Skills in English for the non-native professional
  • Skills in English for the non-native speaker
    • Native Proficiency: La filosofía.
    • Native Proficiency: La metodología.
    • PLANNING YOUR LEARNING: WELCOME TO COACHING FOR ENGLISH
      • TRAINING FORMATS
      • Modalidades de formación
    • THREE LAYERS: UNDERSTANDING THE NATIVEPROFICIENCY APPROACH
      • LANGUAGE SKILLS
      • COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS
      • PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
  • Contacto – Acerca de esta web / Contact – About this website
  • Skills in English for the non-native speaker
    • Native Proficiency: La filosofía.
    • Native Proficiency: La metodología.
    • PLANNING YOUR LEARNING: WELCOME TO COACHING FOR ENGLISH
      • TRAINING FORMATS
      • Modalidades de formación
    • THREE LAYERS: UNDERSTANDING THE NATIVEPROFICIENCY APPROACH
      • LANGUAGE SKILLS
      • COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS
      • PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
  • Contacto – Acerca de esta web / Contact – About this website

Skills in English for the non-native professional

Monthly Archives

September 2018

CoachingCourses and SeminarsFAQLearning TipsSoft Skills

No shame!

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

Let’s talk about shame. Shame is one of the most dangerous enemies when learning a language. It can make you give up, it can make you go slower than you could, it could prevent you from using what you know. It can freeze you.

I want to send this message out: there are many things that can get in the way, but do not let shame get in the way of improving your english skills. It does not matter if you are one of my current students, a former student or you are thinking of becoming one. Or maybe you just landed on this post while browsing. If you need to ask anything about English, please, by all means do. Whatever worries you, no matter how silly it might sound.

“I am ashamed because I should know by now.” To hell with that. If you do not know, whatever the reason, ask. Even if the reason is that you were too lazy to take notes in that class you took.  Put that behind you, make a ball with your shame and throw it away.

I want this to be your safe place for all things english. No purchase required – it would be nice, though. Just drop a line and tell me your English worries.

 

No shame! was last modified: September 19th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
19th September 2018 0 comment
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CoachingCourses and SeminarsLearning TipsUncategorised

Missing summer already? Plan next summer!

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

Look back on your holidays this year. Did you have any? Even if you did not, maybe next year it will be different. If you did, what would you change about them? Did you travel within the country? Or did you travel abroad?

Maybe you stayed put because money was tight. Then maybe you should make an investment – big or small – on upgrading your skills, with a view to getting that pay rise. Or travelling abroad. Or whatever your goals are. Short term, long term… it doesn’t really matter!

Planning ahead is a good idea. Always. So if you had plans to do something about your English, get in contact! If you didn’t have any plans, just think about it. Get in shape for next summer. Summer does not necessarily mean the one in the calendar. It could be the next great job opportunity, that might escape you if your skills are not ready (including job interview skills). It could be missing the love of your life because you do not have a common language to speak in. It could be not feeling lost and having a better experience in travelling abroad – for work or for leisure.

Write down your goals, your dreams and see what you can do about them. And if it involves English, drop me a line!

Missing summer already? Plan next summer! was last modified: October 3rd, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
19th September 2018 0 comment
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Language SkillsLearning TipsListening SkillsSpeaking SkillsUncategorisedVocabulary

Sing along to improve your English.

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

Do you like listening to music? Do you like going to concerts? Do you like singing in the shower? All these things can help you improve your English skills, specially listening and speaking.

Listening is the most obvious since that is what you are doing: listening to the music. But if you have no idea what the song is about, you will never improve. Songs are usually short and repetitive, so they are ideal language bites that you can handle better than a film or a TV show. By singing along, you let yourself experiment at the same time as you have fun. It is a great way to practice your speaking and feel safe. And eventually try your skills at karaoke night.

