ESOL students gain job interview skills,
Self-confidence through video exercises
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video may be worth a million.
That conclusion could be drawn from Ms. Andrea Greer's experience using videotaping techniques in her English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class.
The Coastal Region GREAT Center and the Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) sponsored the class, held at College of the Mainland in Texas City, Tex. Coastal GREAT (Getting Results Educating Adults in Texas) supports hundreds of classes in the Houston area.
The class was for multi-level (varied proficiency) students. Spanish was the native language of the 23 students, who were from 19 to 50 years old.
One of the units in the Step Forward instruction curriculum was "Getting the Job." It focused on how students could gather the information and documentation needed to complete a job application, utilize job-search resources, and improve their interviewing skills.
At the latter stage, Ms. Greer decided to roll the videotape.
"I knew that if the students could see and hear themselves in a video, it would help them improve their confidence and diction in real job interviews," she said.
"In class, I keep telling them: ‘You must learn to listen with your English ears. You have to speak English so that others can understand you.' To do that, they must overcome their tendency to pronounce English words with Spanish tongues."
Although most of the students already were employed, their friends and relatives had usually found those jobs for them. Often the "go betweens" had translated for the students at their employment interviews.
"Some of the students were taking the ESOL classes to help them advance in their current jobs. Some planned to try for better jobs," Ms. Greer said.
In the video exercise, 11 students selected team leaders and wrote plans for their mock interviews. The initial takes were discussed and critiqued in class. Ms. Greer said subsequent takes were much improved and the students were not as nervous - which also was good training for real-life job interviews.
"The videotaping exercise worked out very well. Not only was it a lot of fun, but also my students clearly improved their verbal English. It helped that they were practicing before their peers in a non-threatening environment."
Ms. Greer added, "I understand how difficult this is for them. I don't speak Spanish myself and when I go to Spain to visit my son, I discover first-hand how hard it is to communicate with people who speak another language."
The video camera isn't a commonly used ESOL teaching tool but Ms. Greer plans to expand its use in her classes this fall.
Tina Washco, program manager for the Coastal Region GREAT Center, said, "This is another solid example of how we're increasingly using technology to improve instruction in our adult education, ESOL, and family literacy programs."