Idioms, A Key Part Of Language

So, what are the differences between face-to-face and online lessons

I will say right off the bat, that I am not against teaching English over Zoom. If there were no video conferencing options during the pandemic, I would be in a really bad place right now. There are many good tools that flow smoothly, especially the Whiteboard which is such a great tool to use in class. There are also Breakout Rooms and Polls which can be useful in classes. These features exist in Teams, but I have found them more difficult to find and activate, so Zoom is my tool of choice there.

But face-to-face?

Live!

There is just something so refreshing and so much more crisp about a lesson in the same room. Students seems to communicate and connect more with the teacher, everyone looks more comfortable and the classes just go more smoothly. Not even considering the occasional Internet connection issues that are experienced, things just seem to flow that much better! A teacher can make more dynamic use of the teaching environment, alternating between sitting, standing and whatever falls in between the two. When LGC started some lessons with a new client this year, I felt like I was coming home after a long absence. It was so refreshing! Everyone seems to connect better and the students are completely free of temptations to be distracted (I have caught a number of students with their televisions on as background noise in the Zoom era). It just feels like the right way to do classes.

Of course, we can do both types of classes and the students always get full effort from the teacher, but it was just so great to get back into the classroom again. If you are in Hamamatsu, where we are based, or nearby (Toyohashi, Kakegawa, Iwata, Fukuroi), you can take advantage of our experience, dedication to teaching and enthusiasm for making a difference with in-person classes. If you are elsewhere, we can still work out online lessons or I am open to offers of short programs within reach of a Shinkansen!

IELTS is one of the important language tests out there, knowing good synonyms helps you succeed!

Get it right and make the right impression

When you are trying to communicate with your guests, it's great that you want to help your foreign guests feel at home by using English. However if you put the wrong words out there, it sticks out to your foreign guests and can do more harm to your brand image than it does good.

For example here are a couple of pictures;

This picture asks us to eat 'quiently' unfortunately 'quiently' is not a word. 'Quietly' is likely the target. Now, your foreign guests are having a chuckle and the importance of your message is diminished.

This water be good to drink. 'Be'? I have some elementary school students that can see the mistake, 'is' would be correct. The grammatical error may not stop people from drinking the water, but it, again, affects your brand.

It's easy to avoid such mistakes by checking your English beforehand. If you use our sign checking service, it will not only be done at a reasonable cost, but we can offer some more suggestions that might add a more authentic, native voice to your signs. For instance the first sign could be, "Please respect other guests and refrain from making loud noises." The second sign could be, " It is safe to drink this water, please enjoy!".

Let us know if we can help you.

テスト中心の考え方を捨てよう

*前にこのポストは英語でアップロードしました。こちらです

私自身の子供たちが生まれ前から気にしていました。色んな日本の生徒さんたちは学び始めからつまずきます。今でもまだ日本企業において英語力を計る一番の手段はテストです。それは正しいか正しくないかわかりません。

日本の教育システムはテストに焦点おいています。すべての英語のレスんやテキストブックは生徒が試験を受けるそして取る目的のためにあります。塾の目的は次のステージの学校に受かるためです。生徒は自裁に英語を話す能力をはぐくむことができませんあぜなら学校のカリキュラム使用する言語を自裁に活用することをもっとにしていないからです。

大人でも同じパターンがあります。、現在、残念ながら様々な会社はＴＯＥＩＣ　を中心にしてスキルを計っています。何で大人になっても変わらないのでしょうか？全てのレベルで本当の英語でのコミュニケーションをかんがえられていません。私の経験の中で、ある生徒さんはTOEIC スコアが700点だが、あまり話せませんでした。一方、400点ある生徒は英語でコミュニケーションを取れました。TOEICのシステムは英語力を計る完璧システムではありません。

