On television we watch commercials of kids being bullied, but we never see commercials of adults being bullied at work. According to Christian Codrington 50% of adults will be subjected to bullying at some pointin their careers. A lot of times, there is no where to turn. As a former Director of schools, I saw first hand the poor treatment of individuals at work. I had to hear things like “Oh, she doesn’t work as hard because isn’t an immigrant or reversed” I only hire immigrants because they work harder and will take less money.” I saw people being asked to come in on Sundays to finish the boss’s work while the boss enjoyed a weekend at a spa in Whistler. I saw people being called “stupid”, “can’t you do anything right,” “ you will never succeed here.,” I even heard “I will make sure that everyday you come to work will be hell.” There was really no recourse for these individuals but to quit. Although companies can put legislation in place, the real onus lies with upper management and their ability to handle the matter. I watched entire departments turn over 3 or 4 times, and yet nothing was done. There has to be better legislation and laws to help people combat this. It amazes me that workplace bullies are able to treat people so poorly and when management finally catches on that bully just goes to a new playground. So please on February 29, 2012 support Pink Shirt Day to counter attack Bullying in the workplace.
Archive for February, 2012
CGA Accent Reduction Workshop in Vancouver BC
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012On February 21st, 2012, Jeff Madigan and Jennifer Madigan facilitated an accent reduction workshop through CGA. The Certified General Accountants (CGA) office located at 1867 West Broadway hosted the workshop in their executive boardroom which contains what is likely the largest board room table in the city. The Certified General Accountants Association of British Columbia is committed to offering training and support for its members and was happy to partner with L2 Accent Reduction Centre to showcase how speech training can increase job performance. Interest in the workshop was very high and the 30 available spaces filled up quickly and in fact a waiting list has been put in place. L2 Accent Reduction Centre will be repeating the event in the near future due to the strong interest so please check back either with L2 Accent Reduction Centre or the CGA website for the next date.
On March 6th, 2012, instructor Jeff Madigan will be conducting a workshop at the Vancouver Public Library, Library Square (downtown branch), in the Peter Kaye Room, starting at 2pm. Please contact the VPL to register http://www.vpl.ca/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar.cgi
Jeff Madigan
Jennifer Madigan
Learning English Online – What You Need To Know
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012It’s the 21st century, and everybody is addicted to the computer. We’ve become so reliable to the internet that we do everything on there, from shopping, to entertainment, and even learning. Learning something online has become very popular these years, and everyone is trying to make the most of it.
First, it is important to choose what exactly you want to learn at the moment, and be specific. There is no point in learning something you will never use. If you are an English teacher, you would most likely never have the urge to learn how to put together a car. On the other hand, if you are someone who would like to learn English online, you would have to be more specific. You can choose how to read English, write English, or speak English. You may want to master all of these within a few years, but when it comes to learning something new, starting one step at a time is a good idea.
Next, you want to take advantage. Think about it, the internet contains millions of information about billions of things. What is the point if you do not use as many of those sources related to your topic as possible? Let’s go back to the person who is learning English online. The internet would be a great source of practice. On the web, you can find many English-related quizzes and games to play in order to improve your grammar and vocabulary. In addition, there are many videos and articles you can take a look at to advance in your studies.
Hopefully this has helped to change your view on online learning, and provided you with a clearer path on experiencing success when learning online.
accent reduction techniques - accent reduction tools
Accent Reduction Training – The Past, Present, and The Future Perfect Tenses
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012In accent reduction training, people often discover that the way they learned to say a sound isn’t always the way that the sound is produced. This is especially true in spoken English with regards to the perfect tenses. English has the Past Perfect (I had studied English), the Present Perfect (I have studied English) and the Future Perfect (I will have studied English). These tenses have rules of course, and should be used correctly with appropriate adverbs such as already, yet, before, and so on. The problem is that native speakers rarely apply these rules. In accent reduction training, we can improve our stress and rhythm by reducing auxiliary verbs. However, we can also consider avoiding the Perfect tenses altogether and thus avoid those tricky auxiliary verbs.
Jim had been there before
Can also become:
Jim was there before
| Grammatically Correct | Commonly Spoken |
| Have you eaten yet? | Did you eat yet? |
| Have you already finished? | Did you already finish? |
| I had been there before. | I was there before. |
| Have you ever broken a bone? | Did you ever break a bone? |
| I had had one after. | I had one after. |
| I have never seen one. | I never saw one. |
| I have seen that movie five times. | I saw that movie five times. |
| I will have done it by this time tomorrow | I’ll do it by tomorrow. |
| I have been studying all day. | I studied all day today. |
| I have been working the whole day. | I worked all day long. |
Vancouver Accent Reduction Workshop at Fairleigh Dickinson University
Friday, February 10th, 2012L2 Accent Reduction Centre was recently invited to Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) to deliver an accent reduction workshop. Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private, not-for-profit university with a campus in downtown Vancouver. It’s Master’s programs are becoming increasingly popular and the campus has grown steadily in the last 4 years. For more information, contact Jobin Mojtabavi, email jobin@fdu.edu.
Jennifer Madigan - L2 Accent Reduction Workshop
A lot of graduating students struggle with finding work if they have accented speech. According to Kirk Hill, SFU Executive Director of the Career Management Centre, “Graduates tend to enter the workplace with all of the qualification…but those with strong foreign accents often hit a huge roadblock during their very first phone interview.” For that reason, the FDU students were very excited to have attended the accent reduction workshop as it provided some techniques for students to help improve their speaking skills.
