‘Lotus Blog’

Here are some classic responses from interviews I have conducted.

Q : Tell me something about yourself.

A : What would you like to know sir?

Grrrrr….Tell me how you would be a good candidate for the job.

Q : Have you seen our company website?

A : Sorry sir, my internet was not working.

Grrrr….So, couldnt you take the trouble to go to a cybercafe?

Q : Do you have any questions?

A : No sir

Grrrr….. Why are you wasting this chance to ask some intelligent questions?

Q : Why have you applied for this job?

A : I just sent out lots of applications, and you called me for the interview.

Grrrr…….Cant you at least try to show that you WANT this job!

Q : Tell me what are your strengths and weaknesses.

A : Everybody says that I am a nice person, and no one has ever said anything bad about me.

Grrrrr…..You’ve just shown me that you have not ever given this any thought.

Young people make these elementary mistakes, because they have just not been trained on how to prepare for an interview.

May I recommend Taking Charge - how to get the job of your dreams. By the time you complete the course, you will be a formidable candidate for any job.

The AICTE has been taking some pioneering steps to make  students in Technical Education courses more employable. Some time ago, they had mandated the establishment of a Language Lab in each institution.

They have also outlined a Curriculum for the introduction of Communicative English in the courses.

We analsyed the Curriculum against Linguaphone 21, to see if L 21 did actually cover everything that was required.

The answer is a resounding YES. In fact, L 21 goes over and above the requirements of the AICTE curriculum. What is more everything in L 21 is taught through practice, and activities. There is no theory.

With the aid of Eyespeak, the students can be graded on their Spoken English, and this is a major advantage.

The Curriculum Analysis is available with Lotus. Please send us an email at lotusban@vsnl.com and we will send it to you.

Everyone who wants to master Spoken English does so for a combination of positive and negative reasons . The positive reasons are obvious - want a better job, want more self confidence, want to pave the way for a better future in the job you are in, want to play in the global arena .

The negative reasons are more powerful, and are usually the main reason why a person takes action to improve their English, rather than just think about it.

” Have you ever felt at a loss of words, because your English was weak?”

” Have you ever felt that your ideas were not received well, because you did not express them well in English. Whereas someone with weaker ideas was heard and complimented, just because he had fluent English”.

” Have you ever felt embarrassed because your English was not up to the mark? Either in an office or a social situation?”

” Have you ever lost out on a job offer, or a promotion opportunity because your English let you down?”

If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you are ready to take action. As they say, people act because they want to gain something, or they want to avoid losing something.

Linguaphone Business English is a very interesting program. It teaches not just business language, but business style as well. It has 12 case studies, with vastly differing business situations spread out over 15 countries.

It is meant for people who already have good English, but want to take their communications skills to the next level. How to say No politely, how to disagree without being disagreeable, how to anticipate questions in an interview, and prepare persuasive answers.

The Modular Case Based method used in LBE allows learners to zero in on a specific communications need, and shows them the case studies in which they will find coverage.  

This allows the learner to use LBE as a daily resource, with very pratical applications. Now wonder this course has won prestigious awards right from its very inception.

Linguaphone 21 is a multimedia program. It has printed matter, audio content, video content, and now speech recognition software.

The video content is in two VCDs, that are based on Level One of the course. Why is video useful in mastering English?

The videos bring to life various conversations and role plays. You have read them, heard them, and now you can see them being played out.

Its an excellent way to reinforce the vocabulary, expression, and usage specially in Level One of Linguaphone 21.

A few years ago, the APSCHE ( Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education) launched a new Diploma Program to train graduate students for the ITES sector. They chose Linguaphone as the Spoken English curriculum, and ran courses for over 1000 students in a pilot project lasting one year.

The students in the first batch started about six weeks before their final exams. They were doing the Linguaphone course for about three hours each day, during the crucial ” pre exam” period.

I asked them how they managed to find the time to tear themselves away from their crucial studies to attend this course. I will never forget the answer a young woman gave me.

” Sir, we all study late into the night for our subjects. We are on study leave, and to be honest, its not like we are doing anything important during the day. We also know, that if we can improve our English, we will improve our chance of getting jobs, much more than if we improve our marks”. Students know what is important, and they are highly motivated if they think that something will help them get a good start in their careers.

A few months later, I was with another batch of students, and one of them walked into the class about half an hour late. Everyone was looking at him, and yelling out ” What happened?”. He flashed everyone a thumbs-up and said ” I got in”. This young man had been applying to Dell Computers, and had been bounced three times before in the early interviews because of his poor Spoken English. This time he had got in.

