Effective Communication and Conversation: How to Improve Written and Oral English for Chinese Students: Luo Laoshi has been a successful teacher of English as second language for 8 years, because he has learned how to break through students educational and cultural barriers, to connect with them on a personal basis; to motivate them to be successful in English by teaching them the Skills (mechanics) of language use.
Introduction To Effective Conversation and Effective Communication
My name is R.P.BenDedek / Luo Laoshi, and I commenced teaching English to Chinese Students first semester in 2003. I have been teaching Chinese students for 10 years and am currently in a public school in SuZhou City Jiangsu Province China.
I have taught students of all ages and grades, and this includes teaching Conversational and Written English to University English Majors. I have taught in Hubei (Hong Hu and Wuhan), in Jiangsu (SuZhou and YanCheng), and in Baotou in Inner Mongolia.
Over the years I have learned a lot about how students think, and I have learned how (most of the time) to motivate them.
There are many problems with the way English is taught within the Chinese Education System, but, the only reason students have so much trouble learning English, is that they never actually use it in "REAL LIFE" situations. That is to say, that Chinese Students never learn to use English as English is Normally Spoken.
Chinese students learn Grammar - not Living English Language and they hate it! They are bored with it! They are sick of it!
You as a foreign teacher need to understand this!
You as a Chinese Student must understand that within two years of beginning to study English, you had more than enough English in your head to hold a decent conversation with foreigners.
The only way to really understand a language is to use it, but unfortunately in China, students think that the only people worth practicing with are foreigners. This is not true!
Most English Speakers are not Native English Speakers and Neither are the Chinese.
So Start having real conversations in English with your Chinese Friends.
If you arrived on this page because you asked google: "What does Effective Conversation / communication mean?" then the article you most probably want to read is this one.
It is a conversation in which no one gets confused by the other person's MEANING. The first thing you need to do to ensure effective communication is to use reflection (key words). The second thing is to ask Clarifying Questions; questions that try to find out the other person's true meaning. It can also mean a conversation in which something is achieved. It can be a conversation in which two people both enjoy the conversation and learn something. We should never assume anything in conversation. We should make sure.
This page contains links to my Teaching Lessons for ESL Teachers and Chinese Students.
Best of Luck!
Articles in the English Lesson Series at Kingscalendar
Improving Spoken English in Chinese Classroom Just answering questions with one or two words, or a phrase, is not a real conversation. It is more like a Police interrogation. In a real conversation, people share information, expressing their thoughts, opinions and ideas. If you want to have a real conversation then you must speak in whole sentences, using keywords [for effective communication,] and you must also learn to give Informative Answers.
Conversational English for Chinese Students: It does not matter if you do or do not like foreigners; or if you do or do not believe Chinese people should speak English; or if you will or will not use English later in life; or whether you did or did not have any other Major to choose from. What is important, is that you do your best to be successful in all your studies. The purpose of language is to enable you to communicate with others. If you can do this using good grammar and perfect accent and pronunciation, then that is wonderful. But if your knowledge of grammar is perfect, and your pronunciation is perfect, and your accent is perfect, but you can't talk to people, then all your knowledge and skill is useless.
Teach English in China: Reflection: Keywords: Changing Topics - Using keywords is very important, even if they are the wrong keywords. It helps us to make sure that we are both talking about the same thing. Speaking in whole sentences, using Keywords, and giving informative answers, is very important for effective communication. The key to Changing Topics in a conversation is to use the Key words of a question or an answer, to change the direction of the conversation.
What does Effective Communication mean? Effective Conversation! Effective conversation (communication) is a conversation in which no one gets confused by the other person's MEANING. The first thing you need to do to ensure effective communication is to use reflection (key words). The second thing is to ask Clarifying Questions; questions that try to find out the other person's true meaning. An effective conversation can also mean a conversation in which something is achieved. It can be a conversation in which two people both enjoy the conversation and learn something. We should never assume anything in conversation. We should make sure.
Effective Conversation and Group Discussions in English In Group Discussions, it is not enough to KNOW language skills, you actually have to be able to USE them. In order to be successful, you have to forget that you are shy; you have to develop a strong voice; you need to learn how to 'butt in', and of course, you need a good vocabulary. In a group discussion the 'topic of conversation' will change several times, as participants use their skills to avoid topics they do not wish to discuss, or to 'force' the group to discuss specific topics that skilled speakers wish to discuss. Group discussions are not 'orchestrated role plays' that can be practiced in advance.
Answering Questions with informative answers: Informative Answers make conversation more interesting. They make Changing Topics far more easy to do through the use of reflection. They make communication far more effective. Answering specific individual questions and actually communicating, are not the same thing. Informative answers are not just about giving the answer to one question. They are about communicating with the other person, and sharing with them something that you think might interest them or which you know that they either want or need to know.
