Page 19 - Perfect Phrases ESL Everyday Business

The Global Workforce

Arturo and Akira were inseparable from that meeting on. Akira,
who had spent much time alone and never indicated it was a problem
for him, thrived in his new friendship. The gentlemen visited sights
in New York City and elsewhere; they shopped in Brazilian shops
and Japanese stores and shared cultures with each other. They also
traded many business stories, and although they continued with the
private language lessons, they also shared some classes. Arturo and
Akira formed their own informal mentoring collaboration, and after
Arturo left the United States, Akira became an informal mentor to
new arrivals.

The Courage to Ask for Help

Another example of the power of being assertive enough to ask for
help is the Jimmy story. Although in a non-business environment, the
need was the same and the road to filling it the same—the courage to
ask for help. Jimmy, who was from Thailand, was lost in a high school
immersion situation; he had done everything he could think of to fit
in—Americanized his Thai name to Jimmy, wore too-big jeans, untied
his name brand sneakers, and had the “right” haircut. Yet he remained
an outsider.
He came to our office early for his English as a Second Language
(ESL) classes with tears in his eyes. “Natalie,” he asked, “don’t you
think a boy my age needs friends?” There is only one answer to this—
yes. “Well, I can’t make friends.” I asked Jimmy what his hobby was
in his country and he said, “Snooker.” I asked, “What is snooker?” He
described the game—table, sticks, balls, pockets, and so on. “Oh,
like pool,” I said. He asked, “What’s pool?” I found a pool hall nearby
and asked a Korean high school football player, the son of a former
student, to join Jimmy and me there. Kim and I had never played
pool. We all went to the pool hall, and Jimmy took over from there.
He taught us how to play snooker. Of course, he won easily. He men-
tored us, and he felt very good about himself. I hired Kim to meet with
Jimmy a few more times to play pool and discuss his own difficulties
in fitting in at high school.

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