Archive for the ‘General English’ Category
Advice for flight attendants about improving your English from Aviation English Asia.
Article written by Michael Egerton
In this article I’m going to explain …
How to perform well in airline group discussion exercises
Many airlines have a group discussion exercise as part of their recruitment process for hiring fight attendants. The airline recruitment staff will be looking for candidates to demonstrate specific qualities – particularly English throughout the group assessment. Group discussion activities are a good indicator of a candidate’s confidence motivation and enthusiasm.
If you are attending a group discussion exercise you (and other candidates) will usually be required to discuss a contentious issue and come to some agreement within a time limit. During the assessment you will be given a scenario – like the one in this article and will be expected to find the best solution. Of course, it might be that other candidates will fight to get their views across. Many candidates will talk over other people but this is not the best way to demonstrate that you have the right language skills for a job as a flight attendant.
The conclusions you come to don’t have to be the right ones, but they are looking to see you come up with a logical solution and that you can communicate your views sensitively, effectively and politely.
Activity
First read the following article and answer the comprehension questions that follow.
Transsexuals are now welcome to apply to airlines for jobs as flight attendants in Thailand.
A new Thai airline called PC Air has started recruiting transsexuals to be flight attendants for the sake of offering equal opportunities to them.
Three transsexuals have already been hired in Bangkok by PC Air. One of them, 23 year old Thanyarat Jiraphatpakorn, was the winner of a beauty contest Miss Tiffany in 2007. The successful candidate said, “at first I thought they would just take applications but not actually recruit us, as happened at other places before.”
Another transsexual applicant, Panthakan Sri-ngern, 24, said she once applied for a hostess position at another airline but wasn’t chosen. She said a friend who worked there later told her she was rejected because she was transsexual. She felt devastated by the discrimination.
Panthakan, who has a hospitality and tourism degree from Kasetsart University, said this time she hoped to succeed and was glad Thai society was now giving more opportunities to transsexuals.
Peter Chan, a senior PC Air executive later revealed that PC Air saw the potential of transsexuals to work as flight attendants. “I think these people can have many careers, not just in the entertainment business, and many of them have a dream to be an air hostess. I just made their dream come true,” said Chan.
But it’s not mandatory that applicants go through surgery to be considered for a job, said Chan. What’s important is they have the necessary language skills and can provide good service. Nontransexuals were also hired.
The new batch of three transsexual recruits, who were hired together with 17 women and 10 men, will undergo training together with female flight attendants. They will also sport a “third sex” gold-coloured name tag on their uniforms to inform passengers and immigration officials about their gender.
Ang Ladlad, a group that pushes for equal rights for transsexuals welcomed the news. The group reported that there are now more than 500 transsexuals in the Philippines and many of them are having a hard time looking for decent jobs due to discrimination.
Thai airline companies, see nothing wrong in having transsexuals work as flight attendants. However, Philippine Airlines said they have not yet received any application from a transsexual for a flight attendant job. Should there be one, it is possible, they say, for the airline to change its policy about gender, which right now only recognizes male and female.
Cebu Pacific, on the other hand, is interested in the new hiring policy of PC Air. “This is an interesting development and we will be watching closely,” said Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing of Cebu Pacific.
Ang Ladlad is hoping that, as in Thailand, the public will warmly accept having transsexual flight attendants in the Philippines.
Comprehension questions
- How many transsexuals were hired by PC Air?
- Why did Panthakan Sri-ngern feel devastated?
- What did Peter Chan say was important to become a flight attendant?
- Was it necessary for candidates to have gender re-assignment surgery before applying?
- What do the transsexuals need to wear on their fight attendant uniform?
- Why do they need to wear it?
Group discussion activity
The best way to prepare for a group discussion activity is by attending a live class with Aviation English Asia, but there are ways that you can practice this kind of activity online – and get feedback. For example, you can prepare for a flight attendant group discussion exercise by answering the following scenario question as a comment below.
Scenario:
You are a senior manager for PC Airlines. Some of your recently recruited transsexual staff feel that they are being discriminated against by having to wear a “third sex” gold coloured name tag.
Discuss this issue with your group members and decide whether the airline should continue this policy.
What do you need to do to score well in airline group discussion exercises?
