Those of you who know me well realize that I am a kind of missionary. 
Not in a Christian meaning, but in the sense that it is important to help change people's lives for the better. Of course, being paid for my efforts is important so that I can support my family. But a very important motivation for me is to feel that I can "make a difference" in terms of helping Japanese people and Japanese companies compete more successfully in today's increasingly diverse, global business world.
I had a really positive, but tiring, experience yesterday. I won't say the name of the company, but it is a very, very traditional Japanese company that is 一所懸命 trying to globalize. They have a policy that all of their staff, including senior managers, must attain at least 600 on the TOEIC. There were 15 participants in the class, ranging in age from (my best guess) 45 to 58. In other words, these guys were really senior inside their company.
It was clear from the beginning that a high percentage of the participants had been forced to attend the session. Their body language was far from positive.
For this particular seminar, I had already decided to experiment a bit. I asked a series of questions designed to find out precisely WHY they had not yet been successful at attaining their desired TOEIC score. To summarize, there were a few highly predictable patterns that arose:
1) They didn't like English. That part I expected. In fact, according to our data base, almost 75% of Japanese business people these days are either hostile toward English or have a neutral opinion of it.
2) They had not systematically studied for the test. Most of the members were in this category. So it was easy to respond to them "Well, what do you think?" "Ifyou don't study, your TOEIC score will not rise as much as you hope."
3) There were a few people, however, who had been seriously studying for TOEIC, but had seen their score rise despite their efforts.
This latter group was the most important. And those members become the focus of the day. In other words, people who were serious about improving their TOEIC score, but were unable to find a way to do so.
The last question in the series was, "How well do you understand the internal logic of the TOEIC?" Here's where we were able to solve some of the mysteries. Even though several people had tried several times to get their target TOEIC score, they seemed to be bumping up against a "wall" in terms of their score improvement. So I promised those people that a more measured, systematic approach to the TOEIC would be likely to bear fruit for them.
They key is to study systematically for the the actual test. Become familiar with the types of items you are likely to encounter. They you will be much more likely to achieve the target score you desire within your actual abilities.
Anyway, even though the initial reception I received from the group was frosty ("Why do I have to be here?!?!"), by the middle of the afternoon we had attained a highly forward-facing environment. I think I had convinced the members that they were intelligent, talented people. And English could be a way of helping them to express their actual abilities to the world.
Robert
Not in a Christian meaning, but in the sense that it is important to help change people's lives for the better. Of course, being paid for my efforts is important so that I can support my family. But a very important motivation for me is to feel that I can "make a difference" in terms of helping Japanese people and Japanese companies compete more successfully in today's increasingly diverse, global business world.I had a really positive, but tiring, experience yesterday. I won't say the name of the company, but it is a very, very traditional Japanese company that is 一所懸命 trying to globalize. They have a policy that all of their staff, including senior managers, must attain at least 600 on the TOEIC. There were 15 participants in the class, ranging in age from (my best guess) 45 to 58. In other words, these guys were really senior inside their company.
It was clear from the beginning that a high percentage of the participants had been forced to attend the session. Their body language was far from positive.
For this particular seminar, I had already decided to experiment a bit. I asked a series of questions designed to find out precisely WHY they had not yet been successful at attaining their desired TOEIC score. To summarize, there were a few highly predictable patterns that arose:1) They didn't like English. That part I expected. In fact, according to our data base, almost 75% of Japanese business people these days are either hostile toward English or have a neutral opinion of it.
2) They had not systematically studied for the test. Most of the members were in this category. So it was easy to respond to them "Well, what do you think?" "Ifyou don't study, your TOEIC score will not rise as much as you hope."
3) There were a few people, however, who had been seriously studying for TOEIC, but had seen their score rise despite their efforts.
This latter group was the most important. And those members become the focus of the day. In other words, people who were serious about improving their TOEIC score, but were unable to find a way to do so.
The last question in the series was, "How well do you understand the internal logic of the TOEIC?" Here's where we were able to solve some of the mysteries. Even though several people had tried several times to get their target TOEIC score, they seemed to be bumping up against a "wall" in terms of their score improvement. So I promised those people that a more measured, systematic approach to the TOEIC would be likely to bear fruit for them.
They key is to study systematically for the the actual test. Become familiar with the types of items you are likely to encounter. They you will be much more likely to achieve the target score you desire within your actual abilities.
Anyway, even though the initial reception I received from the group was frosty ("Why do I have to be here?!?!"), by the middle of the afternoon we had attained a highly forward-facing environment. I think I had convinced the members that they were intelligent, talented people. And English could be a way of helping them to express their actual abilities to the world.
Robert