Why work for free?

David Airey recently wrote an excellent post on his blog about doing pro bono (i.e. free) work in order to add work to a design portfolio. You can read his post here: http://www.davidairey.com/pro-bono-design/

He makes some excellent points, which I won't go into here as it's better to read his post, but I thought I would explain a little about why I offer free and reduced rate services to charities and NPOs. Basically, it's because I have grown weary of companies that have lofty aims ('world peace', 'eradicate disease', etc) while doing little more than repeating those lofty aims. I decided to make pro bono work a key part of K Creative because, aside from supporting myself and my family, I'm not really interested in building an enormous business or being filthy rich. I'd like to be able to give time and/or resources to people who are genuinely trying to make a difference. Pro bono work is a good way of supporting good causes while doing something you enjoy, plus it has extra benefits:

1) Boost your portfolio. As David points out, it can add real-life work to a portfolio. This is especially important when just starting out or when jobs are few and far between. It keeps you in the game, as it were, and allows you to update your online presence with recent work.

2) Support a cause that means something to you. You do not have to give money to support a good cause; giving your time and skill is very worthwhile and will be appreciated.

3) Add new skills. You could offer to redesign a website or logo and find yourself being asked to give advice on the content of the site or a marketing strategy. Don't shy away from such approaches as you may be able to learn new skills. Conversely, don't weigh in on things that you don't feel sure about.

4) Get more work. This may seem a little bit cynical, but you may get paying clients through the client you do free work for. I don't suggest that this is a reason for deciding to do pro bono work, but it might be another unexpected benefit.

Some things to bear in mind:

1) Don't do it just to boost your portfolio. As stated in number 2 above, find a charity or NPO that you really want to support. It is much easier to be positive about a job when it means something to you.

2) Start small. Try a local charity or NPO to begin with: they are more likely to be working on a restricted budget and the proximity means that you can discuss the project in person. You could even offer to give advice or do some work for a friend who is trying to establish a business or website, but cannot afford to pay.

3) Treat them as you would a paying client. Just because you are doing something for free doesn't mean that you can do half a job. If you offer to do something, do it to the best of your ability and always stick to deadlines (if you cannot meet deadlines, give plenty of notice).

4) Be honest. As I mentioned above, don't accept work that you are not capable of carrying out as you are wasting your time and your client's time. It is good to learn new skills, but if they ask to give advice on something that is totally unrelated to your skills and experience, don't be afraid to say so. They will appreciate your honesty and you will not be perceived as a jack of all trades.

Good luck!

We offer three packages: 'Cheapskate', 'Loser' and 'The Package you Really Want'

I understand that businesses offer levels of service or packages for, perhaps, ease of pricing, but I wonder about the message it sends to potential clients and it's not something I like to do. Imagine you've got three 'levels' to choose from, you're on something of a budget, but you want to get a professional job done and you see something akin to the following:

Basic Package: We'll give you the basics, but not much else.

Standard Package: The basics, plus some extras.

Deluxe Package: This is the baby - this is what you really want!

Although offering packages has never been the way I wanted to do business, I never really felt compelled to say why not until recently; it was simply my way of doing business. (I equally don't like sales talk or boasts that a product or service is 'the best', but I might talk about that at a later date). The reason I feel compelled to write about it now is that a client has basically asked me to. This client was referred to me through another client and immediately asked about my levels of service as this was what she was used to. She said that when she saw levels, this is what she invariably thought:

Basic: You're basically a cheapskate if you choose this. Although we might do a professional enough job, we won't put much effort into it.

Standard: Standard is for losers. Don't you care about what you want done? Do you want to be like all the rest?

Deluxe: Unless you're a cheapskate or a loser, you'll choose this. If you choose the other services, don't blame us if you don't get what you want.

I have to say I agree. I don't like placing people - especially clients - into categories, as I would similarly not like to be categorised so easily myself. I had a very interesting conversation with my client (who wanted editing and writing work done) and I explained why I don't go in for levels for the services I offer. Starting with editing, if I receive a manuscript which requires major editing, but the client has only gone for the 'basic' proofreading package, am I supposed to ignore the glaring grammatical and style problems and just fix a few spelling mistakes? For writing, should I just write something mediocre for a basic package, a bit better for standard and only write something decent for the deluxe package? If I'm designing a logo, would a bit of clip art do for a basic package? All of these things seem unprofessional at best, elitist and dishonest at worst.

She then asked about the language programmes I offer as they come with what she perceived to be a 'price range' and she's right, but the prices range only in terms of how far I have to travel, how many people I teach and if there is any specialist material to be used which requires extra preparation.

