Daniel J. Stone, Center Director of Intensive English Programs

No place like home- Host families provide international students a taste of America

2012-01-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2012/01/07/no-place-like-home.html

http://www.homestayhostscolumbus.blogspot.com

Several weeks into her stay with the Rehl family of Whitehall, Ma Li, a 17-year-old Chinese student, gave her hosts a gift.

“They were packaged snacks; they looked like a bag of nuts,” Autumn Rehl said.
Actually, they were dried duck brains.

“It was awkward,” Rehl said of the 2010 incident. “I did not want to eat this in front of her, because I didn’t want to have to spit it out. And I realized then that this is probably similar to what she had gone through at every meal with us.”

Such a cultural “aha” moment is common for Columbus-area families who host international students enrolled in ELS, an intensive English-language program situated on the Ohio Dominican University campus on the Northeast Side.

Founded in 1961, ELS is a national program with 63 centers in 33 states and the District of Columbia, Canada and Australia. The Columbus center, which opened in August 2010, is a for-profit company paid for primarily by tuition ($1,730 for a four-week session).

Participants are high-school graduates. Most are seeking admission to an American university but require improvement in their English proficiency. About 500 students have attended the Columbus center since its founding.

Although ELS students can find their own housing, many choose to participate in the school’s home-stay program, in which they live with a central Ohio family. Interest has been so great that the program is struggling to find enough families — at present, a pool of 18 — who are willing to serve as hosts, said Daniel Stone, director of the Columbus center.

“The benefit is that the students get firsthand experience with American culture,” Stone said. “But it also accelerates the learning process. This way, they’re not just speaking English from 8:30 to 4 at the center, but they go home and they’re still in an English-speaking environment.”

That’s precisely why Filipe Albuquerque, 22, of Recife, Brazil, is participating in a home stay. Albuquerque, who has a degree in business administration, wants to learn English so he can get a better job in his country’s export industry.

He is staying with Barb Lubberger, 58, of the Clintonville neighborhood and her son, Tom Tekieli, 23.
“I’m talking with Barbara all the time — when I wake up (and) at dinner,” said Albuquerque, who arrived in July and will return home on Jan. 17. “So I think it’s a very good idea to stay in a home stay.”

Although students typically enroll in ELS for several months, home stays don’t necessarily last that long. Some families sign up for a four-week commitment, and students then either move to other home-stay homes or find their own housing.

Host families are required to provide students with a private room and suitable study space as well as transportation to and from school. Having a communal evening meal is strongly encouraged so the students can practice their English.

Many hosts go beyond the basics and expose their visitors to as much American culture as they can.
Susann Moeller of Clintonville took 22-year-old Japanese student Shunturou Kodama to the movies, to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house (“first time I ate turkey,” Kodama said) and to a concert at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.

A native of Germany, Moeller came to the United States in the late 1970s. She said she has hosted international students for years.

“I’ve always been a super-curious cat,” Moeller said. “I like the cross-pollination of cultures, and having international guests makes my life more interesting.”

The Hammock family of Whitehall are also veteran hosts of both high-school exchange students and now ELS. Darryl Hammock said he and wife, Wendy, value what their children — Jontey, 17, and 14-year-old twins Juan and Ana — have gained.

“It’s pretty rewarding for our kids to experience different cultures,” he said.

The Hammocks have hosted students from five countries — South Korea, Norway, Hong Kong, Germany and, now, Mohammed Alredshoodi, 20, from Saudi Arabia.

Several visiting students have prepared meals for the family.

“I like their food,” Ana Hammock said, singling out kabsa — a traditional Saudi dish of meat, rice and spices — as one of her favorites .

ELS provides families a stipend of a few hundred dollars to cover expenses, but Rehl — who serves as the company’s home-stay coordinator — said she screens prospective families.

“We want people who are in it for the cultural experience, not someone looking for a roommate or people renting out a room,” Rehl said.

Both the families and students must adjust to differences.

Rehl said her most recent student, Ahmed Alqahtani, 24, at first was hesitant to get in the car with her. In Saudi Arabia, women aren’t allowed to drive.

“He asked me, ‘Where’s Jake (her husband)?’ ’’ Rehl said.

Donna Villareal, 49, of the Northeast Side wondered why Saudi student Jassar Alotaibi, 19, wouldn’t drink a cup of tea she made. Finally, she realized that she had heated it in the microwave, and Alotaibi didn’t consider the water properly purified unless it had been boiled.

About 70 percent of current ELS students are Saudis — mainly because the Saudi Arabian government is encouraging its students to learn English and will subsidize their overseas stays.

Students such as Albuquerque and Alredshoodi have had to adjust to Ohio’s weather and American food.

Students are responsible for their own lunches, and Albuquerque hasn’t found a suitable replacement for his native lunch staple of rice, beans and beef. He’s not a fan of sandwiches.

“I lose 9 kilos (about 20 pounds). That’s very unusual,” he said. “When people come to America, (they) usually . . . gain kilos, but I lose.

“Every day I eat bread. I must eat bread in the hamburger and bread with chicken. It’s not so good; it’s not so healthy.”

kgordon@dispatch.com

Families interested in hosting an ELS student should call the center at 614-251-7360 or visit www.els.edu/en.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-12

Time Management Notes

2012-01-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

Move a mountain- Identify your mountain by identifying what needs to be done. Prioritize and delegate. When delegating, set a deadline and update your log so that when subordinates report back for clarification or when task is completed you will know what has been done.

Move a minute- Focus on the top 2-3 priorities on your list and remove all clutter, chaos and distractions from your life until those priorities are completed. This means telling people that want to meet with you that you will meet with them later. "Do you have a minute usually means the next 10 minutes are shot. A well organized desk and office ensure that when the time comes to attack the top 2-3 priorities, it will get done. There is no control for the unknown variable which set things haywire. Furthermore, when you set an appointment, it makes the person feel important and gives the issue the time that it deserves.

Move on- Leave work on time and at the office even though you feel that you can’t since getting caught up and ahead of the curve is rarely possible in today’s business world. If necessary, remind staff of their job descriptions and hold them accountable. If they can't complete their tasks, find out their mountain, how to help them move a minute. When they move on and you don't, you have inherited their problem. Let staff find a solution to their problem first. Don't wear somebody else's monkey on your back.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-12

Remembering California Days: 1999-2004

2011-12-15T03:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.daviscoachingsolutions.com/blog/keeping-up-with

You know them. They’re the family driving the shiny new cars, wearing the fancy new clothes, going on lavish vacations and sending their 2.3 children to private school. They have no financial worries, no need to budget, no money fights, and no concerns about retirement.
Hey everybody…It’s the Joneses! Wait a minute! This is a California story. OK! It's the Torres! Everything in their world is easy. They have it all! Or do they?

“It’s not fair…” you may say. “Some people just seem to have it so easy. How do they live so well while I struggle just to pay the bills?”

It’s a good question. How can these young couples in their 20’s and 30’s buy the big house, drive new cars and go out to nice dinners every night? When my wife and I were newlyweds, we lived in a 600 sq. ft. apartment, drove 15 year old cars and regularly had to use the rabbit ears since cable TV was to costly.

Journalist and Author Shira Boss observes, “How we fit in and how we measure up are such an integral part of our financial well-being. We construct a fantasy world around those who have more money, and glorify their lives.”

Everyone in our culture seems obsessed with Keeping Up With The Torres. But here’s the big secret….the Torres….are broke! In 2011, they live in an apartment, have filed for bankruptcy because that $750,000 home a stone's throw from Compton back in '03 didn't work out.

When you begin to ask the “Torres” in your world, it turns out that they don’t own anything. Their big fancy house has a big balloon mortgage. Their cars, boats and stereo systems are all financed. And their big income is completely spent on payments before their paycheck even hits the mail. They have walked right into the trap of looking good but living broke! With credit cards, home equity loans, and “easy monthly payments,” it’s easy to look like you have more than you really do. But it’s a house of cards, and it won’t stand.

Just ask the 2 million people that filed bankruptcy in 2010.

Vacations aren’t nearly as relaxing when you are still paying for them three years later. And the shiny new car isn’t as fun to drive when you are scrambling to come up with the $500 payment. The big house is no longer a blessing when the foreclosure notices start to come. This shiny, happy existence looks great from the outside. However, inside you will often find heartache, stress, money fights and fear that the bills may not get paid. This is no way to live….and all of a sudden, keeping up with the Joneses isn’t quite so appealing.

In his book “The Millionaire Next Door,” Thomas Stanley points out that the majority of actual wealthy people got that way by living on less than they make, staying out of debt, and saving their money. But no one looks at the person driving a used car and living in a modest home and thinks, “Wow, they must really be saving and building toward a great future…I bet they’ll be able to pay for their kids’ college…they will sure be able to retire comfortably.” Everybody envies the look of wealth. But very few are willing to do the things that wealthy people do, in order to become wealthy people themselves.

How can the Torres afford to live that way? The truth is…they can’t.

So the moral of the story is…

Stop comparing yourself to the Joneses…or anyone else for that matter. You don’t need to impress them or anyone else. It’s not worth it!
True contentment comes from within. It’s easy to think that if I just had enough money, or more stuff or this new thing, then I’d be happy. But true contentment and joy come from things that money can’t buy. What are your fondest memories? What are the moments in life that have warmed your heart and made you smile the most? Would you trade any of those for a bigger bank account, larger house or newer car?

Keeping a stiff upper lip

2011-12-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Keeping your poise intact and remaining resolute and unemotional in the face of adversity is essential to being a leader of an organization when the train runs off the tracks.

The manager who can do the following and do it while giving off the impression that they are outgoing and personable have it figured out.

a) multitask
b) not let work consume their personal life.
c) do the duties of others when there is turnover.
d) tow the company line.
e) enforce the industrial policies.
f) get the others at the company to buy into it's selling.
g) keep up with the company's vision for the branch that you oversee.
h) maintain operations 12 months a year when where you are located only functions 8 of those 12 months.

Stay hungry, stay humble. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that's why its called the present. All we can do is keep moving forward.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money

2011-12-09T02:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/9-things-that-motivate-employees-more-than-money.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give. Plus, praise from the CEO goes a lot farther than you might think. Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you’re comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.

2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn’t seem right! Try it. Removing the project lead or supervisor and empowering your staff to work together as a team rather then everyone reporting to one individual can do wonders. Think about it. What’s worse than letting your supervisor down? Letting your team down! Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster. People will come in early, stay late, and devote more of their energy to solving problems.

3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”

4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn from their mistakes, and fix them. Ask, “Was that the best way to approach the problem? Why not? Have any ideas on what you could have done differently?” Then you’re having a conversation and talking through solutions, not pointing a finger.

5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.

6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. Don’t make an announcement that you’re establishing a new policy. Literally walk up to one of your employees, and invite them to lunch with you. It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.

7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques.

8. Throw company parties. Doing things as a group can go a long way. Have a company picnic. Organize birthday parties. Hold a happy hour. Don’t just wait until the holidays to do a company activity; organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you’re all in it together.

9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you’re thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Lack of College Graduates Equals Lack of Better Wages

2011-11-26T22:12:00.000-08:00

Low levels of higher education hurting economic progress, experts say

By Ben Szobody

Staff Writer, The Greenville News

Greenville's campaign to parlay high-skill and high-tech businesses into better wages across the Upstate is handicapped by what new census figures show is a startling lack of college graduates.

In the six-county Upstate region that heavily trades jobs and employees, fewer than one in four people had a bachelor's degree in 2008 — the Achilles heel of any effort to lure new employers, raise per capita income and rebound from a historic recession, experts say.

Behind the figures is an Upstate region long reliant on low-skill manufacturing work and often prone to viewing higher education with suspicion.

The bachelor's degree — so often a passport to higher-income jobs — is significantly less common among Greenville-area residents than it is in neighboring metro areas, peer communities in the Southeast and economic trendsetters such as Austin and Raleigh, according to an analysis by The Greenville News of figures from the 2008 American Community Survey.

The quicker way to a more educated work force — importing college graduates — poses other challenges, such as how to keep them here and how to navigate cultural resentment when newcomers flooding the region make an average of $10,000 a year more than native-born residents, according to economists and census figures.

The longer-term problem is one of attitudes and funding, changing the way native-born residents feel about school while making it more affordable, say business and political leaders.

“Aspiration levels have to rise,” said Bruce Yandle, dean emeritus of Clemson University's College of Business and Behavioral Science.

Tom Smythe, a Furman University economics professor, said that when it comes to how native residents view higher-education knowledge, “I don't think we've made that turn yet.”

Rex Carter, a Greenville attorney and the state's former speaker of the state House of Representatives, said the cost of college remains a major obstacle and that instead of increasing incentives, South Carolina leaders are letting tuition get “way out of sight.”

“The Legislature, to some extent, can control the cost,” Carter said, adding, “We know this. We're pricing the average student out of the market.”

State Sen. Danny Verdin, R-Laurens, said there's little doubt that the larger Greenville area trails most of the Southeast when it comes to the availability of college graduates, which he said is probably the “most significant factor” that prospective employers consider.

Still, he said the effort to educate more workers has to happen in coordination with everything else an employer wants, and that a move by the Legislature to cap tuition would be “overreaching.”

‘Startling' connection

Smythe said his own calculations show that if South Carolina could increase the percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees to match the national average, it would generate an additional $1 billion in tax revenue.

Yandle said the relationship between education achieved and wages earned is so strong it's “almost startling,” and that the Upstate compares poorly even to other metropolitan areas in South Carolina because of the large footprint left behind by a low-skill manufacturing economy.

“You can't get to higher income, and the welfare that goes with it, without having an educated population,” he said.

Many of the regional jobs lost in the recession won't come back, while the jobs that are up for grabs depend ever more heavily on research and technology, said Joe Erwin, a Greenville advertising executive and former chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Those jobs will go to educated people.
At Erwin's firm, Erwin-Penland Advertising, that doesn't mean Ivy League graduates or people with 4.0 grade point averages, but rather graduates who have waded through the intense competition of college, who are curious, who push themselves against their peers and have a finger on the pulse of society.

The Upstate can't always attract outsiders for such jobs, Yandle said, because educated workers shy away from high taxes and crime rates.