” Linguaphone made the difference. I started this course 6 weeks ago, and my confidence in speaking English has improved tremendously. I am now able to use the language that I already know”.

Confidence leads to success, doesn’t it?

I was with all the students of the Government Polytechnic in Panvel, when their Linguaphone Lab was being inaugurated. Very bright young men and women, full of hope and ambition.

I asked them why learning English was important. One of them, who seemed to be the spokesman for the entire group said ” We are not worried about getting jobs. Everyone in my class will definitely get a job. But, we now want better jobs. We want jobs with L and T, Tata’s, Reliance….and for these jobs we need to have excellent marks, and excellent English”.

The Principal told me ” My students are in no way inferior to the students from Mumbai, or Pune. They are as smart, and they are much more hardworking. They have not got caught up in the party culture. The only thing they lack is confidence in communications. If we can overcome this, they will be able to compete with the best all over India”.

The Linguaphone Lab has been a great success in 15 Government Polytechnics in Maharashtra, and the MSBTE has a vision of extending the Labs to many more later this year.

The Police Commissioner in Pune decided that his traffic cops should be able to understand and speak English.

Linguaphone 21 sprang into action, and I attended some of the sessions. I asked them how Linguaphone had helped - and heard a delightful story from one of the cops.

He spoke in a good combination of English and Marathi - ” Before when I was on duty, and stopped someone, if they spoke to me in High Funda English, I used to feel a little shy and let them go. These days, I am not scared of them. I talk to them in English, and they are so surprised, they dont argue with me”.

He also spoke proudly of how he is able to give directions in English, when drivers stop to ask the way.

Way to go Linguaphone!

We were with the Directors of a premier management college in Mumbai. They have now decided that they need to embark on an English initiative for their students.

” My MBA students have done well in the CAT, and come to us with the high scores on their subjects. But, they are often not so confident when it comes to the English language. Even students whose English is good need to pick up the finer points of the language, and business etiquette as well”.

Their solution : a 30 seater Lab : 20 sets of Linguaphone 21 with Eyespeak, and 10 sets of Linguaphone Business English.

They will use the Eyespeak Placement Tests to determine whether students need to strengthen their basics with L 21, or take their English to the next level with LBE.

The Director finished the meeting with the comment that ” Our students come from all walks of life, and all types of background, but the common link seems to be a little weakness in English”.

Here are some ways to ensure that your resume gets tossed:

1. Send a photocopy on shabby paper.

2. Address it to whomsoever it may concern.

3. Send it with less stamps so that the recipient has to pay for the extra.

4. Start the letter with Dear Sir or Madam

5. Use brightly colored paper, or perfumed paper, or some other gimmick to “stand out”.

6. Weave in all the cliches : ” I assure you that if given a chance, I will discharge my duties to the best of my abilities”.

7. Talk at length in the resume of your family background, and various posts held by your father/grandfather/uncle.

We were showing Taking Charge to a group of Channel Partners, two of whom were young women about to finish their studies and enter the job market.

We went through a few of the standard questions that every interviewer asks : Tell me something about yourself, What were your favourite subjects in college, Tell me why you got poor marks in this subject….

As we went through the activities, and the suggestions on how the answers could be framed, both young ladies said ” I wish that I had seen this course before my interviews”.

They had received little or no guidance on interview preparation from their college, and some guidelines from senior students who already had jobs. They felt that Taking Charge was a systematic, and professional way for students to prepare for the next stage in their lives - finding a job and starting their careers.

There’s been so much hype in the media about the millionth word to be added to the English language. ‘ Jai Ho’ was a red hot contender for a while.

So, what does this mean? How many of the million words are you expected to know and use? Is it an advantage to use lots of words? We all know people who like to use complex words when simple ones will do and we tend to think of them as being bombastic.

In language as with everything else, less is more. To be able to communicate the maximum ideas with the minimum words, and to use language subtly is a great art.

Linguaphone works on the concept of ‘ active, working vocabulary’. If you have mastery over a functional vocabulary of 2500 words, you will be able to speak English well in your personal, social and work life.

Does that mean your vocabulary has to stop there? No. The more you use English, read it, and write it, the more words you will learn. You will also know when it is appropriate to use them, and various ways in which they can be used.

As for the million words - its an interesting fact to know, and great for dinner table conversation. English Jai Ho.

When learning a new language, you cannot overstate the importance of listening. The more you listen, the more your ear gets tuned to the words, the grammar, and the rhythms of the language.

