Newbie needs link to teach English language to Hotel staff

[dannywla]

I was hoping some Forum members could provide me links to lessons and youtube videos that I van use in my first class this coming Tuesday. I have the task of teaching English to the staff of a Hotel as a volunteer.

My first time teaching, so I would like to come prepared and you a iPad or computer presentation as I now pictures work best. Any leads and links so much appreciated.

[delgarcon]

Hi Danny, I hope that you are aware that you need a work permit to even do voluntary work in Thailand, be careful if you haven't got one!

[dannywla]

I have received a exemption as this program is sponsored by the King. I have a ID card issued thru city hall. It's as legitimate as it gets in Thailand.

[HooHaa]

god help the students if you dont even know where to begin looking. i haven taught a class in 15 years, and i found a wealth of stuff with one search.

[zeichen]

First of all this is the wrong forum. The general teaching forum will give you more responses. This is for advice on where to take langauge classes not on teaching.

Second, how in the world does someone without any knowledge of what or how to teach EFL gets sponsored by royal decree?

Yes, please show your students youtube videos on their ipads, that is a great idea to start a rapport with your students.

Go take a TEFL course before you do this class. You will only hurt your students' language ability.

First start off your class by telling them that you are incompetent and because you have white skin and are young, you got this position. That you are not qualified and that they would be better off studying with a trained monkey. Then show your youtube videos and hit on the students.

I really hate the arrogance of people who take a position that they are not qualified for and think that all they need is a few links from veteran and or trained teachers.

[Scott]

Moved for greater visibility.

[coulson]

When I was teaching some time ago (which involved occasionally catering sometimes to hotel staff like you mentioned) making the class interactive and closely associated to the everyday situations they would likely face was the most productive. Keep the content minimal and repeat.

There is no great deal of lesson plans available online when you require to cater for a specific group of adults with a varying level of English, the lesson plan is an animal you have to sweat out by yourself.

Good luck

[coulson]

First of all this is the wrong forum. The general teaching forum will give you more responses. This is for advice on where to take langauge classes not on teaching.

Second, how in the world does someone without any knowledge of what or how to teach EFL gets sponsored by royal decree?

Yes, please show your students youtube videos on their ipads, that is a great idea to start a rapport with your students.

Go take a TEFL course before you do this class. You will only hurt your students' language ability.

First start off your class by telling them that you are incompetent and because you have white skin and are young, you got this position. That you are not qualified and that they would be better off studying with a trained monkey. Then show your youtube videos and hit on the students.

I really hate the arrogance of people who take a position that they are not qualified for and think that all they need is a few links from veteran and or trained teachers.

A little harsh! This isn't a school or a classroom scenario, it's just some sort of program?!? (albeit vague)

The fact that this guy is even researching for tools to assist him to teach makes him immediately more qualified than some of the characters who graduated from my TEFL class many years ago.

[lostinisaan]

First of all this is the wrong forum. The general teaching forum will give you more responses. This is for advice on where to take langauge classes not on teaching.

Second, how in the world does someone without any knowledge of what or how to teach EFL gets sponsored by royal decree?

Yes, please show your students youtube videos on their ipads, that is a great idea to start a rapport with your students.

Go take a TEFL course before you do this class. You will only hurt your students' language ability.

First start off your class by telling them that you are incompetent and because you have white skin and are young, you got this position. That you are not qualified and that they would be better off studying with a trained monkey. Then show your youtube videos and hit on the students.

I really hate the arrogance of people who take a position that they are not qualified for and think that all they need is a few links from veteran and or trained teachers.

Dear Mr. Zeichen,

WE both went through rough waters, but I found my own way.

Found my way to live my life and found a way to solve my problems at school.

I've just changed my view of things, had/(have) the balls to have a serious chat with my boss, told him what needs to be changed and it worked out.

Typing a simple letter and I had my expenses for work permit reimbursement from last year !! and this year

The kids love me, I love my job and life's great.Going to work is actually fun again, which is the basic idea of living a happy life and being successful.

But when I read your post, I almost threw up. You must have lost the last respect you could give to other people you haven't even met, sincere asking for advice. Not everybody is perfect and we all started somewhere, don't you think?

My favorite one is psychology and I can easily read between your lines. That's really scary.You seem to have serious issues with yourself and you shouldn't give your emotion to others. No in such a way, please.