Working in Greenville's favor, however, is a concentration of business services — such as accountants and software developers — that attracts more of their kind and the overall “coolness” factor of the city itself that sociologists are now measuring in terms of the arts, lively downtowns and overall quality of life, Yandle said.

In cool-heavy Austin, nearly 40 percent of the over-25 population in the four major counties surrounding the city have a bachelor's degree, with one county boasting a 43 percent share, according to the new census figures.

About 44 percent of the people living in major Raleigh-area counties have bachelor's degrees, including 55 percent in one county.

In Greenville, the number is 24 percent, or fewer than one in four people in the six-county Upstate area from which a local employer would look to draw workers. In Greenville County itself, 30 percent of residents have a degree, the figures show.

The region also lags the larger Charlotte and Atlanta areas, where the percentages of people with bachelor's degrees in the major surrounding counties are 30 percent and 36 percent respectively.

Columbia and Charleston, which have historically relied less on the manufacturing economy, have 28 percent and 29 percent of residents with bachelor's degrees in the major counties from which they draw workers.

In the five major counties around Nashville, 32 percent have bachelor's degrees, while the Knoxville-area percentage is 28 percent, census figures show.

The American Community Survey's 2008 annual report includes figures for only major counties with populations of more than 65,000.

Importing managers

Carter said the breadth of the education gap is a “tremendous surprise” to him, and that although South Carolina has made major strides when it comes to technical education, it has somehow failed to entice students to go further.

“We should have all of our resources directed towards getting that child into college and keeping him in college if we expect a complete, full economic recovery,” Carter said.

Smythe said education is a “counter-cyclical” investment, meaning that when the economy is bad, people have time on their hands for more school, and the public investment should go up.

Any area not currently investing heavily in schools — South Carolina is one of them — is poorly positioned to recover from the recession, Smythe said.

Asked about the Legislature's role in rising tuition, Verdin said he supports encouraging institutions to watch costs closely, though he couldn't support any of the proposals he's seen to limit tuition growth because he said it amounts to too much legislative manipulation.

Smythe said the region is essentially importing its educated managers now, and that one key will be convincing them to stay and put down roots since educated people tend to produce more educated people.

“It's a self-perpetuating engine,” he said. “And somehow we've got to convince people that it's the right thing.”

Social resentment of newcomers is nothing new, Yandle said, noting that for long periods of time every family that arrived in South Carolina raised per capita income.

He said the state has done well to improve the geographic and financial access to a range of technical schools, community colleges and universities, but that many natives still lack the role models and incentives to chase a college degree and stop at nothing less.

Erwin said the chief obstacle is political will, and that the years spent debating school vouchers and other worthwhile issues has nonetheless come at the expense of a broad, cohesive effort to give basic problems such as SAT scores and graduation rates a shove in the right direction.

Erwin said executives at some of the biggest companies in the region have made clear to him that they're ready to get behind “anything” that will improve those key benchmarks, ensuring that there will be a talent pool of people who can vie for competitive jobs that, in a global economy, could end up almost anywhere else.

Data Editor Thomas Woodham contributed to this report.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200909270200/NEWS/909270311

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

When does your week start?

2011-11-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 23, 2006

I remember when I was in the Navy, I had a chance to do a week internship at the Sheraton Hotel near the San Diego airport. Considering how our ship was doing work-ups for the upcoming deployment to the Persian Gulf region, it was an excellent opportunity to get out of some repetitive training on the ship. At the time, we would leave San Diego on Monday, cut figure 8's out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, do drills such as simulated "General Quarters". The ship's conditions had to change from the normal underway conditions to "battleship ready" in some ridiculous time of 5 minutes. Basically, you had to stop whatever it was you were doing and run to your battle station in the appropriate attire and close all of the hatches in order to meet the time. Imagine if you are in the head in the seated position. If the conditions were not met, we would have to go through the same thing again. Then on Friday, we would return to port and spend either Saturday or Sunday doing 24-hour duty and then most of the other day doing laundry and other errons that couldn't be done since we were fooling around out in the middle of the ocean. Then on the following Monday, we did the same routine again.

So, I got to go work at the hotel and got out of a week of "Bravo Sierra" training on the ship. While I'm working at the hotel, I see how these chefs, hotel managers and others go about their daily routine at this busy hotel. One guy shows me the schedule and has Wednesday in the place of where the Sunday goes and Friday in the place of where Wednesday goes. He explained that in the hospitality business that their weekends are when they are not busy which is Tuesday thru Thursday.

This past Tuesday, I was chit-chatting in Japanese with one of the teachers at the local university where I'm studying Japanese and she asked when I last went to Tokyo. I replied in Japanese, "This (week) Sunday." She had a puzzled look on her face and then said, "You mean Last (week) Sunday, right?" There we realized that in Japan, they consider that their week begins on Monday but in the US, we consider our first day of the week as Sunday. I then simplfied things by saying, "Ototoi deshita". (It was the day before yesterday.)

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

The Agree or Disagree Lesson

2011-11-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

For the past two years, I`ve been asked to help at the various junior high schools with the "Agree or Disagree" lesson. I think this time around, I got it right. Out of the six questions that were asked, two were pretty much split down the middle. The Japanese are too big on the consensus therefore one will decide as the other does which makes for a lousy lesson. I decided to get rid of some of the supplies that I have around the house and picked out 30 sheets of 2 different colored paper and had them hold them up for their decision. Then I decided to come up with some "soft" questions basing it when comparing Japan to other countries.

Here is how it went with JHS 3rd year students (9th graders):

1- In the US, you can not smoke inside most restaurants. I think it should be the same in Japan.

Agree- 28
Disagree- 1

2- In the US, you can not ride your bicycle on a busy sidewalk. In Japan, I think you should get off your bicycle and walk your bike until it isn`t busy.

Agree- 15
Disagree- 13

3- On sunny days when the weather is nice and pretty, I think we should hold the English class outside.

Agree- 4
Disagree- 25

4- For classes such as Science, Math or Computer Lab, I think that those classes should be taught in English.

Agree- 0
Disagree- 29

5- In Canada, there are two official languages which are English and French. For example, in Vancouver, a box of cereal will have English on one side and French on the other side. I think that in Japan, there should be two official languages which would be Japanese and English.

Agree- 0
Disagree- 29

6- In Korea, English is a compulsory course taught to students beginning in the ES 4th year. I think it should beginning sooner that JHS 1st year in Japan and the Japanese should follow the model that the Koreans are following.

Agree- 16
Disagree- 12

A good way to take up 10-15 minutes if given the chance.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

How to be debt-free

2011-11-26T06:42:00.000-08:00

https://content.truecredit.com/LearningCenter/improvingCredit/howToBeDebtFree.page

Lowering the amount of debt you carry may reduce the loan rates you could receive and save you a lot in interest payments. It just takes a few easy steps and a little dedication to take charge of your debt.

1. Get the facts - Collect all your account, loan and credit information and go over the records with a fine tooth comb. Write down the monthly payment, debt amount, interest rate and term of each debt on a sheet of paper. Next, write down your total monthly income and list your estimated monthly expenses. Order your TransUnion, Equifax and Experian credit reports and credit scores online to get a baseline for tracking your improvements.

2. Do the math - Calculate how much you usually spend paying each debt and how much interest that debt collects per month. Define which debts need to be paid off first. Credit card debt and small loans should be paid before low-rate student loans and home loans. A "yes" answer to any of the questions below is a red flag for accounts that need immediate attention:

Do you have any debts with high interest rates?
Are there accounts above 35% of their credit limit?
Do you have any debts that are close to being paid off?
Do you have any debts with high annual fees?

3. Negotiate and consolidate - Start working on those high-interest credit card debts first. Call your creditors and negotiate lower interest rates or move your balances to less expensive credit cards. Accounts that are above 35% of the available line of credit can harm your credit score; pay off or move some of the balance to a different card. If you have a credit card debt that is too large to handle, consider taking out a personal loan from your bank for the amount. Your bank can
probably give you a much lower rate and a more lenient payment schedule.

4. Refinance - After taking control of your credit card and small debts, take a look at your major loans. Would it make sense to refinance your mortgage? Could you consolidate some of your other debts into the loan? What about refinancing your auto loan?

5. Stick to the plan - Now that you have lowered your rates and refinanced your loans, create a payment schedule and a monthly budget. See exactly how much you can afford to pay each
month by subtracting your expenses from your monthly income. Divide the remaining amount between the accounts, paying the most to the debts with the shortest terms and highest interest rates. Create a payment calendar with the due dates and the payment amounts you just calculated for each bill. Sign up for automatic bill payment through your bank or register for online payments to keep you on schedule. To continue to keep your credit on track, register for credit monitoring online and you'll receive quarterly credit reports, credit alert emails and trending charts that outline how much your credit improves over time. Set goals for yourself and don't forget to celebrate when you reach debt-removal milestones.

Are you greedy?

2011-11-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

More and more Americans owe more than they earn and add insult to injury by only paying the minimum to their borrowers which doesn't even cover the interest. Once upon a time, Americans were go getters and would analyze the risk to ensure that they could capitalize on their gain. When President Obama calls Americans lazy, those that think that they are entitled, aka "Occupy Wall Street" come to mind.

America has always had an addiction to cheap labor. Over the course of history, Americans have used Indians, slaves, newly arrived immigrants that did not know the language or culture to produce American made products. Now, technology allows for American products to be produced overseas since it is more cost effective. This is the norm while the average American works in a job that pays them below the market value or are under employed or have given up on finding work. Is the market value that Americans expect too high thus the reason that the top 1% are sending jobs overseas? Maybe Americans should become humble and meek and accept the opportunity not rely on a handout. Where is the imagination, creativity and innovation that made America the great country that was the benchmark that others measured themselves against?

In closing, debt is proof of greed. If is opposite of giving. Debt is emptying your future to fill up your present. Giving is emptying your present to fill up your future. For this Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for this opportunity to share this with you.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Mrs. Johnson website

2011-11-12T08:12:00.001-08:00

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsjohnsonseslclass/
http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Ohio TESOL- 2011

2011-11-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

http://clear.msu.edu/teaching/online/ria/audioDropbox2/index.php

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Cultural Issues For ESL Students

2011-09-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

Although the personality of two individuals in one country can vary much more than the average personality in two different countries, having some knowledge of how cultures vary from each other can at least give teachers a starting point in knowing how to approach a student or class until teachers get to know the individual preferences of the class. Here is a by no means exhaustive list of some cultural differences that can come up in class.

1. Body language and gestures

The list of gestures by the teacher or students that could be misinterpreted or even found offensive is huge- in fact the number of totally universal human gestures is very few. You can fairly easily research the typical body language and gestures of the country your students are from or are interested in, but particular things to look out for in the classroom include pointing at people, gesturing “okay”, and holding up various fingers to illustrate numbers etc. The main point to note with any of these is that people do not stop finding a gesture offensive just because they understand that it means something else in other countries.

2. Dress

This could be a matter of avoiding even brief and accidental showing of parts of the body like shoulders and belly, or could be more a case of certain clothes such as bright colours or overly sturdy shoes being taken as tacky and/ or unprofessional. Other things to bear in mind include avoiding holey socks if you might have to take your shoes off. There might also be issues with students wanting to keep on head wear that blocks eye contact and so makes communication difficult. Students might also use dress as a clue to try and work out the financial position of foreign teachers, with negative reactions to both seeming too poor and too rich being possible.

3. The teacher’s role

Different cultures can show different attitudes to the teacher admitting they couldn’t be wrong, letting students make classroom decisions, pairwork correction, and pairwork more generally. For native speakers, there might also be issues of differing reactions to your knowledge and use of the students’ L1 or lack of.

4. Asking questions/ saying you don’t understand

To give an example, in a Japanese company it is normal for a subordinate to say “Yes, I understand” to any instructions from the boss, and then find out from elsewhere whatever they didn’t understand. Some people can show the same reaction to grammar explanations and game instructions in the classroom.

5. Making mistakes and correction

As with most of these, the embarrassment at making mistakes and being corrected varies more from person to person than culture to culture, but general national characteristics can also be discerned. There might also be issues with how much correction they expect, if that correction can come from other students, and if it can be in front of other people.

6. Status

Students might feel they cannot interrupt or correct people who are older, in a high status job, are male etc, or may be shocked when the teacher or another student does not pay attention to such distinctions.

7. Gender roles

This is mainly just one subset of “Status” above- if students think that women (especially younger or other “lower status” women) are lower in the ranking, that will exagerate any negative reactions they have to being interrupted, corrected, told to do things in the classroom that are unfamiliar etc.

8. Food and drink

In Islamic countries you might have to take account of low blood sugar levels and varying break times during Ramadan. In other places there might be a taboo against the teacher taking in certain drinks or drinking straight from the plastic bottle, or indeed drinking anything if that is seen as rudeness towards students who do not have drinks. There might also be strong reactions in various places against smelling of or admitting to liking certain foods.

9. Taboo topics

A very much less than exhaustive list of taboo topics in various places included female family members, dogs, politics, social classes, certain periods of history, the Royal Family, the police, the underclass, being mixed race, and homosexuality.

10. Eye contact

The frequency and length of eye contact changes a lot from country to country, as does the times when eye contact is and isn’t considered suitable. One frequently misunderstood example is that East Asian students often close their eyes when concentrating.

11. Small talk

There can be cultural differences in the amount and timing of small talk that is expected in the classroom. For example, Japanese meetings tend to start and finish with quite a lot of small talk but have a clear transisition, whereas British managers (and me in my lessons) will often try to move cleverly and smoothly between the small talk and the start of the first lesson topic. Other cultures might expect small talk to be shorter or even absent until the end of the lesson.

12. Silence

In some countries, most famously Japan and Finland, silence between conversation turns and when thinking is quite normal. The danger is that the teacher or another student might jump in to fill the silence and so prevent them from speaking, or that they will make others feel uncomfortable with their silence. The best short term solution is to teach phrases to fill thinking time like “Well, let me see”, with the next stage being teaching sentence stems to at least get them started quickly, e.g. “I think that…”

13. Writing styles

Most of the things that native English speakers are taught in school are good writing style, such as a clear progression of ideas and one topic per paragraph, exist less or in different forms in other cultures. This can make the writing of even higher level students difficult to follow, and can also mean they are missing out on vital clues to what information is where when reading an English text. Guided planning and reading tasks that identify topic sentences to solve these problems (eventually) are fairly common in Academic English and IELTS textbooks.