英語を含め全ての言語においてトレーニングの一番大事な目的はコミュニケーションです。クラスルームで生徒さんたちは賑やかにターゲットの言葉や文法を使う方がいい。それの方が生産的です。先生より、生徒たちの声を聞いた方がいいです。今、日本の英語力ランキングは全世界で８７番です（リンク先）。もし学生の頃から、テスト中心の学習を辞めたら、チェンジできます。先生は、大人を教える時、一生懸命スピーキングする機会をつくらなければなりません。でも会話だけでは生産的ではありません。いつもレッスンでは役に立つの情報を教える事が大切です。

もちろんテスト全てが悪いわけではありません。勉強のモチベーションを作れるためは単語すごく学ぶ人もいます。その上、会社は絶対英語のレベルを計る事は必要で。英語のレッスンを受ける事はもちろんコストが掛かるためマネージャーは生徒の英語力を知る必要があります。でも今のテストシステムは十分ではありません、もっと正確なテストがどの方法がベストなのかまだわかりません。いつも考えています。自分の力でクラスではたくさんのコミュニケーションチャンスを作っています。

Is Chat GPT a good replacement for learning a language? (part 1)

It's a legitimate question. Of course I am biased as a language instructor, I want to shout 'no!' I have already spent time in classes arguing why it is not a healthy path to take, but my counter-arguments are thinning out as the technology gets better.

Around this time last year, I had just heard about Chat GPT when a few students were rumbling about it. I thought it was just a chat bot like a lot of websites use, so I brushed it aside. When I finally read about it, I had to check it out. I did as a lot of people did the first time, entering into an argument about which movie robot character was the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) or launching into some juvenile chat thread. It impressed me suitably. Since then, I got it to write a sales e-mail for me, correct my Japanese in another e-mail I was writing and help me with a difficult calculus question I was studying.

Math has been a tough one for me and it was here that I had my first instance where I doubted the integrity of the AI's ability. It gave me a wrong answer. It was a minor miracle that I could spot that the answer was wrong in the first place, if I was relying on it as my tutor, I was in trouble! When I called it on its error, it did remind me that it is a language engine, not a mathematical one but it left me wondering where else it might let us down.

I then started searching the web for articles about Chat GPT's accuracy and I found an article where they asked the AI service to write a summary of a book. It gave a great description and school-worthy report that would have scored top marks. The thing is, the book didn't exist! Okay, I can't find the link, but here is a case where it summarizes a book completely incorrectly. And here are some links where Chat GPT makes up reference lists with non-existent resources (LINK) (LINK).

On top of these academic shortcomings, last year I was trying out a job representing a beverage-related company and asked Chat GPT to give me a list of up and coming beverage companies in Japan. You guessed it, the list contained all companies that don't exist at all.

I have a theory of why this is. You can imagine the panic spreading from educational institutes over the implications of having such a powerful automatic writing tool available for free. The integrity of schools is in peril as more and more students are handing in Chat GPT generated reports as we speak. The key is to build in some fallibility to deter students from cheating. The prospect of saving themselves hours of research which would take previous generations months to compile is too alluring for young students. Therefore, the mistakes are put in on purpose to keep it a fun, yet powerful service for students. But business owners know that it can be adapted for business needs and help make money for the developers.

This chink in the armor is one reason why I would not trust the new powerful AI sites to handle a company's communication requirements. When you consider how important communication is for the success of your business, you can see why it is better to stay in control of your destiny by doing the communication yourself.

Nominication for study?

For those unfamiliar with the expression 'nominication,' it is a Japanese portmanteau of the words 'nomu' meaning to drink and 'komyunike-shun' or communication in English. It refers to the phenomenon of enjoying communication over a drink and is a large part of Japanese culture.

Sometimes people I have met have mused over the idea of a lesson held while drinking to enjoy English communication. Overall my instinct has always been that this is an ineffective way to study, as the best way to take away results from an English lesson is through active involvement. This includes speaking and asking questions which we will achieve in a nominication- based lesson, but it also involves writing notes and clarity of mind to put together information and new language usage opportunities. I typically chuckle and say, 'good idea' because I know these spontaneous ideas rarely come to fruition.

