CORPORATE TRAINING IN EC SKILLS

STAFF TRAINING IN EC(ENGLISH COMMUNICATION) SKILLS

To train a group of people working in an organization(corporate/social/educational) first of all they can be divided into batches of maximum ten members. The seating arrangement in the form of a semi-circle would be very much useful for better interaction and participation.

On the first day the participants are told about the basic English sentences like I am .... I have.... I work/stay.... There are...... One very interesting exercise is "Thought Sharing" In this exercise a participant comes and shares one of his/her thoughts with the group and the teacher translates this thought in English. This exercise gives confidence to the learners when they realise that using this method anything and everything can be communicated in English. 

On the second day participants interact with each other using "Yes/No" questions of sentences of the first type ie., "I am". On the third day they learn to interact using Wh-questions. In the next few days other three types of sentences are taught ie., "I have, I work and There are". Then they are also taught how to ask questions in Past and Future time. All this is done through interesting exercises. Some of which are:

EC MEDITATION

EC and Meditation (This exercise is for the beginners in EC but the same format could be used for conducting EC exercises for advanced learners also)

1. Asked the students to close their eyes for a minute and think about themselves from a third person point of view. After one minute they can open their eyes slowly and then share that "inner world" experience with the audience, first in the form of a speech and then through an interaction.
The Speech: Dear friends, I have a friend. His/Her name is ..... He/She has ...... He/She works/stays/uses/lives ..... There are many good things about him.
The Interaction: Some of the questions were like: Where does he/she stay? Which mobile does he use? Where does he work/study/live etc.
2. Asked the students to close their eyes for a minute and think about their experiences the previous day and then select a conversation which they enjoyed the most. After one minute they can open their eyes slowly and then share that "inner world" experience with the audience, first in the form of a speech and then through an interaction.
The Speech: Dear friends, Yesterday I had a conversation with ....... He/She is .... He/She has ... He/She works/stays/lives ....
The Interaction: Some of the questions were like: Where does he/she stay? Where does he work/study/live ? Where did you both meet? How did you talk...I mean on phone or in person? How long did you talk? etc.

THE POWERFUL LANGUAGE OF AFFIRMATION & VISUALIZATION

TALKING ABOUT ONE'S ASPIRATIONS AND THEN USING THE POWERFUL LANGUAGE OF AFFIRMATION & VISUALIZATION

STEPS: Asked the students to talk about their aspirations and also discussed the powerful language of affirmation and visualization.

1.Aspiration: I want to become the manager.
I aspire to be an IAS Officer.
I aspire to have a business of my own
I aspire to learn martial arts.
(Here instead of ASPIRE other verbs like PLAN, DESIRE, AIM, HOPE, LIKE, LOVE, WISH can also be used.) 
2.I will buy a car: Affirmation
3.I will be buying a car: Visualization

When you say "I will buy a car" it's an Affirmation. It's a very strong declaration.

When you say "I will be buying a car" it's Visualization. It's like seeing that particular action happening live in your mind. 

  THE VERBAL INTERACTION EXERCISE

In this exercise all the participants ask questions and interact but they should ask questions using only a particular verb given by the participant who comes forward for doing group interaction.

The questions can be both "Yes/No" or "Wh" types.

For eg. the participants in the audience can ask questions like:

Where do you work?

Where did you work yesterday?

Where will you work tomorrow?

Have you worked today?

Were you working in the morning?

(Here the verb to be used is "WORK")

Similarly other commonly used verbs can used to make questions in the next rounds of interaction)

 VOICE OF THE VOICELESS Learning Passive Voice Exercise

Change into passive voice:

I serve food.

I am serving food.

I have served food.

I served food yesterday.

I was serving food yesterday.

I will serve food.

After understanding the above, the students interact with the audience, imagining that they are now an object say a restaurant/newspaper/whiteboard/classroom which can speak. Questions can be made like:

When were you established/manufactured and by whom?

Were you being used yesterday?

Are you being used now?

Are you maintained properly?

Will you be changed in any way in future?

THE FIVE POINT APPROACH IN LEARNING AND TEACHING EC (ENGLISH COMMUNICATION)

You need to understand the importance of these five things to learn and train, practice and teach EC

1.LOGIC OF ENGLISH SENTENCES
2.STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH SENTENCES
3.HOW TO USE VERBS
4.POLITE EXPRESSIONS
5.PRONUNCIATION AND VOCABULARY

NOW LET'S USE TWO INTERACTIVE GAMES TO PRACTICE AND LEARN EC

1.  The COMBINATION Game

(This game measures the ability of the students to ask questions according to the rules of English also called "the sentence logic")

PURPOSE OF THE GAME: English communication is all about making the right combinations ie., we need to combine the right verb with the key words to either ask a question or to talk about something.

HOW TO PLAY: 

The teacher first writes some verbs(which are used for making questions) and asks one member from one of the teams to write key words for combining with the verbs already given.  An example is given below:

Do(supporting verb written by the teacher) + book(a key word written by a team member)

Similarly:

Are + class

Is + friend

Will + food

Does + bus

Now the other team has to combine both the words ie., supporting verb and key word to make a question.  For eg.

Do you like this book?

In which class are you studying?

Who is you best friend?

Will you eat your food with me?

Does this bus go to city?

If a question has both the words(verb and key word) combined properly following the English rules then one mark can be given to the team whose member asked the right question.  Now let all members of that team ask questions using the remaining combination of "verb and key word" in the right way as given above. For every right question asked by the team members one mark can be given.

After one round the teacher can change the verbs with new ones like:

Have(supporting verb written by the teacher) + sky(a key word written by a team member) 

Was + teacher

Did + father

Were + mother

Has + brother

Now the other team has to combine both the words ie., supporting verb and key word to make a question.  For eg.

Have you a seen a clear sky this week?

Which chapter was the teacher taking?

Where did your father go yesterday?

Were you talking to your mother just now?

Has your brother got admission?

In the last round the teacher can give modal verbs to combine with the key words written by one of the team members:

May (supporting verb written by the teacher) + games(a key word written by a team member)

Would + tea

Shall + trees

Should + cycle

Can + bag

Now the other team has to combine both the words ie., supporting verb and key word to make a question.  For eg.

May I play games?

Would you like to have a cup of tea with me?

Shall we go near the trees?

Should I bring my cycle?

Can you hold this bag?

2. The "DESCRIBING A PERSON" Game 

(This game measures the ability of the students to ask questions in order to get information about a person and also to "better their describing a person" skills.)

PURPOSE OF THE GAME: Asking " yes/no questions " about a person and also learning to describe people by their physical appearance.

HOW TO PLAY:

 A member from a team comes to the front and asks the opposite team to guess a person's name (whose name will be written on a sheet of paper and shown only to the speaker) by asking only three Yes/No questions. Now this team member or speaker  will say only "Yes" or "No" to the questions asked by the other team about the mysterious person. 

For eg. Is the person male? and the answer may be "No"

             Is she tall? Ans. "Yes"

             Is she very active? Ans. "No"

After three "yes/no questions" have been asked,  the speaker will give a one line description of the mysterious person and this one line description should be about his/her physical appearance only. For eg.

            She is wearing a red dresss today.

Now the opposite team will again ask two more "yes/no" questions and then try to guess the name of the mysterious person.  If they succeed they can be given one mark. But there is one condition ie., the name of the mysterious person can be said only once.  So the team guessing the name should say it only when they are very sure of its accuracy possibly after asking all their "yes/no" questions.

 

COMPLETED FIRST PART OF STAFF TRAINING FOR PARAGON GROUP, CALICUT IN APRIL 2014

TO BE CONTINUED...