Career Development Fall 2020
2020.12.07 11:08 AM
Everyone should now be getting ready to wrap things up with a final interview in the Zoom room.
Also, please be sure to upload your cover letters and résumés to the assignment folder, not the discussion area.
One final thing I’ll share with you are some powerful messages about business: The speaker in the first video talks about honorable business as a goal. Do you think most businesses nowadays follow his ideas about honorable businesses? Why is business so unpopular? Is making money bad? Is being a doctor more prestigious than owning a shikdang? Why?
He also mentions “the great enrichment.” Have you heard of it before?
Economist Deirdre McCloskey, who came up with the phrase, has done a lot of research on what made it happen. If you are interested in how our lives have improved in the last two or three centuries -- especially the last century -- and why they were different from every century before that, you may want to Google her name for a short essay or two. She offers some fascinating and important ideas.
It’s remarkable to think about what happened to make us the most fortunate people ever in history. If you don’t think so, I won't argue with you, but anybody who believes they would like to go back in time and live 50 or 100 or 500 years ago is leaving out a big part of the picture.
And further, I think there’s not much room for argument that free market economics, often called capitalism (as if that were a dirty word), is the reason for that. So let’s finish off with another brief talk by one of my favorite entrepreneurs, who explains why capitalism is not a dirty word. Here’s John Mackey, the successful founder of Whole Foods, a natural food supermarket chain in the USA, talking about Conscious Capitalism.
Some questions raised: Is the purpose of business to maximize profits?
Why is business a separate category, sometimes almost a dirty word, like capitalism? These are not test questions, but they are worth some research and thought.
Thanks for a great semester, and good luck on your exams.
Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you in the future.
JBH
2020.11.30
In class this week, we continued with business idioms, going over lessons 8 and 9.
We moved on after that to continue with our Career Development text, looking at common questions and problems in spoken and written English.
Please prepare for your Job Interview role play, which we will begin next week for the 3-4 class, and continue during week 15. In the smaller 5-6 class, we will be looking at more Business English activities week 14 before moving on to the Job Interview role play week 15.
Check in Canvas for a link to the Google document for your class to sign up for an appointment for your role play. Remember, each 15-minute slot is reserved for one role play. If you and your partner want two time slots in a row, sign up for both of them.
Also, remember to submit your résumé and cover letter to the assignment folder before 11:59 p.m. Dec. 6th, no matter which class you are in.
Let me know if there are any questions or problems.
JBH
2020.11.23
This week, we went over our business idiom practice from Lesson 7 and moved on to look at the idioms in Lesson 8. We will continue with questions next week on Lesson 8 and introduce the idioms in Lesson 9.
After going over business idioms, we wrapped up our presentations from the text on interviewing skills with details on how to get ready for interview success. We finished the session by beginning to practice role plays with partners to prepare for our final class project, a task starting Week 14.
Next week, we will again look at business idioms, some other business language tips, and practice for our interview role plays. Students need to prepare their own role plays with partners. they should be 6 to 8 minutes long, so we have time for everyone in the class during weeks 14 and 15. Please do not wait until week 15; be ready to do your role play week 14.
See you in class,
JBH
2020.11.16
In class today, we went over some quiz/refresher questions to remind us of the vocabulary words from last week’s lesson, lesson 6. We also went over a new set of business idioms and vocabulary words in the lesson 7 dialogue.
Next, students presented the chapter from our text on Interviewing Myths and we spent some time talking about them and examples we had from our own experiences.
Students are encouraged to get together in pairs (or trios if necessary) and prepare for the final class project – applying for a job. This will consist of an interview role-play with a partner, as well as submitting a strong résumé, both to be evaluated for class credit.
This simulated job application process should not be for a part-time after-school job. Instead, you should aim for a career-level position, whether it’s your dream job or a real possibility. You need to research a real job to apply for, get as much information about it as you can. This means finding out about the company, the specific person who you would want to send your cover letter and résumé to, and a good idea about what kinds of things might come up in a realistic job interview situation.
Use the raw materials we have already put together: résumés and cover letters you may have written yourself, or ideas from what your partner has written for you. However you do it, be ready for your interview role play by Dec. 2nd, week 14 of the class.
Let me know soon if you have any questions or problems with finding a partner or getting material together. We have gone over a lot of material on résumés and are midway through a unit in interviewing and making connections. We will not be spending a lot of time on this assignment. You and your partner need to stay on top of things on your own.
Next week we will continue with vocabulary and interview presentations.
Thanks!
JBH
2020.11.09
We started off class today with some more business vocabulary work, reviewing questions dealing with lessons 4 and 5, and starting on lesson 6. In the second part of the class, groups covered the course text and went over the highlights of interviewing techniques and strategies.
When we meet next week, we will go over a few more vocabulary words, and continue presenting from the text on interview techniques.
