Susan - I meant to ask: did you manage to do that learner interview at the
Whare before you left? If not, we may need to think about how to access
someone else - preferably male, non-Pakeha in a Workbase programme to
complement the other one that we have done

 

John

 

John Benseman 

 

Director of Research & Evaluation, Upskilling NZ

(based at Department of Labour)

 

*    <mailto:john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz>
john.benseman at criticalinsight.co.nz

*   0064 9 627 4415

7 0064 9 627 4418

Cell  027 454 0683

  _____  

From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Susan Reid
Sent: Sunday, 17 June 2007 11:58 a.m.
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Workplace 762] Re: English for Specific Purposes

 

Hi Marquita

 

something you could try is find out exactly what it is the employer wants
the staff to be able to speak about and do and with  whom and in what way
e.g. to customers, to supervisors  and how they train people to do this and
how they write any procedures etc which tell employees what they have to do 

 

For assessment I would  take pictures of realistic situations or videotape
scenarios and then ask employees to describe what is going on 

 

you can also bring in real items they work with ( or take pictures) and ask
them what they are and what they have to do with them e.g. cleaning
materials, signage 

 

 I find it really important to put employees' skills in the context of the
employers' systems and processes so that it is not all about bringing
employees' skill levels 'up to scratch' but instead balanced and looks at
whether their systems and processes in fact create barriers that stop
employees from accessing material those employees  have to work with 

Often employers want housekeeping staff to show high levels of customer
service ( at the level of the receptionist ) in quite tricky situations and
yet are not paying for those skills or necessarily developing them. 

 

good luck 

 

regards Susan Reid 

            

 

Susan Reid

Manager, Learning and Development 

 

Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 

2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby - PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland 1446
Phone: 09 361 3800 - Fax: 09 376 3700           
Website:  <http://www.workbase.org.nz/> www.workbase.org.nz - Email:
sreid at workbase.org.nz 
 
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  _____  

From: workplace-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:workplace-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Marquita Rand
Sent: Thursday, 14 June 2007 1:40 p.m.
To: The Workplace Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [Workplace 760] English for Specific Purposes

To list members,

 

Thanks to Dr. Brian for referring me to your group.  I am new to ESL
instruction, and am looking for ESP assessment suggestions.  It appears that
I'll be working with a group of students who won't be learning English in a
general sense, but will instead be sponsored by their employer -- who will
want them to learn English that's specific to their housekeeping/maintence
duties.  I am unsure what to do for initial assessment, because the typical
placement tests will probably be of limited value in this instance.  

I have Dan Douglas' book, "Assessing Languages for Specific Purposes", and a
few others.  But I'd also appreciate any suggestions you may have.  Thank
you!


Marquita Rand, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
AccentMarq Communication, LLC

 

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