First of all – try the activity above. Post your thoughts as a comment and we will highlight some key areas that airline recruiters are looking for. But an even better way to really improve your English is to take the English for Airline Interviews course to learn 7 key areas that you need to score well in, how to perform well and impress the recruiters. You can learn English from very experienced English teachers, pilots and flight attendants who specialise in teaching English to airline staff. It’s a fantastic way to learn English and you will learn a lot from teachers who really know the airline industry.
What to do next
For feedback and more information about Aviation English Asia’s courses please visit http://aviationenglish.com. We can help you improve your English whether you are an experienced pilot, a cadet entry pilot, a controller, aerospace engineer or flight attendant, with custom courses designed specifically for your needs. If you haven’t already please join the Aviation English mailing list for instant access to free demonstration units of the ICAO Aviation English Online course, special offers and details of courses in your area.
Of course, feel free to leave a comment or even a suggestion for a future article. We value all of your feedback.
Advice about improving your English for flight attendants from Aviation English Asia.
Article written by Michael James Egerton
Strong English communication skills are important for flight attendants, regardless of their native language and the stage of their career. Unfortunately many airlines offer very little ongoing English training for their staff. Greater proficiency in English, together with cultural sensitivity can help prevent difficult (and potentially dangerous) situations. In this article we are going to look at some of the language that can be used when dealing with drunk and abusive passengers.
Drunk and aggressive passengers?
Reading comprehension
Hysteria erupted when a drunk Canadian, heading home after visiting Cuba, threatened to shoot flight attendants with a handgun after they stopped serving him drinks.
Police said the man started causing trouble about midway between Varadero, Cuba and Windsor. A flight attendant told the inebriated passenger he wasn’t allowed to have any more booze.
“He was cut off from further alcohol consumption as a result of his behaviour, which essentially catapulted him in terms of his aggression.
The police sergeant said the man became “unruly” and made derogatory sexual comments to flight attendants. He then made a threat to one of the stewardesses with respect to shooting them with a 9 mm handgun.
The pilot, co-pilot and in-flight services manager were informed of the situation. The pilot radioed ahead for police aid. When the plane landed at 6:50 p.m., officers were waiting for him.
The 58-year-old man is now facing a charge of uttering death threats.
Comprehension questions
- Where was the problematic passenger from?
- Where had he been?
- What caused his behaviour?
- What did he say to cabin crew?
- What happened when the plane landed?
Vocabulary
Find synonyms for the following words in the article above:
alcoholic drinks / offensive / assistance / violence / intoxicated / disorderly / chaos
You should be able to guess their meaning from context, but if not you can also find the answers on the Facebook Page Discussion Forum.
What to do next
For feedback and more information about Aviation English Asia’s courses please visit http://aviationenglish.com. We can help you improve your English whether you are an experienced pilot, a cadet entry pilot, a controller, aerospace engineer or flight attendant, with custom courses designed specifically for your needs. If you haven’t already please join the Aviation English mailing list for instant access to free demonstration units of the ICAO Aviation English Online course, special offers and details of courses in your area.
Of course, feel free to leave a comment or even a suggestion for a future article. We value all of your feedback.
Advice about improving your Aviation English and passing an ICAO English test from Aviation English Asia.
Article written by Michael James Egerton
In this article we are going to look at past tenses, and how they can be used to indicate the sequence of events. We will then look at an example of how they can be used to report an aviation incident, followed by some Aviation English exercises. Using past tenses correctly (and intelligibly so that people understand what you mean) is very important when working with checklists and when reporting information. You will also find this exercise to be very useful if you have to report information about a video or recording as part of an ICAO English test.
Learn English as it is used in an aviation context
Take a look at the following sentences:
- The captain told him to pull out the quick reference handbook and run the checklist.
- The aircraft had just leveled off at its cruise altitude of 35,000 ft. when the master caution lit up.
- The first officer did so and the flight proceeded uneventfully.
- The first officer canceled the warning, scanned the overhead panel, and said, “We have a bleed failure.”
Emergency and abnormal situations such as these occur onboard aircraft every day. They range from life- threatening and highly time-critical to mundane and relatively trivial. Sometimes these situations can be anticipated so pilots have checklists to help them.
Aviation English Exercise 1:
- What tenses are used in each of the sentences?
- What is the correct order of the sentences?
- What clues are in each sentence to help you find the correct order?
- What other “time phrases” are used?
