Profiling people is certainly not a new concept for many – something we each do almost subconsciously. It comes in the form of social orienting, and of course environment. It rose to prominence after 911 and the rise of terrorism, and while homeland security was and still is a primary mandate for most responsible states, should it supersede individual rights when based on profiling? The safe answer is depends.
In Brasil, the issue of profiling has come under the spotlight with the manifestations which occurred recently in shopping malls in Sao Paulo, commonly known as ``rolezinhos`` - and most recently the incident in Rio involving the alleged 15 year old thief from the favelas – who was beaten, stripped and finally locked to a post by white vigilantes. And even here at CEO, through the profiling of our own students.
Now, relax - there is no diabolical plan in effect to take over your minds with English and thereby mount an attack on other language schools in the city and then the country and then… Sorry got carried away there, but rest assured; no calculated plan other than that to provide the best quality teaching is being formulated at HQ. Having said that profiling our students is something that we do every day, especially when it comes to lesson planning.
The practice or should I say science is fascinating. There are so many variables, socio economic, cultural, gender - that come to bear when projecting the personalities of students. Profiling as teachers allows us to cultivate lesson plans that address specific areas of interest in students, but more importantly, it gives us insight in how to best impart the knowledge. Working exclusively with Executives, accurate profiling based on carefully accumulated data is essential to the education process, especially with respect to language teaching.
So how does one accurately profile the adult Brasilian learner? Last year, The Guardian ran an article which helps to explain the recent interest in Brasil`s burgeoning middle class, and sheds light on the unique issues faced by Adult ESL students in the country. Here is part of that article:
“…the rise of a formerly poor social group that is now in the most powerful consumer stratum in the country. Brazil’s “C-class” – as they are categorized – have grown rapidly in size and influence over the past decade thanks to the growth of the Brazilian economy, widening credit lines and the government’s efforts to address income inequality. Since 2004, the government says, 32 million Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty. Last year, this helped the C-class – defined as those earning between 1,000 and 4,500 reals (£300-£1,400) a month – to constitute for the first time a majority of Brazil’s population of 196 million.”
The fact that in a global economy more and more people need to speak English is nothing new, of course. What is new, I believe, is the kind of student that has emerged because of the economic boom The Guardian described. At the risk of oversimplifying matters, I would describe these new middle class adult students as people who:
1. Are in their early-20s to mid-30s.
2. Need English to become or remain employable. Travel, culture and fun are secondary interests.
3. Need to learn English more than they might want to learn it. And they need to learn it fast.
4. May have never been to an English-speaking country.
5. May be relatively impervious to American / British culture.
6. Are mostly A1 / A2 when they start a new course, since they didn’t learn enough English as kids / teens and grew up with limited exposure to English – partly because of item 5 above.
7. May have limited literacy in L1 and a very feeble grasp of learning strategies and study skills.
8. Tend to be very career-oriented. They have no time to – in their words – “waste” on topics, situations, words, functions and grammar that they don’t perceive as directly relevant to their career goals.
9. Tend to gauge their progress by the degree to which they are able to “get stuff done” at work. Fast.
10. Are not willing, for the most part, to spend more than 2 years in a language school. *
Add to all this the amount of pressure these students live under, makes you wonder why they even bother trying. But then, that’s where we come in as teachers of adults – dealing with and understanding these issues through profiling better enables us to address these specific needs and provides us an insight into their obstacles and motivations behind learning the language.
*Taken from an excerpt from Luiz Otávio`s blog: http://www.luizotaviobarros.com/2013/12/learn-english-fast.html
In Brasil, the issue of profiling has come under the spotlight with the manifestations which occurred recently in shopping malls in Sao Paulo, commonly known as ``rolezinhos`` - and most recently the incident in Rio involving the alleged 15 year old thief from the favelas – who was beaten, stripped and finally locked to a post by white vigilantes. And even here at CEO, through the profiling of our own students.
Now, relax - there is no diabolical plan in effect to take over your minds with English and thereby mount an attack on other language schools in the city and then the country and then… Sorry got carried away there, but rest assured; no calculated plan other than that to provide the best quality teaching is being formulated at HQ. Having said that profiling our students is something that we do every day, especially when it comes to lesson planning.
The practice or should I say science is fascinating. There are so many variables, socio economic, cultural, gender - that come to bear when projecting the personalities of students. Profiling as teachers allows us to cultivate lesson plans that address specific areas of interest in students, but more importantly, it gives us insight in how to best impart the knowledge. Working exclusively with Executives, accurate profiling based on carefully accumulated data is essential to the education process, especially with respect to language teaching.
So how does one accurately profile the adult Brasilian learner? Last year, The Guardian ran an article which helps to explain the recent interest in Brasil`s burgeoning middle class, and sheds light on the unique issues faced by Adult ESL students in the country. Here is part of that article:
“…the rise of a formerly poor social group that is now in the most powerful consumer stratum in the country. Brazil’s “C-class” – as they are categorized – have grown rapidly in size and influence over the past decade thanks to the growth of the Brazilian economy, widening credit lines and the government’s efforts to address income inequality. Since 2004, the government says, 32 million Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty. Last year, this helped the C-class – defined as those earning between 1,000 and 4,500 reals (£300-£1,400) a month – to constitute for the first time a majority of Brazil’s population of 196 million.”
The fact that in a global economy more and more people need to speak English is nothing new, of course. What is new, I believe, is the kind of student that has emerged because of the economic boom The Guardian described. At the risk of oversimplifying matters, I would describe these new middle class adult students as people who:
1. Are in their early-20s to mid-30s.
2. Need English to become or remain employable. Travel, culture and fun are secondary interests.
3. Need to learn English more than they might want to learn it. And they need to learn it fast.
4. May have never been to an English-speaking country.
5. May be relatively impervious to American / British culture.
6. Are mostly A1 / A2 when they start a new course, since they didn’t learn enough English as kids / teens and grew up with limited exposure to English – partly because of item 5 above.
7. May have limited literacy in L1 and a very feeble grasp of learning strategies and study skills.
8. Tend to be very career-oriented. They have no time to – in their words – “waste” on topics, situations, words, functions and grammar that they don’t perceive as directly relevant to their career goals.
9. Tend to gauge their progress by the degree to which they are able to “get stuff done” at work. Fast.
10. Are not willing, for the most part, to spend more than 2 years in a language school. *
Add to all this the amount of pressure these students live under, makes you wonder why they even bother trying. But then, that’s where we come in as teachers of adults – dealing with and understanding these issues through profiling better enables us to address these specific needs and provides us an insight into their obstacles and motivations behind learning the language.
*Taken from an excerpt from Luiz Otávio`s blog: http://www.luizotaviobarros.com/2013/12/learn-english-fast.html
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