Audio – Visual

INTERVIEW – The Power of Language

In this interview with Marcel Daane of Head Strong Performance, we discuss the power of language on a variety of levels – what we say to others, how we perceive language and how we speak to ourselves in our heads. I hope you enjoy it.

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INTERVIEW– What we do and what to expect when taking the training

A while back, I was interviewed by immigration consultant, Burcu Akyol, who wanted to share with her clients something about the work we do. Here’s the video of our interview where I explain both what we do and what to expect when taking training.

Audio

INTERVIEW – Facilitating Clearer Communication with Heather Chetwynd

We often misunderstand others who have been raised in the same country, often even from within the same family. So when we have been raised speaking different languages and holding different beliefs and values, misinterpretation can run rampant. In this 30 minute interview, language and cultural specialist, Heather Chetwynd, talks about why this happens and what we can do to facilitate clearer communication. Click here to listen.

INTERVIEW – Get your meaning across with Heather Chetwynd

Getting your meaning across clearly is always an issue. But when it is done in a language and culture that you did not grow up in, many aspects intrude to complicate the message. The pronunciation of individual sounds, how we put words together and stress them, how we time our responses and what expression we show on our face, how close we stand and how we gesticulate — all of these things and more can confuse the communication. And the unfortunate thing is that people judge others by evaluating through their cultural lens with little or no awareness of how one’s native culture and language influence their communication in other environments. Click here to listen to the 30 minute interview.

Links

On-line Resources:

TESTING YOUR SKILLS – The Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) is used to evaluate the level of a series of skills required in all workplaces to different degrees depending upon your professional demands. This site allows you to test yourself in the areas of reading, document use and numeracy. You can do the tests by level first (on the page the link goes to) and then test yourself in specific areas, by clicking the PRACTICE link. http://www.towes.com/en/test-taker-services/practice-your-skills/practice-your-skills

ESL EXERCISES – An extension of Settlement.org, this site has a wide number of videos, transcripts and language exercises organized by area, such as citizenship, employment, daily life and financial literacy. Practice your listening comprehension and expand you knowledge of idioms.  Search exercises by CLB level (Canadian Language Benchmarks) which are applicable worldwide as a measurement of English language capability. http://eslcorner.settlement.org/

PUBLIC SPEAKING TOPICS & IDEAS – Giving a speech is difficult enough, but attempting to convince an audience to see a certain point of view or be more receptive to a specific idea takes skill. This site helps you by providing ideas and offering tips on how to best prepare and deliver a public speech. http://www.myspeechclass.com/

DEVELOPING CULTURAL COMPETENCY – This site has many resources and information about work in a multicultural environment. The link below has a series of videos on cross-cultural issues in the workplace. If you look around, you will find many other videos and webinars on issues related to immigration and the integration of foreign-trained professionals into the Canadian workplace. http://www.hireimmigrants.ca/watch/

COMPARING CULTURES – Cultural theorist Geert Hofstede, a pioneer in cultural studies, did extensive research comparing countries all over the world by categories, such as hierarchy and collectivism, where countries fall on a continuum. This site explains these dimensions and allows you to compare any two countries. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/

TED TALKS – Ted Talks are thousands of videos of short to long presentations on a very wide range of topics which you can search by category. The wonderful thing about this site, apart from the very interesting diverse content, is that most presentations are transcribed and hyper-linked. (Just click the “interactive transcript” icon. This link gives you an example – it is a fascinating 12 minute presentation entitled: Could your language affect your ability to save money.) http://www.ted.com/talks/keith_chen_could_your_language_affect_your_ability_to_save_money