14. Interrupting

In some cultures several people almost talking over each other is normal, whereas others will wait until there is complete silence before making their contribution. This can be a problem when you have students from different cultures working together or in EFL tests where the ability to split the speaking 50/ 50 between partners is assessed. Methods to tackle it include giving the one person who is speaking something to hold, making a third student judge each pair on the percentage each person talks, and teaching forms like tag questions that aid turn taking.

15. Directness

Students who prefer to get straight to the point in L1 often find it easier to communicate in English, but there is a chance of them or other students who don’t have the language level to be polite seeming too direct and offending people. They also might miss polite requests to stop doing things etc, for the same cultural, personality and language reasons. This can also be an issue when writing student progress reports, when the same constructive criticism to two different students could offend one and seem like a compliment to the other. Teaching functional language and asking them to judge the politeness of different forms are two good approaches, as is giving realistic reactions when students are rude or overly indirect in class.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Teaching Methods

2011-09-04T04:07:00.001-07:00

• Circle errors and allowing the students to determine how to correct them
• Directing the students to read and write silently to herself to correct the errors
• Instructing the students to read the writing to the class for peer editing
• Reading the writing to the student and allowing her to listen for errors
• Achievement assessment- may include evaluation of mastery of content, cognitive and affective gains (e.g., general knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, behaviors
• Proficiency assessment- the process of documenting the ability of an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language.
• Diagnostic assessment- provides instructors with information about student's prior knowledge and misconceptions before beginning a learning activity.
• Placement assessment- the process of documenting the ability of a language learner before starting a language program.
• The Linguistic approach- Linguists are interested in explaining what kinds of rules people unconsciously follow, regardless of the social status of their speech.
• Language Experience approach- First, the learner tells a story or recounts a personal experience, and the teacher or another helper writes down everything he or she has said, word for word, including every sound and without trying to fix anything. Second, this original transcript becomes the text for the teacher to go over together with the learner, focusing on grammar and word choice, leaving the paper marked up as needed. Third, the learner writes the text again, taking care to incorporate all the changes and corrections. Fourth, the learner reads the revised text out loud to the teacher, experiencing what it is like to express him or herself with enhanced clarity.
• Basal-reader approach- are textbooks used to teach reading and associated skills to schoolchildren. Commonly called "reading books" or "readers" they are usually published as anthologies that combine previously published short stories, excerpts of longer narratives, and original works. A standard basal series comes with individual identical books for students, a Teacher's Edition of the book, and a collection of workbooks, assessments, and activities.
• Sight-word approach- Sight words and the whole-word approach to reading are a significant teaching technique considering 65% of the population identify themselves as visual learners.
• Bottom-up reading strategies- analyzing relationships between words in a sentence and deciphering the meanings of individual words in a sentence.
• Audiolingualism- Utilize drills and pattern practice frequently; play a tape of two students talking about buying clothes, then distribute a page with the taped dialogue written out, then ask the students to repeat the dialogue several times as the teacher models it. Lastly, for homework, the students memorize the dialogue for class the next day.
• Direct Method- Second language learning should model first language learning in that it should be learned 'directly'; grammar is taught inductively with no explanations, the learner's first language is not used in the class, and new vocabulary is introduced by demonstration.
• Suggestopedia- Rather conventional, memorization of whole meaningful text is recommended; learning occurs through suggestion when learners are deeply relaxed with baroque music is used; learners are required to master prodigious lists of vocabulary pairs with the goal of understanding not memorization; a passive state and allow the materials to work on them.
• Community language learning- Learners in a classroom are considered not a class but a group. The social dynamics of such a group were of primary importance. Group members need to interact in an interpersonal relationship in which students and teacher join together to facilitate learning in a context of valuing each individual in the group. In this case, members lower their defenses that prevent open interpersonal communication. Anxiety is replaced with support of the community. Teachers are not received as a threat but to impose limits and boundaries as a true counselor and center the clients/group members on their needs. Defensive learning was made unnecessary by the empathetic relationship between the teacher and the students. CLL’s principles of discovery learning, student-centered participation, and development of student autonomy (independence) all remain viable in their applications to language classrooms.
• Project-based learning and portfolio assessment
• Self-directed study in independent learning centers
• Visually rich classrooms and a focus on familiar experiences are good for ESOL students with limited formal schooling.
• Self-monitoring strategies- A metacognative learning strategy (think about what one is learning) that could be modeled for ESOL students.
• Performance-based assessments- “Students will be able to>>>”
Used for formative or summative evaluations, include demonstrations/artistic interpretations, and used in place of multiple-choice assessments.
• Behavioral objectives
• Informal assessments
• Communicative Language Teaching- integrative test in which students are asked to write a letter to a friend; encourages interaction with others in the target language
• The Writing Process: 1- Brainstorm, 2- First Draft, 3- Peer Review, 4- Revise, 5- Proofread, 6- Submit Final Draft
• Beginner language learners that make mistakes in conversation should only be corrected when it interferes with communicating meaning.
• Discussing a student’s prior experiences related to the topic at the beginning of a unit is a good way to identify semantic (meaning of words) and syntactic gaps (order of words).

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Psycholinguistics

2011-09-04T04:03:00.001-07:00

• Acculturation- The process of acquiring a “second culture,” usually as an effect of sustained and imbalanced contact between two societies. Members of the “weaker” society are compelled to adopt aspects of the dominant society.
• Code-switching- The practice of using more than one language to express a thought or an idea.
• Circumlocution- a style that involves indirect ways of expressing things
• Ethnocentrism- belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group, The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture
• Phonetic Spelling/ Invented Spelling- - spelling a word as it sounds (love = luv). Primary students often use phonetic spelling (sometimes called “temporary,” “invented,” or “creative” spelling) as they begin to construct an understanding of written language. (spelling the word “elephant” as “elafunt”)
• Semi phonetic Spelling- In this phase children show a developing understanding of sound-symbol relationships.
• Precommunicative Spelling- is used to describe writing that only conveys meaning for the child who wrote it.
• Redundancy reduction- when two languages come into contact within the same psycholinguistic environment, the speaker is forced to solve the duplication of rules and functions in two languages and simplify the cognitive overload”
• Overgeneralization- A language practice used by children as they are learning a language in which they apply a perceived rule or use of a word incorrectly. For example, a child may say "mans" instead of "men" to show the plural form of the word "man".
• Phonemic awareness- The ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words
• L1 transfer- Many learners expect that because they collocate something a particular way in L1, it will translate directly (and correctly) into English.
• Fossilization
• Pidginization- A "pidgin" language is not the native language of any speech community, but is instead learned as a second language.[1][2] A "pidgin" language may be built from words, sounds, or body language from multiple other languages / cultures. "Pidgin" languages usually have low prestige with respect to other languages.[3]
• Reduced speech- in casual speech, words are shortened. (would and other modals)
• Information gap- A situation where all the information isn't known by all the students. They have to use language they have been taught to complete the information gap by asking questions and giving information.
• New students are often reluctant to participate and require more time to participate orally and interacting with other students.
• Semiotics- the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols
• Semantics- is the study of meaning, usually in language.
• Morphology- the meanings or prefixes and suffixes, combinations of words to make new words and the inflection of nouns and verbs.
• the form and structure of words in a language, esp. the consistent patterns of inflection, combination, derivation and change, etc., that may be observed and classified.
• Inflection- the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case.
• Expose the class to others in the school who speak with an non-American English accent and hold a class about the value of diversity.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Linguistics

2011-09-04T03:59:00.000-07:00

Linguistics: The study of natural language. This study has two divisions which are language structures and language meanings.
1. Language Structures consist of morphology, syntax and phonology/phonetics.
• Morphology is the study of the structure of words and their modifications. (prefix, root and suffix)
• Syntax is the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences, aka word order.
• Phonology/phonetics is the study of sounds and pronunciation as well as the study of sound symbols.
2. Language Meanings consist of pragmatics, semantics and discourse analysis.
• Pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning.
• Semantics is the meaning of words.
• Discourse Analysis is the analysis of language in spoken, written and signed texts.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Interlanguage

2011-09-04T03:55:00.000-07:00

What is interlanguage? This is a developmental system based on first language, second-language input, language universals and communication strategies. It is thought to be a system that language users use to make sense of a new language. This system is an”inter” language because it has unique qualities based on such things as the speaker’s native language, language universals, and communication strategies. This can also be explained by the process of mastering a target language (TL), second language learners (L2) develop a linguistic system that is self-contained and different from both the learner’s first language (L1) and the TL.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

ELS Columbus Center Video- July 2011

2011-09-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Attitude

2011-09-02T03:22:00.000-07:00

Your attitude determines the seasons you enter.

Do you watch car race to see who wins or to see who will have a wreck? Are you fascinated in another man's life and treat them as an idol and cowardly call that man a liar from the comfort of your computer? And if the truth were to be known, it was in fact YOU who was the liar and the very creditals that you dare to mock are items that you have only dreamed about but never had the courage to see materialize? When challenged, do you rise to the occassion and seize the opportunity? Your attitude and approach make up a lot of what the final outcome will be.

One of my favorite movies is about an American baseball player who four years prior was the MVP for the World Series Yankees. At the start the season, the aging veteran is cut and finds himself only wanted by one team. A team in Japan.

In an effort to salvage the season and end his career on a high note, he reluctantly goes to Japan and finds out that his slumping performance is due to many sloppy habits that he had developed over the years. The former slugger can no longer hit and his brash attitude in light of this finds him suspended from the team.

The Japanese manager pushed for the American slugger to come to Japan and must find a way to get the slugger back in the groove before he looses face.

The American slugger decides to cooperate and finds himself at a golf driving range hitting golf balls with a baseball bat. In frustration, he exclaims, "I want to hit baseballs!" The manager replies, "What did you say?" The slugger realizing that if he can hit the smaller golf ball that he will be able to hit the larger baseball replies, "I want to hit."

Remember, we must do whatever it takes to keep the dream alive! Do want we do. No explanations, no excuses. Plan for the worst, hope for the best!

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Patience

2011-08-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Those who do not respect your time will not respect your wisdom either.

Patience is the weapon that forces deception to reveal itself.

Why is it that I get annoyed in certain situations that I should simply disregard? It is because of expectations. Because of this, I sweat the small stuff. As a director, I can't be a "small-stuff" person. I try to be a "big stuff" person, but I still struggle with this.

Tardiness is probably the biggest thing that I get annoyed with. I know that I should overlook it and having lived in Los Angeles for five years, I should have had enough training in dealing with people who are tardy. But, time and time again, I see someone who is tardy when dealing with me as someone who is insulting me. "Your time is more valuable than mine?" "I have to wait for you?" I'm fine with valid reasons for delay and get irked with myself with I'm late. I recently moved and early on, miscalculated the commute to work and for a while, I was a few minutes late for about a week. UNACCEPTABLE!! People who are late because they seem to think that there is not an issue with this eliminates them from my activities. Unfortunately, this goes against the grain for the Middle Eastern culture which happens to be the biggest customer base at my Center.
Patience is a good thing. Patient people are often kind and accepting of the faults of others. If I've decided to be in a profession where I can help people, then I need to learn how to be patient. As the old saying goes, "Patience is its own reward."

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Decision Making

2011-08-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Champions make decisions that create the future they desire while losers make decisions that create the present they desire.

It was 2009 when I was delivering mail as a rural mail carrier for the US Post Office. I've never thought that any job was beneath me and since collecting unemployment was a new thing for me, it was something that I wanted to remove from my life as soon as possible. I interviewed for such places like Adidas and local government agencies only to not get an offer. The sign in the post office about working as a rural carrier got my attention and I figured, "Why not?"

Fast forward to 2011, I now reside in Columbus, OH and recently bought my first home. One of the prerequisites to make this happen was to have 24 consecutive months of employment history. Since I have not been with my current employer for that long, I had to use my time at the Post Office to satisfy this requirement.

Deciding to take a job because of my industrious spirit was the difference and banking on the future regardless of your age will allow you to be successful.

On the other hand, I know of a woman who gave up her full-time job with benefits to take a part-time job with the hopes of it becoming full-time. The economy has been bad for over three years and may take 10 more years to rebound. I realize that it is important to spend time with your children when they are young, but how will she provide for them as they grow older?

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Comfort or Character?

2011-07-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

Often people will not pursue an opportunity or make a change because it is more comfortable to keep things as they are and not buck the system or accept the test of their true character in the face of uncertainty. They hold on to a situation when they need to move on or move on from a situation when challenged.

Being an "Average Joe" who has had to fight, scrape and bleed for everything that I've ever had in the past twenty years, I dare say that if you are reading this you have trouble coming your way. Not everyone looks for trouble but trouble always seems to be looking for you.

What are you going to do when trouble finds you? As for me, I will confront it head on since avoiding it will only prolong the situation and make it worse. I know that I will stumble and I may fall. But I will not give up.

That is my advice to you: Don't let the comfort of what you have always known to be what is known as the status quo keep you for allowing your character to accept and eventually pass the test of a troubling situation.

It is better to have tried and failed than to go through life not knowing what it would have been if you would have tried.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Principles and Convictions- That's the American Way

2011-07-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Being a person that was raised by two loving parents who despite their deficiencies, did a great job in raising my sister and I. In our 30s, my sister and I are self-reliant individuals who learned a trade, developed a skill and live within our means and spend our time in our professions doing something meaningful. I owe all that I have to my parents because in the 19 years that have passed since leaving home, there were many times when I could have faltered, given up or given in to the dark side. I will admit, I stumbled, but I didn’t fall.

The moderate amount of success that I am honored and humbled to have received has made me a person of my convictions. I have a strong persuasion or belief that the basics must be in place to create the foundation for success. Without this, we are defeating the purpose of our existence and are just spinning our wheels until we check out from this place known as Earth. We must be continuously improving ourselves. I struggle with people or organizations that don’t have the basics in place and expect me to overcompensate to make up for their shortcomings. Either you realize that this is the pathway for success and follow it to a tee or will need to get out of my way and life. Sorry, I haven’t the time for explanations or questions for what I know to be right.