I took my life in my own hand and things have positively changed. Not as grumpy as you come over. If you had character, you'd send the guy a private message that you had a strange time, or so.

OP< please send me your e-mail in a private message and give me some details. Material will follow. Guess post seems to be best.

I feel sad that such bitter people can even post such words, some of them really disgusting.

Edited May 27, 2015 by lostinisaan

[Scott]

Let's stick to the topic and be civil to each other.

There are a lot of different scenarios that result in people getting assigned a job for which they are not fully trained. I have run into many teachers who were assigned jobs outside of their area of expertise. Just this year, it was decided that all teachers teaching social studies should also teach science. For lower grades that's not a big problem, but for the upper grades, it is. It was not done with their permission.

When someone asks a questions, it's best to answer the question. Personal commentary needs to be handled carefully and diplomatically.

The teaching community has enough problems without turning on each other.

Your cooperation is appreciated.

[zeichen]

Yes, I was harsh and yes we all start somewhere, but the OP was asking for lessons the day before he taught. That isn't asking for help that is just sad. If the OP was asking for some advice on teaching or asking for help, I would give him a list of resources, books, that will help him as I often do. This OP doesn't want to improve his teaching. He wants someone to prep a lesson for him or show him some resources so that he can plug and play so he doesn't actually have to do his job. I don't care if it is a formal classroom or not, teaching children, or adults doesn't matter. No one should go into a classroom as a teacher if they don't have any clue whatsoever.

There is a difference between someone's first day on the job that has some training or at the very least researched the field and someone who thinks youtube videos are a proper method of instruction. On the first day you should be building a rapport and getting the students comfortable with each other. A couple of random youtube videos doesn't help you do that. I use a lot of multi media in my lessons but they are created or chosen very carefully and support a lesson not replace it.

If his post read "I am new to teaching and would like some help making my lessons more effective. I struggle with ..., ...,... do you have any advice how to make this better. Or I am planning on doing this..., this... and this... do you have any suggestions that would make the lesson more interactive, effective, student centered, etc. Then I think he would get a lot more help.

[lostinisaan]

Here's some stuff, please have a look. Don't forget "Greetings and response", "formal and informal" speech. Goggle youtube and you'll find a lot of material.

I tried to attach some Power Points, but doesn't seem to work. Make your own, please.

booking-a-hotel.pdf

hotel-english.doc

hotel-review.doc

lesson-1.doc

unit2.docx

unit2.pdf

[lostinisaan]

Yes, I was harsh and yes we all start somewhere, but the O n do. This OP doesn't want to improve his teaching. He wants someone to prep a lesson for him or show him some resources so that he can plug and play so he doesn't actually have to do his job. I don't care if it is a formal classroom or not, teaching children, or adults doesn't matter. No one should go into a classroom as a teacher if they don't have any clue whatsoever.

There is a difference between someone's first day on the job that has some training or at the very least researched the field and someone who thinks youtube videos are a proper method of instruction. On the first day you should be building a rapport and getting the students comfortable with each other. A couple of random youtube videos doesn't help you do that. I use a lot of multi media in my lessons but they are created or chosen very carefully and support a lesson not replace it.

If his post read "I am new to teaching and would like some help making my lessons more effective. I struggle with ..., ...,... do you have any advice how to make this better. Or I am planning on doing this..., this... and this... do you have any suggestions that would make the lesson more interactive, effective, student centered, etc. Then I think he would get a lot more help.

You're right about many things. Yes. But please don't attack people. Life's too short to make if more complicated, especially when working at a Thai school, where common sense does not seem to exist.

And yes, there's more to teaching them, not just some youtube. I think a little help to help himself doesn't hurt. Zeichen, nothing personal, but you really attacked this guy. Peace.

[NeverSure]

Yes, I was harsh and yes we all start somewhere, but the OP was asking for lessons the day before he taught. That isn't asking for help that is just sad. If the OP was asking for some advice on teaching or asking for help, I would give him a list of resources, books, that will help him as I often do. This OP doesn't want to improve his teaching. He wants someone to prep a lesson for him or show him some resources so that he can plug and play so he doesn't actually have to do his job. I don't care if it is a formal classroom or not, teaching children, or adults doesn't matter. No one should go into a classroom as a teacher if they don't have any clue whatsoever.

