Structure the informative text into paragraphs with connectives and sentence starters.
Write a report and performance appraisal.
Extract the relevant information from a job ad.
Section 1. Teaching: New Challenges and Opportunities
The Optimistic Approach
Life does change, doesn't it? Political, national and economic considerations are closely interlaced with each other but they all influence the status of teaching English at this or that particular time. Viewed at the highest level, political considerations have to do with the particular administration in power, and how it views the question of foreign languages in general. With the President of Russia. V. Putin, setting a good example as a student of English, and a fluent user of German, the attitude towards us, foreign language teachers, seems to be taking a turn for the better. National considerations in this country cannot prevent English from becoming the language of international communication, because Russia has no problem with her nationhood, and our national language is not afraid of the intervention of English. It is also important that, historically, Russians have a high regard and appreciation of both the English language and the culture it represents. Economic considerations for teaching and learning English are more than considerations: they are imperatives. Globalization makes our planet a smaller place, integrating financial, information and trading systems, and the role of English in the process of modernization, science and technology is significant. So it seems that, considering political trends, international ties and national concerns, the graduate of an English department at the beginning of the 21st century seems to be in the right place at the right time. So clever, clever us! However, if you think that it's time to rejoice and relax, forget about it. You might not be aware of what you are getting yourself into. On obtaining a degree about thirty years ago, the graduates of pedagogical universities marched straight into secondary schools with a unified curriculum, syllabus, textbooks and objectives. It was much easier to obtain knowledge of how to teach the language, due to the uniformity of the programs and language needs, and the audience that we faced in the classroom. If you did not get a placement in a secondary school, you could, with luck, find your way into the university staff and teach at a specialized English department, or plunge into the language for science and technology, and teach students of technical institutes who considered English to be more of a curse than of a blessing. Some of us still look back dewy-eyed because the school for teaching foreign languages in Russia thrived, the theory of the language was given much attention, and we all seemed to be very thorough and attentive to every detail. Perestroika reached behind the secure barricade of the university walls, and brought new challenges. It reached all the
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institutions teaching English, and challenged the existing standards of language competence. The effectiveness of students' performance, which used to be viewed in terms of linguistic effectiveness (grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, etc.) acquired new dimensions of para-linguistic (body language, facial expressions, etc.) and extra-linguistic competence (cultural awareness). The bottom line of this competence is the effective usage of English for communication purposes in the future careers of the students: thus performance objectives replaced purely educational objectives, or learning the language for its own sake. To provide the students with this competence in a constantly changing universe, teachers had to familiarize themselves with real-life situations and new relevant areas of knowledge which might require the knowledge of English on the part of our students. Innovative teachers had to acquire computer and business correspondence skills, to learn about negotiations and reports, and study the subject matter of customer service, business ethics and international business culture. Without awareness of what goes on in the world of business, we cannot claim to be effective teachers of communication in that world. Before perestroika, when teaching the language, we used to go deeper, now we probably have to go wider. But it was not only the approach which changed in this way — our audiences changed too. Workers and engineers on the oil rigs of Russian-American joint ventures, accountants of representative offices of foreign companies, people who were going to work overseas, young managers who planned to take MBA courses in Britain or the U.S. could not attend classes for years, laboriously studying articles and tenses, practicing spelling and transcription. Their careers, and sometimes their survival, depended on learning the basics really fast. So the time span available for training became pitfall number one. However, it was not the whole story: these people were mostly adults and not secondary school children, some of them occupied high executive or administrative positions, so it was an entirely new audience. How would you, for example, like to teach English to the President of Russia? Would you set him home tasks and give bad marks? The teachers of yesteryear had to make adaptations to an entirely new, demanding and extremely busy audience for whom English was not a subject, but an instrument for career advancement. Besides changing our teaching styles, teaching people like that also meant leaving our familiar environment and school setting; it meant teaching on location (how would you like going to Siberia?) or probably in a spaciou-presidential office, run in-house or on-the-job training programs leaving the familiar security of a classroom in which you are always the boss. While teaching English one-to-one can be considered a real luxury (if "the other one" is pleasant and teachable enough), we often had to teach English to a multi-level, multi-age and multi-background group with different language backgrounds, different job positions and characters. Sometimes this team, assorted and brought together for different reasons, presented nothing short of "a Russian salad", which seemed to be hard to digest at times. Most of the modern teachers, even those who teach at schools and universities, subscribe to the opinion that now more than ever there ь no such thing as a homogeneous class in terms of personality and ability. But ever this challenge was easier to take than the fact that we did not know quite well wha: kind of English was to be taught. Owing to the variety of teaching situations we founc
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ourselves in, we could hardly expect to have books and ready-made materials for each of them. Nobody could give us the right textbook, a plan or a program to teach happily ever after: there was no ready-made course — we had to design it, tailor it and get our students to like the way they looked in it! The worst thing in it was that the planning of courses and the writing of materials require specialized background of a kind which was glossed over or ignored in many university programs in applied linguistics, English language teaching and teacher training. So all of us novice designers and writers had to work on the basis of our best intuitions, trying to bring ;ogether the complexity of human language with a wide variety of circumstances in which our students might need to use English. Thus we learned the concepts of needs assessment, audience analysis and course design through information gathering and fact-finding. The bottom line of our professional success was the affirmative answer to a very simple question: does the English that we teach really work? Though we found the process of such learning hard, our pains paid off in the end: those who survived the hard test of perestroika have become highly competitive professionals who could design and develop courses for fee-paying secondary' schools, universities, gymnasiums, business schools and multi-profile private lessons. The teachers who survived the unrest and discouragement of the first years of perestroika got their reward in full — they have become part of the modern business world without giving up the occupation they love. There's hardly any risk that these professionals may become redundant. If you want to be one of us don't team up with the whiners: the harder you work the luckier you get!
