Poles apart

I've just got back from a whistle-stop tour of Poland; visiting six cities in six days to talk about dictionary skills to some lovely groups of English teachers. It was my first trip to Poland and as ever, one of the most interesting things about visiting a new country for work was the reaction of the teachers to my session.

You kind of assume that teachers the world over will be much the same, and in many ways, they are, but every country throws up something slightly different. One of my very first speaking 'tours', many years ago, was to Ukraine. I was talking then too about dictionaries and dictionary skills, so I was a little surprised when at the end of each session, I had a series of really tough grammar questions thrown at me. I don't think they were trying to catch me out, they were just really into grammar and were taking the (rare) opportunity of having a native speaker on hand to ask.

In Germany, it took me a while to get used to the fact that when I got to the end of my workshop, everyone starting banging on the table. Apparently, it's the normal way to show your appreciation in Germany; the equivalent of a round of applause. A bit disconcerting though if you're not expecting it!

So what did I notice about the Poles? Well, I guess the thing that took a while to get used to was their initial demeanour. For most sessions, they arrived very quietly, with none of the chatter I'd usually expect of a gathering of teachers. They spread themselves around the room sitting separately and mostly at the back. And as I started my session, I was met with a sea of incredibly serious faces. I came to discover that in general Polish presentations (or 'lectures' as everyone kept referring to them) tend to be rather formal, serious affairs. 

And that wasn't the only cultural difference I discovered. One of the points in my session which provoked the most discussion was the issue of politeness in English and how it differs from Polish norms. It seems that Poles tend to be more direct in their interactions, not because they intend to be rude, but because of a subtly different attitude towards interaction between people.  One participant, Ewa in Gdansk, pointed me in the direction of a really interesting article which examines the Polish idea of 'assumed cooperation'. I wouldn't normally quote from the Daily Mail, but apart from a few rather stereotypical references to Polish plumbers, it's actually a good summary of a piece of academic research, in which Dr Zinken from the University of Portsmouth explains:

“One of the reasons behind the difference in phrasing questions … in each language might be because there is a strong sense of communal responsibility and solidarity in Polish culture, whereas in English culture the maintenance of every individual's privacy borders is important. While in Polish the other person's availability … is assumed, in English … the other person's availability always depends on their agreement.”

And of course, in order to secure that agreement in English, we use all kinds of rather long-winded, ‘polite’ language (Could you just pop your signature here for me, please? rather than Sign here, please.) that would just sound plain odd in Polish.

So given cultural expectations about formal ‘lectures’, I'm not quite sure what my audiences made of me pacing around and waving my hands about in a far from formal manner! By the end of most sessions though, I think they'd got the hang of my approach and the serious faces had largely turned to smiles by the time I produced my tablet to take a selfie of the gathering. Sometimes, I even managed to persuade people to hootch up closer to try and fit them all in the picture! Think my selfie technique still needs a bit of practice though ...

In Gdansk

In Wroclaw

In Krakow

In Warsaw

Thanks to everyone I met for a great week and a lovely (if rather brief) introduction to Poland!

Webinar reflections

Well, I survived my first two webinars yesterday without any major mishaps - phew! - so I thought I'd better report back as promised. I think they went okay - I've certainly had some positive feedback - and what's more, I quite enjoyed them once I got into the swing of it. It was a little bit nerve-wracking getting set up; double checking I'd unplugged the phone and the front door bell, then shutting all the windows because it was bin day and I didn't want bin men crashing around in the background! I settled myself in place in front of my laptop in my office, feeling rather like a news presenter - smart on the top half, jeans and slippers under the desk! Just for comparison with my last post, here's a webcam shot from when I got set up.

"This call may be recorded for training purposes."

Once the actual webinar got started, it felt a bit odd talking into silence. I had to keep suppressing the urge to ask "Can anyone hear me?". It was a big relief when I asked my first question and I got a flurry of responses popping up - from Ukraine, Siberia, Turkey, Portugal, Kenya ... it was a bit weird to think there were teachers all over the world sat tuning in, but quite fun too. As it was my first time, I kept things really simple and it was quite a straightforward presentation with just a few opportunities for people to participate. If and when I do one again, I'll definitely build in a bit more interaction, but I didn't want to try and run before I could walk.

