E-mail etiquette- When the situation is not good

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

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

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

Learn the language.

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

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

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)

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

Ordering at Subway Checklist

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

• 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