To be honest, when K Creative was getting going, I did use list prices in terms of packages, but I soon found out that each client is different and their requirements would often overlap between the 'packages', so I had the choice of either forcing them into the more expensive package or not giving them what they wanted. I decided to do neither. Instead I gave them what they wanted. It makes me feel a lot better about what I'm doing and my clients appreciate it.

The 'best' way to learn English

I am often asked what the 'best way' to teach – or learn – English is or which the 'best method' is. I don't believe there is a 'best' way or method because everybody is different. I know this sounds like a lame excuse, so let me expand a little and look at some of the various techniques and methods used to teach languages (and other subjects, for that matter).

1) Direct Method

This approach to language learning dictates that the teachers and students use only the target language to communicate and it is used extensively in private language schools. All communication takes places in the target language, for example English, which in theory gives the student a kind of mini immersion in the language. The lessons are more often than not structured around a topic or grammar point. There is no translation from the target language into the learner's own language.

2) Translation

This is probably the most common form of teaching English currently used in Japanese public schools and involves learning vocabulary and grammar, mainly by rote, and mainly by translating from English to Japanese and vice-versa. In tests, there are many grammatical, spelling, translation and vocabulary exercises. There is little emphasis on spoken English.

3) Audio-lingual Method

Like the Direct method, this method uses the target language exclusively, although the focus is on aural (listening) and oral (speaking) skills. There is little or no use of a reading or writing component.

4) 'Self-learning'

This method of learning has been used in various ways and by many teachers, schools and companies, and generally entails the students learning by themselves (often in a silent environment) using pre-prepared textbooks, worksheets and other materials (for example Gattegno's sound & colour charts) with little or no guidance from the teacher.

The above are perhaps some of the more well-known of the many approaches to language education, but there are many more styles of teaching which are more likely to depend on the teacher. Some teachers prefer a relaxed, hands-off approach to teaching, whereas others prefer to get more involved with the students. Many teachers like to inject some humour into the lessons, whereas many like to take a more serious, conservative approach.

I have used all of these approaches to teaching and more besides and have found advantages and disadvantages to them all. I have taught students using the direct method who had to translate at some point or other, others who were very serious and wanted to concentrate on grammar, and others who took a very lax attitude to learning English and mainly wanted to chat. All require a different approach which is why I no longer use one approach or one set of materials exclusively. If you do (or your teacher does) you will quickly find that you will become frustrated.

If you are a teacher, you will start to blame the students, the materials or the school/staff/other teachers. I'm amazed at how many teachers never stop to think that maybe they are the problem. Be flexible, innovative and inventive. Show some interest in what you are doing and react to your students. Make the best of materials if you are forced to use a certain textbook or other materials. Think about how you use the language.

If you are a student, you may also blame the materials, your teacher or your fellow students. Think about your own motivation for studying and be honest about your own abilities.

It is for these reasons, and many more besides, that you will never find me claiming that there is a 'K Creative Way' or a 'K Creative Method' and that it is the best. I, and the other teachers I work with, employ various techniques and never treat one student the same as the last. Lastly, we don't pretend that we know it all. We have many years of experience, but we still have a lot to learn. If you have any questions about EFL/ESL, please leave a comment or email us at: media[at]k-creative-japan[dot]com

SFTE Update: Designing for Yourself

As the founders of storm from the east, we feel an extra responsibility in keeping it looking good and operating well. The problem is that you are often your own worse client, which is why we are constantly adding bits, taking bits away, redesigning, etc. This is a good thing, as it keeps things fresh, but it can get a little addictive...

We have recently tweaked the site a little bit, by redesigning the sidebar and adding new features, such as links to popular parts of the site and SFTE TV and Podcasts, both of which can be used in the sidebar.

We hope our readers like it. If you would like a website designed like SFTE, please let us know - we'd be more than happy to help you!

Tautologies and How to Correct Them

I was recently asked to look over a paper which had already been edited as the author was confused. The editor had written 'tautology – correct' a number of times throughout the paper and the author did not really understand. When asked for clarification, the editor simply said 'you've used tautologies, so you should correct them.' Quite apart from the fact that the editor should have corrected the mistakes, he made no attempt to offer advice or suggestions. The author was left in the dark as to what his mistakes were and how to avoid them in the future.

A tautology is when a writer (or speaker) says the same thing twice, rendering some of the information redundant. A lot of people commenting on tautologies tend to offer a list of examples and sound slightly smug when pointing out how silly one must be to make such a mistake. "A free gift? Well, it wouldn't be much of a gift if you have to pay for it, hohoho!" And so on. The problem is, many of these commentators offer little in the way of advice or address why some of these tautologies occur.

