ESOL Customer Service Training Curriculum Overview
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ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages Customer Service Training Curriculum Teacher Guide & Student Book MontgomeryWorks Sales & Service Learning Center 11160 Veirs Mill Road, Suite LLH-7 Wheaton, Maryland 20902 240-403-3600 A Montgomery College Partnership Project 2007 ESOL Customer Service Training This project was developed through funding from the US Department of Education, Montgomery College, and MontgomeryWorks. It was also funded in part by Abt Associates Inc., under their Adult Education Coordination and Planning Project that was funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Background and Acknowledgments In Montgomery County, Maryland, sales and service is a high-growth industry that employs a diverse workforce, including many immigrants. In response to this growth trend in the county, the MontgomeryWorks Sales & Service Learning Center (SSLC) in Wheaton, Maryland, working in partnership with Montgomery College, offered its first Customer Service & Retail Sales ESOL course in 2005. Funding through the national Adult Education Coordination and Planning (AECAP) project and the US Dept. of Education provided resources to develop this partnership and explore strategies to recruit, train, and connect participants with opportunities for employment. During 2005-2007, the course and curriculum changed and evolved significantly to meet the needs of students and instructors. The first curriculum to be utilized in the course, the Equipped for the Future (EFF) Retail Sales Curriculum, was designed for learners of English as a second language. While this curriculum was strong in customer service skill content, students and instructors expressed a need for additional content that met learners’ needs as language learners and job seekers. In response, instructors began to change the structure and content of the course, creating and sharing additional materials as the need arose. The current course is the product of many people. Funding for the writing of the curriculum was provided through the AECAP project, Montgomery College and MontgomeryWorks. The former and current Directors of the SSLC, Rebecca Werley and Mary Ngo, worked with Donna Kinerney, Ph.D., Instructional Dean, and Emma Wilson, Program Administrator, of the Adult ESOL and Literacy-GED Program of Montgomery College, to develop and sustain the innovative partnership that made this course possible. The project also benefited from the support and expertise of Helen Coupe, Workplace Specialist, and Karen Gianninoto, ESL Specialist and Program Manager, of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. There is no single author of this curriculum. The basis for much of the customer service skill content remains the EFF Retail Sales Curriculum. A significant revision of the curriculum was made by instructor Keira Ballantyne in 2006, and much of her original work appears here. Instructors Nicole Ring and Anna DeSimon contributed significantly to the curriculum, in terms of activity design, pilot testing, and consultation. Amber Gallup, the first instructor for the program, wrote this Instructor Guide and Student Book, compiled and edited the instructional material, and wrote many of the activities as well. Finally, much content from the Crisp Learning Series’ Retailing Smarts Workbooks appears in this curriculum by permission of the National Retail Federation. Thanks are due also to Judith Alamprese, Principal Associate of Abt Associates, for her support and knowledgeable guidance of this project through the Adult Education Coordination and Planning project. Curriculum Overview ESOL Customer Service Training Curriculum Overview Unit Day Customer Service Skills Job Readiness Skills Grammar & Pronunciation Skills Unit 1: 1 • Identify main customer • Listen to the goals and life plan of • Use the modal construction Talking With service/retails sales responsibilities and another person. would like to to indicate a wish. Your jobs. Customer • Write personal goals and personal • Use an adverbial clause • because Tell others about past customer dreams. beginning with to indicate service work and preferences. reason. • Plan to accomplish a personal goal. • Identify customer service jobs. • • 2 Describe and model a customer Identify syllables and produce stress service attitude. of multi-syllabic words. • schwa • List key components of greeting the Produce the sound. customer. • Use the modal construction would like to • to inquire about and state Practice greeting the customer. wishes. • Use an adverbial clause beginning with because to indicate reason. • Pronounce word-final [ng] clearly. • 3 Greet the customer. • Identify and write own current job • Articulate word endings to