Turning Academic Skills into Transferable and Soft Employment skills “We cannot teach a language, only create the conditions under which it might be learnt.” Von. Humboldt (1764-1835) Turning Academic Skills into Transferable and Soft Employment skills “Our employees know English but they cannot speak!” (Employer). We are going to focus on reasons. It is a sad fact that most people in this world underachieve because they don’t believe they are capable of fulfilling their dreams. We, teachers, need to be committed to offering students the opportunity to believe in themselves and feel achievement in their learning. Olena Korol, Kyiv National University for Economics, Ukraine 45th IATEFL CONFERENCE, BRIGHTON, April 2011

TOP SKILLS AND VALUES WANTED You can’t sell anything if you can’t sell your skills! Soft skills are necessary for Personal Branding. Nothing enhancing understanding more than sharing our thinking about teaching and learning with our students and with each other.

STUDY SKILLS Welcome to the TIPs Self-awareness and self-evaluation Awareness of what is required Awareness of strategies Confidence Familiarity All individuals have a drive to self-actualize and this motivates learning. Awareness of the learning process is a prerequisite for effective learning. How do awareness raising activities work? “It’s not that I don’t know what to do, it’s that I DON’T DO what I know” (Timothy Gallwey). Welcome to the TIPs (Theory In Practice)

The Eagle said, “Give it to me, I will take it to the Moon. The Creator gathered all of creation and said, 'I want to hide something from the humans until they READY for it. It is the realization that they create their own Reality. The Eagle said, “Give it to me, I will take it to the Moon. The Creator said,” No, one day they will go there and find it. The Salmon said, “I will hide it on the bottom of the ocean” “No, they will go there too”. The Buffalo said, “I will bury it on the Great Plains”. Then Grand-mother mole, who lives in the breasts of Mother Earth, and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said ,”Put it in them”. And the Creator said, “It has done”. According to educational psychologist Howard Gardner, in his book Leading Minds, what makes a leader is the ability to tell a compelling story that resonates with the audience. Such stories can broaden learners’ horizons, connect them to a vision and provide sign posts for our journeys through learning. Sioux legend

JOHARY WINDOW THEORY OPEN BLIND HIDDEN BLACK (Unknown) known by self unknown by self OPEN BLIND HIDDEN BLACK (Unknown) known by others What do you think you are? The ways of putting theory in practice… (HO with activities) unknown by others

self-discovery activities REFLECTION JOHARI WINDOW self-discovery activities Presentations Feedback “Using language effectively for communication involves negotiation of meaning, rather than mere decoding of linguistic tokens, thus requiring the ability to cope CONFIDENTLY with unpredictable information” (Broady & Kenning, 1996). What makes a good Business English lesson? If a thing works, why is that? If something goes wrong, why is that? Group work discussions Project Teamwork Essays

Empathy activities (voice work) SUPERMARKET APPROACH Activists Pragmatists Theorists Reflectors ‘Sandwich’ feedback ICE CREAM strategy SMART technique HOT and LOT SWOT analysis S.T.A.R. story COMPASS Empathy activities (voice work) “One man’s meat is another man’s poison” (unknown). I will invite practitioners to explore and discuss some activities. HOs will be sent on request.

SELF-DISCOVERY COMPASS Commitment Objective Motivation Personal qualities Achievement SWOT analysis Strategies Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly. “Food for thought” activity encouraging students to design their self-discovery compass. Let your students “spread their wings”

self - sabotage procrastination ineffective learning low self-esteem   “Having a negative outcome is like going shopping with a list of what you are not going to buy”. (unknown) self - sabotage procrastination ineffective learning low self-esteem What do our students think of their weaknesses and the ways to cope with them? HOs with extracts from authentic Students’ feedback on the above mentioned activities are demonstrated. Could you give them constructive feedback?

REFERENCES Cotterell, S.M. (2003). The Study Skills Handbook. Palgrave Macmillan. Alan Maley (2000). The Language Teacher’s Voice. Macmillan Heinemann. JOHARI WINDOW Theory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window

THANK YOU! E-mail: elena_korol@list.ru Sometimes when you innovative, you make mistakes. It’s best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations” (Steve Jobs). E-mail: elena_korol@list.ru