Study support
A paragraph consists of no less than three sentences which treat the same topic. When changing to the next subject or point we usually change paragraphs. This change is often indicated by a word or a phrase that links it with the previous one.
The first sentence in the paragraph usually introduces the new subject and the other sentences in the paragraph develop, specify or support this sentence. To make a well-formed paragraph it is also necessary to use linking devices or connectors which make it easier to read and understand paragraphs and whole texts. A piece of writing is coherent if it is clearly organized and has a logical sequence of ideas. A paragraph or a section of a text is cohesive if the sentences in this piece are well constructed and well linked together.
Tasks
As you can see, the text given above is not split into paragraphs and it is difficult to comprehend the main points. Read the text very attentively and split it into paragraphs (no less than 7). To make this assignment easier, use the Study support.
Look at the paragraphs and explain why you have split the text the way you did. Did you take a lead from any special words which to your mind indicate the transition from one paragraph to another? Compare the paragraphing that different students made in different ways and discuss the reasons for decision making.
Write out all the linking devices and comment on their meaning and their functions. The classification of linking devices as to their function is to be presented in the vocabulary list at the end of the present section.
The text given above presents an optimistic outlook on teaching profession. However, opinions may differ. Find below the responses of a pessimist who holds the opposite
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PART 3. Practical Guidance to Job-seekers
Learning Objectives:
Work out a plan for job hunting.
Compile a portfolio for effective job search.
Learn the strategy for being an efficient interviewee.
Section 1. Pathways to Getting a Job
If you are approaching the end of your university course and have not started your job hunt, it's time to get busy! We hope that after making a personal inventory and carrying out market research, as outlined in the previous sections, you've made up your mind what career path to follow. However, it is not sufficient just to know what you'd like to do: it is necessary to collect your resources, focus your energy and launch an effective job-search campaign. Though a lucky chance is what you may strongly hope for, it is not good to bank on it alone; a successful job hunt is a combination of planning, tireless persistence and faith.
The pathways leading to a gainful employment may be different for different people in different cultures. The success of each one of them depends on the economic situation in the country and in the world, the personal qualifications of a ob-seeker and the condition of the industry in which a candidate would like to be nlaced. But, for all the differences, there are some pathways which exist in Russia as in most other countries all over the world.
Help wanted ads are universally recognized because they provide an immediate connection between a job seeker and his potential employer. Depending on the reputation and position of the company, they may place their ads almost anywhere, from highly respectable newspapers and magazines to a lamp post near the metro station. The latter may promise to pay you a thousand dollars a month, but the fact that they don't specify any professional background or qualification requirements should caution you against trusting them too much.
Other ads may offer you work in advertising promotion, which sounds very promising but may mean nothing more than slipping advertising flyers into mail boxes, or handing out free samples of a new product. Another notorious catch is to offer the job of a personnel manager to a candidate who does not realize that his only responsibility will be to recruit other unfortunates to sell such products as Herbalife. It may also be not mentioned in the ad that the job will involve a substantial cash investment. As you can see from the above, it is always necessary to clear up the information given in the ad by contacting the advertiser. If the information is denied, it is likely that the motive of the advertiser is to hook another victim for a scheme which is not quite legal or fair.
At the same time, there are many sources from which you can pick out a very reliable ad; for example many western companies place their ads in Career Forum, Exclusive Personnel and Moscow Tribune — free newspapers which can be picked up in big supermarkets, restaurants and hotels. These newspapers also publish ads
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placed by employment agencies. In times of economic prosperity, these ads may be. numerous; they look very inviting and offer you a lot of lures and promises. But in time of recession, the companies do not offer you a lot and place the emphasis on the qualifications, work experience and personal qualities they desire. Thus ads can serve as a very accurate indicator of the situation in the economy and the labor market. But no matter what the situation might be, a potential candidate has the right to ask for information about the potential employer, salary and other job characteristics.
Another popular area for job hunting is provided by the Internet. Man companies nowadays put job announcements and company profiles on-line. If yuo. take full advantage of this modern resource and "let your fingers do the walking" yuo. will maximize your time spent on job hunting.