Let's begin by looking at 'free gift', as it is possibly the most commonly quoted tautology. 'Free gift' is a tautology because a gift by its very nature should be free, therefore 'gift' alone is sufficient. The problem here is that free gift is used in promotional copy, obviously, so the tautology actually serves a purpose and – may I suggest – might not be as incorrect as first appears. If you are given a gift simply for taking a short survey, no money changes hands and the goods you receive are indeed free. If, as is often the case, you receive something as an incentive for subscribing to a magazine or booking a holiday, the gift may be a bonus, but it is arguably not 'free'. I'm sure many people will disagree with me on this one, but I am not so quick to judge. The other thing to bear in mind is the effect that the word 'free' has on consumers. People like getting stuff for free and are arguably less concerned about grammar, therefore 'free gift' may be more appealing. It's just a thought. Of course, the best way to avoid this error if you are involved in writing promotional copy is to specify the gift, e.g. 'free pen', 'free book', etc. Let's now look at other common tautologies, why they are wrong and how to correct them:

I also like it, too. – Also and too, in this context, mean the same. Use also or too; not both.

PIN number – The last letter signifies the word used at the end (in this case 'number'). Other examples include GPS system, SAT test, HIV virus and ATM machine. For all of them, it is OK to simply use the abbreviations.

¥100 yen – You do not need the currency sign and the name of the currency. Use one or the other, but my advice if you are writing online is to use the name of the currency as some signs may not be readable in all browsers.

Dot.com – The dot (.) is not needed.

In my opinion, I think that... – They mean the same, so use one or the other.

Joint cooperation – Cooperation means working with other parties, so the joint is redundant.

One after the other in succession – In succession means one after the other, therefore it should be used alone.

4 am in the morning – Very common amongst non-native English speakers who do not know the meaning of am (ante-meridian – 'before noon'). 'In the morning' is not needed.

To reiterate again – Reiterate means to say something again, making the use of 'again' redundant.

Close proximity – They mean the same. Close is usually fine in non-technical writing.

Necessary requirement – If something is required, it is necessary. Use one of them.

Today's modern technology – Use modern technology or today's technology – they mean the same.

Some Problematic Tautologies

While researching this a little further, I found the following examples of tautologies and I would like to look at them in more detail.

Win a Free Trip! – This was listed because, the other noted, 'if you are winning, it is free', but is that really true? I have seen competitions in which you can win a flight, but not accommodation. In such cases, the airfare is indeed free, but the trip itself would not be (unless you just flew to the destination and came straight back). Be careful when using such language – particularly if writing or editing promotional copy – and ensure that the meaning is clear.

Top priority – Naturally a priority should be one's main concern, therefore this is a tautological phrase. However, in an age of self-help gurus and 'life hacks', we are constantly being told that we should put things in order of priority. The result is that phrases such as 'top priority', 'main priority' and 'first priority' are becoming more and more common. Should you use them? I would not use them, but perhaps it is becoming more an issue of preference than grammar.

I also found this on a website:

"Tautologous expressions are often used in legal documents for clarification of meaning; such as, "will and testament" and "breaking and entering"."

I thought that I should address this as I studied law at university and sometimes edit legal documents and papers. In will and testament, the two words relate to different things: 'will' relating to the desire to create the document and 'testament' relating to the act of creating it. Likewise, 'breaking' relates to the force used in entering a property whereas 'entering' relates to the trespass element of the crime. There are other examples in law, including assault and battery. While they do include expressions to clarify the meaning, they are not really examples of tautologies.

Hope this helps!

Creative English

I am currently working on a new course and book about 'Creative English", so I thought I would say a little about it.

What is 'Creative English'?

When people imagine creative English, they usually think in terms of something artistic, imaginative and complex: a novel, a poem or a song, for example. While we encourage people to try these things, our Creative English course is a little more down to earth.

Our Creative English course is not designed to turn you into Shakespeare or John Lennon. It is designed to show you that you do not need to be a native English speaker to be able to communicate freely and expressively in English. For the purposes of this course, Creative English means the ability to use English naturally and tailor language to suit almost any occasion. It does not require an exceptionally high level of English – beginners can learn it – and it does not require extensive study of grammar patterns and vocabulary.

What is does require, however, is a change in focus on behalf of both the student and the teacher.

More later.

What does your website say about you?