There is a difference between someone's first day on the job that has some training or at the very least researched the field and someone who thinks youtube videos are a proper method of instruction. On the first day you should be building a rapport and getting the students comfortable with each other. A couple of random youtube videos doesn't help you do that. I use a lot of multi media in my lessons but they are created or chosen very carefully and support a lesson not replace it.

If his post read "I am new to teaching and would like some help making my lessons more effective. I struggle with ..., ...,... do you have any advice how to make this better. Or I am planning on doing this..., this... and this... do you have any suggestions that would make the lesson more interactive, effective, student centered, etc. Then I think he would get a lot more help.

With all due respect, would you please tell me what this post did to help the guy and more important, his students? After all, you know so much that surely you would offer some assistance?

Thank you.

[zeichen]

"Yes. But please don't attack people"

actually nothing I said was an attack on him, but perhaps you should read your own posts. you accuse me of being crazy, no character and a disgusting person. But I doubt that you will ever admit that you did even worse than what you accuse me of.

Please show me in my post where I accused the OP of anything other than a lack of professionalism. FYI he already had his class. The OP was asking for help the day before he taught. That is why criticized. I was just being sarcastic.

[dannywla]

Post 12, Thank you SINCERELY for taking the time to provide me the Best answer. You truly are a gem of a person to take the time and make the effort. I am so glad to see that there are people on Thai Visa Forum who are sincere.

Zeichen, you are truly a disgrace to Thai Visa Forum. What makes you so cyncical? You have and should be banned, as you post was a insult and served no purpose. You Truly have deep personal issues and don't post in the future if you truly have no positive contributions. Karma will come your way.

Lastly, my first class went quite well. I am a very successful business owner and prepared to insure I would not fail.

My group of twenty adults who have the good fortune to work in one of the few five star hotels was a pleasure to work with. Today is lesson two, I am looking forward to my positive influences and there ability to speak directly to there customers.

Thank you for those who took the time to reply in a positive fashion! Lostinissan, Thanks a Million!

[zeichen]

I am opening a rest. tomorrow can you all give me some really good recipes because I don't know how to cook and I need to put a menu together before it opens. Even if I got the best recipes, it wouldn't help me because they wouldn't be unified.

Would you hire yourself to teach your own staff English? If this was your business and you needed your staff to have a higher skill set to compete against other top businesses, would you hire yourself?

Yes, I was harsh and sarcastic. But the truth is you really don't have any business stepping into a classroom if a few days before you begin, you ask for help putting together some activities.

You want real help here it is

Nothing anyone gives you will be of use if it isn't cohesive. Having a few activities or handouts no matter how good they are won't help your students. Just a random assortment of things jostled together will cover your time but won't maximize the effectiveness of your course. Have you ever sat through a conference, seminar etc where the speaker was interesting but after 3 hours you actually didn't come away with anything that you could use?

Before you plan a lesson you need to have an objective. In your situation you need to have an overall objective for the entire course (how many hours, how many times a week, etc. What the management want out of the course. All of these questions will help you shape your objective. Then you break it up into units or smaller sections. Each of those sections need to contribute to one aspect or the whole objective of the course. Then each lesson needs to answer the unit objective or question.

Though Lost did try to help you his activities are pretty much worthless. The dialogs and activities are probably redundant for these people. Remember you are not teaching them business nor hotel management, you are teaching them English. So none of your business background is actually going to help you.

Its too late because you already had your first class but usually you want to create activities that will allow you to assess your students strengths and weaknesses as well as build a rapport with them and build a trust between them so they don't feel afraid to take risks.

If you give them a dialogue that has a certain set of vocabulary like Lost sent in Hotel English doc, it won't help them much. Yes, they will be active, yes they might even have fun, but to truly be effective a student centered activity that allows them to identify the language they need is better than you telling them what vocabulary they will need. Most likely unless they are brand new, they will know a lot of jargo used in their field. They might use it wrongly or have poor pronunciation, but if you sculpt a lesson telling them what vocabulary they need rather than having them guide you, you waste everyone's time.

One example to start off a lesson with a warm up activity, might be to have them get into groups, and have them create a dialog where they describe a customers complaint and how they remedy it. Again, this activity is useless if it doesn't answer or reflect the unit objective/question.

