Any idea how to arrange a good english course?

Well, first of all, great effort!

However, the challenge I see in it, is the fact that you've mentioned already. They will be shy to speak and they'll feel ashamed when they do something wrong!

I can tell you from my own experience when I went to US. I started a week after I arrived to Boston, at the Reception/ Reservation. We got shown our new work area and we were introduced to the colleagues and than we listened to the other guys who took already reservations.
On the second day we were told:"Ok, the next reservation is yours!"

Right, ;-), I said, forget it, no way I gonna take that reservation! So I guess after we were observing the others for around a week we started to take reservations. I can tell you, it was really difficult in the beginning, especially to understand all the different accents and slangs from all over US. It took me some while before I was secure and I could even understand Texan's!

What I am trying to say is, that the problems you guys gonna face are that you will have English lessons for 1 hour or so, and than you gonna go back to German.

I think, if operations allows it, on the day you will conduct the English training, you should speak the whole day only English with them! No matter what, everything should be spoken in English only! Even if you tell them to take orders, go for break, change the linen, wash this or that, and so on!

cheers folks

Hi,

Patrick, do you really think it would be wise to mix both languages on a normal business day? I guess that would work for about 30 minutes before they fall back into their usual habits as they are still communicating in german most of the time.

Especially when you consider all guest contacts and those relations to all other departments within the hotel.

Maybe it would help to start conducting future team meetings in english rather than in german or to issue all memos etc in english as well...

Who is attending your trainings?

How do you do your trainings normally?

Are you using role plays and power point presentations? They could present your hotel facilities or the surrounding area for example... or you could watch english movies alltogether. You could also do a project with them where they have to create a play which they present on your next staff party for example.

This might help to improve their understanding and therefore they might gain confidence to use it more naturally in future.

Best regards,

Kai

Those are great ideas!

Its the first curs I would organise. I'm on it with another workmate.

The curs is for everybody from the staff who wants. I was really suprised when I saw the first names from the kitchenboys =)

We're all pretty young in the team and it will be difficult... How do you wanna teach some guys who think already they know everything better and that they dt need anymore knew knowledge?
But thats another story.

To use the english language in a normal day will be crazy. If they panic they are angry with themself, then they gonna tell themself "English?? For what?!" Then they never will learn.

I need something that they have sucess.

I like the idea with showing the facilities... for the guys who just started (if they take part in the curs) it will be a nice idea to show them around and teach them the right words to use. Than you can do the role plays... That could work!

To create a game sounds good as well, but I doubt that the want to get involed to so much. It will be to much expected.

Thanks a lot!!

Hi you lot 😉
My mum's an English teacher, she does Cambridge Exams, so I pick up what she does in her lessons sometimes.
In my opinion there are quite a lot of possibilities getting them to talk.
What shot into my mind straight away was, why not do a roleplay. You could do some vokabulary lessons (don't know what your mates are up to regarding the English "gastro vokabulary") and then give them a situation (perhaps in several groups) which they have to work out. In the end, each group has to present it, so it gets them to talk.
Or you could bring a little tennisball or so to the lesson and you begin with a sentence. You could make a customer's complaint in one sentence (i.g. My barthroom is dirty) and then throw the ball to one of your "pupils". He/She has to carry on the conversation, say one sentence (i.g. I'm very sorry about that or something), and has to throw the ball either back to you and you reply or to another pupil.
My mum just did funny words in English, like a "shoetree" and her pupils had to guess what it is. Perhaps there are strange sounding Englisch gastro-words too? So they have to guess what it is, or more to the point, describe what it is. This gets them to talk aswell. Actually, the words don't even have to be strange, it just gets them to use the langage.

Well, I hope I've helped you a little bit.
Great ideo withthe English course, I have to say.
Keep it going.

Cheers mate.

Not to be a "Miss-Know-It-All", but as Knolle already wrote the correct word is "course". The word curs does not exist and if you add an "e" it would not be very good as that would mean you would organize an "Englisch Fluch". 😉 😕

@ Andy: Would you mind correcting it in the headline....

Pardon me, I just wrote, not really paying attention to the gramma.

Maybe you got any ideas?

Headline changed 🙂

For the English training, I did once for my staff some common phrases with the help of a power point presentation. It is nothing special, I guess it is too theoretical and boring.

What you should do is, let the people use their brain, not just give the information's. Ask questions and let them think first and than give out a better solution. I like to train people, but more practical, English trainings in general are to "dry" for my taste. So I can not help you much with this.

Well, what else can you say. It really depends on you and what you prefer. We can tell a lot and recommend you this and that, but hw you motivate your staff is a completely different topic!

But I guess roleplays might be de best solution for your little problem.

p.s.: Andy, it's information, there is no plural of it! 😉

And sorry Andy to be a nuisance, but it is thEn (not thAn) 😉 . Just did that rule with my "English-Extra-Lesson-Pupils" (oder einfach Nachhilfeschüler auf Deutsch^^)

Cheers mate