Brutal honesty is not always the best way to lead in the readers, but once in awhile it is the only way. So you may wonder why I ever became a teacher, in of all places paperwork heavy Germany. Where it is rumoured that two thirds of all paperwork in the world, is on taxes and in German. Urban myth or not it is a hate, hate relationship I have with this part of my job. The why of how I fell into it, well it is a little more complicated of course.

As a whipper snapper I wanted to be a hairdresser, then a vet (until I realised I was squeamish to animals being hurt, well healed/ operated on), and an architect. But it was my luv of lingos that won me over, if with a pinch of hatred.

Being pissed off with two things that stem from my youth gave me my first piques of interest in teaching.

The first was hearing the more than oft is necessary working class chorus of:

“There are those that do, and those that teach”.

Not just from the miners and factory workers in Inky, Staveley and Middlecroft, but also from my Dad.

However it would be apt here for me to go back to my school days.

I have and will always suffer from occasional verbosity, and over ambition. Even at the tender age of fourteen,  the dragon Mrs Clay had an iffing fit about my Orcs short story. Not only the wrong race to have an “Umbridge” with, but the wrong pupil. During this time I did not have many really true friends, but that story is for another day.

Lots of time to while away, and on my hands I joined the troops, back then still slightly cool, of Games Workshop fans. Fantasy and Cyberpunk  would in the nineties go through the dips of derision. Only to smash back into semi-fashion with World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings at the brink of the millennium. When we in the “real world” were looking for something quite new century and escapist from an uncertain future I guess.

The precursor to WOW and LOR had occasional street cred.  I dabbled in painting lead fantasy figures, creating quests as a games master, and of course  drawing all manner of creature that roamed this world as well as our imagination. This influenced my choice for my short story, but also caught Clay into shouting claims of plagiarism, plagiarism!!!. A short story it was, but a list of references and appendices create did I.

You can imagine, especially if you know me, that it narked me to the ninth degree.

This led me in my own rebellious way to volunteering for the “summer school play groups” at my Secondary.

I taught Arts and Crafts to disabled kids, and we staged the odd play or comedy sketch.

What about you? Tell us your story? what drove you to teach.

In your own blog? link it, and I will retweet it. and maybe even refer back to it in my next installment.

Or if ya not a blogger, then type a short anecdote here?

I am sure my readers would luv to hear if it was desire, altruism, rebellion, a calling, falling into it, or just a stop gap that you ended up loving.

theLingoGuy Part 2; drug and alcohol rehab, and the poverty of Drumchapel.  

Running away from it all is not always the best solution. This is what I have done in my life till my mid 30s, with middling success. In 2011 I had a very difficult and challenging year; with my family, job, personal life and health. As the old adage goes a change is as good as a rest. And this geezer sometimes is stuck in old habits.Towards the end of the year I often felt  like leaving everything behind. It also did not help that I was in awe and admiration of the buzz I saw in my dear friends Dazza and Si, the emigrantees.
But if you know me, or follow theLingoGuy with real interest you know I stayed in good ole LE. But why you may ask?

Especially as the Stew of old had the very Queen like soul of “I wanna break free”.

There were 5 changes I created for myself. Here I will list them as general tips, and then the personal story behind them.

“listen” more intently and be open to the sound advice of others.

- in the past I was too wrapped up in finding my own solutions, that I never gave the proper time to the advice that directly or indirectly could benefit me. This may be simply listening to someone more intently, reading a friends e-mail/ blog/ repost more carefully. In this era of information bombardment, filtered “listening” is becoming more and more a neglected skill. It could change your way of looking at or doing things.

These were just a few of the lines I read towards the end of 2011 that got me a thinking:

“..the point is you need to look at where you are, where you are going and where you want to be. Aim yourself according to this and check periodically if you are heading towards your target or away”. Darren Sharman.

I questioned why was I unsatisfied with my work and my life. After all I had recently become self employed in order to set my own targets. But what I had choose to ignore was my passion, which beyond lingo is creativity.

Which brings me to my second tip.

Try to recreate something that was a success in the past

- I was failing to learn that I could, with the collaborative support of others, create successful projects. 2012 is the 5^th Anniversary of trans-lingo.com: theLingoTeam that is fun to be a main player in.

But likewise at MMU I helped run a Writers Performance Evening. Rewinding to the first point. I listened to the heartfelt passion of a new an dear friend, Svetlana, to team up creatively, and set up some form of professional organization for Leipzig Writers. launched in the first quarter of 2012.

Be appreciative of your friends

-Aaron is a very close friend of mine, who amazes me with the thought he puts into peoples presents. Getting people to chip in to buy the chair and table a mutual friend of ours desired for her new flat for Xmas 2011. What could I do to show my appreciation of my friends. Firstly a cheesy “thank you” speech to all who attended the Hübcliff New Year party. Which although not exactly me, I have been told direct expression of feelings is a weakness of mine, suited my situ. But it need not be so OTT. Posting something small, personal but thoughtful on a friends Facebook wall can be just as good.

