Shin Dreams of Coffee

Today I am going to introduce you to one of our newest students who works as a barista in a local coffeeshop in Victoria. Shinya only has a few hours a week that he can devote to studying English. He comes twice a week and he is just getting used to active learning.

This week, for example, Shinya is going to contact other coffeeshops and restaurants around Victoria that might be interested in offering a discount to our students. To accomplish this, he will have to call many different shops and speak to people. Sometimes he will have long conversations, but some places may not be able to talk to him, so he will have to listen carefully and figure out quickly what the situation is.

This sounds like a difficult task, but it is actually never as bad as students think it will be. After the first few phone calls Shinya will get accustomed to this kind of situation and will be able to speak confidently on the phone after doing this. Shinya told me he wanted to improve his ability to listen effectively and respond to customers on the phone.

This is not the only task that Shinya will have to perform while he is here at REV. He is also going to work with Camosun College marketing students to help create a marketing plan for our school. This will help him to function better in group situations and prepare him for business meetings when Shinya opens his own business in Victoria in the future! In the photo, Shinya is showing a student and one of our teachers, Theresa, how to use Trello, a project management application students learn to use at REV to manage their time and to communicate with teachers 24/7.