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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - See how PRCs are learning English...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>6:46 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 5) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>24906.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Nov 24, 2009
Eager to learn - despite language gaffes aplenty
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THE class of 18 students - ranging from teenagers to those in their 30s - were by turns baffled, amused and embarrassed, but always attentive and eager to learn.
Mainly Chinese nationals, they came from different industries: hospitality, entertainment, food, and even factory and construction. Armed with electronic dictionaries, they were attending a basic English conversational course for foreign workers.
There were plenty of language gaffes and mispronounced words during the three-hour lesson The Straits Times sat through at NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute in Redhill last Thursday.
Simple questions posed to one another during dialogue exercises such as 'Can you take a message, please?' were greeted with stunned silences, blank faces and then a burst of giggles.
'May I take a message?' became 'May I taxi a mess?' while the answer to 'Where would you like to meet her?' was 'I miss her!'
Said their trainer Mavis Lim, 55: 'Their vocabulary is limited and grammar is a problem because they tend to forget to use verbs. Some simply do a direct Mandarin-to-English translation.
'We teach using a variety of tools - a lot of reading, role-play, dialogue and we focus on topics related to work.'
Bridging this language gap and improving service levels, said employers such as Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and Golden Village Singapore, are the main reasons they send their foreign employees for this course.
Ms Guo Xiaohui, 20, who is from China and works at the candy bar at Golden Village theatres, recalled how she could not tell the difference between Coke and nachos. 'I thought they sounded the same. So I gave the customers the wrong items.'
While the students took their trainer's corrections good-naturedly, most tell the same tale of being 'looked down upon' because they could not speak English. Some have been driven to tears after being told 'to return to China' while others have received complaints for being rude when they were, in fact, unable to express themselves.
Chinese national Liu Jia Yi, 20, a cashier at one of Golden Village's theatres, hopes to learn as much as possible. 'I don't think I will be able to speak perfect English after the course, but hopefully, it will enable me to speak to my customers effectively,' she said in Mandarin.
Do they use the phrases they pick up in class? Yes, said Mr Xun Lei, 27, a purchaser at St Regis Hotel, in Mandarin.
He added in English: 'Goodbye, see you again!'
[email protected]
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Eager to learn - despite language gaffes aplenty
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THE class of 18 students - ranging from teenagers to those in their 30s - were by turns baffled, amused and embarrassed, but always attentive and eager to learn.
Mainly Chinese nationals, they came from different industries: hospitality, entertainment, food, and even factory and construction. Armed with electronic dictionaries, they were attending a basic English conversational course for foreign workers.
There were plenty of language gaffes and mispronounced words during the three-hour lesson The Straits Times sat through at NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute in Redhill last Thursday.
Simple questions posed to one another during dialogue exercises such as 'Can you take a message, please?' were greeted with stunned silences, blank faces and then a burst of giggles.
'May I take a message?' became 'May I taxi a mess?' while the answer to 'Where would you like to meet her?' was 'I miss her!'
Said their trainer Mavis Lim, 55: 'Their vocabulary is limited and grammar is a problem because they tend to forget to use verbs. Some simply do a direct Mandarin-to-English translation.
'We teach using a variety of tools - a lot of reading, role-play, dialogue and we focus on topics related to work.'
Bridging this language gap and improving service levels, said employers such as Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and Golden Village Singapore, are the main reasons they send their foreign employees for this course.
Ms Guo Xiaohui, 20, who is from China and works at the candy bar at Golden Village theatres, recalled how she could not tell the difference between Coke and nachos. 'I thought they sounded the same. So I gave the customers the wrong items.'
While the students took their trainer's corrections good-naturedly, most tell the same tale of being 'looked down upon' because they could not speak English. Some have been driven to tears after being told 'to return to China' while others have received complaints for being rude when they were, in fact, unable to express themselves.
Chinese national Liu Jia Yi, 20, a cashier at one of Golden Village's theatres, hopes to learn as much as possible. 'I don't think I will be able to speak perfect English after the course, but hopefully, it will enable me to speak to my customers effectively,' she said in Mandarin.
Do they use the phrases they pick up in class? Yes, said Mr Xun Lei, 27, a purchaser at St Regis Hotel, in Mandarin.
He added in English: 'Goodbye, see you again!'
[email protected]
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