The American Way is a proven successful way and for the longest time the Red, White and Blue were the source of envy and jealousy from those outside the land of the free and the home of the brave. Now, with the current leadership in the White House (as the previous) bucking the system that made the US the blueprint for success, the American Way is on life support. As goes the American economy so does the global economy. There is an underlying value to the American and his money which has a direct correlation to the American Way and the health of an economy on the other side of the world. Gen Xers raised to believe that they were entitled to own a home and got into one because of a ponzi scheme sponsored by the coilition from the left caused this mess. Good things come to those who wait. Every time a Gen Xer failed, they never learned the lesson from that misfortune. Instead they were given a pass. That right, I’m talk to you, somebody in your 30s driving a leased BMW living off of 5 credit cards that are all maxed out and renting an apartment with four other roommates. You own nothing and all that you have to your name is pretention and debt. Same goes for Octomom who turned on the baby machine and now that the hangover has worn off; she has to pay for her reckless decision. My sister and I and the like will have to pay for it.

Now the chickens have come home to roost. Socialist countries throughout Europe that are also on life support have been able to put off the inevitable till now based on their wealth from a generation ago when they operated in a capitalistic fashion. In comparing the US Dollar to the Japanese Yen, in 2007, 125 Yen equaled $1. Four years later, 75 Yen equals $1 meaning that 40% of the value of the US dollar has evaporated into thin air. Countries like China have taken a page out of Ronald Reagan's playbook and moved closer to capitalism in order to achieve their wealth. In short, there is only one way to ensure that there is a healthy economy. That is to follow the blue print of the American Way.

At 38 years of age, I haven’t the time to teach and explain things to another grown man who gets hung up on the wrongdoings that the US has done over the past 235 years and creates that as the basis to badmouth his home country and justify his existence in the goldfish bowl. If you are an American and live in Japan, never give up on yourself and the way of life that you were raised on. It is confidence, not arrogance that will lead you to success in US, a place that is in need of kick up the backside to remind us of our role and when deviated from the plan means 40% of its wealth goes up in dust. For the extreme lefties, 40% of the wealth wasn’t redistributed to entitlement programs; it was flushed down the toilet.

So to Americans in Japan I leave you with this message: “Welcome to wherever you are. This is your life. You have made it so far.” You want to make a change in your life, make the change now! Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger.

Daniel J. Stone, founding director of an Intensive English Program (IEP) in Ohio was driving his left-wheel car in a right-handed way as a rural mail carrier in his home state of South Carolina a mere two years ago after he was laid off from his first full-time job after spending three years in Japan as an English Teacher. He continues today giving international students hope and motivation by emulating the universal values of the American Way.

In the spirt of "Kaizen"

2011-07-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

Kaizen, the Japanese phrase meaning, "continuous improvement" is the cornerstone of Japanese companies that have gone on to become global powers such as Toyota. Progress must be spun anyway you can in order to acheive kaizen. For example, when a food service provider at a small college goes from charging its students full price for the meal plan but serve next to nothing to the students for over the two-week Winter Break to serving box meals over a four-day holiday and overcharging the students with product that the students find undesirable to providing box meals and charging what the aggreement calls for despite the box meals not meeting expectations forcing students away from campus housing, believe it or not, kaizen is taking place. Why? The school was charging students for meals and not providing any meals in return to charging students for meals which were provided.

But, in the spirit of kaizen, more work must be done since the goal is to have 100% occupancy with on campus housing which is more likely to happen when students are having their expectations met.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Philosophy on hiring, training equalling retention, managing and creating ownership with staff and faculty

2011-06-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

When it comes to hiring staff and faculty, my philosophy is to hire based on the candidate's attitude and then train them for the skill needed to do their position effectively and efficiently. It is important for me as the local hiring director to find a good fit to the company's system. Once a good fit is found, every effort is made to have employees trained to optimize retention.

Once this has been established, the atmosphere is one where staff and faculty are allowed to conduct their tasks without being hindered by being over supervised. The ownership mentality comes full circle when staff and faculty are given the opportunity to lead a training session or being given an opportunity to provide input on an upcoming meeting or operational matter. In particular, instructors are encouraged to be creative in the classroom as long as they are adhering to the Objective and
Evaluating Criteria sheets, using the established curriculum as the base and completing coursework in the time that is provided.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Why an International Student should come to Columbus, OH

2011-05-25T02:09:00.000-07:00

E-mail etiquette- When the situation is not good

2011-05-08T03:25:00.000-07:00

Anybody can write an email when the situation is good and the desired results have been met. But, what do you do when the situation was not good? Like, when your host institution closes up shop for the Winter Break and you have 30 international students that are expecting lunch and the main dining hall on campus is closed and the nearest restaurant is a good two miles away?

In maintaining the proper e-mail etiquette when the situation is not good, please note the following:

First, it is important to watch your tone and do not let your emotions get involved when constructing your e-mail. Even if the person is dead wrong, you do not want the person to feel that they were attacked. Next, convey understanding and empathy for their perspectives (even if you don't agree) while at the same time information is being conveyed. Lastly, a good rule of thumb is, if you don't want it on the front page of the New York Times, don't press "send".

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com/ (C) 2009-11

ELL Source

2011-03-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

http://ellexpress.wordpress.com/about/

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Learn the language.

2011-01-01T10:06:00.001-08:00

I was recently asked about my time abroad and my experience in learning the language.

Having lived in Japan for three years and with a slight head start than the typical American due to being stationed in Japan 10 years prior in the military, being married to a Japanese woman whom I met in California and studied Japanese for two semesters in college (I could recognize the basic alphabet and knew basic vocabulary and grammar). Within my first month in Japan, I was riding a bus to a nearby shopping mall and met a foreigner and predictably, struck up conversation. He mentioned that he lived in Japan for seven years and it took him until the 4th or 5th year until he could understand what he read in the newspaper and could be conversational in a professional setting. There is alot of truth to this having actively studying Japanese while I was in Japan. There are ways to accelerate this which is by studying at a language school or university and practicing and not worrying about making mistakes. Also, the younger you are, the more likely it is for what you take in will stick.

While Japanese is one of the most difficult languages for a Westerner to master, after a my first year in Japan, I had progressed by leaps and bounds. I was able to find things out at the grocery and department stores, maneuver my way around the Yahoo Japan website, send text messages in Japanese from my cellphone, follow the weather on NHK news and knew which parts of the train were cooler than others and for women only. More importantly, I was able to do my job more effectively which was presenting English and American culture to Japanese elementary students who never had any exposure to a non-Japanese person until they met me. Teaching English in Japanese may seem strange but is par the course in Japan.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

LPGA to mandate Koreans and others speak English

2011-01-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

A story I heard on NPR on the drive home from work:

On the one hand, the capitalistic approach is only concerned about the bottom line whereas translators and cultural sensitivity could be used. My opinion is, non-English speaking golfers will be successful if they can raise their English ability in the following ways:

1. Sponsorships to a broader audience

2. Ability to participate in charity events

3. Be taken seriously and reach the Tiger Woods level

Story

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-11

Season's Greetings from the Buckeye Country

2010-12-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

International students from Turkey, China, Libya, Gabon, Taiwan, Brazil, South Korea and Saudi Arabia spend their first Christmas at ELS Language Centers, Columbus located on the campus of Ohio Dominican University. (12/23/2010)

Ordering at Subway Checklist

2010-12-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

Ordering at Subway Checklist
1. Size
6-inch
Footlong

2. Bread
Italian
white
wheat
honey oat
Hearty Italian
(sprinkled with cornmeal)
herbs and cheese

3. Sandwich
Meatball Marinara

Italian B.M.T®

Subway® Melt

Tuna

Cold Cut Combo

Spicy Italian

BLT

Roast Beef

The Big Philly Cheesesteak

Chicken & Bacon Ranch

The Feast

Turkey Breast

Turkey Breast & Black Forest Ham

Oven Roasted Chicken

Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki

Black Forest Ham

Subway® Club

Veggie Delite®

4. Toast
Yes
No

5. Cheese
Swiss
White American
Provolone
Pepper Jack
Cheddar

6. Vegetables
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Pickles
Olives
Banana Peppers

7. Condiments
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Oil
Vinegar
Salt
Pepper

8. Extras
Drink
Chips
Cookie
Soup

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages: Teaching Methods

2010-12-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

• The Language Experience Approach- students orally relate their personal experiences to the teacher; teacher transcribes these experiences complete with errors and then develops other reading and writing activities based on the transcription.

• Bottom-up Reading Strategies- the strategies that focus primarily on actual words in a text instead of general meanings. For example, analyzing relationships between words in a sentence and deciphering the meanings of individual words in a sentence.

• Suggestopedia- a relaxed approach to learning a foreign language where a student’s first language may be used freely during instruction. “Make sure the students feel comfortable and confident.”

• Community Language Learning- students work together to develop what aspect of a language they would like to learn. Teacher acts as a counselor and a paraphrase. Students act like a collaborator. A student’s first language may be used freely during instruction.

• The Writing Process- 1- Brainstorm, 2- First Draft, 3- Peer Review (feedback about changes), 4- Revise, 5- Proofread, 6- Submit final draft

• Correcting Speech Errors- for beginners, correct only those errors that interfere with communicating meaning

• Home Language Survey- a federal law that requires school administrators to determine if a language other than or in addition to English is spoken at student’s home.

• Identifying semantic and syntactic gaps- prior to the beginning of a unit discuss student’s prior experiences related to the topic. By doing this, the teacher can identify specific gaps in the student’s understanding and build-them into the development of a lesson.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinati

2010-12-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Sam Wyche Sports World

Years ago, I bought my first pair of Air Jordans at a place now known as the Cherrydale area of Greenville called Sam Wyche Sports World. They were Tarheel Blue, the color of Jordan's college. Coach Wyche graduated from the university in my hometown, Furman where he played quarterback. He later went on to the NFL as a player then coach.

Today, he gave a speech at the local chamber office for free and I was extremely fortunate to attend. If there ever was a motivational speaker, he would be the one. Here is a bit that I was able to take down from his speech:

1- Why? Always know why you are doing something that way when the chips are down and everything is on the line you will know what to do without even thinking. The hesitation to think about it may be the difference in getting the desired results required.

2- Washington Redskin's coach George Allen's lesson on being persistant and focusing effort. Setting an objective and achieving it. For example, if a certain portion of a day is set aside for a certain task, then make sure that you are getting things done at the right time.

3- San Francisco 49ers's coach Bill Walsh's lesson on being decisive/specific. If somebody does a job well, you need to tell them what exactly they are doing so that they will continue to do it. He gave an example of how the great Joe Montana would inadvertly point the nose of the ball down instead of tipping it back before throwing the ball. A ball pointing down forces the thrower to make unecessary motions causing the ball to get knocked down or intercepted. Montana was known for his warm ups to always take his non-throwing hand and place it on the tip and tilt it back to remind himself to keep the ball in the right position.

4- Six candles away. It is important to finish everything. Follow thru till the end. Don't be the organization who looses out because they were six candles away from getting the job done.

5- Shell Oil- A person in uniform is an extention of the uniform that they are representing. Have energy, enthusiasm and passion in everything that you do. Too many people, like the man who pumped gas for Coach Brown of the Bengals the time when Wyche hitched a ride from training camp operate in a inferior fashion making their organization look bad.

6- Make the effort to win. (Vince L.)

7- Do more than just want to win. Be part of the reason to win.

8- Get into a routine. Be willing to be taken out of your comfort zone from time to time.

9- Never drop your guard-

Wyche coaches as speaker, Greenville News, Greater Greer Edition

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

The Drive

2010-11-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

I have a new found respect for the motor sports industry. For years, I never considered this a sport as the origins of stock car racing come from those good ol’ boys in the back woods transporting moonshine. It was the Americans who made car racing more spectator-friendly by having the cars race in circles. But, how many laps could you watch and remain engaged? I was the casual follower who would notice on the news that only the wrecks and the ending were worth watching. The rest of it was just pomp and circumstance.

But, that was before I started driving 60 miles one way to my employer in the job deprived Upstate of South Carolina. About three months into this, I managed to find a car pool partner 30 miles into my commute which helped on gas, wear and tear and not having to drive 620 miles a week. It was at the six-month mark of this stop gap situation where I noticed my hip giving me trouble then at the seven-month mark my lower back had me calling in sick. This was my introduction to the quackery of chiropractors who clam up when asked about medical insurance and begin badmouthing certified health care providers. Luckily, I didn’t waste too much money or time getting my back back to normal and invested $100 in a Shiatsu massage chair which does the trick on most days.

If one thing can be said about my home state, a place that holds a special place in my heart providing that the second time back is blocked out, is that it was a true test of my character, forced me to focus on satisfying the challenge of remaining relevant with my past in Japan and California and measured my endurance. Truck drivers, couriers, taxi drivers and yes, race car drivers get nothing but respect from me. After all, I walked a mile in their shoes for 10 months at 620 miles per week a pop. Not to mention driving a left-hand vehicle in a right-handed way for the US Postal Service for five months. A another wacky driving experience for another time…

(September 2009-June 2010) Passion meets opportunity. What drives a guy to drive an hour one-way to earn a living? More than just double digit unemployment.

Clemson, SC- Where the rubber meets the road for International Education and English to Speakers of Other Languages in the Upstate of South Carolina.

The Writing Process

2010-11-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

1. Prewriting: invention, research, note-taking and outlining.

2. Write first/rough draft.

3. Revise: (look at main points, thesis, support, paragraph order, structure).

These items may need to be moved, more information may need to be added or material may need to be deleted.

4. Edit: grammar and meaning are addressed.

5. Proofread: spelling and punctuation issues are addressed.

6. Publish final draft.
http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com/ (C) 2009-10

What is a Descriptive Essay?

2010-11-21T06:16:00.000-08:00

Purdue OWL

The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe an object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student’s ability to create a written account of a particular experience. What is more, this genre allows for a great deal of artistic freedom (the goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and moving in the mind of the reader).

One might benefit from keeping in mind this simple maxim: If the reader is unable to clearly form an impression of the thing that you are describing, try, try again!

