Hi everyone, I'd like to introduce myself - my name's Martin, and I'm originally from the UK though I've been living...

Hi everyone, I'd like to introduce myself - my name's Martin, and I'm originally from the UK though I've been living and working in Taiwan for the past eight years or so. I've also worked as an English Teacher in South Korea.

I currently teach adults on an intensive Business English and foreign languages programme for graduates of Taiwanese universities.

I've completed an ITDI course before (with Penny Ur, just over a year ago) and also have a CELTA, an IH Certificate in Advanced Methodology, and certificates in Teaching Business English and Teaching Pronunciation from Oxford TEFL. In addition to those, I've completed units 3 and 4 of the DipTESOL and should complete the full qualification later in 2019.

I'm interested in ESP, teaching methodologies, action research, and teacher development.

I'm taking this course because I want to focus a little more on reflective teaching and learning, and to get the new year off to a positive start that I can continue to build on.

Comments

  1. Anne HendlerJanuary 2, 2019 at 12:08 AM

    Hi Martin. It's nice to be in a course with you. I also have experience teaching in South Korea. I think this course will be a great way to get the year off to a good start.

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  2. Olya SergeevaJanuary 4, 2019 at 5:56 AM

    Hi Martin, nice to meet you! I'm also interested in ESP (mainly because I've been teaching IT professionals in the past five years).

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  3. Martin CookeJanuary 4, 2019 at 6:43 AM

    Anne Hendler - Thanks, I'm sure it will. Olya Sergeeva - interesting that you teach ESP as well - what type of courses do you cover in your role?

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  4. Zhenya PolosatovaJanuary 4, 2019 at 11:10 PM

    Hi Martin pleased to meet you! Like you, I am taking the course to start the year on a positively reflective and thoughtful note.

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  5. John FanselowJanuary 8, 2019 at 12:17 AM

    Martin, as we chat about transcripts I would like you to comment about how business English and regular English are different--same question I put to Victor about Academic English and regular English.

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  6. Olya SergeevaJanuary 8, 2019 at 1:37 AM

    Martin Cooke Hi again, Martin - regarding your question about courses. The company sees the main objective of our language training department to be bringing as many people to B2 as possible, so the majority of our learners take level-improving courses. Those are very similar to standard coursebook-based Business English courses, but with topics and discussion questions adapted to be relevant to the learners' context. But we've also developed some courses to address specific needs, e.g. emailing, English for virtual meetings, understanding authentic speech, and so on.

    What about teaching BE at university - what kind of courses do you offer? I've never taught BE to pre-service learners, and I've always wondered what that would be like.

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  7. Martin CookeJanuary 8, 2019 at 8:15 PM

    John Fanselow - Thanks for your question John. I guess the difference between business English and regular English is in the eye of the beholder. Most of the language a learner has already mastered in ‘regular’ classes should suffice in business situations, although there will be cases where special expressions and terms will have to be taught.
    The role of business English, to me, seems more about preparing learners for business situations that they may realistically encounter, so we have to consider aspects such as culture and customs, when to be formal and use formal language, how to address people, and so on, and prepare our learners for those things. In this way, the teacher is not just teaching English as a foreign language, they’re also teaching (and teaching about) culture, behaviour, and business practice.

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  8. Martin CookeJanuary 8, 2019 at 8:21 PM

    Olya Sergeeva - thanks for your questions. Where I work, we have a mix of general English and business / ESP courses. For example, this term I am teaching a Listening and Speaking course, a course named 'Job Search' (where learners do things such as preparing a CV, rehearsing for job interviews, and conducting research into roles they'd like to do), and a Cultural Awareness course. In the past, our organisation tended to attract a lot of applicants in their late twenties or thirties, who already had some work experience but wanted to work abroad or go into management. Nowadays, however, most learners come to us straight from university and in many cases have little or no prior work experience,, and so we've had to adapt to that.

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  9. John FanselowJanuary 11, 2019 at 4:25 AM

    Martin, I thought I had commented before but cannot find my reply. I had asked about how business English and regular English are similar or different. I might also have mentioned that TOEIC claims it tests business English but when I show a passage to people and ask them what features show it is business English few say anything.

    When I asked business people in NZ what they wanted business people to be able to do to be successful in NZ, no matter what the business they mentioned that being able to discuss sports, play golf and make small talk on the golf course, participate in service clubs such as Rotary and Lions and church groups, be able to have conversations about their background, what was important in their countries for a business person to be successful, when they were invited to dinners or parties, respond to e-mails and initiate e-mails that are short and focus on one point--to name just a few points that people shared with me.

    None of these points are dealt with on TOEIC.

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  10. Martin CookeJanuary 13, 2019 at 8:51 PM

    John Fanselow - thanks. I have never liked TOEIC nor understood why there's so much focus on it in Taiwan and other Asian countries. A lot of employers here will ask those who require English for their job to provide evidence of a TOEIC result, but they're only interested in the scores for the Listening and Reading section, not the Writing and Speaking - so most TOEIC takers here do not take the productive section of the test. The only people who really benefit from this are ETS (the makers of the TOEIC)

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