As I have mentioned in other post about listening, there are many things that can go wrong when you listen to something, which can be summarized into “whatever is new and or unexpected“. It could be a new or unexpected grammar item, complex, unfamiliar vocabulary or an accent you have not been exposed to.  Many of these things could happen to you occasionally in your own language – it happened to me on a trip to Seville years ago. In any case, none of those problems are related with your ability to discriminate words or even sounds. They just make it harder. If it is new, you can not possibly understand it.

Songs, specially pop music are a controlled territory, a sandbox where you can play. In the old times we swapped photocopies of the lyrics. However, now there are lots of online resources. But beware, more often than I would like, those lyrics have been uploaded by fans and their listening skills can not be trusted. Even if they are native speakers. Why?

Because they have their own problems with grammar, vocabulary and spelling, and unless they take the trouble to check things… and you know, nobody likes to admit that they have to improve their spelling or their grammar in their own language! That’s why grammarly and similar services thrive.

So provided you got the lyrics right, you kill several birds with the same stone:

  1. you learn some new vocabulary and expressions but without being overwhelmed.
  2. you are going to listen to the songs you like many times… repetition is good practice.
  3. you may probably learn new cultural aspects.

Other useful resources you may need to use are genius and urban dictionary. These two are very useful: genius is a database of song lyrics. Those with a green tick sign have been verified. The others… up to you! Urban dictionary, like genius, is a collaborative platform in this case people upload definitions and explanations, as well as examples of slang terms and expressions (which may well be what you were not understanding in the lyrics). Careful with the definitions, sometimes they are not very scientific.

A warning: these days in commercial hip-hop music and other types, they include commercial brand names (drinks, clothing, fast cars…) in the lyrics (and you can see them in the music videos). That is product placement, just like the breakfast room in “Médico de familia” where all possible brands were visible, even on the calendar on the wall.

 

 

 

Sing along to improve your English. was last modified: September 18th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
25th September 2018 0 comment
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CoachingFAQ

Native speakers and linguistic competence.

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

This is a very old controversy: is it always better to have a native speaker as a teacher or language coach? Short answer: Not always. What you are avoiding in any case are the mistakes or potential pitfalls that a non-native speaker might have. However, their being native speakers is no guarantee of their qualifications, just as most spanish speakers would not be qualified to teach Spanish to anybody.

There are many qualified, excellent native teachers, of course. And maybe your goal is not to talk like the BBC or the CNN. So it also depends on your goals. Besides, really good native teachers are in high demand and charge a lot, therefore your budget may also compromise your range of options. Depending on the skills you would like to work on, maybe you do not need a native speaker.

Just as you and I are not perfect Spanish speakers and we make mistakes, native speakers also make them. Watch below a youtube video which explains some of those mistakes. We are talking about correctness in terms of grammar and standard, educated pronunciation. You may be thinking right now…  what if I do not want to speak correctly, like the BBC or the CNN anchors? What if I want to speak like Eminem? Or like the Kardhashians? No problem with that.

 

So, not all native speakers – of any language – are qualified to teach other people their language. They may speak it, they may even write it well, but they do not necessarily understand how it works internally, which comes very handy when you are teaching your students and they ask you questions.

The lesson to be learnt here is very simple: choose your teacher wisely. In order to do that, define your goals and reflect on your motivations. Once you know what your goals are and if you are truly motivated, then start looking for your ideal teacher. Native speaker or otherwise.

Native speakers and linguistic competence. was last modified: September 18th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
19th September 2018 0 comment
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Communication SkillsProfessional SkillsSoft SkillsWriting Skills

A better life through better e-mails

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

I hope you have read my post about how to write better reports and as a result, how to make your life and your readers’ lives better. This time I am going to tackle e-mail writing. Not everybody writes reports. However, people  who are not flooded by emails are hard to find in any workplace.  So improving your e-mail writing skills might give you faster returns, since you are going to use it from day one.