Be willing to be ready for surprises

- For dogs ages I have wanted to adopt a pooch from a German rescue centre: after my umpteenth attempt I was able to persuade my girlfriend that Feb 2012 should be the date for a new Hübcliff family member. But as always life bites you in the ass like a good guard dog. The story of a particular Jack Russell Terrier surprised me in how easy yet challenging it was to change this original plan of ours. Since Dec 2011, Sparky, who like a raggy 4 year old doll was passed around different families, has been our greatest Xmas 2011 gift to each other.

Take 30 mins a day just for yourself

- I do not plan what this may be, but everyday I either

Look through old photos or writing.

Find some music, poetry or performances online to inspire me.

Take the dog for a walk on my own.

Take photographs, draw or write.

Make sure what you do has no intended aim towards work, but is simple escapism from the daily grind.

Change really is as good as that well earned rest.

I would say my life is far from perfect, but I do not have that urge to run away from it all any more.

I hope this is not too preachy and helps you towards your own changes.

Let us know of your own recent successes, and if your willing share with us the 5 tips that we could benefit from.

Inspired by Anne Hodgson (the Island Weekly) and Brad Patterson (a journee in language).

Two pics to compare and contrast.

Please have a go, and post your comments below.

A coin of phrase or Stewism if you like. But there is no other way to refer to this phenomenon.

Recently my creativity has been fed with a collaborative project through Leipzig Writers, where by I get to express myself through writing and performance. This was a neglected part of my life since 1999, at which time I ran a Writers Performance evening at Manchester Metropolitan Uni. After meeting like minds here I have brought together the people in the above organisation, and hope to place fuel on those embers by registering the company in autumn of this year.

Due to this general buzz I have at the moment, and other suitable situations (money, work etc.) I have been inspired even more by stumbling across an artist I admired, and wrote about in a final paper, when I was a B.A. student, namely Ian Hughes

He is a great Scottish oil painter, who does figurative work. Which is what I trained as during my General National Diploma, and the theme that dominated my work in the 90s.

This resparked those old feelings that may require some development of my rusty skills. But is it my heart felt desire to find studio space in Leipzig, and set it up for textual art, and oil painting.

Where this leads to who knows, but the embers have been doused.

How to approach this:
Tasks.

1) What is the tone of the piece – ask the students to identify the tone and if it suits the target audience.

Give examples of tonal language to model what they need to listen for.

This example from T-Mobile

t-moble dance

• Colloquial – use of

“Football is a simple game lads, it is not just about tactics but how you celebrate goals”.

• Easily accessible by a wide target audience. Script, dialogue suitable for the audience

2) Do they use idomatic langauge.

This example from Offstimme

Free State Saxony

“heart of Europe’s dynamism”.

“Saxony is car country”

“our clocks click to a different beat”

etc

3) What is the purpose of the advert?

in the case of

T-Mobile-  using goal celebration and celebrity endorsement of the company thru doing their dance. Nice comparison between Crouch´s robot and their dance as a trend.

Offstimme - using the USPS of Saxony with emotive lingo to pique the interest of the viewer.

Once you have a few models, their are loads of resources out there to find old or new ads.

Make sure you consider the lingo being appropriatenesss level wise and tonally for the group.

As a teacher do you use adverts and if so how?

As a student how would you react to these tasks as class input?

After a year or so using wikispaces I thought I would give some tips as to what are my own
experienced pitfalls, and successes. This blog is all about students, who in my eyes come first.
Later I will write  a little more about what admins need to consider. Admittedly I had no real plan
as such but wanted to let it grow organically, and learn by doing myself, and falling on my face at
times.

Pitfalls

Privacy issues of paranoid students – some students do not want to join an unknown website even in
this web 2.0 age.

Confidence issues in a public realm – not wishing a visibility to their mistakes in a public sense.

Unstructured tasks – giving students free reign (“take a look at a thread/post and please respond”) is not
always productive, best to give them a set task.

Bachelor apathy – not about single men, but the study path. Had less success with Bachelor students
who still struggle with a concept of learner autonomy. With the exception of motivated ones.

First to post – when the wiki was but a baby students really were reluctant to post.

The overloaded student – less success with my create5 wiki, which so far has been for my overworked Architects.
Now a graveyard of unfulfilled lingo corpses. ;(

Disjointed threads – often students do not respond to previous posts, which challenged more my initial
intentions.

Successes

Cross course interaction – at first I wanted to divide the courses into separate wikis, but have had
success combining my I.T. English, and my  General/International managment students.

Sourcing for lessons – using the wiki as a source for a discussion topic and peer correction has been
very beneficial for student input into my lessons.