Here are some guidelines for writing a descriptive essay:

Take time to brainstorm

If your instructor asks you to describe your favorite food, make sure that you jot down some ideas before you begin describing it. For instance, if you choose pizza, you might start by writing down a few words: sauce, cheese, crust, pepperoni, sausage, spices, hot, melted, etc. Once you have written down some words, you can begin by compiling descriptive lists for each one.

Use clear and concise language.

This means that words are chosen carefully, particularly for their relevancy in relation to that which you are intending to describe.

Choose vivid language.

Why use ‘horse’ when you can choose ‘stallion’? Why not use ‘tempestuous’ instead of ‘violent’? Or why not ‘miserly’ in place of ‘cheap’? Such choices form a firmer image in the mind of the reader and often times offer nuanced meanings that serve better one’s purpose.

Use your senses!

Remember, if you are describing something, you need to be appealing to the senses of the reader. Explain how the thing smelled, felt, sounded, tasted, or looked. Embellish the moment with senses.

What were you thinking?!

If you can describe emotions or feelings related to your topic, you will connect with the reader on a deeper level. Many have felt crushing loss in their lives, or ecstatic joy, or mild complacency. Tap into this emotional reservoir in order to achieve your full descriptive potential.

Leave the reader with a clear impression.

One of your goals is to evoke a strong sense of familiarity and appreciation in the reader. If your reader can walk away from the essay craving the very pizza you just described, you are on your way to writing effective descriptive essays.

Be organized!

It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay. However, you must strive to present an organized and logical description if the reader is to come away from the essay with a cogent sense of what it is you are attempting to describe.

Writing Strategies

Skimming for the Main Ideas

Practice: Skimming for the Main Idea: 27-28

Main Idea by reading only the first and last paragraphs (intro and conclusion)

What are the topic sentences for the body paragraphs

Title

Bold words

Italic words

Capital words

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Listening and Pronunciation: Word Stress & Vowel Length

2010-11-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

English speakers store vocabulary items according to stress patterns. Learning a word must include learning its stress patterns. Speakers say a word in its correct stress pattern; the listener finds it easier to understand them even if each individual sound is not pronounced correctly. When a word is said with an incorrect stress pattern, the listener may spend time searching for the word in the wrong stress category. A stress pattern mistake causes a great deal of confusion.

Reasons for Word Stress Errors:

L1 transfer from learner’s first language. In English, stress can be on any syllable whereas in other languages it could be systematically either the first or last syllable for example.

1. Stress Rule for Two-Syllable Words- With the exception to verbs, two-syllable words are usually stressed on the first syllable.

2. Stress Rule for the “-ion” ending- the stressed syllable comes just before the “-ion” ending.

Example: prediction

3. Stress Rule for the “-ic” and “-ical” ending- the stressed syllable comes just before the “-ic” and “ical” ending.

Example: Atlantic

4. Stress Rule for Two Clear Vowels Together- When two vowels are next to each other in a word but in separate syllables, they are both clear. Usually, the second clear vowel has the stress, so it is longer. Example: Biology

5. Stress Rule for Two-Syllable Nouns and Verbs- When the word is a noun, its first syllable gets the stress. When the word is a verb, its second syllable gets the stress.

Noun: The politician when on record as a supporter for healthcare reform.

Verb: The politician recorded a commercial to support healthcare reform.

6. Stress Rule for two-word verbs- Two-word verbs are commonly stressed on the second syllable.

7. Stress Rule for compound nouns- English combines two nouns to make a new word. For example, the combination of “house” and “boat” to make “houseboat”. Compound nouns are produced as a single word with stress on the first part.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com/ (C) 2009-10

Skimming

2010-11-21T06:12:00.001-08:00

What is skimming?

Skimming in high-speed reading that can save you time and help you get through lots of material quickly. You skim to get a general sense of the passage or book, not specific details. When you skim, you have a general question about the whole text.

When do you skim?

In a typical college class, skimming is the only way to get through all of the reading required. Skimming is important when doing research.

How do you skim?

1. Don’t read every word.

2. Look for the writer’s thoughts.

3. Look for quotations.

Speed Reading Strategies: Check your Reading Habits

Speed Reading Strategies: Bottom-Up Reading

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Modal Review

2010-11-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

Might- 50% or less likely that something takes place.

Could- stating a possibility

Must- 90% certain that something takes place.

Should- giving advice

A modal in perfect form makes a statement about something in the past.

Cell phone calls from students hiding in and around Columbine High School, which Dylan and Eric could have used to pinpoint the locations of their intended victims.

This is in reference to a possible action in the past that was not taken.

Rules

1. "Have" + past participle as a modal perfect doesn't carry the same meaning as the present perfect tense. It simply indicates past time.

2. The past form of should is use to give "hindsight advice". For example:

When I look back at my past, I realize that I was not a good student. It would have been better if I was a good student. Therefore:

I should studied harder when I was in high school.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Unreal Conditional Sentences

2010-11-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

Contrary to Fact (3-3)

Situation #1

If I had enough time, I would watch TV now or later on.

If-clause’s grammar point

Simple past

Result-clause’s grammar point

Would + simple form

Situation #2

If I had had enough time, I would have watched TV yesterday.

If-clause’s grammar point

Past perfect

Result-clause’s grammar point

Would have + past participle

Additional Notes for Unreal Conditional Sentences:

1. In truth, you don’t do what you are saying.

2. In truth, you aren’t where you say you are at.

3. In truth, you are not me (I am not you.)

4. Would in the result clause means a predictable result.

5. Could in the result clause means a possible option.

6. Grammar Change: We learned that for past singular subjects, the rules are:

I was

You were

He/She/It was

This rule changes for Conditional Sentences. Both Singular and Plural subject get “were”.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com/ (C) 2009-10

Real Conditions

2010-11-21T06:08:00.000-08:00

Situation #1

If I have enough time, I watch TV every evening.

If-clause’s grammar point

Simple present

Result-clause’s grammar point

Simple present

Notes

This is real in the present tense.

Situation #2

If I have enough time, I will watch TV later on tonight.

If-clause’s grammar point

Simple present

Result-clause’s grammar point

Simple future

Notes

This is real in the future tense.

Additional Notes for Real Conditional Sentences:

• Simple future is not used in the if-clause.

1- When the result-clause is simple present, we can express a habitual activity or situation.

2- When the result clause is simple present or simple future, we can express a predictable fact or general truth.

3- When the result clause is in simple future, we are expressing something in the future.

4- What are phrasal modals and modals?

Should, might, can, be going to

• Are they used in the “if” or “result” clause? Result clause

• Are these real or unreal? Real

5. When the result clause is imperative (an order)

• Can should be used in the “If” clause? Yes, the meaning of the sentence changes and becomes a little more uncertain.
htp://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Inference, Previewing and Making Predictions

2010-11-21T06:06:00.000-08:00

What is inference?

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

For example, a student's clothes were wet when he came to Daniel Hall this morning.

What can we infer from this example?

A- This student took a swim in the pond in front on the library.
B- This student took a a shower with his clothes on.
C- This student took the bus to school and was splashed with a water puddle as a passing truck drove by his bus stop.

By using reasoning and since we know that this student takes the bus to school, we can infer that "C" is the correct answer. Furthermore, choices "A" and "B" are very strange.

Previewing and Making Predictions

What is previewing?
Looking for information before your read. This can be the title, subtitle, pictures or other bits of information.

What is making predictions?
Making guesses about a reading. We do this to keep engaged in the reading.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Outline for the People Essay

2010-11-21T06:05:00.000-08:00

I. Brainstorm the following questions

1. Who is outrageously rich or famous in your home country?
2. What person has made an important contribution to your happiness?
3. Who in your country is a household name?

II. Make a list of the ideas in the order that you will write about regarding the questions listed above.

III. Begin your rough draft with a sentence that names the person you admire.

For example:

Jon Bon Jovi is a world-famous singer, songwriter and leader of the American music group, Bon Jovi.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Then use your notes to write a rough draft of a composition about the person you admire. Use specific examples of admirable behavior or accomplishments.

For example:

1. Jon Bon Jovi has donated his personal money to build houses in urban areas in the U.S. for people that are less fortunate.

2. Last year, Bon Jovi gave a free concert to 20,000 fans at New York’s Central Park.

3. Bon Jovi has sold over 100 million albums worldwide since their debut in 1983.

4. Despite being a “rock star” and spending most of his life touring the world, Jon Bon Jovi has remained faithful to his high school sweetheart and children.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IV. End your essay with a sentence that tells why this person is admirable.

Example:

Jon Bon Jovi is a great role model for those that are still trying to find their way because of the optimistic message that relates to the common man throughout his songs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

How to Make and Use an Essay Outline: Process

2010-11-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

An essay outline is probably the most important friend you will have while writing your essay. It is the scaffolding of your paper and the skeleton of your ideas. It is the framework by which you will write a solid essay. It is difficult to write one without an outline.

Characteristics of a process essay:

• Arranged chronologically.

• This essay will have three paragraphs. (Introduction, long body paragraph and conclusion)

• Thesis statement: Eating food with chopsticks in Far East places like Japan is easy if you follow these steps.

• Long Body Paragraph (All the steps in the correct chronological order.)

• Conclusion

When you begin writing an essay outline, use the following model as a guide:

I. INTRODUCTION:

Thesis:_____________________________________________________.

II. Long Body Paragraph:

Opening Sentence:___________________________________________.

Process 1:__________________________________________________.

Process 2:__________________________________________________.

Process 3:__________________________________________________.

Process 4:__________________________________________________.

Process 5:__________________________________________________.

Process 6:__________________________________________________.

III. CONCLUSION:

Reconfirmed Thesis:_________________________________________.

What do you know how to do well? Brainstorm and think of things that you do well.

Examples of Process Essay Topics

1. How to get in shape

2. How to make pizza at home

3. How to make Libyan pasta

4. How to maintain good health

5. How to prepare rice

6. How to make California Roll Sushi

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com/ (C) 2009-10

Study Strategies for Irregular Verbs

2010-11-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

Irregular verbs may be one of the most difficult grammar points of the English language for language learners to master. It is assumed that native English speakers have mastered this grammar point but surprisingly this is not the case. Studying incorrectly such as memorizing long lists for example may lead to frustration and will not improve a language learner's skills. Therefore, it is important to have a good study strategy.

Irregular Verb Chant

Please say aloud as the following:

arise, arose, arisen

Repeat 3-5 times then move onto the next set of verbs. Maybe clap your hands to get into a rhythm. Don't try to do too much one setting. Move at your own pace but follow this study plan on a regular basis.

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Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Continuous

2010-11-21T05:59:00.000-08:00

When a non-durative verb is used and the action has completed thus, the cycle is closed, we are using present perfect tense. For example:

Elvis has left the building.

When a verb of duration, action continues and the cycle remains open, we are using present perfect continuous tense. For example:

He has been talking about losing weight for a long time.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Planning for a Timed Writing

2010-11-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

There are several formats for planning for a timed writing. The main ones are:

1. free writing,
2. outlining,
3. word map

Use any format that you are comfortable with. Do not spend more 10 minutes for a 30 minute writing.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com/ (C) 2009-10

Is it OK to use their first language during instruction?

2010-11-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

It is often debated whether or not an English Language Learner can use their first language during instruction. Here are two teaching methods that support the use of their first language while receiving English language instruction.

Suggestopedia- a relaxed approach to learning a foreign language where a student’s first language may be used freely during instruction. “Make sure the students feel comfortable and confident.”

This method is carried out in four steps.

1. Decipher: The grammar point of the day in introduced. I prefer doing this by presenting the following:
A. What the grammar point is
B. How it is used
C. Displaying a grammatical formula of some kind

2. Concert: The teacher reads examples of the grammar point, the students repeat.

3. Elaborate: Songs are sung and games are played with the grammar point as the focus.

4. Production: In a structured environment, the students use the grammar point spontaneously.

This was the preferred teaching method of one of my team teaching partners when I was a teacher in Japan. This method worked really with with the EFL students. Sadly, the teacher was reprimanded for using this method since it only referenced the book and there wasn't much focus on passing the standardized test. But, the students could communicate with native English speakers and retained what they learned with this method and did well on standardized test. Being a maverick in Japan is unacceptable and this method definitely was nonconforming to the Japanese way of presenting English.

Community Language Learning- students work together to develop what aspect of a language they would like to learn. Teacher acts as a counselor and a paraphrase. Students act like a collaborator. A student’s first language may be used freely during instruction. This method encourages interaction with others in English as well as allows students to interact meaningfully with each other in English.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Phonics, Syllables, Vowels and Vowel Rules

2010-11-21T05:54:00.000-08:00

Phonics

Phonics are sounds that letters make that make up words.
• The English language tends to be difficult due to words being borrowed from other languages. (German, French, Latin, Greek, etc.)

Syllables
Syllables are a word or a part of a word with one vowel sound in it.

Vowels
Vowels create two sounds (long or short)

•When a short word has only one vowel, this word makes a short vowel sound .
• When a short word has two or more vowels, this word makes a long vowel sound.
• The closed syllable rule is when a vowel has a consonant after it that vowel always says its short sound.
• The sound of the short “a” changes just a little bit when “a” has a “m” or “n” after it.
• Rule of Silent E- at the end of a word does not make a sound. It usually changes the sound of the vowel before it. The vowel says it s own name, the long sound.
• Open syllable rule. A syllable is open when that syllable ends in a vowel with no consonant following it.

Consonants
• Blend: a group of two or more consonants, which stand side by side in a word and blend their sounds together.
• Diagraph: two consonants together making one sound.
• R control: when the vowel is controlled by R.
• Q: in English, “Q” always stands with “u”

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Soft sound of “C” and “G”, Vowel Teams and the letter Y as a Consonant and Vowel

2010-11-21T05:51:00.000-08:00

In English, the soft sound is usually heard when “C” or “G” has an E, I, or Y after it. The words "city" and "gem" are examples of this.

