Teaching Hotel Staff

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

I HAVE A DREAM! Well, just a basic idea really.

Goes like this: walk into hotel, check myself (and ladyfriend?) into hotel for one to two nights. Observation begins at this point. What is the level of English of the staff, from bellboy to managers?

How about the written stuff (check-in form, menues, escape procedure notices, promotional material) Is it Chinglish? Hit up the restaurant - can they speak English? Make a complaint if a complaint is called for - see what the response is.

All the time marking off where they are falling short in the ‘English department’.

Check out. Ask to schedule a meeting with the PR or HR manager or both. Discuss with them (without telling them in full detail what problems you discovered) that you think they can improve their service to English speaking foreigners.

Offer your service - teaching their staff, editing/proofing their written materials (and website).

So, you think this idea has legs? I’d have to wing it a bit, cuz I have limited hospitality experience. Know of any material suitable for the hospitality trade?

2

check through the journal ESP (english for specific purposes) - major university libraries will have access.

it’s likely that a lot of the things you will look for are touched on in one article or another.

personally, i’ve had similar ideas, but can’t get past the concept that the hotels etc. that care have already taken care of things (likely early on), and the ones that haven’t don’t really care anyways - at least not to the point of having to pay for it.

still, i don’t want to sound discouraging - have a look through ESP.