That opinion is formed from the core of what I believe and how I plan my language lessons, but the problem is that there actually may be some benefit to such sessions. As a student of Japanese, early on I spent time making word lists, reviewing grammar points and writing out the same kanji (Japanese version of Chinese written characters) but I could barely communicate. Part of that problem was fear, but the other half was a lack of practice. It wasn't until I joined the local festival and a Bon Odori (traditional Japanese dance to honor the recently departed) called Enshu Dainenbutsu that I started to get some practice and grow my speaking skills. On top of this, my son started soccer and I took care of driving him and cheering for him, so I had many chances to interact with other parents. I discovered that after a couple of beers I was able to communicate more and it helped me make bigger steps in my speaking ability. A Time magazine article cites a research done by British and Dutch scientists where they concluded that there is a positive influence on foreign language skills after a few drinks (not too many!)

The reason is simple enough to imagine. When we are under the influence, we worry less and we speak more freely. By eliminating the overthinking factor, I found I could have longer conversations and activate words that I had thought I had forgotten. There is also room to experiment and, if we manage to ensure that we don't drink too much, we can stay aware of people's reactions and grow. I feel a reason why this can help is that language is more than math, more than science, there is an artistic element to it as well. The brain needs to grow on many different plains to increase our aptitude and confidence, which is such an important factor in reaching the next steps in communication.

So does this sway my hardliner opinion? A little. I still think structured lessons and practice are essential, especially in a business context. However students could separately enjoy the occasional session with a private teacher or language group which may help give the students a judgement free environment in which to practice their speaking capabilities. Even some classes I have taught like to have a seasonal party to relax and enjoy English communication, but a class still needs to be centered in a classroom with a pen or pencil in your hand.

Broadening experiences

On a personal note, I really feel that I enjoyed a large growth as a language facilitator over the last 5 years. By taking on new experiences and prodding the English language from different angles and opening up to new experiences, we can grow our awareness and become better teachers, coaches and vessels that help to transport our charges through language acquisition.

The 4 and half years I spent as an instructor working from within a Japanese company helped to give me a more practical experience of how English is experienced in an international company. I could find some areas that English training could be useful that I hadn't considered before and how to prepare my students better for international communication or travel. COVID 19 really shifted that whole scene, which I have touched on before, but business travel is still needed.

One of the most unique experiences I took on in that time frame was developing a curriculum for an English Communication School that wanted to operate in a VR environment using Microsoft's ALT Space. Sadly as my contract finished, Microsoft shuttered their venture into the metaverse and when I offered to adapt my plan to a different platform, the company did not seem interested.

We used the MEXT website as a reference and found the target vocabulary and grammar points and developed a fun program for grade 3 students. One idea was using mini stories to illustrate the targets to kids in a fun way. I was able to record the voices for the characters and it was really fun to develop.

The best experience helped me to finally collaborate with my sister on something.

For the program we wanted to use songs, but the staff said that due to copyright issues, it was difficult, could you make songs? Sure! I thought up lyrics in each unit as I made the course plan and after that was done, I set out to think up a tune. With my iPhone, I recorded some sketches that fit the rhythm and the lady in the staff actually had some musical skills so helped fix them so they were more technically sound. They wanted to use an AI singer but I suggested using my sister as the singer as she has some experience with singing. I was quite proud of the results. Unfortunately only about half of my songs were recorded.

The first two songs had a few hits in the first few weeks, but seemed to stop getting interest soon.

Every program needs a hello song. We used a traditional tune but it still came out alright.

Sadly, I thought this last song was the best one but it had only 230 hits. I learned a lot about naming. If I named the song Colour and fruit song, it would have 1000 times more hits.

That was a great, fun experience and I learned a lot about thinking about an entire language training program, even if it was just for 3rd graders.

What is the best rate of study?

