3) Setting the students up for success
Ray and Ennio had tricks up their sleeve for ensuring their groups learned, understood, and retained the material they were covering.
Ray:
For Ray, his particular concern was making the material relevant and interesting to this diverse group.
“My teaching style is very interactive and I like to tell lots of stories based on real life experiences, both my own and my clients. I want to make the course as interesting as possible for the participants so I establish some criteria as to how I will present the material.
The selection criteria that I used were; is the material critical to understanding the topic covered by the chapter? Does it have some significance to their daily job?
“Can I make it interesting with appropriate examples to bring it to life and to provide them with a mnemonic by which to remember the topic under review?”
“I reviewed the list of participants and where they were from to make sure that I had stories in my arsenal relevant to all of them. I am glad I chose to focus on the practical application of the knowledge being shared as that is what makes FITT training stand out from other international trade training materials.”
Ennio:
Ennio wanted to ensure his group was prepared for the types of questions they would encounter on the exams. Test-taking can be difficult enough in your own native language. Imagine taking one in a second or third language.
“I told them that multiple-choice questions are even difficult for native English-speakers, and showed them a few tricks from my own experience. In short, I tried to give them some pointers that would take off the pressure that the word “exam” brings with it.”
Final thoughts
Ray:
The participants came from a variety of countries with very different cultures and business practices. There were many interesting moments, and I made a lot of friends.
I will end with one last anecdote. At the end of the week long training, as we were all saying our goodbyes, I got probably the nicest criticism of my performance I have ever had.
Two young ladies who had sat quietly through my presentation came up to me with beautiful smiles on their faces and with no malice said to me, “Mr. Joyce we love your accent but we don’t understand what you say.”
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat; it was exhilarating and I learned a lot from the experience that I can use in the future. I also made many new friends that I look forward to seeing again.
Ennio:
“On my return home, I sent them all a personal email thanking them for their participation in the program and have had several emails in return, thanking me for the training and inviting me to see them at their posts if I ever go their way.”