The best way to use the Linguaphone curriculum with the Eyespeak software is to follow this 6 step method:

1. Read the Book.

2. Listen to the Audio

3. Repeat along with the Narrator

4. Repeat without the Narrator

5. Speak on your own.

6. Use the Eyespeak software

The curriculum will lay the foundation for Spoken English, and the software will instil Global pronunciation, accent and usage.

This is the best methodology to master languages - listen, repeat, reinforce and master.

A Lab coordinator from Mumbai had this to say:

“Our students enjoy using Eyespeak and get quite addicted to it. They want to improve their scores, and compare with the other students. It is a very easy softwware and really effective.

We have realised that we are English subject teachers. We need the help of Linguaphone when it comes to teaching English as a language.”

Teachers from Ahmadnagar

We have been using the Linguaphone Lab for 3 years, and it has made a great impact on our students. Nowadays when they go for interschool extempore competitions, everyone can see the difference in their English. Even the way they greet teachers in the classroom has changed. Before they used to do the sing-song ‘Good moooooorning teeeeeeeacher’. Now, they say it in a crisp manner.

One of our students is in Japan on an international exchange program. She just sent us an email saying that she won the prize for the international student with the best Spoken English - there were 180 students from other countries and she was the topper.

We enjoy using Linguaphone and we can see the impact on our students.

A teacher from Nadiad was sharing with us the results they have seen after using the Linguaphone Lab. ” After completing our three month course, one of our students got a job with at BPO for Rs 16,000 and another got a job with a good company for Rs 10,000. they got it because their English was good. Now, I am going to improve my own English, so that I too can earn more than Rs 5000 which is my teacher’s salary”.

Its that time of year again. Schools and colleges are about to re-open. And, its time for Lotus to swing into action, to reactivate all the Language Labs that have shut down for the summer.

We recently re-trained over 60 Lab Coordinators at our office in Bombay. They came prepared to learn, and they left highly charged and motivated by what they saw. We brought them back in touch with the wonder of the Linguaphone curriculum. We showed them the magic of Eyespeak software. They saw how both together could be an incredible resource to their own efforts to have their students speak Global English.

The teachers have all gone back with a resolve to transform their students’ English. They know that in Lotus they have a true partner in this mission.

Linguaphone is unique because it teaches language the way we all learned our Mother Tongue. What does this mean?

Did our mothers sit down and teach us A-B-C first, the way it is taught in school? No.

Did our mothers teach us first to read and write, the way we are taught into school? No.

Did our mothers ever give us a formal class or lesson in our Mother Tongue? No.

We grew up at home hearing the language being spoken. The more we heard, the more we began to retain and understand. All the while a trove of vocabulary was building up in our brains.

One day, when we were ready, we began to speak - perfectly. Our vocabulary, pronunciation, usage, grammar, accent and pronunciation were all perfect. Without the benefit of a single formal lesson.

The mother tongue method ( Listen- Understand-Speak) is the most powerful way to learn a new language. And it is way more effective than what is called the ‘other tongue’ method.

The first time I met the Chairman of Linguaphone many years ago, he told me ‘ Our courses are for ambitious people’. Virtually every one who invests in a Linguaphone program is pursuing a dream - and knows that mastering a new language will help in making it come true.

Better English leads to better jobs we say, and so indeed it does. Mastery over Business English is one of the ways to the Boardroom - because it gives you not just vocabulary but also business style and sophistication. Learning an international language is ideal for anyone who wishes to be a global player - and today in India, we are all global players.

Master a new language and change your life. So true, isnt it?

I heard about Crazy English a long time ago from Dr Subba Rao, the head of the Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education. He had just returned from a trip to China, and observed Crazy English in action - a class for as many as 5000 Chinese in a giant stadium. There was an English “teacher” on stage, who would shout out words, phrases and sentences, and the crowd would roar them back at him.

If you want to see an incredible video of this global mania for learning English, I would recommend that you go to You Tube and search for Jay Walker’s English mania film. Its about five minutes long, and he talks about how right now, 2 billion people are learning English all over the world.

Why are they learning English? Because they are looking for opportunities to transform their lives.

Linguaphone used to have a Latin motto that very roughly translated into the heading.

Acquiring a new language is not just a collection of words, or new accents. It is also acquiring a new personality. When you learn a new language, you also absorb some of the culture, and become more sensitive to the country and its people.

I was attending a training program for Traffic Policemen in Pune who were using Linguaphone to improve their English. Here is what one of them said ” I used to be a little shy and nervous whenever I stopped someone who spoke in High Funda English. But now I too can speak stylish English. I am confident when I talk to them”.

Better English made him a more effective cop!