I had an epiphany while I was standing in the rain watching my son's team practice for soccer. My son was in junior high school at the time and he has been doing soccer since he was in kindergarten. I had been a teacher and language coach for around 16 years at the time but I never could settle on how much was the best amount of time to study to really achieve results. So, there I was standing in the rain watching my breath dissipate in the air in front of me wondering why the heck they had to practice every day. My mind flashed to Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers and his theory about needing 10,000 hours to become proficient at something. That was it, not only the amount of time but the total immersion of the mind and commitment to a regular rhythm were a key to reaching the next level.

Doubtlessly the more time you dedicate to something, the more you can see improvement, but the rhythm of soccer practices suggested to me that constant and frequent repetition is also important. I thought this was the way to get the students at the company I was teaching at to remember some words for their TOEIC goals. I set up a practice sheet where every three days they had to focus on a single word. The first day, they look up the word in English (afterwards Japanese was permitted) then on the second day they had to come up with a practice sentence. If they followed this program, they would think about the word on successive days and interact, making a better chance to remember. On the third day they would get another chance and they would find some synonyms for the word. The following day was a new word and the cycle began again. The problem is that the students didn't follow the theoretical path and only studied everything on one day, before their class. The most serious students did follow it and I thought it was a good program. The beauty of it was that the students should be thinking about English everyday. They established a rhythm, even if just for 10-15 minutes. If I were stricter about it, I think we would have seen more results.

Looking through the Internet at ideas about how much to study, theories range between 20 minutes and 3 hours per day. An interesting post by Ouino (We know, get it?) language says 30 minutes of active studying and 1 hour of exposure is good. Of course they are promoting their business so it's merely a theory. If you don't subscribe to Medium, you will be trapped by the pay wall, but this post says 1-2 hours is best for rapid language acquisition.

I will say it again though, I believe that the true key lies in the daily rhythm more than the amount of study, though logically more time spent should yield more results.

The bridge

Why did Lowrey Global Consultants settle on a title as a consulting company as opposed to just a language training one? Because there is so much more that my 19 years in Japan have taught me, so much more that I can help foreign companies with. Conversely, my deep understanding of foreign culture and my connections make our business a convenience conduit to foreign businesses in Canada or North America.

One of the keys that can see a lot of companies tend to fall face first is in a lack of understanding of local conditions. A famous example is the French supermarket giant Carrefour when they tried to expand into Japan and gave up in only 4 years. They started in 2001 and had exited by 2005. They didn't understand that Japanese consumers prefer to buy small quantities of food to make sure that they are always eating fresh food. So they shop more often but buy smaller amounts which did not fall into the plans of the European company used to high volume sales. Walmart saw similar disappointment though they gave their majority share in Seiyu 20 years before giving up.

Understanding the local mindset, not just business conditions is a key to success. On top of this giving things time is essential here. A company can't try to enter into a highly competitive industry and expect to have success in a half year. Relationships need to be built, successful smaller connections can lead to more openness to business from other companies and move up the ladder from there. These insights plus an ability to communicate and research in the local market gives us a chance to arm you with the right expectations and strategies in coming into a market such as Japan.

サインボードは正確に

前に英語でブログしました。ここで。

海外のお客さんがあなたの店に来た時、英語のサインボードがあれば、とても親切です。英語の間違いがあれば、あなたの会社のイメージが下がる可能性があります。外国人にとって上記のような間違いはとても記憶に残る出来事です。

例えば、下の二つの写真を見てください；

このサインボードにふたつのスペルミスがあります。‘plese’ (please) と’quiently’ (quietly)は違います。お客さんたちは苦笑し、あなたの会社はレベルが低いと見なされます。

‘be’動詞のミスは子供の間違いっぽく見えます。海外のお客さんは意味は分かるけれどイメージは良くないです。

このような間違いは簡単に防げます。LGCのサインチェックサービスを使えば安く正確な英語を教えます。その上、ナチュラルな英語の他の提案をします。例えば最初のサインボードのオプションは"Please respect other guests and refrain from making loud noises."他のお客さんをリスペクトとし大きい声を出ないでください。‘　二つ目のサインは、It is safe to drink this water, please enjoy!"　「この水は安全だから、飲んでください。」

私たちのサービスにご興味がある方はご連絡ください。