So what makes great e-mails? In a professional, corporate environment, e-mails perform several functions:

  1. They transport information.  I mean, that is why we send e-mails right? To tell each other things.
  2. The advantage of this over speaking is that unless you are recording the conversation or there are witnesses to it, it is gone with the wind.
  3. Therefore an e-mail can be used as a reminder, as storage for information that has been received – or sent! (Did I send you that… let me check my sent-messages folder… oh crap it is in the out-box.)
  4. You do business through them: you buy from your suppliers, you sell to your clients, you send and receive bills… you make money! And if your emails are not up to the task, sometimes, you lose money.

So how can I write better e-mails?

Establish routines, for your e-mails to be more efficient (and manageable!) find a system, a protocol that works for you. Priorities first. My suggestion is to go with the WH- words, quickly brainstorming for potentially risky aspects.

Who wrote it (or who is writing it!)

If you have received an e-mail and plan to write back, you have to consider who is it that is writing: is it a client or a supplier, is it a routine marketing promotional message or is it a message from the CEO of a big multinational? If you are writing it, you must not forget who you represent and what you stand for. Specially if you are the CEO!

Who will receive it.

Anything said  about writing it applies to the receiving end. You must apply whatever you know about the receiver and if you do not know much – or anything – about them, you must be businesslike and respectful. There is always time to relax your manners, but not until you see the other part gives you signals that you can do it.

What the e-mail is about.

This is different from the reason you are writing: if you are writing concerning a shipment it could be for many different reasons, but if it is a shipment, you should not forget the reference of the shipment! So it is not the same discussing things with a prospective client than with a client you have been dealing with and with whom you see eye to eye.

The reason for writing.

Is it business as usual, a reasonable request or an urgent demand that debt be paid? So the tone of the message changes.

When has it been written.

Is it urgent, or am I writing ahead of time? is a deadline about to be met or are you past the deadline?

Where is it being written (to and from).

This above all is a matter of cultural issues when there is a potential for misunderstanding because you and your correspondent have different cultural backgrounds.

What expectations do either side have?

Are you hoping to make this person or company a new client? Are you trying to put out a fire and solve a conflict? or is it the confirmation of something being received?

What about the structure of e-mails? A common pitfall, specially if many e-mails are written internally to colleagues within the company is to drop the protocol.  However that kind of problem pales in comparison with the faces people can pull when they receive an email whose body simply does not make sense. People want to read an e-mail. If they have to make an effort to decipher what you are saying, that is bad for your business.

How can I make sure my message gets clearly across? Once more, if you have read my post about reports, you can guess much of the advice suggested for reports can be scaled down to e-mail writing: planning, organization, keeping a cool head and not jumping directly to writing whatever crosses our mind.

In a way it is easier to reply to an email, because it is just a matter of reacting: answering questions, requests. They ask, we answer. However real life is messy and a request for information about a specific product could be the perfect chance to point out another in passing.

Whatever you have in mind, paragraphs are your best friends: if the email covers more than one topic or that topic is complex, break it down in paragraphs. Each paragraph should be internally coherent around a main concept. This makes for easier reference if anybody needs to go back to it and look for something specific. Nobody likes to look for a needle in a haystack. Therefore if paragraphs follow a logical sequence, if their content is internally coherent and if sentences are well structured and connected with each other, your emails will be received with pleasure, even if they are bad news.

Questions, doubts? Feel free to leave your comments below or contact here.

A better life through better e-mails was last modified: September 15th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
15th September 2018 0 comment
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Communication SkillsProfessional SkillsWriting Skills

ARE YOUR REPORTS GOOD ENOUGH?

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

Think of the things that take you most time at work, and which you feel should not take such a long time.

Unnecesary, badly planned meetings come to mind, going through your e-mail inbox every morning – specially after you have been on holiday. Presentations bring out your perfectionist panicky self because you need to defend them in front of an audience.

Reports anyone? Reports can be tiring in two ways: writing them and reading them. You probably have no control over how people write the reports you have to read, but maybe your reports are driving people nuts or putting them to sleep.