See you in class,
JBH
2020.11.02
In class this week, we stepped away from the résumé-writing for a bit to take a look at the next step in the career development process, making connections and interviewing.
We spent a few minutes talking about networking and developing contacts after looking over material in our Career Development text, before we split the class up into small groups to review the material we will talk about next week. When we meet next week, those small groups will share for a few minutes each on chapter topics such as job interviews in general, interviewing myths, and getting ready to go through the interviewing process.
Be ready to tell us the highlights from your section next week. And expect a vocabulary quiz on the lessons we have covered so far.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.10.19 & 10.26
We continued developing résumés for our "client" (class partner) these weeks, but in class and outside. We also kept working on business idioms/vocabulary with lessons 3 and 4.
For next week (Nov. 2), please complete work with your class partner on résumés and cover letters, following instructions in the résumé writing guide we went over in class. These résumés should be aimed at a specific career field, or better yet, a specific job possibility with an existing employer. Please customize the résumé and cover letter as much as possible as suggested in the résumé writing guide and our discussions in class.
After a conversation this week with your job search partner, please post your job seeker's résumé and cover letter to the class Canvas discussion area using the subject heading
"(Full Name) Writer/(Full Name) Candidate."
Please upload a completely formatted Word Document to Canvas, but also copy and paste the document into the text box for faster viewing. We will wrap up the application paperwork next week and move on to other language needs in the hiring and employment process. Expect a vocabulary quiz on lessons 3 and 4.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.10.12
In class this week, we started off with a quiz on the Business Vocabulary we went over last week in class, and then moved on to our second Business Vocabulary lesson. You can find our Business Vocabulary lessons in the class Canvas page under files->Business Vocabulary->Business English 1, 2, etc. Expect a quick quiz regularly at the beginning of our class sessions.
After our vocabulary work, we got back into looking at our newest text on writing a résumé for our "client" (classmate). Chapter 3 went over the basics of building a winning résumé, focusing on what is necessary in terms of technology, formatting, and the basic components of every résumé.
We are still in the process of building a résumé for our classmate, but before we come to class next week, please make a good start on at least three of the seven sections listed in bullet points under the Basic Components of Every Résumé on page 21 of our text. Be as complete as possible at this point with your three starting items, and post them to our class Canvas website by 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
After they are posted, everyone should take a look on Sunday/Monday and comment on two of them, especially focusing on the person who is writing your résumé. Any comments are allowed, but please try to give feedback and suggestions more useful than "Great Job!" or "I really like it." Let your résumé writer know about any errors or omissions, what they got right, and what they don't know that is important. Let's make these résumés great.
We will wrap up the basics in Chapter 3 together next week and move on to "Advanced Concepts in Résumé Writing" -- Chapter 4
Homework recap:
1. Expect a vocabulary quiz on lesson 2
2. Make a good start writing at least three of the seven bullet point sections listed as "Basic Components of Every Résumé" on page 21 of our text and post them to the class Canvas discussion area by 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17th. Subject heading: "Your Name/3 Components."
3. Reply to at least two classmates' postings in #2 above. One of your replies should be comments and suggestions to the person writing your résumé, with helpful feedback, corrections, and information they may need.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.10.05
This week, we switched gears.
While we are going to continue building our own résumés, that is going to be secondary for the moment. Instead, I’d like you to help each other build your résumés.
What!?! Help each other do a better job?
Yes, we will be using a resource I located in my files over the holiday which helps people build a résumé-writing business to help others find jobs, I’d like you to work in pairs. Each of you will help your partner (“client”) improve their résumé. At the same time, you will get some ideas for improving your own résumé.
I am shifting now for a couple reasons:
First, as I read through the material we were using earlier, I found a few places where the older text needed updates. The information I share with you now is more up-to-date and I think makes more sense in today’s job market.
Also, two heads are better than one. If we are helping each other build a résumé along with improving our own, each project will get the benefit of two people’s viewpoints. Plus, it can sometimes be easier for someone else to discover your career strengths by asking you about your experiences than writing about yourself.
Of course, which résumé you decide to use is your choice in the end. But I think that our results will be much stronger if we have two people working on résumés together rather than everyone just doing their own in isolation.
We got started reading the new résumé-writing material in class. I would like you to work with your “client” on chapters 1 and 2 of the book this week. Please get as much information as you can about your client/partner, both by email and by talking over the next few days.
Note: You can only do so much in writing. Talking can make the process much smoother, whether you do it in person or use phone, Zoom, or another method. Please spend enough time talking to get complete information and be ready to do a great job for your client.
At the end of the session, we went over a short dialogue that included commonly-used, useful business English idioms and expressions that not everyone knew before class.
Please expect a quiz on those Business English expressions next week, and be prepared with your client information to move on to Chapter 3 in the newer résumé-writing text.
See you next week!