Also, in English, there are vowel teams that go by the name, diphthongs. These are two vowels that come together in a word to make only one sound. When two vowels come together, the first one says its own name, while the second one is silent. Here are a few examples:

Example: Long A (EI or AY)

The letter Y
The letter "Y" can act as a consonant and a vowel. As a consonant, it is at the beginning of a word. As a vowel, the letter "Y" is found in the middle or the end of a word.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

More on Narrative Essays

2010-11-21T05:48:00.000-08:00

What is a Narrative Essay?

It is story writing.

How do you write an narrative essay?

You write about events in the order that they happen.

What is needed for a narrative essay?

Time order words are needed for narrative essays. Such words are:

Words: first, second, then, next, finally, afterwards, meanwhile

Phrases: at first, at exactly 5:04pm, after a while, after that, in the morning and in the meantime, etc.

This is a partial listing of words and phrases.

What is the outline of a Narrative Essay?

I. Introduction: The following are typically discussed in this part.

A. The setting

B. Main Characters

C. The Plot

II. Body: The climax is typically discussed in this part. Activities are separated in "time divisions".

Paragraph #1: First....
Paragraph #2: Next....
Paragraph #3: Then....

Note: Time order words are changed and switch in any what that the author sees fit as long as everything makes sense.

III. Conclusion: The ending is listed in this part.

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Test Taking Tips

2010-11-21T05:46:00.000-08:00

1. Bring at least two pens/pencils with good erasers, a calculator with enough batteries and any other resources that your instructor allows you to.

Bring a watch to the test with you so that you can better pace yourself.

2. Keep a positive attitude throughout the whole test and try to stay relaxed. If you start to feel nervous take a few deep breaths to relax.

3. Keep your eyes on your own paper, you don't want to appear to be cheating and cause unnecessary trouble for yourself.

4. When you first receive your test, do a quick survey of the entire test so that you know how to efficiently budget your time.

5. Do the easiest problems first. Don't stay on a problem that you are stuck on especially when time is a factor.

6. Do the problems that have the greatest point values first.

7. Don't rush but pace yourself. Read the entire question and look for keywords.

8. Ask the instructor for clarification if you don't understand what they are asking for on the test.

9. Write legibly. If the grader can't read what you wrote, they'll most likely mark it wrong.

10. Always read the whole question carefully. Don't make assumptions about what the question might be.

11. If you don't know an answer, skip it. Go on with the rest of the test and come back to it later. Other parts of the test may have some information that will help you out with that question.

12. Don't worry if others finish before you. Focus on the test in front of you.

13. If you have time left when you are finished, look over your test. Make sure that you have answered all the questions, only change an answer if you misread or misinterpreted the question because the first answer that you put is usually the correct one. Watch out for careless mistakes and proofread your essay and/or short answer questions.

14. Double check to make sure that you put your first and last name on the test.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Paraphrasing

2010-11-21T05:44:00.000-08:00

Purdue OWL

What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing?

These three ways of incorporating other writers' work into your own writing differ according to the closeness of your writing to the source writing.

Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries?

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use them to . . .

•Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing

•Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing

•Give examples of several points of view on a subject

•Call attention to a position that you wish to agree or disagree with

•Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original

•Distance yourself from the original by quoting it in order to cue readers that the words are not your own

•Expand the breadth or depth of your writing

Writers frequently intertwine summaries, paraphrases, and quotations. As part of a summary of an article, a chapter, or a book, a writer might include paraphrases of various key points blended with quotations of striking or suggestive phrases as in the following example:

In his famous and influential work On the Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud argues that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" (page #), expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a process known as the "dream work" (page #). According to Freud, actual but unacceptable desires are censored internally and subjected to coding through layers of condensation and displacement before emerging in a kind of rebus puzzle in the dream itself (page #s).

How to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries

Practice summarizing the following essay, using paraphrases and quotations as you go. It might be helpful to follow these steps:

•Read the entire text, noting the key points and main ideas.

•Summarize in your own words what the single main idea of the essay is.

•Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay.

•Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly.

There are several ways to integrate quotations into your text. Often, a short quotation works well when integrated into a sentence. Longer quotations can stand alone. Remember that quoting should be done only sparingly; be sure that you have a good reason to include a direct quotation when you decide to do so. You'll find guidelines for citing sources and punctuating citations at our documentation guide pages.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Part 2 of 2- Rigorous vs. Ruthless

2010-11-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

When you know you need to make a people change, act. Make sure that if they are on the bus, they are not in the wrong seat.

How to be rigorous:

I have seen this happen several times when people are part of an organization but should have been paid to stay at home. Take the Navy for example. If it were possible to fire people for being in dereliction of duty then the Navy would be out of business. Therefore, there is a lot of coercive punishment and remedial work done to beat the nail that sticks up until the end of the lackadaisical sailor’s contract. When you are out on the high seas and realize, “If I do this, that and the other, when they tell me and how they tell me, then the idea of being in this situation that I got myself into since I wasn’t drafted will make my life easier.” tends to take place.

Examples of not doing the basics:

But, in the private sector, it is a whole different story. But even then, I’ve seen where the wrong people should have been shown the way off the bus or in the incorrect seat. Things like nepotism, the "wink and nod" good ol' boy network come to mind.

My first job out of college was for a multinational corporation that imported food and beverage products as well as was the focal point for Asian food and beverage products produced in the Western US. The focal point for years being the regional area close to the company’s main office in Los Angeles. The idea to expand to nearby places like Orange and San Diego County was a challenge due to the stodgy and controlling mentality which came with the territory due to the Japanese culture which founded the company in 1926. Then with solid and steady sales from the first generation Japanese purist became a shrinking demographic which unfortunately had the majority of the company’s eggs in their basket. More and more American born Japanese as well as Korean and Chinese restaurant owners began to express a need for this company’s product line. But this company’s mentality that “Japanese food should be made by Japanese people and the second generation which grew up on McDonalds and Pizza Hut just won’t carry out the practices that make Japanese food what it is.” slowed the process allowing the company to cater to this demographic allowing the competitors to get in on the action in the company’s prime territory. Then when the mainstream Americans started to crave a hunkering for Japanese food in the Midwest and Deep South regions of the US, this company still had a hard time relinquishing control to allow this to happen. Staying content with satisfying purist whose unrealistic expectations with service deliveries and keeping the blinders on when viewing the potential was this company’s objective for years. With a work staff imported from Japan which didn’t dare buck the system allowing nothing new or fresh to enter, who could or would argue? After all, the company was in the black and their customers were happy. At the end of the day, I guess they were fortunate for this.

With the multiple of this company's competitors and their mentality of "Los Angeles is not the center of the universe." started to take control in places like the Midwest and Deep South. By striking up alliances with mainstream food service companies throughout those regions, being content with pennies in comparison to the dollars they were making and keeping a small group of needy customers happy wasn’t the goal.

These companies had the right people on the bus and were heading in the correct direction.

Information was sourced from Jim Collin's audio book, Good to Great.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Part 1 of 2: Rigorous vs. Ruthless

2010-11-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

One company acquires not merges another company. When the acquirer deals with the surplus of employees from he acquired, the following is done:

1. Sorry, we don’t see a role for you in this new setting.

2. Or, yes, you do have a job so stop worrying about it.

To let people languish for a period of time stealing precious time from them that could be used for them to move onto something else when in the end they are not going to make it, that is ruthless. To deal with it up front and let people move on, that is rigorous.

How to be rigorous:

1. When in doubt, don’t hire. Keep looking. Focus on finding the right people. Once this is accomplished, then focus on finding the right stores or companies to acquire. If you can’t do the basics, then you should not be in business. For example the company that goes out and says, we are going to have the best people up and down the line. Our drivers who make deliveries are the last person in touch with the customer need to do the basics like make the delivery without damaging their purchase and do it within the time that was stated up front and in a presentable fashion.

Examples of not doing the basics:

The other day, I ordered breakfast from McDonald’s at 7:30am. The dinner menu from the night before was still out, the orange juice dispenser was not ready and cream and sugar was not out at the drink bar.

Back in California, I experienced a mechanical problem and called AAA for their assistance. The tow truck driver that answered the call smelled like he used curry powder instead of laundry detergent and must have been awaken for the call since his uniform looked like it was ironed with a rock and the man’s plumber’s crack on display while he bent over to connect the front wheels of my car to his truck was enough to make me vomit.

There can't be this type of outcome when employees deal with front line issues like food service or roadside assistance. People have to be hired for their attitude towards the job then trained to do the job that you have in mind. As the hiring manager if you are worrying if this person is doing the job right or receiving complaints or people walking away dissatisfied, then you should have kept looking to avoid heartburn and wasted efforts over the horizon.

Information was sourced from Jim Collin's audiobook, Good to Great.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

The Hedgehog Concept

2010-11-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

In reading Jim Collin's "Hedgehog Concept" the following three circles is the basis that make a person go from good to great. They are:

1. What you can be the best in the world at.

2. What drives your economic engine.

3. What you are deeply passionate about.

In defining this for making a great person I read it as:

1. What you are successful at or what you will never be successful at.

2. What drives you? Is it a paycheck or a need to be a part of the big picture that comes from a higher level?

3. Just as above, what you are deeply passionate about.

So, the following conclusions are being drawn with a plan of action still being cultivated:

1. I am successful at introducing new goods and services to a new market, account management. Also, I am successful in working in a fast-pace, high-pressure and technically inclined positions. In addition, I am successful at leading, coaching and mentoring young people. Lastly, I am successful at being in different environments and cultures where things are different from the status quo that I was raised in.

2. What drives me is putting forward 100% effort, 100% of the time. I am driven by the desire to put out a quality product or produce excellent services. A sophisticated and multi-cultured market where people are open-minded, think outside the box and have an understanding of the "big picture" coupled by "doing it right" is better than "doing it right now." Like my pops told me, "Doing first class or do it half ass."

3. I am deeply passionate about doing something that is for the improvement of mankind weather it is helping a person who is going through a rough patch or a person who is a seeker of a higher answer or a person who has a desire for a improved set of skills. You can take a horse to the well, but you can't make it drink. I am passionate of team work and like Hannibal from "The A-Team always said, I love it when a plan comes together." I am also passionate of the cultures mainlying Japanese and appreciate a different perspective since there is more than one way to do something. Lastly, I am passionate about the approach, "Doing things for a reason.", not "Doing things for the sake of doing it." When you do your homework and make your case, then you have proven that what it is that you want to do can and will be done. Never compromising on your values when it comes to integrity and respect.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Basic Fundamentals- Behavior equals values

2010-11-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

Something that I saw off a video that I was watching back in Japan in 2005. The video was of my collection brought from the US of my former shacho (Japanese term meaning head of company). One of the things that he mentioned was "loosing his way".

With a move as drastic as mine was in 2007, it is understandable that I "lost my way" and spent most of 2008 in conflict with myself.

One of the things from the video that seems to hit home is the following:

1- Identify your values. Your values are the foundation for everything that you do.

2- Keep your behavior in line with your values. By doing this, you will have more success and happiness in all aspects of your life.

3- The further your behavior is away from your values equals more stress.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Teaching in Japan- A word about courtesy

2010-08-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Category: Travel and Places

As a 25-year-old sophomore chipping away at my undergraduate degree, I remember surfing the web at Grossmont College's library in San Diego and finding an informative website with a cynical twist to the teaching scene in Japan. This was back in 1998 and things then still hold true today. In particular, I find the part "A word about courtesy" to be a good way to go about things while living in Japan.

http://www.peterpayne.net/2003/03/so-you-want-to-teach-english-in-japan.html
A word about courtesy

I recently had a bad experience with the wife of a foreigner I knew, let's call her Valerie. She came to Japan with her husband, and asked me for advice on contracts in Japan. Now, in Japan, a contract is not viewed with the same strictness as it is in the U.S. In other words, even if you have a one-year contract with a company, you can still quit, and they can still fire you -- it's just the way it works here. I told her this, and unfortunately she took it a little too seriously. She signed one contract, then, finding a better job, told the first school she was not going to work there -- and incredibly, she told them that the reason was "because she'd gotten a better offer." (This caused myself and other "lifer" foreigners to groan, and mutter "fucking gaijin"). She then had to other contract-related problems with two other schools in close succession, quitting both jobs soon after starting them. She's now in Tokyo. Throughout all this, she was not wrong at all (to hear her tell it), and in fact, she was the victim of this thing or that which she didn't like about the schools (when you live in Japan long enough, you see that North Americans are somewhat quick to assume the role of victims -- this phenomenon is called higaisha mousou in Japanese, in case you want to know). Clearly, however, there were problems with her approach to and attitude about working in Japan.

Now, what this person did wrong was not breaking a contract, per se. What she did was cause meiwaku (inconvenience) to the Japanese people who put their trust in her, and this was very bad. She thought only of herself, and what she could "get" out of Japan, not what she could do for the schools or students she would be working with. One of the schools had even let their other teacher go to hire her, and was really put out. The view of all foreigners was hurt by this person, and we all felt embarrassed.

So my point is this: if there's a "golden rule" to living in Japan, it is that you should not inconvenience other people -- don't cause meiwaku. If you think that this idea makes sense to you, then please continue with your plans to live in Japan. If you have some kind of "Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, therefore I'm owed a good job by them" kind of attitude, please don't bother. Really.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Chicago- July 2010

2010-07-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Northwest- June 2010

2010-07-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

Scenes from my travels in Seattle, WA and Victoria, BC.

Excellence in Execution- June 2010

2010-06-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

The latest with me- June 2010

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com (C) 2009-10

Multi-Culture in the Heartland

2010-06-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

My name in Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and English. This was the envelope to a farewell card received at ELS Clemson on June 11th, 2010.

Motivation and Concern for Good Pronunciation

2010-02-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

1. Native language
Teachers that are familiar with the sound system of a learner's native language will be better able to diagnose student difficulties. These difficulties can be overcome through a focused awareness and effort on the learner's part.
2. Age
Children under the age of puberty stand an excellent chance of "sounding like a native" if they have continued exposure in authentic contexts. However a 50-year-old language learner and a 18-year-old language learner at the same level will pronounce the L2 with a "foreign accent" therefore youth over the age of puberty has no special advantage.
3. Exposure
The quality and intensity of exposure is more important than the mere length of time. A pronunciation class that demands the full attention and interest of the students, they stand a good chance of reaching their goals.
4. Innate Phonetic Ability
Often considered "having an ear" for language. For those students that struggle should not despair since this can be overcome with effort and concentration.
5. Identity and Language Ego
Language learners will take on a second identity when learning a different language. Students need to be aware of this, not afraid of this and maintain a positive attitude toward the people who speak the target language.
6. Motivation and Concern for Good Pronunciation
Those with high motivation and concern has a direct correlation to improvement and is the strongest influence of all of the six factors listed.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Analysis of Student Language Production

2010-02-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

There are five stages in the production of language for second language acquisition. These five stages are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency and advanced fluency.