Reaching critical mass – by setting assessed homework tasks that then populate the wiki.

Allowing for user anonymity – students like to use user nick names and avatars when possible.

I.T. Geeks go for it – had a great success with guys who already have an affinity with the medium, as
they are comfortable playing in their own back yard.

Honing in on opinionated managers – giving them a platform to express themselves on issues and
themes related to business has bore much fruit.

Springboard media – using links to videos and articles has started discussion threads well.

Any of you trainers wiki users and wanna add your own musings on the pitfalls and sucesses?

Last night I had the pleasure to witness different voices reading their work as part of the Embassy of Love at the great local venue the English Room.
The mix was eclectic from content, style and dialect.

We had funny and sexy courtesy of Maeshelle, a nice Irish lilt from Ralf, the soft, passionate dulcet tones of Kat, a wonderfully calm narrator in Svetlana, and my own slam style.

This challenged the ear of the reader, due to adjusting to style, and to dialect. But this new melting pot of Leipzig writers is spiced with international flavorings.

We come from many walks of life, and we walk in our own way, even when we read.

Keep you eyes peeled for more musing from theLingoGuy on one of his new projects.

Next event is the Open Mic

come join us, mic it up and try it out!

“One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”

Since working with a guy with MS who could not speak I have been struggling with my own inability to speak the words I write.

At University in the late nineties I ran performance evenings as a Student Union company and had the pleasure to witness the performances of my peers, as well as the now famous Benjamin Zephania and MC Jabber.

In March this year the struggle has abated all with my second reading within a year, of my poetry at the Buchmesse Noch Besser Leben event. The trade fair has become world famous, as has Leipzig’s fame increased. On the coat tails of this an organisation called Leipzig Leist has been running small reading events all over Leipzig during the annual book trade fair.

It all came together through my modern day equivalent of the S.U. Organisation, LEWriters, where four disparate writers met and came up with the idea of a first of it’s kind, all English reading for the Buchmesse. This collaboration included working with three musicians, a multi-gifted artist and two opera singers.

On the night there was the usual organisational chaos that surrounds a group of artists working together. The performances/ readings were all of a high standard, and the highlight for me was the added comedy of a scene of Svetlana’s reading, whereby the aforementioned opera singers imitated very vocal sounds during the sex of cameo characters in .

After watching my own poetry video it dawned on me that I am my hardest critic, but also that I have been slightly bitten by the performance bug. I hope in the future that this continues and I am able to speak those words closest to my heart.

Sometimes I may lament the lack of drive or learning techniques of some of my students. Those who do the bare minimum to get by, know how to use the ingrained “Hochschule” education system and really do not appreciate the learning curve. In both the academic and the business world you may come across individuals averse to learning.

This last two weeks I have been pleasantly surprised by the way my students have approached the tasks I gave them. Being misinformed about the level of the students and the lack of a common background made me take an approach to challenge them, and myself. They did not fall short of my expectations.

I challenged myself by revamping some of my approaches to training, using tired and tested techniques in new ways or trying fresh ones. More on this in a later blog, for now lets concentrate on them.

The core to the challenge was me throwing down the gauntlet early on with one task. They were NOT to die by powerpoint, but bring fresh blood to the game with an Elevator Pitch, Zoom presentation and Pecha Kucha. Most coped with this well and moved away from the ingrained techniques of the norm.

As I myself am new to the presentation techniques above I learned a lot from them during my observations. Here is what came up, some may just be a re-emphasis of what is already known but to see it in practice had a larger impact for me:

An open question is a good teaser with non native speakers who may not find it natural to bounce ideas around.

We become reliant on the remote control, but physically going to the laptop allows for pauses, and time for the audience to digest, absorb the information.

Culturally you must tread carefully with over familiarity with a known audience.A tried and tested technique in your own culture may not work in another regardless of how much you know them.

Elevator Pitches with no “bangs” but very clear messages and language usage are just as effective.

Humour directed at oneself encourages a sense of audience well being and mutual respect.

Give students a choice of methods rather than a single one produces diversity, and conviction.

Do not exert too much pressure on presenters but give them space to pursue ideas within a set remit.

Moving from a fixed spot can prevent the bodies urge to sway or rock back and forth on the spot.

A sense of integrity or invested worth comes from allowing choice of topic from a quite general theme.

And as someone once said “all artists, writers and poets are thieves” I am gonna have fun stealing the guys ideas for my prezi at the end of March.

On a tangental note, this blog was written in the same time frame as the above students had to include learned words from their course in a comment essay on modern trends in risk, team , project or inter-departmental management or relate it to the theme to their own experience of being managed in this context.

I would be intrigued to see if they can find the words and have retained them?

What have you learned from your observation of others or your students?

How have you found putting into practice the above presentation styles?

It seems from the perspective of German and British politics to be the case. Within the space of a few months we have heard the heads of Government proclaiming this failure.