Students might like you, they might have fun and in Thailand even if they didn't, you wouldn't know it. What and how are you measuring the effectiveness of your classes?

Yes, I was flippant and dismissive and very critical, but your question and request wasn't the best. There are so many factors that go into teaching and yes we all have to start somewhere but really asking for some youtube videos or links to help you throw together a lesson a day or 2 before you teach is unprofessional. If you can admit that, then I am certain you will be on the right track.

Read the book, how languages are learned by nina spada, How to teach English by Jeremey Harmer, this will give you a crash course. However none of them are firmly grounded in educational theory and are more linguistic focused. In order to be effective you need both educational theories and best practices and knowledge of language acquisition.

If you are just looking for some fillers to get through the time you have to spend with these students then just show what Lost Issaan gave, if you want to actually teach and have them get something from the class, ask more from yourself.

[richard10365]

Hi Danny,

Asean has classes you can download for free in a new certificate program called the Asean Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP). Asean tourism professionals earn a certificate for demonstrated competence in a series of competencies. About 8 to 10 of the required classes deal with English for Tourism (hotels are part of tourism).

Each class is contained in a "toolbox" that has the competency standard, PowerPoint presentation, Trainer Guide, Trainee Manuel, and the Assessor Manuel.

The toolboxes can be downloaded from waseantourism.com. The login is guest and the password is guest1.

In total, there will be 242 classes but presently 145 classes are complete. The rest are in development.

Once you access the site, the first option will show you the list of approved classes. Do a page search (control f) for "English" and you will find the English classes easier.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

[Somtamnication]

Lots of nice stuff and ideas there. Thanks!!!!!!!

[janejira]

I think I'm late to this thread, but I'll add my two cents.

"Hotel Staff" is very broad. Some things to keep in mind are that most hotels have very different tasks/duties depending on their department. This would then mean that they have very different interactions with guests and very different uses of English.

Will you be teaching one department at a time? Or a mixed class? (E.g., A room attendant doesn't generally take food or beverage orders from guests; a restaurant server doesn't generally need to discuss changing the linens with a guest.). Once you you figure out what kind of interactions your students will be having in English, you can target vocab and dialogues from there.

Another idea is to ask them directly about the types of interactions they have, what English they use, and what they want to learn- this would of course only really be beneficial if they already have a high enough command of English to communicate these things with you.

Good luck!

[djayz]

First of all this is the wrong forum. The general teaching forum will give you more responses. This is for advice on where to take langauge classes not on teaching.

Second, how in the world does someone without any knowledge of what or how to teach EFL gets sponsored by royal decree?

Yes, please show your students youtube videos on their ipads, that is a great idea to start a rapport with your students.

Go take a TEFL course before you do this class. You will only hurt your students' language ability.

First start off your class by telling them that you are incompetent and because you have white skin and are young, you got this position. That you are not qualified and that they would be better off studying with a trained monkey. Then show your youtube videos and hit on the students.

I really hate the arrogance of people who take a position that they are not qualified for and think that all they need is a few links from veteran and or trained teachers.

+1 Edited June 27, 2015 by djayz

[somchaismith]

Yes, I was harsh and yes we all start somewhere, but the O n do. This OP doesn't want to improve his teaching. He wants someone to prep a lesson for him or show him some resources so that he can plug and play so he doesn't actually have to do his job. I don't care if it is a formal classroom or not, teaching children, or adults doesn't matter. No one should go into a classroom as a teacher if they don't have any clue whatsoever.

There is a difference between someone's first day on the job that has some training or at the very least researched the field and someone who thinks youtube videos are a proper method of instruction. On the first day you should be building a rapport and getting the students comfortable with each other. A couple of random youtube videos doesn't help you do that. I use a lot of multi media in my lessons but they are created or chosen very carefully and support a lesson not replace it.

If his post read "I am new to teaching and would like some help making my lessons more effective. I struggle with ..., ...,... do you have any advice how to make this better. Or I am planning on doing this..., this... and this... do you have any suggestions that would make the lesson more interactive, effective, student centered, etc. Then I think he would get a lot more help.

Yes. But please don't attack people.

You've just made me fall off of a chair, with laughter.