Structure
There are two tenses used in the sentences above – past simple and past perfect. Here is a description of the function of each:
Past simple is used to talk about
- actions that are complete in the past – eg The first officer cancelled the warning
- a specific time in the past (possibly at the same time as another event) – eg The aircraft was at 35,00 ft when the master caution lit up.
- a sequence of events – eg He canceled the warning, scanned the overhead panel, and said, “We have a bleed failure.”
Past perfect is used to talk about
- completed action in the earlier past – eg The aircraft had just levelled off at its cruise altitude of 35,000 ft. when the master caution lit up.
- duration before something in the past
Aviation English Exercise 2:
Think about the procedures you would follow if there was a fire on board the aircraft. Then consider how such an event could be reported. Look at the following sentences and reorganise them into the correct order. The correct answers will be posted on our Facebook Page Discussion Forum.
- Thick, black smoke billowed everywhere.
- Despite the reduced visibility in the cockpit and the loss of the displays and systems, the crew completed a successful emergency landing and all passengers were evacuated without injury.
- The long flight had been uneventful until the aircraft was 240 miles from its destination—then everything seemed to go wrong at once.
- Electrical systems began to fail and the glass cockpit displays flickered off and on randomly for over two minutes before going completely black.
- A small fire in the front galley could not be extinguished.
Aviation English Vocabulary
Make sure you are familiar with the following words:
billowed visibility evacuated uneventful flickered extinguished
You should be able to guess their meaning from context, but if not you can also find their synonyms on the Facebook Page Discussion Forum.
What to do next
For feedback and more information about Aviation English Asia’s courses please visit http://aviationenglish.com. We can help you improve your English whether you are an experienced pilot, a cadet entry pilot, a controller, aerospace engineer or flight attendant, with custom courses designed specifically for your needs. If you haven’t already please join the Aviation English mailing list for instant access to free demonstration units of the ICAO Aviation English Online course, special offers and details of courses in your area.
Of course, feel free to leave a comment or even a suggestion for a future article. We value all of your feedback.
Advice for learning English from Aviation English Asia.
Article written by Michael Egerton
One of the most complicated areas of English is the correct use of articles. In English there are two articles – a/an and the. In this article you can learn some simple rules that will help you use articles correctly. But first of all, look at the sentences below. Can you explain how and why the articles are used?
- 1. I had a baguette and a cup of coffee for lunch.
- 2. The baguette was good but the coffee was awful.
- 1. My brother is a pilot.
- 2. He is the captain of a Boeing 737.
- 1. I saw a security officer holding a machine gun.
- 2. Airport security officers are allowed to carry guns.
- 1. I feel cold. Can you pass me a blanket.
- 2. I feel cold. Can you pass me the blanket
The Airbus A380 is the biggest passenger aircraft
The definite article – the
Here are four rules to explain the use the definite article the. After reading match each rule with one of the examples below.
Rule 1: the – used where there is only one. For example, “I saw the nice lady from HR.” Here, we’re talking about a specific noun. There is probably only one nice lady from the HR department.
Rule 2: the – used before geographical nouns eg seas, rivers, hotels, pubs, museums and newspapers.
- names of rivers, oceans and seas: the Nile, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Black Sea
- points on the globe: the Equator, the North Pole
- geographical areas: the Middle East, the Northern Hemisphere
- deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas: the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Forest of Dean,
Rule 3: the – used with superlative adjectives. For example, the Cadet Pilot Programme is the easiest way for local people to start an aviation career.
Rule 4: the – used when both the speaker and listener already know the thing, design or idea being talked about. For example, “The car was blue.” Here, we’re talking about a specific car, the car that hit my Cessna. The definitive article is also used to talk about aircraft when describing or comparing their features, eg the Airbus A380, the Boeing 747.
Examples – which of the above rules do they demonstrate?
- We have a cat and a dog. The cat is white and the dog is black.
- The Atlantic Ocean, the Sun, the River Nile, the Black Swan
- The WOMBAT test was really easy
- Have you checked the fuel?
- The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger airliner. Concorde was the fastest passenger aircraft.
- The Air Traffic Controller’s daughter is really pretty.
- I passed the ICAO English test
The indefinite article – a/an
Here are four rules explaining the use of the indefinite article a/an
Rule 1: a/an – used with professions. For example, “I’m a lawyer“.
