Well I am home again, home again, jiggity-jog.

It was faster than I thought as there turned out to be no available bus tickets so I flew home at great expense (to the university).

The seminar was very interesting. It was on teaching business English. And evaluating business English.

They presented an interesting model. It was 3 concentric circles. The center one was called inner and represented native English speakers. The middle one was hmmmm...I forget what they called it but it represented those people who have a historical connection to English...like British colonies and the Philippines. The 3rd circle represented all of the other people who are learning to speak English for what ever reason (mainly to conduct business). The center circle represents about 400,000,000 people, most (as in more than 75%) of whom are American. The outer circle represents a number estimated at 600,000,000 ...yep....that is a scary number. I want to know who is teaching them? And I am here to say that if they are being taught as efficiently as the Thais are being taught English, this represents THE most inefficient business in the world.

Anyhow...the discussion was good and Cambridge University has developed a new test for business English to be used for business placement. I believe their hope is that they can replace the TOEIC test (Test Of English For International Communications) which is almost exclusively used here in Thailand by employers who are hiring 2nd language English speakers. It is an American test and there was a lot of slamming of American testing compared to British testing. I got defensive because it is a thing with teaching people something and then testing what they know and teaching to a test (which is entirely what the Brits do, particularly in their language tests. They make a test and then sell people classes that will prepare them to take the test and pass it.)

Anyhow, I think this new test could well serve our BBA program as both a qualifying exam (you have to score at at least level A2 to get into the program) and then also provide a getting out requirement (If you want to graduate with a Bachelor in Business Administration in the International program, you need to test at least at C2). We will see.

They are running a contest to find the best English speaker in University business programs in Asia. The prize for the winner includes a full scholarship for an MBA from an Australian University with travel, living expenses, a laptop and a talking dictionary plus a preliminary English class. I will recommend a couple of our students at least try for it.

OK...it's late and I was up at 4 this morning to try to get a "shower" on the train before it got into Bangkok and I had to go to the meeting. Ahhh...there is something I don't want to try again!

tata