Let’s make a checklist of areas for improvement – which does not mean you need to tick all the boxes:

  1. Grammar and spelling mistakes. Yes, that gets in the way. You probably know it and now you wish your teachers, your parents and yourself had pushed you harder that way.
  2. General writing skills. starting from the basic “plan, think, write”. Unless it is a highly mechanical task or you have a template to follow in which you hardly change anything but numbers. In that case, it is not a report, it is a form! (And reading forms disguised as reports is really boring.
  3. Connected with the previous point, organization skills are fundamental.

Goals you should set yourself:

  1. People should be able to find specific information easily. Maybe they are looking at your report only to find a specific piece of data, and making them read the whole thing to find just a piece of data is cruelty. Creating an index with internal links is a great idea. There should be an index for the reports sections and also an index for graphs, charts etc. Or pile them up at the end of your writing. In any case, when looking at them becomes necessary to understand what you are talking about, always give a page reference.
  2. Unless you have done this thing a million times – in which case maybe you don’t need me! – go from rough to polished. What does this mean? Start by making an informal list of things you want to include in the report. One big mistake people make when writing a report is start writing directly. In contrast, if you have a clear plan, with clear goals, writing will be more smooth. Do not trust your mind to remember everything. Write. It. Down. That will help your mind focus and it will impact on the quality of your writing.
  3. Create a solid structure: down to paragraph level. If a paragraph is not in your planned structure it should not be in your report. Everything should have a function. Result: people will read only what is strictly necessary.
  4. Follow a logical sequence and don’t create loops. This is why it is so important to plan down to paragraph level: you start something, you finish something and everything about that specific point is together in that neat paragraph you just wrote. Also, if you need to add some information later, for example updating a report to include new developments, you will know where to put it and people who read the previous version will know here to find it. It will save you time and effort when writing and it will do the same for your readers.
  5. Remind yourself not to write sentences which are too long. It is better from all points of view to write sentences which are no longer than two full lines. Instead, force yourself to use connectors such as however, nevertheless, although… in order to connect sentences and not so much within sentences.
  6. Inspire yourself: if you find a report – or other documents such as a technical manual – that you found easy, pleasant to read – go back to it and pay attention to how it is written.

Feel free to make your comments about this post, and if you feel you might need professional help to take your report writing skills to the next level, contact me here.

 

ARE YOUR REPORTS GOOD ENOUGH? was last modified: September 15th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
15th September 2018 0 comment
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Communication SkillsCourses and SeminarsLanguage SkillsProfessional Skills

Face-to-face or Online?

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

You have a busy life. You have shifting timetables, unscheduled, last-minute meetings. Maybe you still prefer the warmth of face-to-face classes. Maybe you travel around the world across multiple time-zones. Or maybe you just have time at the weekends when you are in your house in a village (but you have WIFI!)

Looking for options that fit your unpredictable life? Get in touch here.

Face-to-face or Online? was last modified: September 13th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
12th September 2018 0 comment
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Language SkillsReading Comprehension Skills

In the loop

written by Francisco Sanjurjo

information and knowledge empower you. You need to be informed. You want to be informed. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is widespread. You want to stay ahead.

In order to  avoid missing relevant information, one of the most effective things you could do is keep up with international media. In that way, information is not lost in translation or filtered by editorial decisions about what is relevant for a nationwide audience. Even for national-level issues, it is good to take a distance and see how things look from outside!

Languages, specially English are vital to do that. However, not being familiar with editorial styles, or even journalist personalities, can be a barrier.  Some guidance is needed.

If this is your challenge, get in touch here.

What can I expect?

Personalized coaching with real materials.

Working on your reading comprehension skills (across languages). Make you a more efficient reader!

Tailored to your specific needs: BYOT (Bring Your Own Texts)

In the loop was last modified: September 13th, 2018 by Francisco Sanjurjo
13th September 2018 0 comment
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