Stage I: Pre-production

This is the silent period. English language learners may have up to 500 words in their receptive vocabulary but they are not yet speaking. Some students will, however, repeat everything you say. They are not really producing language but are parroting.
These new learners of English will listen attentively and they may even be able to copy words from the board. They will be able to respond to pictures and other visuals. They can understand and duplicate gestures and movements to show comprehension. Total Physical Response methods will work well with them. Teachers should focus attention on listening comprehension activities and on building a receptive vocabulary.
English language learners at this stage will need much repetition of English. They will benefit from a “buddy” who speaks their language. Remember that the school day is exhausting for these newcomers as they are overwhelmed with listening to English language all day long.

Stage II: Early production

This stage may last up to six months and students will develop a receptive and active vocabulary of about 1000 words. During this stage, students can usually speak in one- or two-word phrases. They can use short language chunks that have been memorized although these chunks may not always be used correctly.
Here are some suggestions for working with students in this stage of English language learning:
• Ask yes/no and either/or questions.
• Accept one or two word responses.
• Give students the opportunity to participate in some of the whole class activities.
• Use pictures and realia to support questions.
• Modify content information to the language level of ELLs.
• Build vocabulary using pictures.
• Provide listening activities.
• Simplify the content materials to be used. Focus on key vocabulary and concepts.
• When teaching elementary age ELLs, use simple books with predictable text.
• Support learning with graphic organizers, charts and graphs. Begin to foster writing in English through labeling and short sentences. Use a frame to scaffold writing.

Stage III: Speech emergence

Students have developed a vocabulary of about 3,000 words and can communicate with simple phrases and sentences. They will ask simple questions, that may or may not be grammatically correct, such as “ May I go to bathroom? ” ELLs will also initiate short conversations with classmates. They will understand easy stories read in class with the support of pictures. They will also be able to do some content work with teacher support. Here are some simple tasks they can complete:
• Sound out stories phonetically.
• Read short, modified texts in content area subjects.
• Complete graphic organizers with word banks.
• Understand and answer questions about charts and graphs.
• Match vocabulary words to definitions.
• Study flashcards with content area vocabulary.
• Participate in duet, pair and choral reading activities.
• Write and illustrate riddles.
• Understand teacher explanations and two-step directions.
• Compose brief stories based on personal experience.
• Write in dialogue journals.
Dialogue journals are a conversation between the teacher and the student. They are especially helpful with English language learners. Students can write about topics that interest them and proceed at their own level and pace. They have a place to express their thoughts and ideas.

Stage IV: Intermediate fluency

English language learners at the intermediate fluency stage have a vocabulary of 6000 active words. They are beginning to use more complex sentences when speaking and writing and are willing to express opinions and share their thoughts. They will ask questions to clarify what they are learning in class. These English language learners will be able to work in grade level math and science classes with some teacher support. Comprehension of English literature and social studies content is increasing. At this stage, students will use strategies from their native language to learn content in English.
Student writing at this stage will have many errors as ELLs try to master the complexity of English grammar and sentence structure. Many students may be translating written assignments from native language. They should be expected to synthesize what they have learned and to make inferences from that learning. This is the time for teachers to focus on learning strategies. Students in this stage will also be able to understand more complex concepts.

Stage V: Advanced Fluency

It takes students from 4-10 years to achieve cognitive academic language proficiency in a second language. Student at this stage will be near-native in their ability to perform in content area learning. Most ELLs at this stage have been exited from ESL and other support programs. At the beginning of this stage, however, they will need continued support from classroom teachers especially in content areas such as history/social studies and in writing.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Language Learners: What is your level of responsibility for learning?

2010-02-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

As language learners move from the beginner to intermediate and eventually to the advanced stages of their learning process, the responsibility for learning shifts from the teacher to the student. Setting realistic goals and understanding your level of responsibility during the learning process will allow you to think and become the second language you are striving for.

First, language learners need to set realistic goals. One of the biggest mistakes a language learner can make is to compare themselves to others and visa versa. Each person takes in and digests a second language differently therefore, we must compare ourselves to ourselves. For example, when we were a language learner in our home country, our ability was at level "X". Now, you have an opportunity to study a second language in a school environment in the country where the the language is spoken as a first language. It simply is not realistic to assume that after a period of three to six months that you will be able to speak the second language fluently. When you set goals, they have to be realistic and measurable. Set a series of short-term goals which ultimately will lead to your long-term goal. Maybe you'd like to order lunch at Subway but can't express yourself throughout the process? Find a way to get over this hurdle. Achieving this short-term goal is a boost to your confidence which is needed when you fall short on sophisticated vocabulary words, the conjugation of irregular verbs and get overwhelmed with the various grammar points. The best way to measure your knowledge in English for example is by taking the TOEFL and TOEIC tests. Be prepared to take these tests more than once to achieve the desired score and stay positive by finding success in short-term projects.

Next, as language learners, you need to understand our responsibility for learning. At the beginner level, language learners are responsible for 25% while the instructor makes up the remaining 75%. In the intermediate level, the responsibility for learning is shared at 50-50. At the advanced level, language learners are responsible for 75% while the instructor makes up the remaining 25%.

With more and more of the responsibility being bore by the the language learner, these five tips for learning a second language will allow you to fill in the gaps as you move forward with your second language.

1. Find a structured course and stick with it. Whenever I take on a student for a private lesson, the lesson usually ends with them thanking me since for the past six months, they have been studying English by themselves and learned more in a one-hour tutoring session with me than they did in those six months. The key is to have structure and a sense of purpose that is measurable and specific. For example, "I am studying English because when I take a trip this summer to Australia, I do not want to take this trip with a tour. I want to travel independently." This was the case for my adult students in Japan. Or, "I want to return to my home country and work for a foreign company and the prerequisite is to have "X" score on the TOEIC in order to be considered."

2. Find what works for you. For me, I love to travel, try different kinds of food, watch sporting events and read about historical events. By identifying my hobbies, I was able to make language learning interesting when I became burnt out on the academic portion of my language learning studies. As a result, I continued to learn and remained grounded in my second language.

3. Be "8x". Years ago, a computer's hard-drive read CDs at a certain speed. Then the next generation of computers stated that the computers could read CDs at 2x the speed, or twice as much or twice as fast. I look at many language learners who perform at 1 or 2 "x", meaning that they attend a weekly class, maybe, and do some English-related homework. This is, they think, "enough." Since the language learner's responsibility grows as they become more and more advanced, this is not enough. Therefore, we must be 8x meaning we need to take advantage of every opportunity at our disposal. Structured learning courses may have computer-based programs that will allow extra repetition in troubled areas of our learning. Study halls may be available where we can ask the instructor for one-on-one instruction is another possibility. Maybe offering to exchange an hour of English conversation for an hour of advice on traveling in your home country is another way to taking in extra instruction.

Other ways are if you ride the bus to school, ask the person sitting next to you about the recent game. Explain that you are new to the area and don't know much about the game but know that the locals follow it and you are interested. Or, if striking up conversation with strangers is not for you, listen to NPR or other local talk shows on the radio on your commute to school. Make notes and strike up conversation with your teacher. Find out the weather on the local TV broadcast before school. If you are living in your home country and doing these things aren't possible since English isn't the main language spoken, download English songs, utilize the Internet by watching English-language clips on Youtube or listen to NPR.org. Read online magazines and newspapers. Do more than just the basics. As Chuck Noll, an American Football coach of four world champion teams in the 1970s stated, "Do the basics better than everyone else." In other words, do more than just enough to get by.

4. Make Friends. When I was a language learner in Japan, it was bitter sweet to learn of Japanese people's experiences when they studied English in the US. They had amazing stories of their experiences with American roommates, some even dated Americans, while others had stories of road trips across country. But, there were many Japanese people who said that finding friends were difficult. If they were around my age, I would reply, "If you were in California, why couldn't we have met?" This was because I was the lone American invited to the International Student Association's quarterly potluck party since I would always make friends with international students on campus. One of those friends became my girlfriend which later became my wife. My wife and I were able to learn from each other's home cultures and each other's languages. Now, in my late 30's I remain grounded in my second language as my goal is to express myself to my in-laws and have the opportunity with weekly Internet calls courtesy of Skype.

5. Never Give Up. The best tip is saved for last. Think for a moment about the size of the mountain you're considering to climb when you begin study a second language. One of my favorite saying that I learned in Japan is, "If we fall down seven times, we get up eight times." The key is to follow through and be aware of your goals. I suggest you write your realistic goals down with the date so that you can measure your progress. By doing these things you'll be satisfied with your language learning progress.

In conclusion, don't give up, remain perseverant to get through the baptism of fire of language learning. Keep goals realistic, measurable and understand the responsibility for language learning. Maintain structure, find a plan that works for you, be proactive, make like minded friends and never give up.

Daniel Stone has been a language learner of Japanese since the mid 1990s when he was a US service member serving at Fleet Activities in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa, Japan. Since then, he worked his way through college with financial assistance from the Montgomery GI Bill and earned his bachelor's degree one month before his 30th birthday. At 31, he began his formal language learning in Japan at Bunkyo University in Koshigaya City, Saitama, Japan. Although he fell short of his goal of passing the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in 2006, he remains active with Japanese and English Language Learners as an instructor for international students with conditional acceptance to American universities in his home state of South Carolina.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Interviewing for a Panel

2010-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a brief snippet on interviewing for a panel. This may consist of an alum on the program or organization, a specialist in the area and a scholar or a combination of the three.

1. If the application required an essay, remember what you wrote!

2. Spend time practicing answers to possible questions. Interviewers usually ask questions that will help them understand whether or not you're a good fit for the program. Tell the panel about your adaptability, how would you handle certain challenging situations, what qualities make you stand apart from others, etc. Be prepared for some curve ball questions too. Get friends to ask questions and to really grill you!

3. When answering, be concise but also elaborate so they can get the best picture of who you are.

4. Dress in your best business attire. This may seem obvious, but often is not followed correctly.

5. Show up early. Bring something calming to occupy your time while you wait. Practice beforehand but don't practice immediately before. We all have different styles, but you want to be genuine and not over polished or too stressed when the interviewers meet you.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Life Coach

2010-01-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

Since going from out of the country to out in the country, I've been fortunate to hear a local product who gained success at the pinnacle speak in person.

Sam Wyche, a graduate from Furman University in the Upstate of South Carolina was participant in the Super Bowl as a player for the Washington Redskins in the 1970s, as Joe Montana's quarterback coach for the San Fransisco 49ers in the early 1980s and as a head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in the late 1980s. Wyche was an innovator of the "no huddle" offense since was their normal offensive play strategy the entire game not for certain situations. Here is an excerpt of the speech I heard:

Courtesy of the Greater Greer News

During the years since his tenure as an NFL coach, Sam Wyche developed into a life coach.

As a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, Wyche shared the sideline and a Super Bowl victory with Bill Walsh and Joe Montana. As the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, he shared a terrific turnaround season and another Super Bowl appearance with Ickey Woods and Anthony Munoz.

Now, as a motivational speaker, Wyche shares stories of perseverance, persistence and preparation, translating his triumphs and letdowns into universal life lessons.

On Friday afternoon, he shared with nearly 125 Greer area business leaders, serving as the keynote speaker at the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce First Friday luncheon.

"I enjoy speaking. I've done it all my life," said Wyche, who earned a business administration degree from Furman University.

"When you go to a chamber meeting," he said, "you are speaking to people who are the foundation of what's going to keep this country strong or not. The free enterprise system has to work for every other of part of our society to work."

In his address, Wyche shared what legendary NFL coach Paul Brown and a lethargic service station attendant taught him about energy and enthusiasm. He shared what former Washington Redskins coach George Allen taught him about persistent, focused effort. He shared what Walsh taught him about being decisive and specific in all phases of life. He shared what former Bengals running back Stanley Wilson's struggle with drug addiction taught him about keeping one's guard up and protecting the higher cause.

Revealing those life lessons, Wyche charged the businessmen and women to serve their customers and their community with energy, persistence and focus.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Ten Suggestions to Deal with Reverse Culture Shock

2010-01-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

More from The JET Programme's After JET Guide, 2007:
What is Culture Shock? It is the experience one feels when spending considerable amount of time in one culture and then breaking in to a culture quite different. Reverse culture shock is when that person returns to their first culture after spending a considerable amount of time in their adopted culture. Here's a list of suggestions to beat the odds while experiencing the transition back into your main culture:

1. Be prepared: remember that reverse culture shock is both real and common.
2. Acknowledge your feelings, denial will only prolong the situation.
3. Remember some of your favorite stories will be out of context for your friends.
4. Be patient with your friends and with yourself.
5. Let your friends fill you in on what's "in" at home: TV shows, music, gadgets
6. Build a new community and find people who have had similar experiences.
7. Volunteer or find work that connects you to Japan.
8. Stay in contact with fellow JET alumni; share your re-entry experiences.
9. Keep up your Japanese, take a class or do a language exchange.
10. And don't forget, you can always go back to Japan even just to visit.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Japanese New Year Gathering in the Heartland

2010-01-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

Clemson, SC- Me with my wife and language learners on January 23rd.

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(C) 2009

Clash of the Cultures- A Work in Progress for Man and the World- Lessons Learned

2010-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

Written on Saturday, November 10, 2007

I can remember back when I was nine years old going to the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee with my father, grandfather and cousin. It was one of those summers when my younger sister and mother opted out and made their annual trek to my maternal grandmother’s home in Arizona. With our home becoming a bachelor’s pad of sorts, my father and I met up with my grandfather and my cousin in Georgia with a trek of our own-a taste of imported culture being brought to our neck of the woods. Twenty-five years later, I was wrapping up a three-year stay in Japan where I experienced differences in opinion, attitude and an overall approach to things and remembering from time to time the lessons learned with their beginnings going as far back as 1982.