Rule 2: a/an – used with some expressions of quantity. For example, “I need a bottle of water”.
Rule 3: a/an used in expressions with “what + countable noun”. For example, “What a beautiful day for flying!”
Rule 4: a/an used to refer to a thing or idea for the first time. For example, “I met a nice girl last night.”
Examples – which of the above rules do they demonstrate?
- I’m an accountant. My brother is a pilot.
- What an incredible landing!
- The passengers will board in a few minutes.
- A couple of landing cards please.
- I practice English 3 times a week.
- I’m reading a good book. The author is Peter Nock.
No article required
There are four rules explaining the use of no article.
Rule 1: no article used before some forms of transport.
Rule 2: no article used with exclamations with “what + uncountable noun”
Rule 3: no article used before some geographical nouns, languages, meals, airports, mountains and stations. For example,
- names of most countries/territories: Australia, China, Canada; however you do need to use the before countries that are a collection of states eg, the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, the United States
- names of cities, towns, or states:London, Singapore, Vancouver
- names of streets: Scenic View Road, Oxford St.
- names of lakes and bays: Lake Michigan, except with a group of lakes like the Great Lakes
- names of mountains: Mount Everest, Mount Fuji except with ranges of mountains like the Andes or the Himalayas
- names of continents (Asia, Europe)
- names of islands (Hong Kong Island, Lantau, Lamma) except groups of islands like the Philippines, or the Canary Islands
Rule 4: no article used before plural and uncountable nouns to refer to things in general.
Examples – which of the above rules do they demonstrate?
- What amazing weather!
- I had dinner with the captain.
- I bought “Pronunciation for Pilots” online.
- Mt Fuji is in Japan.
- I go to work by train.
- What noisy passengers!
- She can speak Portuguese.
- I like girls.
- Police officers in Hong Kong carry guns.
- Peanuts can be dangerous during flight.
Activity – Newspaper headlines
Newspaper headlines rarely use complete sentences. Look at the list of headlines below and see if you can write them as a complete sentence using verbs in the correct tense and articles as appropriate. You can find the answers on our Facebook Discussion forum.
Example:
- Headline – FAA to announce new taxi instructions
- Full sentence – The FAA is going to announce some new taxi instructions.
Global Airline Traffic Surpasses Pre Recession Level
Heroic Flight Attendant Lands Plane
FAA Slow to Require Action On Cockpit Fires
Passengers Stranded On Desert Island
Pilot Loses Certificate For Buzzing Beach
Fuel Dump By FedEx Plane Most Likely Cause of Mysterious Crop Damage
Early 787 Simulation Raises Concerns
Magnificent Man and His Homebuilt Flying Machine Go For Record at Age of 94
6 Year Old OHIO Girl Placed on FAA Watch List
Tiny Turtle Returns Plane to Gate
What to do next
For feedback and more information about Aviation English Asia’s courses please visit http://aviationenglish.com. We can help you improve your English whether you are an experienced pilot, a cadet entry pilot, a controller, aerospace engineer or flight attendant, with custom courses designed specifically for your needs. If you haven’t already please join the Aviation English mailing list for instant access to free demonstration units of the ICAO Aviation English Online course, special offers and details of courses in your area.
Of course, feel free to leave a comment or even a suggestion for a future article. We value all of your feedback.
English learning advice from Aviation English Asia.
A look at different passenger profiles and language functions to resolve problems on-board.
Written by Michael McBride
In this article, we will focus on problematic situations that can occur during flight. This could involve dealing with intoxicated passengers or uncooperative people in the air. We will look at different questions to consider when faced with a difficult situation, suitable grammar forms and you will also have the chance to practise using visual examples.
Passengers – a diverse mixture
As a member of cabin crew on a commercial airline you will come across a large mix of people from all backgrounds and cultures. Although there are many stereotypes in society, it may be useful to be aware of them for quick and efficient handling of passengers.
- A stereotype is a cultural and social expectation that may not be wholly true and accurate but exists in society and we cannot avoid them.
Would you provide the same service to an elderly man the same way you would treat a 20 year old man heading on holiday? What language and service would you provide someone with full religious garb, or a pregnant woman finding it difficult to enjoy the flight? Or simply, how would you treat an angry passenger compared to a co-operative and peaceful passenger?
