● 2003.12.24 3:35pm
我發了一封email給我的同事
Dear ALL
我們為期18堂 ( 40分鐘 / 堂) 的英文課即將在聖誕夜劃下句點。
這是一次學習，也是一個嚐試，不管你是否有所收穫(或許覺得Boring)，都給自己一個愛的鼓勵吧！因為我們有了一個不一樣的學習空間。
在短短的三個星期裏，可能課程不如你的預期，也可能你已感受到老師的認真與熱情 (如同12月22日那堂愉快的英文課般) ；無論如何，我彙集了大部份同學的意見並與貝立茲的窗口Sunny討論後，要求老師在課程中能不時的修正並加強我們所希望能學習到的部份，包括會話的溝通、文法的提示、完整句子的writing……等等。我想把這個過程記錄下來，讓大家瞭解貝立茲能在英文這個領域幫助我們什麼？(詳後附e-mail)。
我很希望這個英文班能繼續下去，Sunny私下跟我透露，Suzan告訴她BDO的學生是她最喜歡的一群，只要當天有BDO的課，她一早就很期待，而且心情特別好。這些話聽起來讓人開心，但我更希望能從她身上學習到更多、更多。旺季來臨，大夥兒又要開始忙碌，時間上安排不易，因此還是得問問大家對英文班持續上課的意願，我列了兩個時間，若有意願，可就你的選擇回傳給我，(星期四以前)，謝謝！
1. 一星期一堂 星期五晚上6:30~8:30
2. 一星期兩堂 星期一及星期五晚上6:30~8:30
Iris
Dear Iris,
After I heard that some of your people have the feeling that they didn’t enhance a lot in grammar and writing through our lesson. I forward this feedback to our LIS (Language Instructional Supervisor), Daniel, immediately. Here are some comments regarding to BDO group and I hope it will help your people to understand what their problems are and how they can go on this program. As what Daniel had proposed, we are glad to meet your people and listen to them and solve the questions they have in mind.
Please kindly forward this letter to your colleagues and let me know if they’d like to have a discussion regarding to the importance and necessity for the units in the further. Our LIS will be glad to meet them. Thanks for working hard to coordinate everything for this training. We are much appreciated.
Best regards,
Sunny Liu
Corporate Client Accounts
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Oliveira
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 10:26 AM
To: Sunny Liu
Subject: Re: Charter Group - BDO
Dear Sunny,
I'm glad to hear that BDO enjoyed our instruction, but it appears that there seems to be confusion as to their expectations. A Berlitz classroom is organized so as to maximize student participation and speaking time. In a properly run class, the teacher should be talking about 50% of the time, and the student should be talking 50%. With group lessons, the total student talking time should be higher than the total instructor talking time. This is true even at the lower levels, such as the BDO Charter group.
The materials are designed in such a way as to teach the students how to speak grammatically correct. There are not a lot of in-depth lectures on grammar rules simply because it's more important to speak grammatically correct than to memorize a long list of grammar rules. At Berlitz we teach by doing, in a way that is similar to the way that people pick up their first language, and it works if the student practices. Memorizing a long list of grammar rules does not help students speak grammatically correct. Most people in Taiwan have at least six years of English lessons that they took in junior high school and high school, memorizing lists of vocabulary and grammar rules, and they still cannot speak grammatically correct. However, if the students insist on more formal grammatical explanations, they can get those on the BerlitzEnglish website, along with more exercises to help them improve their grammatical accuracy.
The BerlitzEnglish materials are designed in a very systematic way. Each chapter has four units, and they follow this order:
Unit 1: Introduction to the chapter; vocabulary building; skits
Unit 2: Grammar practice
Unit 3: Speaking practice
Unit 4: Chapter check (review)
Every sixth chapter is a review chapter, which covers the material in the previous five chapters.
The "problems" that the students encountered in the 18 lessons that they took can be analyzed easily.
First, it was a mixed group in terms of levels, which makes it more challenging for the instructor to teach because they have to focus more attention on weaker students, and thus the stronger students might feel bored or neglected. If the levels were between A+ and 2+, then I can see why some of them would be less than excited about going to class.
Second, the 18 units were only enough to give the students and opportunity to get an idea of what the teaching materials and method were like. By the time the students are comfortable with the teaching method and materials, the course will be over. Currently the group has taken 12/18 lessons. Also, 12 units is not enough time to see great progress, especially in terms of grammar. This is compounded by the fact that a lot of the students don't spend time outside of class to review or practice the material that they learned in class.
As far as writing goes, the emphasis at the lower levels (1 - 4) is on speaking and listening, with some reading and writing done in class. However, most of the reading and writing is usually assigned for homework since writing is a very time consuming process. Students don't come to a Berlitz language class to spend most of their time in silence writing, they come to improve their speaking skills. Students at lower levels who wish to improve their writing and reading are urged to go to the BerlitzEnglish website to find exercises that will help to improve their writing and reading.
For a group of 12 mixed level students, such as the BDO group, it is important not only for them to come to class consistently (which most of them are not doing) but also to review the material that they covered in class and to do the practice exercises on the BerlitzEnglish website. If they do that, then they will see a lot of progress over the course of a 72-lesson program.
If you have anymore questions or concerns, please let me know. I'd be happy to speak to the students or the HR Manager about it with you if they want further explanations.
Best Regards,
Daniel Oliveira
Local Instructional Supervisor
---- Original Message -----
From: Sunny Liu
To: 'Daniel Oliveira'
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 4:41 PM
Subject: Charter Group - BDO
Daniel,
I need your help for this group. They bought 18 units to experience our instruction. Though they like our instruction, but some of the students think it didn’t help a lot on writing and grammar. They felt the conversational subjects are not their main and urgent needs for now. Therefore, when I try to push them to buy another 72 units, I got a barrier. They would like us to propose a teaching plan to show them what we are going to do to improve their grammar and writing skill in class.
This group mixed the students from level 2+ ~ A+. I had suggested them to separate into two groups, but they don’t have enough budget. I think if you can write a letter for them (like what you did for CFC) and propose them some teaching methods that focus on grammar practice will be helpful.
If there is any other comment I’d like to hear from you.
Sunny Liu
Corporate Client Accounts
● 2003.12.24 6:35pm
今晚英文課只有5人出席，出席率5/13。
● 我只是想表達我的失望。聖誕夜，好冷！
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