Whenever a Lab is installed, we conduct a 4 day intensive training for teachers. We have got very enthusiastic responses from the teachers. Here are some of the typical ones:

” I feel that my own English has improved specially in the area of pronunciation and accent. The more I use Linguaphone, the better my English will be”.

” The program is so simple and easy to implement. We do not have to spend hours preparing classes”.

” It is a unique way to teach Spoken English. All the students get very excited, specially with the Eyespeak software. They compete to see who can get the highest scores”.

” Linguaphone teaches grammar in a way that students will always remember the rules, even if they dont know them”.

Of course, all the responses are full of praise for the Lotus Consultant who conducted the training.

Friday May 22, The Mumbai edition of the Economic Times, Front Page.

” Mr Kaunanidhi wanted his son MK Azhagiri to be given Cabinet rank - something the Congress was reluctant to comply with. Mr Azhagiri’s lack of administrative experience and facility with English are being considered drawbacks to his ability to perform in a key department”.

Every Linguaphone Language Lab is exciting, because it means that a new set of students are going to acquire Global Spoken English.

Recently the Naval Unit in Kochi installed an L 21 Lab. They are using it to train their NCC Cadets whose English could be improved. These Cadets get invited to prestigious events like the Republic Day parade in Delhi, and face challenges because their English is not up to the mark.

Early reports indicate that the Cadets are enjoying L 21, and using Eyespeak with great gusto to improve their pronunciation and accent.

We are likely to make a similar breakthrough with the Army cadets in the near future.

One day, perhaps a future Chief of the Navy or Army will tell us how Linguaphone changed his or her life.

Linguaphone 21 gives an active working vocabulary of 2500 words. What does this mean?

This is the practical vocabulary that is needed to communicate in our personal life, social life and work life. There are no unused words, or archaic terms, of the kind that may be contained in a dictionary.

English experts say that an active vocabulary of 2500 words would give any speaker command over the language. What is more, the Linguaphone vocabulary is expressed in Global English, which can be understood by people from all parts of the world.

Let Linguaphone be your pathway to success.

That’s right. If you want to apply for a job to a blue chip company like Infosys, remember that there are approximately 15 lakh applications for the 15,000 jobs they offer each year.

How do you improve your chances. Obviously, if you dont have the marks, you dont have a chance. But marks alone are not enough.

You need great communications skills in English. You need Linguaphone 21.

You also need to hone your job search, resume and interview skills, so that you make a big impact on prospective employers. You need Taking Charge.

The shrewd human being always looks for ways to shorten the odds, and tries to gain any advantage that he can. For young people about to embark on the adventure of a new career, here are two proven ways to improve their chances of a flying start.

All over the country, there are Mega Campuses opening up, serving bodies of between 15,000 to 20,000 students. These Campuses have BA/BSc colleges, and cover specialisations like Medicine, Engineering, Management, Polytechnics, ITIs, Nursing, B.Ed, Architecture and so on.

We have been installing Language Labs in many such campuses. The usual pattern is to install the Lab in one college, and provide excellent service. Once the trustees see the impact of the Lab, they tend to take Labs for each of their colleges, since they realise that one Lab cannot meet the needs of all their students.

One of our Channel Partners has placed five Labs over the last three years, and hopes to place two more this summer. A tribute to his service and followup. 

There are many Mega Campuses who have so far taken one Lab. We should be following up with them to ensure that they cover all the colleges under their purview.

The Spoken English revolution is indeed sweeping the country.

Taking Charge will help young people get the job of their dreams, by giving them practical, useful tips on how to prepare for the interview.

One great tip - dont just tell a fact about yourself, weave a story around it. Dont just say ‘ I learned web design in college’ , tell the story. ‘ I was onthe College Festival committee, and decided to create a website. I knew nothing about website design, but with the help of a friend, and lots of Google searching I created a very cool site. I got a special award from the Principal for doing this’. This story adds human interest to the interview. It also projects that you are the kind of person they want to hire - creative, resourceful, willing to learn, and full of initiative.

Nandan Nilekani is known around the world as one of the geniuses behind Infosys. He is also famous for giving us ‘ the earth is flat’ concept.

On his recent speaking tour to promote his new book, Nilekani said that one of the main factors responsible for his success was the fact that he could speak good English.

This is true for all of us isn’t it? What if our English was not up to the mark? Would we have been able to achieve many of the things that we have?

Command over English is necessary for success. There are many other factors too, but without English the challenge would be that much harder.

Master English and master your world.

Mohan Krishnan

Hello and Welcome to the Lotus Learning Blog.

Please watch this space for more updates and other interesting Language news from around the world.