Of course your airline will tell you to treat everyone with the same high-class service, but you must have some awareness of different people so the language you use can be adapted for each situation. The wrong form of service language could make a situation worse. Let’s now consider this with grammar and context.
Credit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Describing appearance and emotions – grammar and context
It is useful to ask yourself questions when you have to deal with a problem passenger and keep in mind these questions need to be answered within a few seconds: –
- Who are they?
- Why do you think they are complaining or not co-operating?
- How will you resolve the situation?
- What language will you use?
With your trainer at Aviation English Asia you will work on adapting language to specific contexts and types of passenger, but now let’s focus on grammar and vocabulary in a more general approach for difficult passengers.
After considering the problem at hand e.g. a passenger is complaining about their meal, and evaluating the situation consider your language. It is advisable to not use overly direct and plain language. Using formal verbs like “reject” and “decline” could create more tension and escalate the problem. Use of apologetic language may soften the situation, look at the following and consider which is more effective?
- “I’m sorry, sir, but your card hasn’t been accepted.”
- “Sir, your card has been declined.”
The first example may use more words but projects politeness and calm. Notice also the use of contractions is vital, for instance, “hasn’t” as opposed to “has not.” Contractions are made for spoken English but long forms are also used, but they show more emphasis and authority, which is not effective when trying to calm down a passenger.
Politeness and consideration should always be used. This can also be reinforced by modal verbs that are not strong but still project advice, suggestion and recommendation. For example: –
- Sir, you may like to try this meal instead.
- Madam, would you like to try this option?
- You could try this meal instead, sir.
Escalated problems, in other words situations you probably cannot handle on your own need to be directed to your senior colleague. With this it will also bring a new set of language tools if your senior only speaks in English.
Basic description language includes: –
- Use of adjectives and nouns e.g. angry passenger
- Keep it simple and use the present simple or progressive tenses e.g. he is not moving from his seat.
- Using stronger tone and stress will show your English speaking supervisor the situation is more important compared to if you use a lighter tone. Think of the importance of the problem.
Practice – context and language.
Situation 1
Credit: http://www.sfballetblog.org
- Context. What type of passengers?
- Predict. What could be potential problems?
- Communicate. What language will you use?
This picture shows a group of young travellers, maybe college students heading for Spring Break. There is a possibility they may be noisy and even over-bearing towards other passengers.
Situation 2
Credit: Sky News
- Context. What type of passengers?
- Predict. What could be potential problems?
- Communicate. What language will you use?
Looking at the body language and gesturing of the male passenger there could be a problem with his meal. Did he order it? Is there a problem with what is on the plate? Also consider his age and background.
Situation 3
Credit: unknown
1 Context. What type of passengers?
2 Predict. What could be potential problems?
3 Communicate. What language will you use?
A number of situations could be predicated here, from complaining to even an argument between passengers. How would you handle the situation, would you need more help from a supervisor?
Exercise:
Think of some more situations and consider what you would say.
Checklist
- Be aware of your passengers and who they are
- Ask yourself a series of questions to evaluate the situation
- What could happen next, will you need a supervisor? How would you speak to the supervisor, how would you describe the passenger?
What to do next
For feedback and more information about Aviation English Asia’s cabin crew courses please visit http://aviationenglish.com
English learning advice from Aviation English Asia.
A look at grammar and beyond to help communicate with the English-speaking passenger
Written by Michael McBride
In this article, specifically for cabin crew, you will learn different ways to communicate offers of service to passengers (food/drinks etc), dealing with formality/informality and different verb uses. Also, you will be able to practice using video/image excerpts and advice for your future cabin crew English training.
Grammar focus – form and register
Although regarded by some people as a difficult area, grammar forms the building blocks of any language and once you have got a range of good grammatical phrases/expressions you can be confident in your job. Hopefully what you learn in this article will be developed with further training, as learning English is an on going process. Now looking at the words above in the subtitle…
Form relates to how something is constructed, for example we form regular past tense verbs using verb + ed, or modal verbs using modal (can/could etc) + verb infinitive. Obviously connected with this should be meaning, otherwise why bother saying it?
Register refers to how formal or informal something is. This can be expressed using different forms, and context (where something is said) plays a major part of this. It can include the usual polite exchanges, such as please and thank you, but even this has different registers: “thanks” vs. “thank you very much.” You can also change register with verbs, which is the main focus of this section.