At the end of the session, esp. in the morning, I got a nice selection of questions - as I've said before, always my favourite bit of any presentation. They all popped up in the chat box quite quickly and even with the help of my moderator reposting some I'd missed, I was quite aware that I didn't manage to answer all of them. I felt a bit bad that people had sat through an hour of me going on, then when they made the effort to participate, they got ignored. But then, I suppose at a face-to-face presentation, there are often people in the audience who put up their hands but who you don't have time to get round to.

When I logged off, I was exhausted and realised how tense and concentrated I'd been - it's quite an intense experience. It was also a bit odd being left alone so suddenly to deal with the adrenaline high you always get after a presentation in a quiet empty house. When you do a presentation in the flesh, there are always people around afterwards to chat to and things to be cleared up in that period when you're 'coming down'. The strange hiatus between the morning and the afternoon session was a bit odd too. I didn't quite have the concentration to get on with any other work, so I just sort of floated around, checking my email and wandering aimlessly about the house. Thankfully, it was a gloriously sunny day again, so I was able to spend a bit of time sat back out on the balcony just reflecting on a really interesting new experience - one to be repeated I hope.

First steps in the world of webinars

This week I'm taking my first steps into the world of webinars - on Thursday I'm giving my first webinar for OUP Global about Approaches to teaching EAP - connected with my latest project as part of the team working on the new Oxford EAP series. It's been in the pipeline for some time, but what with IATEFL last week, I've only just had the time, and the head space, to sit down and get myself prepared in earnest. In most ways so far, it feels like preparing for any other presentation - I made a load of notes, then converted them into PowerPoint slides, talking my way through them as I went. By lunchtime today, I'd got a good idea where I was going and was ready for a post-lunch run-through to check the timing. As the weather's so gloriously sunny, I just couldn't face more time at my desk, so I took my laptop out onto the roof terrace instead - here's the view from my webcam:

Okay, probably not the best location for the actual webinar - not least because passers-by would think I was completely mad sitting up on the roof apparently talking away to myself - but you've got to make the most of the sunshine when you can, haven't you?! Note to self - don't frown at the screen!

I think it's going to be a bit odd sitting down and talking to a screen, but I'm hoping I'll get at least a little bit of feedback from my audience to reassure me they're there. I'm not going for anything too fancy for my first attempt, so fingers crossed the technology will all be fine - and I'll have a friendly moderator on hand to deal with any problems that do crop up.

If you'd like to tune in, it's completely free and open to anyone, you've just got to sign up here. I'll be doing the whole thing twice; once from 10.00-11.00 BST and again 16.00-17.00. As I said, the title of the talk is Approaches to EAP and it's really going to be a general overview of some of the key differences in approach between general ELT and EAP - there's an intro on the OUP Global blog.

I'll report back later in the week on how it goes ...

A grown-up dictionary!

It's not often that a project I've worked on gets a mention on Radio 4, but this morning, as I was trying rouse myself out of bed, the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English (Oxford's single-volume dictionary) got a mention on the Today programme. This was exciting, not just because things I've worked on don't often get talked about on the radio, but also because it was my first foray into native speaker dictionaries and it feels all rather 'grown-up'!

I didn't actually work on researching and writing the dictionary, but I was involved in working on the database on which it's compiled and stored; tidying up some technical stuff, making sure everything was structured and formatted correctly, checking that nothing was missing, checking links and cross-references. It was still a great experience though and an insight into a different branch of lexicography. After years of working on ELT dictionaries, where the vocabulary's all very frequent and familiar, and where the grammar's simplified for learners, at first, it was a bit daunting. I learnt loads, having to deal with grammatical distinctions that I'd never really had to think about before and coming across lots of words that were way outside my vocabulary. I may have only joined the project at the tail end, but it was still fun to deal with some 'grown-up' language for a change!