POST FACTUM

The 14th IATEFL/BESIG

International Conference

Berne, Switzerland,16–18 November, 2001

Being a member of IATEFL and BESIG/Russia, I participate regularly in International and National conferences held by the IATEFL International Committee and the BESIG/Russia Committee.
Every conference is a great event in my pedagogical practice. They are productive, informative and enjoyable.
The 14th IATEFL/BESIG International Conference was held in Berne Switzerland on 16–18 November 2001 and hosted by Swiss Post and ETAG Berne Region. Over 450 people from 32 different countries attended the convention.
The conference was very well run. The venue, the beautiful building of the Swiss Post Office was nice. I mean it was spacious enough, yet not too big. It was easy to get to; it was easy to meet people; easy to talk to people between talks.
I am definitely sure that impressions of the conference everyone’s were positive. In fact I didn’t really hear a negative word about the conference. It was well done.

The first Plenary was opened with the presentation “Addressing Our Clients” by Sylvie Donna. She considered various aspects of needs analysis in the context of Business English. Sylvie Donna discussed some of the many possible reasons why teachers or managers often don’t manage to adequately analyse or address their clients’ needs. She also suggested some practical ways of finding out about clients’ needs and addressing them adequately.

Sylvie Donna, the author of Teach Business English (Cambridge University Press, 2000) and co-founder of Profile Solutions International, has taught Business English or ESP in various countries, including Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Morocco and Oman. She is particularly interested in researching ways of empowering non-native speakers so that they are maximally effective when using English as a lingua franca (particularly in transnational teamwork situations) and in researching ways of encouraging students to work and learn more effectively.

Pamela Pickford, Adrian Pilbeam and Nick Brieger raised a very urgent problem in their presentation «Setting New Standards in Business English Teacher Training”.

Business English teacher training has had a troubled history in recent years, especially in terms of standards, quality assurance and validation. For this reason, in January 2001 London Guildhall University’s Teacher Training Unit initiated a new academically-validated internally-run certificate course offering 10 postgraduate credit points. After consultation with LTS Training and Consulting and York Associates, the course was extended in March 2001 to include partner institutions in the expectation of becoming the definitive business English teacher training certificate. The course sets new standards in quality assurance in business English teacher training, both in terms of content and assessment procedures.

The participants of the conference actively discussed the course content and debated directions for business English teacher training.

Pamela Pickford, after a long career in business and Business English language training, has been the Course Organisor of the Teacher Training courses at the London Guildhall University since 1997. Her courses incorporate her own highly motivating and radical approach to needs analysis and classroom management.

Pamela Pickford recently co-authored the BESIG-acclaimed “Alliance” video for the “Market Leader” Business English package (Longman/Financial Times). Over the last year, she has developed a new London Guildhall University award for the “Certificate in Teaching International English for Business”.

Adrian Pilbeam is a senior partner and training consultant with LTS Training and consulting in Bath; his particular interests are in communication skills and intercultural training, as well as teacher training in these areas. He is the editor of “Language and Intercultural Training” journal and author of International Management in Market Leader series.

Nick Brieger is one of the six partners in York Associates. After a first degree in law, postgraduate teacher training qualification in TEFL and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics, his career has included language teaching and teacher training, mainly in Europe. In recent years he has specialised in professional language and communication training, especially in the field of Business English, and teacher training in Business English. He is a regular contributor to international conferences, particularly in the field of Business English. Nick Brigier many times participated in conferences held in Russia.

Almut J. Koester thinks that “small talk” or “socialising” is now taught as part and parcel of most Business English courses. Nevertheless, it is usually considered as a add-on, occurring separately from “real” business activities. Her talk “How Business-like Is Business English?” draws on recent research into workplace conversations, and argues that social or interpersonal aspects of interaction play a central role throughout business communication. Examples from business and office conversations show that interpersonal concerns influence speakers’ linguistic choices at all levels of language use, from longer stretches of talk down to individual words.

Almut J. Koester showed how such features of real-life interaction can be integrated more into Business English teaching.

She has recently completed a PHD on “office talk” at the University of Nottingham in England. She has an MA in Applied Linguistics and a BA in Cultural Anthropology. She was director of Studies for English at the Munich College of Adult Education, and has many years’ experience as an EFL teacher and teacher trainer. Almut Koester is a long-time member of BESIG, and has been active in Business English as a teacher, teacher trainer and materials developer for many years.

Charles La Fond in his presentation “Knowledge Management in the Classroom?” examines its development, analyses the knowledge processes involved and looks at the “conflict” Man vs. Machine. The presentation was designed on the one hand to enlighten the listener regarding the theory of knowledge management and on the other hand to question what applications it may have for us in the classroom.