Grammar and offering service on-board
As a member of cabin crew, you have to make passengers feel comfortable and provide a service, from offering drinks and food to helping them with their bags or opening an overhead compartment. These expressions might include: –
- Can I help you with your bags?
- Do you want me to do that for you?
- Can I get you a drink? Here you go, thanks.
The above offers of service are clear and direct English, but to add a higher register and feeling of added politeness you could change the above with the following.
Could (modal) + verb infinitive
Would + Like instead of Do You
Thank You
Sir/Madam (especially in business class and on flagship airlines e.g. Cathay Pacific.)
How would you change those offers of service?
———————————————–
You should have something similar to this: –
- Could I help/assist you with your bags, sir/madam?
- Would you like me to help you with that?
- Could I offer you a drink, sir/madam? Here you go/are, thank you.
Modal verbs (can, could, would, should etc) will be very useful for your cabin language repertoire and they are easy to use because the form is always modal + verb infinitive. You can change them to suit context and register and the degree of something, for example, “should” is a stronger suggestive modal than “could”.
Also notice that the verb infinitive can also be made more formal and courteous, for example, get -> offer. It would be useful to have a range of both register forms depending on your airline’s needs. Your instructor at Aviation English Asia will help you develop and understand these verb forms further.
Put it into practice
Visual exercise
Now you have the opportunity to role-play cabin crew scenarios using a range of media. With the picture below answer the following questions: –
- What is happening?
- What part of the flight could it be?
- What do you think the cabin attendant is saying?
- What do you think the passenger is saying before and afterwards?
- Who else could be involved in the communication?
Do the same checklist of questions for the following scenarios: –
- A passenger is having difficulty storing their bag in the overhead compartment
- In the first class cabin, the passenger is trying to open up their flatbed.
- A child passenger has just vomited in their seat
Video exercise
The following video link should act as a further role-play situation. Pretend you are the cabin attendant and passenger, write down a list of questions and answers you expect. What polite register language would you use? You could also predict unusual actions for example, the passenger drops the glass of juice, what ‘offer of service’ language could you use?
Serving drinks
Credit – “primaseason”
Advice for training and practice
For further training you need to first evaluate your English skills. However, if you can understand a lot of this article you are probably an intermediate user so “In-Flight English” with Aviation English Asia is a good choice for you. The course allows you to improve your English while at the same time exploring and debating incidents that can affect cabin crew members. You will go beyond grammar forms by putting language into context and practicing the English skills needed to become a cabin attendant. There are also options for you to gain certification for your language ability from Cambridge ESOL, which will help you gain new positions or enhance your current position.
What to do next
For feedback and more information about Aviation English Asia’s courses please visit http://aviationenglish.com. If you haven’t already please join the Aviation English mailing list for special offers and details of courses in your area.
English learning tips from Aviation English Asia
In this article I’m going to give some proven advice on language learning, and I’ll even give you my Top Five Tips for Developing Good English Learning Habits, so you can be successful in an airline career.
If you are reading this article, chances are that you are preparing to either take or re-take an ICAO English test. If you are not taking this test (it’s for pilots and air traffic controllers) then you will still find this advice very useful, no matter what your intended career. If you follow my advice, you can save a lot of time and money in learning English.
Let me start this article by telling you a few things about me, that maybe you don’t know. The first time I learned a foreign language was in high school, back in the UK – I was supposed to learn French. I was actually quite good at French because I was good at mimicking (copying) sounds. My teacher didn’t see it that way though, in fact my teacher never saw or heard me speak French at all. There were too many other students (about 30 in a class) and they were all of mixed levels. The teacher never gave us any opportunity to practice speaking in French to each other, we just watched her write on the board and occasionally copied her in choral repetition (repeating words as a group). I only learned French for two years, and I was glad to drop the subject. I didn’t particularly hate learning French, but I just didn’t feel motivated to learn it, or didn’t feel any great need to learn it.
I didn’t learn another foreign language again for a long time. I chose to learn Mandarin in evening classes at my university. I learned Mandarin for 2 hours per week, for 8 months. There were about 15 people in the class and they all became great friends. Naturally a few people dropped out, because they were busy with their careers but most of us managed to stick together as a group and help each other. Of course, this was in London so there wasn’t much opportunity to practice speaking in Mandarin day to day.