"Situation wanted" ads are placed by the job-seekers who expect the employers to contact them. Some cynical job hunters claim that these ads will never get you gainful employment. However, in this country as in any other place in the world, people who are looking for job opportunities place their ads into the situation wanted column of different newspapers and magazines. For example, domestic help or private lessons in Russian and English are very often advertised in such newspapers as Moscow News and others. You probably know a number of people who managed to find very decent clients through the ad which they placed in some office or educational institution. If you decide to try this pathway, pay attention to the phrasing of your ad: don't make it too personal or superior; make it businesslike! To stay out of harm's way,be sure you interview every potential client over the telephone before you make an appointment. and ask professional, detailed questions which may show you the seriousness of his intentions, and demonstrate your professional competence.
Employment agencies in this country are often criticized and called on the carpet for their ineptness. The reason for this criticism is that in most cases they arrange a kind of "blind date" between a potential employer and a candidate.It is true that most of the agencies are interested in top level executive professionals, and are not too keen on young graduates with no work experience. It is especially true for private employment agencies which operate on a fee-paid basis, with the fee being paid either by the employer or the applicant. But that again depends on the situation in the job market: when business is active, employment agencies can help you a lot to find a job, especially in the field of administration.
Most countries have State Employment Service, which plays an extremely significant role in times of recession. The staff of the service does counseling and testing for those people who need to upgrade their skills to find a job on the modern job market. Though it is not very likely that at present a graduate of a foreign languages department may have to apply to the State Employment Service for a job we should not forget about it.
For all the value of the pathways mentioned above, many experts will tell you that most of the best jobs are not even publicly advertised: these job vacancies belong to the so called "hidden job market." There are two ways to reach this market: by networking and "cold" calls.
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Networking is one of the most popular business words nowadays. Broadly speaking, it involves establishing a system of valuable connections which can bring you interesting career opportunities. In contrast to "good old boys" connections, which sometimes imply nepotism, networking is healthy and productive. If done correctly, it can be mutually beneficial for those who make referrals and for those who get them. Every one of you has his/her personal network already which includes:
family members,
school contacts such as present and former instructors, group chums, members of administration,
business acquaintances like clients, former employers,
social acquaintances like friends, tennis partners and so on.
A list of people who may be helpful to you in your job search may be enlarged by geometrical progression as one person is a link to another. However, no matter how large, this network may work only if you observe the three golden rules:
Project your career ambitions: let people know what you can do and what you would like to do!
Excel in everything you do; there is no such thing as a small job: people will remember you if you are a hard and diligent worker!
Socialize if you want people to remember you: a telephone call to congratulate your former professor at Christmas may bring you an excellent job opportunity; a business card given at an exhibition may find its way into the hands of the perfect client!
It is true of course that your loving parents will do their best to find you a job irrespective of your abilities and qualifications, but remember: the imperative of the market economy is that everyone earns what he takes home, so it will still be up to you to keep the job that you get.
Cold calling is often used in selling to describe making the rounds of potential customers without previous appointments. Thus in job hunting American experts use this term for making contacts with potential employers without any invitation on their part. Cold calls are not for the timid: you must be aggressive and pushy in presenting yourself either in person or over the telephone, to convince the potential employer that you are just the one that they want. Besides legwork and telephoning it includes sending your resumes or letters of application to companies which you identify for yourself through a variety of sources. Though chances are rather slim, you may still hope to be in the right place at the right time.
It is very hard to predict the way you will find your dream job. Some people will tell you that they really got where they are through sheer good luck. They may be right, but never forget that it is not enough to get a lucky chance: you must know how to keep it. While you are praying for Lady Luck not to pass you by, it's worth while trying to put together all the approaches mentioned above into a multi-profile job hunting campaign, and start implementing it straight away!
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A Plan for Launching an Effective Job-search Campaign
Design a plan for your personal job-search campaign, share it with your fellow students and discuss in class.
Study support
A plan cannot be a plan if it is not structured properly. However, this structuring can be based on different principles. If it is a plan of a certain course of action it can be arranged in a step-by-step sequence in which the actions are placed one after another. Numbering is very effective in a plan, same as sentence starters denoting sequence such as first(ly), second(ly), finally.
A plan like this tends to be a little simplistic when used for the complicated campaign in question. We can successfully start with the initial assumptions for taking a certain course of action, such as the economic situation in the country and the condition of the industry in which we intend to look for a job. Another valuable assumption is provided by evaluating personal qualifications of a job-seeker.
The assumptions mentioned above can serve as a basis for a certain course of action using concrete ways of job hunting which can be evaluated as effective or ineffective, depending on the assumptions mentioned above.
When writing a plan, do not forget to give a name to each section. Your computer can help you with a lay-out if you use bullets and numbering.
Section 2. Writing for the Job
Study support
A job-seeker's portfolio contains a resume, application forms which you may be requested to fill out, an application letter which is frequently enclosed with your resume, and letters of recommendation obtained from teachers and colleagues. Different companies may offer you their own sets of forms to be filled out and submitted, as well as different psychological and professional tests. The advice given below, however, can help you learn the basics for presenting your personal details, qualifications and skills on paper.