You don't need me to tell you that first impressions are important, but many people underestimate just how important they are for their online presence (i.e. website(s)). I therefore invite you to take a few seconds to honestly evaluate your own web site and see what it says about you. I tend to evaluate a website in about five seconds (as does the average user) and this is what I look for:

Does it load quickly?
When I find a website that doesn't load quickly, I tend to move on even quicker. If it takes over 10 seconds to load, I will probably never go back to it (people who load their sites with Flash please take note). Why? Because it's frustrating! Websites, by their very nature, should make the information you want accessible as quickly as possible. Pages that take a long time to load may prompt people to seek out sites where they can access the information a lot quicker – and they will almost certainly be able to find them.

What does it look like?
I write about design and my business is connected to design and creativity, so naturally the look of a site is very important to me. In fact, my wife and other people say that I am hyper-sensitive about the look of my own sites. The fact is that a good-looking site will prompt people to stay a little longer – and take more notice – than an ugly one. I like simple, stylish looking sites and I like the information to be presented in a logical, stylish manner. Take care when deciding on colour schemes and fonts for your site and ensure that they match the image your want to project.

Is it easy to navigate?
Sites that are overloaded with links that aren’t clearly labelled, organized or relevant are messy and horrible to use. When I find sites plastered with links I tend to grimace and hit the back button. Keep it simple: make the links clear, organized and hierarchical.

Is it reliable?
This is especially important when looking for a service or buying something. I will automatically red flag a site with lots of errors (I am an editor, after all). For example, only this morning I found a site that offered to "analysis the traffic to your site" and then "in simply terms setup a site to generate traffic", with SEO packages to "suite any budget". They also sold wine and holidays… Erm, no thanks. Would you trust the advice, services or products of somebody who can't even be bothered to tidy up their spelling and grammar?

Does it have what I’m looking for?
Time is precious, so if I can't quickly find what I’m looking for, I will quickly go back to the list of search results. People tend to look at sites in relation to their search engine result (obviously) and if they can't get what they're looking for, they simply move on. Your site might look lovely, but if the information people want isn't available almost instantly, then it's bye-bye. This may be sad, because people could be missing out on some great sites, but it is true.

Is it up-to-date?
The design of the website – and the information featured on it – should reflect where you are now in terms of your business/personal career. If you're going to include 'recent news' on your website, then make sure that it really is recent! If your 'latest project' is something completed two years ago, it doesn't really inspire much confidence in how well your business is doing. Likewise, if you are going to include a blog as part of your site, keep it up-to-date. In terms of the look of the site, keep it looking fresh – don't be afraid to redesign your site if you think it needs a makeover.

So how would I honestly evaluate this site? I think it's pretty clean – a white background, not too much information. It loads quickly and I think it's pretty easy to navigate with the large buttons at the top of the page covering the main aspects of our business and the other links covering things in more detail on the main page. As for reliability of the information and having what people are looking for, well I suppose that depends on expectations. We have a lot of experience doing what we do, but our services/opinions may not suit everybody. As for the design – I like it, for now. I think the colour scheme and layout says that we like things to be straightforward, but creative and a little different at the same time. What do you think?

K Creative PR & Consulting

Here's some more information about our pr, research and consulting services, describing a little about how we go about our work.

YOUR FEET ON THE STREET IN JAPAN

We specialize in getting people together.

We believe in genuine interaction and most of our research is carried out through either face to face interviews or correspondence with carefully selected individuals.

We contact individuals who we identify as likely to be interested in your message and use the information to plan a unique strategy based on your needs and wishes. You identify your target group and we go out and meet them.

We are, in short, your feet on the street in Japan, seeking out the people and places that are likely to be interested in what you offer.

RESEARCH

We spend our lives in Japan immersed in design, media, promotion and sales. Our eyes and ears are always open and focused on new and innovative ways of spreading messages.

If you want to 'test the waters' in Japan before diving in head first, we can go out and physically ask people for their opinions about your product and service as well as giving our own evaluation.

Our research is not for the faint-hearted: If you don't want to hear the truth, you should ask somebody else. We don't believe in sycophancy to attract clients – if we don't think we can help, we'll tell you.

After we have conducted research, we will analyze the findings and give you an honest, no-nonsense appraisal and suggest – where appropriate – recommended media, retail outlets and promotional strategies.

View the consulting & research page.

Some simple guidelines for teaching English (EFL/ESL) to children

These guidelines are for conversation classes only and are aimed at teaching children. I try to follow these rules when teaching and creating materials and I have found them to be very helpful – I hope you do too.

1) Smile

Foreign languages are difficult and often intimidating. The easiest way to make a student feel less intimidated or nervous is to smile. Show that you enjoy what you are doing and inject a little humour and fun into the learning.