Asking good questions in English: Closed Questions: In essence, closed questions do not ask for more than one piece of information. They are conversation killera - Open Questions: Open Questions are questions that provides people with an opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings. - Multiple Questions: Multiple means 'more than one". "Multiple questions" ask more than one question at a time. - Informative Questions: If you ever find yourself wondering why a person is asking you certain questions, it means that the person has failed to make their question informative.
How to Think in English: Memorize means: "to learn by heart" - Understand means: To grasp the meaning of something or to have thorough acquaintance with it; to be thoroughly familiar with it. Just because you memorize something, does not mean that you understand it. When you give a presentation, make sure that you know and understand what you have written. If you do this, it is less likely that you will forget your place.
Introducing Yourself: Does an introduction require skill? In fact it does. This is so because of the nature of an introduction. An introduction is your presentation of yourself, and your skill or otherwise at doing this, will effect the other person's judgement about who and what you are. The essence of good public Speaking is first found in the Preparation. A good public speaker knows exactly what to say, because they have developed very good preparation skills.
Vowels and Consonants: They say: 'Pronunciation does not have to be exact!' and they are right! Sometimes! Exact pronunciation can make the difference between being understood and either shocking foreigners or causing them to fall on the floor laughing. You have to be careful with your vowels. Do you have 'Six' lessons or 'Sex' lessons? Blue eyes or blue arse? And do you like fighting or farting? Or do you just like eating "ships"?
Mispronouncing English: A student who reads 100 words per minute clearly and precisely, pronouncing each word correctly, is much better to listen to than students whose faster reading slurs their speech, and makes their words incomprehensible. Reading fast often gets students into trouble, because they have not learned to pronounce every syllable in each word. You should not speak at a faster speed than 160 words per minute when reading or giving an Oral Presentation. While each word on it's own has a stress or accentuation on one particular syllable, those stresses are not supposed to dominate the sentence in which the words are used. Words are Stressed in a sentence to give them prominence (an importance) so that the listener knows the true message. The emphasis or stress we give to certain words, can change the grammatical meaning of the sentence.
Some Fun with English Words Here are some oddities concerning the English Language. You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
Business English for Chinese Students: There are two inescapable observations when it comes to the topic of Business English. The first is that studying Business is about Learning Theoretical Knowledge and the second is that Studying English is not meant to be theoretical. It will not be until you are in the business environment that you get your hands on experience of the Business world, and at that time, you will need to recall all that you have learned at University about Business. The purpose of your studies is to give you the practical ability that you will need when you enter the English Speaking Business World. In terms of your education, If you get the top English score in China, but can't do the job you are hired to do, then it is clear that you have concentrated on quantity (exam results) instead of Quality (being successful in your learning). A quality student Understands what he has learned. A quantity Student, just gets good marks.
Foreign Trade Assignment: Many Chinese Students think that opening a business requires little more than finding suitable shop or office space. They know little about the legalities involved in starting up a business, of import / export licenses, tariffs, insurance, advertising, legal fees, demographic studies, business plans, office rentals or the initial cost of purchasing equipment. They express a desire to get rich working overseas but have no concept of overseas living costs. They have no concept of how various aspects of life are interdependent eg: how the price of oil effects life and business in general, and world trade in particular. They feel that someone should teach them rather than learning for themselves. Students need to learn how to research.
Business English Exams: The Chinese Educational System inherently leads students to believe that teaching is the process whereby students learn what the teacher says. Learning therefore, is the memorization of what the teacher teaches. Conversational English is about learning the skills of natural [business] conversation. The purpose of the test is merely to discover if the student has at least basic conversational ability. While social issues may not seem to have anything to do with business or politics, the fact is that when it comes to politics and business, one thing that is needed in every country is a stable social environment. Such environments are fostered by the benefits that result from the successful interplay between political decisions and business development.
Language Skills: Memorandum, letters, thesis, speeches: Improving Oral and Written English: A major skill lacking in most Chinese students is that of "word association", which is a thinking skill that connects words to ideas or concepts; linking one keyword with another but different keyword and topic. Word association allows us to think of more than the specific topic under discussion. The problem most students have in writing, is that they can't think of 'what to write next'. Using word association skills, the problem is not 'what to write', but what to leave out of your writing.
Writing Skills: Speeches and Letters: Everything - Memo, letter, fax, email, speech, Thesis, business report, essay or a novel has 3 basic sections that are the same. Introduction - Body - Conclusion. The Introduction and Conclusion are easy because you do them after you have finished writing the Body of your report / speech etc. That 'BODY' has 'BONES' - the outline that results when using a professional formula to construct the composition. The bones of the speech derives from your ability to apply word association to your topic.
Writing: Facts: Summararies: Reviews: Chinese Students do not know how to summarize what has been written. They know how to give their opinion on what has been written; often given through the lens of political or cultural ideology that is not related to the written work. They do not understand the difference between writing objectively and writing subjectively. Writing about an author's purpose, is not about 'offering your opinions' on the writer, or the correctness or otherwise of what he writes. It is not about your 'opinion'. 'Your opinion' is subjective. Objectively writing about 'the writer's purpose' requires understanding what he/she has actually written.