Charles La Fond has spoken at numerous BESIG events in the past. I had an opportunity to be present at his presentations. They were very interesting and much spoken about. Charles La Fond completed his International Management degree in 1980, then founded Business Language Centre in Vienna, a language school specialising in English for companies. He has also been a professor at Webster University, Vienna since 1992, a licensed Buzan trainer for Mind Mapping, since 1991, and trainer for Convincing Argumentation at Donau-Universitдt Krems since 1999. He’s an accomplished public speaker for Toastmasters International and his private interests include skiing, travel and computers.

A practical workshop was given by Marjorie Rosenberg on music in the Business English Classroom. The presentation deals with the problem of how music and songs can be used to help learners acquire both new vocabulary and language functions in a relaxed and enjoyable way.

Marjorie Rosenberg, the author of Communicative Business Activities, has been teaching general and business English for the last 20 years in Austria both for students at state colleges as well, as for learners in the private and public sectors. She is an NLP trainer as well and holds methodology courses on NLP, learning styles and communication for teachers and business people throughout Europe and the USA. Marjorie Rosenberg is currently on the board of Teachers of English in Austria.

David Christie in his presentation “Business English for Real Beginners” gave a look at the general principles inherent in teaching English to genuine first-time business learners and an introduction to a new course which sets out to meet their needs: Business English for Beginners (New Edition). While there are business English materials around for false beginners, far fewer course books in the market today are aimed directly at real beginners.

David Christie is an experienced EFL author currently based in Banbury, England, whose publications include Basis for Business, the CD-ROM Career Strategies and, most recently, Business English for Beginners (New Edition).

The workshop “Triggering Participants’ Real Values in Intercultural Training” given by Philip O’Connor examined problems which may be inherent in some intercultural training materials and methodology. Ways of avoiding these problems were suggested – in particular there was a focus on how to trigger people’s value systems, and in this way help them understand the impact of culture on work. Participants at this workshop got to experience a number of training activities. What is more questionable, is whether the training really “works” and helps them to be more interculturally effective.

Participants at the intercultural training seminars given by Philip O’Connor usually enjoy this his experience. Philip O’Connor is a regular speaker at IATEFL/BESIG International conferences. His presentations are always productive and enjoyable and he has a great sense of humour.

O’Connor is a Senior Training Consultant with LTS Training and consulting in Bath, UK. He has been designing and delivering intercultural training seminars for 14 years. Recent projects on international team-building have taken him to Sweden, India and the United States.

The presentation “Evaluating International and Intercultural Competence – an Assessment Centre Approach” given by Adrian Pilbeam deals with the fact that as business becomes increasingly global, more people need to work internationally, either on a project bases or on longer term expatriations. It is well documented that selecting the wrong person for an international assignment can have far reaching consequences, both for the individual and his or her family, and also for the organisation.

At BESIG we are well versed in assessing people’s language competence. But how can we examine the competences required to be a successful manager internationally. Adrian Pilbeam described and demonstrated some of the tasks and activities in the International Management Assessment (IMA), a tool designed to aid companies in the selection and development of managers for international roles. Adrian Pilbeam is a senior partner and training consultant with LTS Training and Consulting in Bath. His particular interests are in communication skills and intercultural training, as well as teacher training in these areas. He is the editor of “Language and Intercultural Training Journal” and author of International Management in Market Leader series.

Christopher Johnson spoke of different Internet tools, many of which can be downloaded for free. Participants of this workshop looked at the advantages, technical requirements and required know-how to implement Web-based language training or Web-based support. We were introduced to getting World Wide Web language training content up and running as fast as possible, as well as a recommended plan for using the WWW in language teaching. Topics include finding content, generating exercises for the Web and using different types of communication tools, e.g. chat, whiteboards, discussion forums, and video-conferencing.

Christopher Johnson originally comes from Los Angeles, California, but now he teaches English for Special Purposes at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences in Karlsruhe, Germany. He also works as a multimedia specialist and webmaster for the Foreign Language Institute. Christopher Johnson has a Master’s Degree in Computing Technology in Education. Presently working on his Ph.D. in the same discipline, he is pursuing his dissertation work on online communities of practice.

The young researcher Gцran Nieragden in his very interesting presentation “The Soft Skills of Learning and Teaching Business English” underlined the importance of the recent notion of soft skills for work-related language coaching, especially its role in Business English. It is argued that soft skills form not only a crucial and increasingly important topic in careers and career negotiations, but are also part and parcel of an adult language tuition that tries to take seriously learners’ and teacher’s personalities. Both a number of general principles and concrete examples of making soft skills “work” in the classroom were discussed.

Gцran Nieragden, Dr. Phil, studied English, Philosophy and Linguistics in Cologne and Southampton. He teaches English Literature at Cologne University and English for International Management and Business at Cologne Polytechnic. Gцran Nieragden also teaches Business English as in-house coach for a number of Rheinland companies (banking, insurance, engineering, automotive industry). He has published three books, 30 articles and 70-odd reviews on English literature, linguistics, grammar and idioms.

Ljerka Rado’s presentation “Integrating Business Communication Skills Into a Content-Focused Course”dealt with teaching Business English at the Faculty of Economics in Osijer.