JBH
2020.09.28
In class today, we went over a business vocabulary list that we received the week before.
Then we spent some time reading and talking about résumés.
For next week, follow instructions through page 25 of the text and create a résumé as a Microsoft Word document. Upload it as a post inthe class Canvas discussion area. Use the subject heading "Your Name/résumé."
That should be your only project for this class during the holiday week. We will be continuing our business vocabulary work in a slightly different format when we meet again Oct. 5th.
See you then,
JBH
2020.09.21
We started off today's session with a look at a list of business vocabulary words to prepare for next week's class. This will be a regular feature of our class, both finding definitions and examples in a business context and explaining their meaning and use to the class. Please have all of them defined with examples for next week's class. Assume you are going to need to explain them for everyone.
Then we continued from where we left off last week, talking in groups about our skills, assets and personality traits that might be useful as raw material for our résumés. For more ideas about job skill categories while you are brainstorming, check here.
For next week, in addition to researching your vocabulary words, please create a post on Canvas listing your Skill Inventory, including technical skills, major skills, and specific skills. You should also list personality traits that will help you in your career search. Please spend an hour or more brainstorming to come up with some really solid material that is useful for you and your professional life. Post your results in Canvas before 11:59 p.m. Friday and share some comments, ideas, or suggestions on a classmate's inventory before we meet next Monday.
After you've finished your vocabulary and skills inventory, please pre-read the course text through page 25 so you will be repared next week to use the information you've gathered to build a strong résumé.
See you in class!
JBH
2020.09.14
Today's class began by going over the class basics for some late-arriving newcomers and then got a little bit clearer about our purpose in this class: to give students an opportunity to improve their business communication skills in English. This will help you find and build careers, whether those careers are based internationally or in your home country.
Then we moved to the course textbook, reading and going over a few more “getting started” questions on pages 4 and 5 of the text. Students were asked to think, write about, and discuss those questions for a few minutes, and then get to know each other in small groups while talking about the questions.
For next week, please continue to look through the course text I shared with you. It can be found under “files” on our Canvas web page. I’d like you to write thoughtful responses to the same questions we looked at in class on pages 4 and 5 by 11:59 p.m. this Friday. Please write a few paragraphs responding to the topics in each set of questions. You do not have to answer every question, but write a few paragraphs addressing the main ideas in each set. Post your responses to the Canvas discussion area under subject heading “Your Name/Foreword.” Then, please reply to at least two of your classmates’ responses before we meet for our next class.
Also, please continue in the text on your own, reading Chapters 1 and 2, including doing some brainstorming about your résumé on page 8. We will talk about our skills inventories on page 18 when we meet next time.
Please take time to go through the exercises even if you already have a résumé. Who knows? You might even decide to improve what you were already using.
See you in class,
JBH
2020.09.07
We started our class today by going over some basic guidelines for Zoom Classroom etiquette. Then, after checking attendance, we moved on to talk about the class for a few minutes.
The instructor introduced himself briefly, explaining that while he is taking over this class for a colleague who recently left Korea, he is very qualified to facilitate the course, having worked in a wide range of career fields both in Korea and the USA.
Questions were posed to the class to write about and discuss: "What would an ideal Career Development Class look like? What topics would it cover? What language skills would be focused on? What activities would such a course include? Students wrote, discussed in small groups and then shared their ideas on the questions above.
While the instructor has a wide range of resources and ideas, his aim was to get some input from students at the beginning of this course. Several new ideas came up at this first session.
As we move toward our second meeting, you will be receiving an invitation to the class Canvas website. Please follow instructions to sign on and post a brief self-introduction, along with your career goals and dreams. Don't be too conservative or "realistic." There will be time for that later. What is your ideal career path? What would you do with your life if there were no limitations? Use your imagination and have some fun. If your post is a little bit scary, that's probably just about right.
The post should be at least a few paragraphs --- 200 to 300 words or more. For the discussion subject or title use "Your Name/Dream Job". Please complete your Dream Job post by Thursday night at 12 midnight. Then, please respond to two classmates’ posts. Make sure you have replied to two classmates before we meet again next Monday.
Also, please reply to someone who does not already have two replies, so everyone gets two responses. Your replies are not evaluations or feedback, they are simply something of an online conversation. What do you agree with? What are your ideas about what your classmate wrote? What’s interesting?
That's it for now. I am reviewing resources and will get you more information soon.
See you in class,
JBH
2020.09.01
Hi class,
We will meet at our regular class time in this Zoom room online:
(3-4 class Meeting ID: 872 7894 3965);
(5-6 class Meeting ID: 861 5797 0895).
You will receive an email from me with the classroom password. Please do not share it with anyone outside our class.
You can access Zoom discussions with your computer, tablet, or phone, but something with a big screen and a webcam will work much better.
See you in class!
JBH