The trip to Knoxville was a memorable experience in a lot of ways mainly because the summers back in those days had us going on family outings to Myrtle Beach, SC. It seems that the lessons learned from those beach outing were to:
a) never keep your back to the ocean too long or a big wave will catch you off guard and send you tumbling to the shore;
b) the long lines and pricey dishes for good quality seafood were worth the time and money since you couldn’t get the quality back home even though we resided in the Upstate and
c) it is not wise to ride the centripetal-force spin ride at the main amusement park located along the main drag in Myrtle Beach after a sitting of all-you-can-eat Calabash shrimp since you may be eating it twice as my sister did once by letting the ride get the best of her.

It seemed that this trip to Knoxville was a bonus trip since in addition to visiting the beach; we were now driving through the Smokey Mountains but with my sister and mother being substituted by my grandfather and cousin. The only mishap that I can recall from this trip is me becoming exhausted. The exhaust could have been caused by the heat, drinking too many sodas or the by the trip itself. After our first night in Knoxville, my cousin looked at me while eating dinner at a local steakhouse chain and saying, “Danny, are you OK?!?!? You look awful!” It was one of those rare things in my childhood when I found myself to be the youngest and smallest since my sister wasn’t with us. “I have to be tough.” I told myself since I didn’t have my mother around to look after me. I shrugged it off and gave my best tough look that I could muster and replied, “I’m OK. I was only yawning.”

The following day, we made our way to the main pavilion area where makeshift tent after tent were categorized by geographical location. Tents featuring European countries were to the left, South American countries were in the back, Asian countries were to the right and so on. As we visited each tent, I remember entering the tent called “Saudi Arabia” and becoming a bit scared as if I was entering a haunted house, unable to comprehend the unknown and only going off of what I did know about this mysterious culture which was the latest from NBC Nightly News and seeing pictures of people dressed as the man in the front of the room in our children’s Bible that my dad would read to my sister and I most mornings before leaving for school.

As the Arabic man dressed in traditional dress spoke to the visitors in the room mainly consisting of Southerners who probably have been outside of the Southeast US and may have been outside of the US if they were old enough to serve in the military during one of the conflicts of their generation which in general, seems to be the case when it comes to international travel with Americans. Afterwards, my cousin and I spoke to the man wearing a long white robe, goatee and turban and looking back on that time, I was as curious of him as my Japanese elementary students were of me when they would try to communicate with me. After entertaining us with the need to be somewhere else, the Arab man asked, “Would you like to take a picture?” As my cousin and I posed with the Arab man’s arms around our shoulders, he stops my father for a brief moment and says, “It is impolite to take a picture with your hats on.” and gently removes my cousin’s Atlanta Braves cap and my Olympics cap in time for the picture. At that moment, I felt awkward since I did not mean to be impolite to this grown-up and later realized that he too was wearing a hat but it wasn’t a cap like ours but a traditional turban.

My cousin (far left) and I with our Saudi Arabian exhibitor,

World's Fair, Knoxville, TN, 1982.

Later that day, we went to the tents featuring the countries from the Far East, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Each time we went, my grandfather would tease us and say, “Ask for Bruce Lee.” Some of the Asian people that my cousin and I would ask would smile at us since they knew that we were being silly asking for the fallen martial arts legend while others would stop what they were doing in their busy schedule and look around for a man with a last name “Lee”. While the person was looking for “Lee” my cousin and I would run off thinking to ourselves, “Oh my God! What have we done!” not expecting this person to fetch a couple of schoolboys a person as famous as Bruce Lee.

After finding my father and grandfather and bursting at the seams with laughter at our mischievous escapades we continued on with our tour of the World’s Fair. Later on in that trip, I had a group of older boys pass by my cousin and I as we entertained ourselves in a arcade area. These boys were a few years older than my cousin and I and were lost. They approached us and one of the boys began speaking rapidly to us in a language that we could not understand. After repeating himself again and getting the same blank look on our faces, he then asked us in slow words spoken deliberately in broken English, “Where’s the food court?” I pointed in the direction of the food court and the two boys went on their way.

As I look back at that trip, I recall learning the lessons that what may seem OK to you may not be OK to someone else, as well as, what may be common knowledge to me may be breaking news to someone else and lastly, not everyone speaks English in the US as a first language. In addition, what I may find as humorous, someone else may find as an insult.

Twenty-five years since that time, the facts are:

 Soon, the number of people who speak English as a Second Language (those whose mother tongue is anything other than English) will overtake Native English speakers. This trend is known as “Borderless Societies”.
 People belonging to a certain group such as sex, race, elderly, handicapped, etc. Everyone is in some sort of minority. This trend is known as Inclusion.
 Lifestyle- Old patterns from work no longer exist. Personal freedom has an uncertain future. We must find new patterns of accomplishing tasks and adjusting our freedoms to fit into that uncertainty.
 Taking the approach by having the “Make a Difference” mentality. More and more people are focus on mending what is terribly wrong. Just this past week, the NBC's “Today” Show had people broadcasting from the Artic Circle, the Equator and the South Pole in an effort to bring attention to the global warming epidemic.
 "Big Brother, Hold My hand” mentality. As we saw first-hand with the fall out of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the government in only capable of doing so much. We must live within our means weather it is finances or culture boundaries.
 The aging population is making a significant contribution to society. More and more 60-somethings are hard at work and are valued employees since they are reliable and have the poise to handle testy situations in a professional manner. The gimmick of outsourcing jobs due to the use of technology and sacrificing the quality of service needs to stop. In the US, 1 in 10 jobs to move overseas.
 Change careers several times. Swapping careers in becoming more common.

As the world evolved to take on these changes it is important to step back to reflect on our progress. If we were to honestly give ourselves a progress report, I’d have to say that there is much more room for improvement in the areas of cultural sensitivity. The early 2007 incident of the Islamic teacher in the UK refusing to remove her headscarf and how the authorities dealt with the issue coupled by the 2006 incident of the Dutch cartoons that offended Arabs are the same as the my cousin and I attempting to wear our hats in a picture with the Arab man in Tennessee as well as us causing havoc and being mischievous at the expense of satisfying our petty quest to find the great Bruce Lee, but only on a much larger scale.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Learning English: New partnership brings English as a Second Language program to Clemson,...

2009-12-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

... will draw more international students to continue their studies as Tigers.

Instructor, Daniel Stone explains a grammar point to a group of beginner-level students.

Published: December 21, 2009

Clemson University Official Website

When a university has a diverse culture, it opens the door for discussion, collaboration and great ideas. Students’ college experiences — and their lives — are enhanced by a diverse atmosphere.
Clemson University wants nothing less. One of the University’s 10-year goals is to increase its diversity while also strengthening the campus’ sense of community.

To help cultivate this culture and bring more great international students onto campus, Clemson has partnered with ELS Language Centers, an English as a Second Language program with a strong academic focus. By attending this new ELS center, students will come to Clemson to study and learn English, and many of them will finish and move into many of the University’s graduate programs.

Because ELS has global reach, Clemson will be able to expand its recruiting efforts to more students.

“This partnership allows us to get the world’s best students,” said Sean Williams, Graduate School associate dean. The Graduate School was integral in setting up this partnership.

To help pursue the vision to be a top-20 school, the University needed the language program as a resource for its international students, Williams said. More than 25 percent of the Graduate School’s 3,750 students are from another country. But cost and the amount of work it would
take to build a program from the ground up were just too much. Partnering with ELS allows the University not only to retain international students on campus but also to recruit more students from more countries than before.

“Our curriculum is academically focused,” said Tara Kelley, director of the Clemson ELS center. “We really focus on getting students ready to use English in an academic setting. Our goal is to get them ready for college or graduate school and get them to a university.”

Learning English specifically to be used in an academic setting appeals to universities and can be accepted in place of a TOEFL English competency exam, which international students take.
Increasing the diversity of students, and reaching the University’s 10-year goal, will enhance everyone’s knowledge by creating an atmosphere of question and discovery.

“When everybody looks the same, has been brought up the same, has had similar experiences, they are likely to approach problems in the same ways,” Williams said. “When you have students from different educational and cultural backgrounds working together, they look at problems in different ways because they literally see things differently and value things differently. The differences that people see create a climate where individuals begin to question each other and build understandings about the complexity of problems.”

One of the best ways to do this is to bring students in from other countries. Many of these students live on campus while others live with community and University staff members. All have the chance to participate in campus organizations, and many take advantage of the opportunity.

“It’s a tribute to the vision of Clemson University that they are looking for international scholars to enrich their experience here,” said Mark Harris, president and CEO of ELS Language Centers, during the center’s grand opening in November.

Clemson’s ELS center began with 16 students this fall. Next school year there will be 50 to 65 students enrolled. That number could double by 2011, Kelley said.

Many students in Clemson’s ELS center have ties to the Clemson area, which is why they chose to come here. Several students also have conditional admittance into the University’s graduate programs; they will be fully accepted as soon as they can speak English. There are also two visiting scholars studying with ELS while working under professors and researchers on campus, Kelley said.

The ELS program is intensive. Students come in at all levels of English knowledge, Kelley said. Classes run four weeks at a time with 13 sessions a year. On students’ first day, they are tested and placed in the appropriate level. As they pass each level, they move up until they graduate.
Core classes are taken in the mornings, and intensive students take additional skill enhancement classes in the afternoon. For example, an afternoon class might be power reading, listening and note taking, American culture, and idioms or vocabulary.

“I know my students and what they need,” Kelley said. “I choose the enhancement classes by looking at who my students are and what their goals are.”

Having the center on campus allows the teachers more opportunities to get the students out into an environment where they can interact with other people and improve their conversational English, Kelley said. Teachers have taken students to the campus dairy farm, conducted learning activities in downtown Clemson and more.

Experiences like these are priceless for everyone. Being on campus is a great advantage to ELS students and is just part of what this partnership brings to the table.

“We want the world's best students,” Williams said. “In order to attract and retain them, we have to have an environment that supports them. Having a robust English as a Second Language presence is one of the key services for ensuring that international students both feel welcome here and succeed.”

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

American Culture Exchange

2009-10-31T05:30:00.000-07:00

Essential components needed for exchanging your culture to a group that comes from another culture are confidence, a broad view, enthusiasum and the ability to make light of the situation.

As a group of hard working Americans and even one South African put our best foot forward to explain the meaning of Halloween to a group of Asian, Middle Eastern and European language learners, I wondered if the older students would think that our festivities were lame or that some would not be able to connect. I was pleased as the younger students really enjoyed their first Halloween experience and pleasantly surprised to see older students in costume and even volunteering to be wrapped in toilet paper for the mummy activity.

Looking back at this time last year, when I was at a local municipality where the high school attitude of ignoring somebody because you simply don't like that person was taking place, fast forward to now, and I am pleased at my decision making process that has allowed me to be in the place I need to be despite the distance between where my wife and I life and the opportunity is located. Where there is a will, there's a way.

Today's picture is of me wearing a jinbei (men's summer kimono worn in Japan) and a samurai wig.

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009

Global + Local = Glocal

2009-10-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

A growing dilemma facing international managers is known as "glocalization". As markets globalize, the need for standardization in organization design, systems and procedures increases. Yet, they are under pressure to adapt their organization to local characteristics of the market, the legislation, fiscal regime, socio-political system and cultural system. This balance between consistency/standardization and adaptation/appreciation is essential for corporation success.

Have you ever wondered why a Coca-Cola is packaged in the same red can and tastes the same weather it is bottled in Ohio or Osaka? Or why a McDonald's Big Mac Value Meal is the same regardless where you stand on the globe? It is always on a sesame seed bun, two patties with cheese separated by a thin slice of bread and topped off with shredded lettuce and thousand island dressing and two pickle slices and will never have a tomato, mayo, ketchup and mustard.

What is important to consider is not what the products/services and where they are found physically but what they mean to the people in each culture.

What does an executive recruiter in Tokyo mean to the Japanese culture? It will most likely mean that a foreigner, not Japanese will be successful in this role since the recruiter's relationship to the executive will be a junior in terms of age and on the hierarchy scale. Why? Is it because several corporations in Tokyo are from western countries operating in Tokyo or because it is near impossible for a Japanese person around the age of 30 to gain the trust of a senior Japanese executive to entice them to leave their current position for a more lucrative one. Bear in mind that until the early 1990s (Japan's Bubble Burst Economy) nearly all Japanese salary men had lifelong employment with a single employer. Universally, the same position in the US will require the same tactics of selling the executive to their client's company by any means necessary while at the same time selling their client on the executive. By the time the executive and client meet they spend the first five minutes trying to figure out why they are across the table from one another. In my own experiences, a recruiter and a used car salesman are alike in many ways. Either hot and heavy and borderline liar or won't touch you with a ten foot pole.

In this day and age, it is impossible to find a true non-Japanese company operating in Japan. Since these companies have to be operated by local staff comprised of salary men and office ladies (a very politically incorrect statement that is the norm in Japan) late hours, overtime (sometimes paid) is the status quo as if it were a traditionally Japanese minded company.

Maybe you're thinking, since you're not Japanese that you do can come into work at nine, leave at five, not attend meetings that do not pertain to you and still remain in good standing with your Japanese colleagues? Not in Japan.

On the other hand, you can reside in the US without a passport and visit Japan. Take my experiences with a Japanese multi-corporation in California. In the US, the month of January is a month of recovery in various areas, in particular, finances and festivities. The last week of the year has Christmas followed by New Years a week later. So, when my employer hosted a holiday party in late January, I was a bit puzzled. On Christmas Day, the office was closed only because nobody else would have been open. On Christmas Eve, it was a regular work day, just slow to non-existent. The last three days in December, the office was close followed the first three days of January. While business was usual around this Japanese minded company, the company behaved as if it were in Japan but actually 17 time zones away. I later learned that this company's Eastern US main branch is in constant turnover while the branch in California has low turnover due to many of the employees in California are sponsored by the company and are first generation Japanese expatriates. With the average age of this office in the mid to late 40s (maybe even higher) how long can this corporation go on in the US and remain competitive?

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com
(C) 2009