skills. enhance comprehensibility. • Role play: Greet the customer • Identify at least 3 personal • Produce question intonation. • Use appropriate terms of address & titles. employment references. • Produce stress of multi-syllabic • Determine customer needs. words. • Ask general open-ended questions. Unit 1: Day Customer Service Skills Job Readiness Skills Grammar & Talking With Pronunciation Skills Your 4 • Express opinions and make • Use Wh-questions and responses. Customer suggestions in a workplace context. • Produce question intonation. • Observe the customer. • Use simple expressions for • Role Play: Observe The Customer offering suggestions and giving advice • Ask specific open-ended questions. • Assign Mystery Shopper homework Unit 2: 5 • Fit the product to the customer. • List one’s ideal jobs. • Use Wh-questions. Meeting the Customer’s • Talk about size. • List one’s goals for the future. • Emphasize focus words. Needs • Phrase words into thought groups and pause between the phrases. 6 • Listen actively to the customer. • Introduction to the reference list • Practice clear speech. • Read and summarize an article about • Role play: Ask someone for listening actively. permission to use them as a job reference. 7 • Identify features and benefits. • Introduction to the SSLC computer • Practice clear speech. lab. • Describe products. • Begin to type the reference list. • Read and write an advertisement. Unit 2: Day Customer Service Skills Job Readiness Skills Grammar & Meeting the Pronunciation Skills Customer’s 8 • Present an advertisement. • Give constructive feedback to • Use Wh-questions. Needs others. • Identify features and benefits. • Learn about the products you sell. • Read a product label. • Role play: Talking about size, features, and benefits. 9 • Describe features. • Learn about interviews in the • Use comparatives and United States. superlatives. • Compare products. • Role Play: Practice the • Identify focus words. • Express preferences. handshake. • Phrase words into thought • Make suggestions. groups and pause between the phrases. • Use Wh-questions. 10 REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT REVIEW AND DAY DAY ASSESSMENT DAY Unit 3: 11 • Dress for success • Build interview skills. • Identify focus words. Working at a Store • Offer choices ( Sometime this unit: Take a tour of • Phrase words into thought the MontgomeryWorks One Stop) groups; pause between them. Unit 3: Day Customer Service Skills Job Readiness Skills Grammar & Working at a Pronunciation Skills Store 12 • Learn about malls. • Talk about preferences in work and • Use polite expressions. the culture of work in the United • Identify types of retail stores and States. • Use comparatives and departments. superlatives. • Identify the benefits of working in • Use an adverbial clause retail sales beginning with because to indicate reason. • Direct a customer to a department. • Find information in a retail sales environment. 13 • Identify retail departments. • Build interview skills. • Articulate word endings to enhance comprehensibility. • Suggest alternatives. • Introduction to the resume. • Use polite expressions. • Identify characteristics of an inviting store. • Identify focus words. • Identify thought groups and pause between them. 14 • Make suggestions and • Build interview skills. • Demonstrate control of polite recommendations. expressions. • Write the resume. • Know when to refer a customer • Use simple expressions for elsewhere. (Reference List finished today) offering suggestions and giving advice. • Role play: Offer Alternatives • Demonstrate interrupting and • Promote safety on the job turn-taking skills. Unit Day Customer Service Skills Job Readiness Skills Grammar & Pronunciation Skills Unit 4: Using 15 • Identify workplace telephone skills • Build interview skills. • Spell names clearly. the Telephone and tasks. • Ask for repetition and clarification. • Answer the telephone. • Produce proper sentence and • question intonation. Transfer a call. • Use polite expressions. • End a telephone call. • Use idiomatic expressions. • • 16 Use appropriate telephone Pronounce telephone numbers using terminology. chunking, intonation, and pauses. • • Leave a message. Use polite expressions. • Use idiomatic expressions. • Take a message. • • • 17 Use appropriate telephone terminology. Solve workplace problems as a team. Interrupt someone politely. • Serve two customers at once. • Describe the process of finding a job. • Ask for repetition. • Provide balanced service. • Read job ads. • Ask for clarification with wh- question words. • Role play: Serve two customers at once. 18 • Give location information and directions • Build interview skills. • Link words together. over the phone. • Use polite expressions. • Create a resource list. • Use idiomatic expressions.