2) Create a need – better yet, a desire – to use the language

I believe in creating an ‘English Zone’ in the classroom. Both I and the kids speak only English in the classroom (I have also used a ‘passport’ system whereby children carry passports which are stamped when entering and leaving the classroom. The students loved it and it had the added bonus getting them in ‘English mode’). If you are team-teaching, use only English when addressing the other teacher and encourage them to use mostly English to both you and the students (the tendency for teachers inJapan to translate everything is a common gripe amongst Assistant Language Teachers).

3) If you speak to parents of the children in the school, use English with them also

Children are a lot more perceptive than we give them credit for and small things make a big difference. If the children see that the best way to communicate with you and learn more is to use English, they will hopefully feel a need to use it. If they see their teachers, friends and parents using English to you (and ideally looking like they are having a good time), they will hopefully have a desire to use it. This is also a good way to get the parents more involved in what their children are learning, rather than just sending them to an English school because they feel they should.

4) Make it useful

If you have a class full of primary school students, there probably isn’t much point doing a lesson all about business terms (and before you scoff, I have seen it done…). Find out beforehand what kids like and try to make the language relevant to them. This is closely tied in with the point above, as people are much more willing to talk about something familiar to them than struggle with unfamiliar topics, grammar and vocabulary. This doesn’t mean that every lesson needs to be (or should be) about the latest pop sensation, fashion or cartoon, but you should try to tailor language and situations to maximise student input.

5) Make it realistic

Some people get so hung up on putting certain grammar patterns or vocabulary into lessons or materials they lose sight of how often they are actually used, or how they are used. I don’t advocate leaving out certain tenses or grammar patterns, but what I do advocate is taking a step back before you teach a certain pattern and ask yourself ‘would I say that?’ Ask yourself whether the examples you have chosen are realistic and natural.

As a rule of thumb, if you are struggling to find example sentences for the pattern you are teaching (or have been asked to teach) chances are it is not used on a very regular basis. While this certainly does not mean that you should leave it out, you may want to place less emphasis on it.

6) Don’t over-correct

People make mistakes. You should not expect your students to be using flawless grammar from the outset – your primary aim should be to ensure that what they say is understandable. Constantly pointing out small mistakes that don’t really affect the flow of the conversation only serves to make the student more apprehensive about speaking English.

I used to have an adult student who basically communicated mainly in nouns and generally in the present tense. An example sentence would be along the lines of ‘Weekend, daughter and grandson, my home, eat sushi. Very nice!’ Simply by my asking whether she meant this weekend or last weekend it was not too difficult to get what she was trying to tell me. She was conveying her message and having a great time doing so (she was constantly laughing and smiling). If I had corrected her as soon as she said ‘weekend’ and every subsequent mistake, I probably would have destroyed her confidence and put her off learning English altogether.

7) Don’t be afraid to correct mistakes

The point above, naturally, comes with a caveat. Sometimes correction is essential, but it often goes hand in hand with the aims and expectations of both you and your students. For some children direct correction may be necessary, but for others more subtle forms of correction are often preferable. I prefer indirect correction as students become aware of their own mistakes and their confidence doesn’t take such a bash. Try repeating what they said back to them in the correct form and then throw on a question at the end. This may sound like a lot for a child to do, but as I said, we often underestimate their ability. Example:

Teacher: Where do you live?

Student: I live at Tokyo.

Teacher: You live in Tokyo? Where in Tokyo?

In this very simple example, the student made a mistake with the preposition (a common mistake) which was corrected and then reinforced by the teacher’s response. Students often respond very well to this kind of correction.

8) Have fun!

This, I know, is very similar to number one, but it took me a long time to realise that I actually enjoyed teaching kids. I used to hate it and dreaded doing it. I began to realise, however, that kids were a lot of fun to teach. They are full of energy, they are not afraid to give things a go (and have a laugh when they get things wrong), they are keen to learn and they have a tremendous capacity for learning. Enjoy it – teaching kids is incredibly rewarding.

2009 - The Year of the Ox

In the Chinese Zodiac, which is also used here in Japan, 2009 is the Year of the Ox. I was born in the Year of the Ox, therefore 2009 should be an auspicious year (I'm hoping that's how it works...)! Here's what Ox-folk like myself are like, according to Wikipedia: Dependable, calm, methodical, patient, hardworking, ambitious, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

To celebrate - and to use on our family's New Year cards - I have drawn what I think is quite a cute little ox. The picture on the left is the original sketch and the one on the right is the full-colour version. Whatever kind of animal you are, I wish you all a great 2009!