Content-focused course books are rather popular in teaching pre-service students of economics. Although most of them provide good reading exercises, the students may not share this view. To maintain their interest we sometimes need to diverge from the familiar format of the book. This workshop introduced several communicative activities that would motivate the students to read even lengthy texts, giving a purpose to reading other than completing true/false exercises and the like. The activities can be used in large and heterogeneous classes.

Ljerka Rado graduated from the Faculty of Education in Osujer, Croatia in 1982. She worked as a translator for English and German in a chemical company for nine years. In 1992 she started teaching Business English at the Faculty of Economics in Osijer, where she also chairs the Foreign Languages Department, A regular participant at national conferences, she served as president of local the IATEFL branch in 1997–2001.

James Chamberlain’s presentation “An Introduction to the Theory of Intercultural Communication” offered a nutshell introduction to intercultural communication theory. The various disciplines have influenced intercultural communication theory, such as anthropology, sociology, psychology and communication theory. These theories were illustrated with activities that demonstrate their practical application. The next day this talk was followed by workshop activities and discussions.

James Chamberlain is Director of the Language Centre at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. He has been teaching Business English since 1984 and training intercultural communication skills since 1994.

Most enterprises today offer numerous opportunities for continuing professional education to their managers, both inside and outside of the organisation. And Matthias Finger in his talk “Continuing Professional Education for Managers within a Learning Organisation” pointed out the fact that at Swiss Post these various offerings are part of a larger concept of “organisational learning”, which has guided Swiss Post’s transformation from an administration to an enterprise.

Matthias Finger outlined the changing philosophy, contents and practices of Swiss Post when it comes to management learning and related these changes to the enterprise’s profound structural and cultural transformations of the past ten years.

Professor, Ph.Dr. Matthias Finger is currently a Professor of Public Enterprises management at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration in Lausanne. He is interested in public sector reform and transformation. Matthias Finger has written numerous articles and books on this subject and consults with public enterprises in the postal, energy, transport, communications and water sectors, as well as with public administrations and political authorities in Switzerland and internationally.

Martin Sunderland’s presentation “CE – a Business English Programme Providing Personalised Testing and Learning Courses” deals with multinational corporations and developing Corporate English. Corporate English is designed around the fact that each mature learner has different learning needs. Corporate English has two parts, united by a network server. One is a learner system which first analyses the client’s learning needs and then creates a course which specifically reflects the identified needs. The learner-generated course is drawn from a materials base of over 500 interactive learning modules and delivered from the server. The second is an administration system which assists the trainer to keep in constant contact with the learner’s strengths, weaknesses and progress, and respond dynamically to the learner’s needs. Corporate English adds a new dimension to language training.

Martin Lunderland had been working over 20 years as a language consultant to large multinational corporations before founding C.A.T.S. and developing Corporate English.

 

I am happy that I could combine my participation in the Conference and get acquainted with places of interest in Berne. The main characteristics of Berne are its well-preserved medieval city and compact main streets with remarkable facades of sandstone and arcades (4 miles).

According to the legend, the Duke Berchtold von Zahringen, founder of the city of Berne, wanted to name the city after the first animal he had hunted and killed on the spot where he wished to built the city. Apparently it was a bear, and thus the city received its name. The first known city seal from the year 1224 already had a bear as its emblem, and the city’s coat of arms and flag have always had a bear climbing up a golden road with a red background on it. The first sure sign that a bear-pit existed in Berne has been handed down from the year 1441. It was a notice which was accidentally discovered in which the city council ordered several sacks of acorns to feed the bears.

From 1513 there is a report from the Bernese chronicler, Valerius Anshelm, on how the victorious Bernese brought a living bear along with the conquered flags on their triumphant march home from the battle of Novara. A shelter was built for the animal on the city moat just in front of the middle city gate on the square that is still known as Baren-platz, Bear Square, today. The old bear-pit was moved several times until its final location next to the big Nydegg Bridge was founded in 1857. Here twelve or more bears receive loving care in a 12-meter wide and 3.5-meter deep fortified pit. The bears’ diet is purely vegetarian. They receive two kilos of bread and 3 to 20 kilos of carrots daily on the average. Occasionally they get milk and fruit. They love getting biscuits, nuts and carrots that spectators throw down to them, and show their thanks with amusing begging scenes and acrobatic acts.

In 1353 Berne joined the Swiss Confederation. After the fire of 1405, which almost completely destroyed the wooden-built town, the houses were rebuilt of sandstone. The medieval structure of the city originating from that time has remained unchanged up to the present day.

From the 14th to the 16th century Berne reached the zenith of its power by enlarging its territory and gaining great political influence. In 1834 Berne became a university town, and in 1848 the Federal Capital of Switzerland. It is Europe’s most flower-decorated city and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage city. Its romantic, medieval streets with their six kilometres of arcades are one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe. Berne is a seat of diplomatic missions and of several international organisations.

By Ludmila Fedorova,
Professor at the Moscow Academyof Economics and Law