In each class we were told to memorise a list of words both in pin yin (romanised) and as hanzi (Chinese characters). Within weeks we were told to not use the romanised characters, just remember the Chinese characters. In each lesson we would often have to memorise 20 or more hanzi and be able to read and pronounce them correctly. Very few of us managed to do this and we forgot a lot of them, probably because they were words that we would never use (eg. planned socialist economy). It was painful having to look up the Chinese characters in a dictionary so I could pronounce them correctly.
When I moved to Hong Kong I started learning Cantonese instead. By this time I had a lot of experience in language teaching so I could recognise the techniques that the teacher was using. My Cantonese teacher spoke to me in 100% Cantonese (or not at all) so I used the target language all of the time. I learned vocabulary from pictures not a dictionary – only later did I learn to write the word in chinese characters or pin yum. I studied Cantonese with my teacher 6 hours a day, five days a week, for 6 weeks – then I went out and practised some more.
Which language do you think that I can speak better?
My Cantonese is much better than my Mandarin, and my French is now non-existent. So what is the difference that made the difference?
The main difference is not the length of time studying, or the environment I studied in, but the teaching method. In language teaching there are two distinct families:
1. Grammar Translation
2. Communicative Method
In school, most people learn through Grammar Translation. It does have some advantages, but it’s a very slow method. Schools often use this style of teaching when they are teaching a “foreign” language or when there are a lot of students in a very large class. Grammar Translation teaches you to remember many different grammar rules, and learn vocabulary by memorisation. In these classes the success of the method is judged by how you perform in the exam. This often means that learners can read and write – but not speak and hear very well. Just like my French class, it’s not fun.
In Communicative Method the emphasis is on meaning rather than the more traditional approach that emphasizes structural/grammatical competence. The learner gets to practice using the language in a way that is meaningful to them. So how can knowing this help you pass the ICAO English test?
The most important reason is that it can help you realise that not everything your high school teacher told you was correct. There are better ways of learning, and a good teacher will help you discover them. Your teacher in high school might have told you to memorise vocabulary lists, read newspapers and complete gap-fill exercises but that isn’t exactly best teaching practice in the 21st century. I don’t mean that your previous teachers were necessarily bad teachers, but they might have been forced to use a teaching method that was the only method they had particularly big classes.
So what I’m trying to say, is that I understand what it is like to learn a foreign language, and that my teachers weren’t always right either. If you have ever found it difficult to make progress in English, or achieve that breakthrough I have some great advice for you.
So here are my Top Five Tips for Developing Good English Learning Habits
1. Use the target language – that means just use English, not your native language. Avoid translation unless you really need help. Some words might not have an equivalent “concept” in your native language so in this situation translation would be pointless. When you use the target language you are training your brain to make connections that will help you remember words more easily.
2. COW – Concept, Oral Form, Written Form – when you learn new vocabulary try to understand the meaning (the way the word is being used in a real situation) before learning the pronunciation or the written form. If you know what a word means, then the pronunciation will be much easier. The last thing you should be concerned about is the written form. Don’t worry about spelling until you have mastered the pronunciation of the oral form of the word.
3. Don’t focus on grammar too much – a good communicative teacher will present grammar structures in context so you can learn them naturally. The most important thing is that you can communicate. You can work on your accuracy later.
4. Have clear goals – know what your current level is and how long it will take you to reach your target level of English proficiency. This will help you be realistic about what you can achieve – a complete ICAO level in 3 weeks isn’t going to be possible so don’t rush through your English course. Take regular English Assessment Tests to find out if you are on track to reach your goal.
5. Make learning English a regular habit. Don’t just practice English with your teacher, make sure you practice English with other students, and at every opportunity you can. If practicing English is a regular part of your life your brain it will become easier and more enjoyable.
I’d also like to share with you one more great piece of advice about developing a good attitude towards learning. This one is really important.
You should practice English because you enjoy communicating with other English speakers, not just because you need it for your job. If you only learn English so you can pass the ICAO English test, or pass an airline’s interview procedure you are giving yourself a lot of additional pressure. Be nice to yourself, and enjoy learning English. Improving your English is an investment that will always pay off, no matter what your career.
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Conan She
Michael Egerton
Michael McBride
Aviation English Asia Blog 
