Ever learning

Had another opportunity to learn from a student this week. It was meeting 6 of a block of 10 focusing on job interviewing in English. D. is a bright, motivated young HR professional looking for a new job. She approached me to help get her fit for upcoming job interviews which might be in English. Her being in HR herself makes it doubly interesting; we’re able to look at the process from both sides.

Her English is already pretty good but as is so often the case, she’s advanced enough to be aware of the gaps. The situation also gives me the chance to talk with her in depth about HR stuff which interests me personally. She can follow and understand me perfectly; expressing her own opinions in clear, fluent English is the problem. And here the crux. We were practising arguing a point in an interview situation – target language: linking words such as however, although, nevertheless, for example, in this instance etc.

I set the scene and chose the topic for discussion: interviewing HR manager believes women between 25 and 35 shouldn’t be employed because they’ll all go off and get pregnant (!) D. laughed heartily. Apparently she works with a man who actually holds similar beliefs. She did an excellent job of patiently explaining to misogynistic HR manager (me) why one can’t exclude anyone from the hiring process and that much research proves the value of women to organistions. There wasn’t much use of the target language but she did a good job.

Feedback time. She explained how she can – and does – argue such points with ease and intelligence in German. In English she struggles to find the words and ends up going off in all directions until she can get back to her point. Nothing surprising there. So, to help, I gave her an example of how I would argue the point in English.

Now, this is one of my favourite, hotly argued topics; off I went, with ease and fluency making my point. Ta da! Aren’t I brilliant!?

My lovely student, D. looked at me with fire in her eyes and explained how, when she hears me speak, it’s so obvious that is what one can say. My use of English is elegant and fluent – she understood every word – but recreating such language herself is beyond her.

And that’s when it hit me. I took advantage of the situation to “show off” and in the process, highlighted my student’s weakness. I was enjoying being able to sound off (about something close to my own heart) without considering the impact on D. We had our target language and a focus for the role play, I should have kept to that and helped her use the language she has in a confident way. Instead, I was virtually lecturing her on how to deal with narrow-minded, sexist managers. Something she is perfectly capable of doing herself – in her own language.

This was a wake-up call and I’m very grateful to D. for holding a metaphorical mirror up before me. She reminded me that my job is to concentrate on her language skills, not discuss my favourite topics as if we’re two best friends out socially together. On the one hand, it’s ideal to have common themes to talk about in 1-2-1 coaching. On the other hand, we’re there for a specific reason and as “The Teacher”, I mustn’t loose focus.

A lesson re-learned. Thanks D.