Descriptive Writing: What you do not see is just as important and relevant as what you see! What you do not say or write, is just as important and relevant as what you do say or write! Do not give your opinion, nor use your imagination. Observe and Describe! What do you think the message of the whole picture is. What story does it tell. This does not mean that you should invent a story! The message is derived from the observation of the evidence. You may speculate or draw an inference from what is evident. Learn to describe what you see - not what you imagine about what you see! Learn to write about what is written - not what you imagine about what is written!
Teach English in China - Teaching Plan English Grammar is not synonymous with the English language, and passing language tests is not indicative of conversational ability. The objective is to release students from the Cultural, Political, and Educational restraints that prevent them from exercising the English Language in it's normative state. This is achieved through a variety of methodologies that are flexible enough to meet the needs of students irrespective of their current level of competence. Skills Acquisition: Natural Conversational Ability based on English Language Culture Discussion Skill. Aural Appreciation of Normal English spoken at Normal Speed English with no distinct separation between syllables and words. Understanding of Oral Grammar, Tones, stresses, Chinglish, Language Ambiguity and Idioms via real (not role play) English discussion.
Luo Laoshi has been a successful teacher of English as second language, because he learned how to break through students educational and cultural barriers, to connect with them on a personal basis; to motivate them to be successful in English by teaching them the Skills (mechanics) of language use. If the purpose of learning English is just to pass a grammar exam, then then Chinese students would be better off studying Chinese grammar. Luo Laoshi believes that the key to student success in studying English, is to learn 'the language' first, and the grammar second. Since the Education System in China puts such an emphasis on passing grammar exams, many students never learn the language.
What Should Foreign Teachers Teach? The Foreign Teacher's Job ought to be "To get the students to put into practice what their grammar teachers have taught them". Unfortunately, whilst all textbooks provide conversational exercises, students do not actually learn to think and use English when they do these exercises. Instead, they just memorize preplanned conversations. This does nothing for the students ability to hold a conversation. Whilst a foreign teacher can listen to students reading and then correct their pronunciation, or teach them some theory of conversation, the only effective way to make students improve their conversational ability, is to make them actually have real conversations.
Culture Barrier: Why can't Chinese Students Speak English very well? Few if any Chinese students arrive on foreign campuses with English language skills needed to work monolingually in English. The purpose of this article, is indicate some reasons why Chinese Students fail at conversational English. Chinese social and educational culture: constant 'chatting' in class; Dependence on 'passive' rather than 'self-motivated' learning; Fear of losing face; Refusing to practice English outside the classroom; Intellectual focus on Grammar rather than 'language' and the most important of all - they are not really interested.
E.E.T. East English Training Schools in Baotou and Shanghai: I originally published this because I wanted to warn foreign teachers about this Shanghai Based School. I had provided them with lots of free publicity, and they turned out to be nothing but users and abusers... Events such as cheating an American Female Teacher; being called before the Education Department; and the bashing of a Chinese woman who had once worked for the company. I received an email warning me not to return to Baotou, which I promptly forwarded on to officials in Taiwan, Australia and Baotou. It has cost me a lot of money to make sure that foreigners do not blindly fall into their hands - a lot more money than if I had just dropped the matter. These are truly vile people and I cannot in all good conscience let others fall into their trap.
Gothic Fiction: Chinese Writers Chen Yufei recently graduated from a college in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. This is his Thesis on Gothic Fiction. It was composed and written in English and there has been no editing of it on this page. Chen Yufei is a brilliant young man with a talent for writing in a 19th Century style, and he is well versed in the works of Edgar Allan Poe: Horace Walpole and Mary Shelly. His dream is to pursue an English writing career. He currently works as a translator for a Chinese publishing Company.
Foreign Students studying in Australia: Starting in July 2011 there will be more weight given to English proficiency and high-level qualifications in Australia. This is to stop immigration via the recruiting and employment of 'foreign students' who lack both English proficiency and proper business skills. One would assume that students who can pass the international language tests 'must have' a reasonable level of communicative ability in English, but this is just not so. As has been proved, it is possible for students to pass such exams without ever learning to hear or understand spoken English. With so few Chinese students being able to achieve a high level of English communicative ability as it is, one would imagine that China would be encouraging long term foreign English teachers to stay on in China; not requesting that they leave.
Theology courses in the U.S. According to the 'Guide To Online Schools', the site is an online education directory that specializes in online degrees, online schools, and distance learning. They help adult students find the best online schools, online colleges, and online universities with the best degrees and distance learning programs. I thought the site was rather interesting and wondered why someone thought it necessary to create it, but apparently there is a lack of 'general information' available on the net for those seeking a theology based education.
Copyright 2013 is held by the nominated authors on this article page.
The Download book does not contain a section on Seder Olam
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.
