak up in class can be explained by what they experience at home and in their communities. Working in Child Protective Services, I frequently encountered children with parents so overwhelmed by the stresses of dealing with financial challenges and/or illness that they failed to spend enough time in verbal communication with their children, who in turn often spent a disproportionate amount of time with eyes glued to the TV screen. Children in such situations may not develop the initiative to approach their teachers regarding difficulties with schoolwork, not to mention the nuanced verbal skills required to describe them adequately. In addition, these kids often face such daunting traumas originating outside the classroom –child abuse, drugs, gang violence, sometimes even hunger– that they may be too preoccupied with simple survival to ask the teacher for help with learning.

Obviously, the unwillingness of lower-income students to ask their teachers for help can have serious implications for them. It should be equally apparent, however, that the explanation for such behavior is much more complex, and addressing it much more complicated,  than Calarco and Sparks appear to be aware of.

INTERESTING STUDY ON IMPACT OF DUAL ENROLLMENT

I just read an article about a recent study demonstrating that students in dual-enrollment classes are more likely to attend and complete college, but also that where the courses take place and how rigorous they are play a role in determining by how much. The writer points out that many states now encourage dual-enrollment because they believe it will bolster college entrance and performance. There are, however, obstacles to implementation.

I suggest you read the piece in full: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/college_bound/2011/12/_dual_enrollment_has_large.html?qs=dual+enrollment