Menntamorgunn miðvikudaginn, 4 desember 2024
Jæ ja, good day and welcome to Edcuation morning brought to you by the Tourism skills centre, Toursim Association and Destination Management Org. My name is Þuríður Aradóttir Braun and am the Director at Destination Management Reykjanes And I will guide you today along with our guest presenters For this education morning we are focusing on how we are focusing on and how we in the tourism sector are and can increase the use of Icelandic in the sector. We have a full house of guests to lead us in this discussion and provide us with insight in the field. I will introduce them regularly but we won't have my introduction longer and invite Guðlau Stella Brynjólfsdóttir to begin the presentations Guðlaug is adjunkt lecturer at the University of Iceland and Project Manager for the Icelandic Village And she will discuss with us "Will you speak Icelandic with me?" The Icelandic Village in tourism throughout the entire country. Welcome Guðlau Hello Good day, wonderful to have the opportunity to talk with you all in the tourism sector about how we can support Icelandic I am going to share with you a method I "burn for" and believe to be successful.
For the past two decades I have been teaching Icelandic as a second language at the University of Iceland in addition to composing supportive learning environments for those who want to learn Icelandic I celebrate especially seeing the diverse methods that you point out on your informative website. I hope my presentation can create a spark and give insight regarding what is possible to do in innovative ways. I am one of the founders of the Icelandic Village and have lead the program from the beginning and in this presentation what the Icelandic Village is and how we have been doing it and what has been successful and of course it is my hope to see and hear about Icelandic Villages sprout up in tourism across the nation. In this presentation I am addressing companies especially Who want to support staff with diverse language backgrounds who want to learn Icelandic But our course this presentation speaks to everyone who want to increase Icelandic use in communication Now to discuss the development and story of we have been doing this for a long time it wasn't shaken out of our sleeve in a day.
It was 2012 when be began to develop this method. Then Mímir took the step in 2015 with job related Icelandic with mentors. So then took Reykjavík City part Since 2022 it is Menntafléttan within the school of education at the University of Iceland which has offers the course for foreign staff in preschool across the entire country. The academic foundation of the Icelandic Village is built on research regarding second language learning. which document that language learning is a social entity. This means in other words that it is possible to learn languages through communication.
and that language acquisition can occur through communication especially when language is put in context with circumstances and the participants who are communicating. And it matters that people initiating conversation understand what is occurring because they can effect langue learning or this so called language acquisition and it is important that this happens in real situations where what is said has results.. real results Yes the Icelandic Village I just want to briefly show you what it is It is teaching project for Icelandic as a second language and here are examples of how we have been doing this for the past 12 years and what has to be done first is to negotiate with a group it can be an individual or a company, to receive our students and speak with them in Icelandic.. ..display patience and smile and note here it is very important to allow our students to record the conversations. as I mentioned it is a learning project and we use student experiences in communication as learning materials the course offers.
So you see it is also students who provide learning materials for the course. What is really important is that staff and mentors receive training and information about participating. I place great importance on this. It doesn't just happen with a snap of the fingers, its no hocus pocus. It is necessary to think carefully about how we do this. In the Icelandic Village there have been a variety of participants as can be seen on the slide But what really matters is that the village is adapted to the students who participate with no regard to if there is 1 or 2 students We say Icelandic learning is made meaningful with this method, useful and fun. The goal with this with all of the hassle you get to see here after. Is to create a supportive learning environment for those who are learning Icelandic.
and to support them to increase their ability to participate in local communities. So it isn't just teaching Icelandic it is also an inclusive method. And what matters and we have not been aware enough of is using all opportunities we are afforded for communication in Icelandic. So also this.. increase empathy for those who are learning the language
put yourself in their shoes, those who are learning the language. I am going to spend some time on this slide it basically my favourite slide and perhaps the simplest. this is the language agreement which I feel and we feel is is the key to Icelandic being used in communication. Its a simple question its polite Will you speak Icelandic with me?" This is an offer to communicate and wish for communication in a polite manner We teach all of our students this sentence almost immediately at the beginning of the course when we are working with beginners In all these years we see incredible things happen with this simple sentence.. question Simple can also be good Now what happens here? Here is a negotiation .. an agreement, to speak Icelandic
and here it becomes in more likely that English is used less preferably not used in communication It give language learners the opportunity to be students This gives language learners space to make mistakes, receive corrections, support and a smile. Now the language initiator this gives them "permission" to assist.. ..if they want to do so. In surveys through the years we have noticed that Icelandic speakers, Icelanders are very happy when we receive this question "Wil you speak Icelandic with me?" People are generally "up for it" We arrive at a slide I wasn't sure about including but want to stop a bit here. Here we see the European Language Framework, these ability levels From A to C. A1 and A2 are basically beginners You can see it takes 150 hours to learn a language reasonably, to be a decent beginner, and that is just one year, one winter Just so we are all aware of the fact that it takes time and it costs to learn a language Then we come to this slide that we should all have This is an example of a slide These are examples of phrases which everyone needs to have access to Of course it matters what the nature of a tourism company is or services in general but simple phrases need to be in prominent spaces hopefully set up by an advertising agency who make the ascetically but examples of sentences we can use in simple communication. Then we come to the mentor systems Mentor system, um, mentor culture is new in Iceland.
As I mentioned before this is no "hocus pocus" solution, one needs to examine many variables The first and primary person is the leader they are the person who lays down the lines and implements a mentor system and ensures support. Now the mentors are the key to Icelandic in the workplace There needs to be some type of course that supports a mentor system. In person courses, digital courses, self education courses and materials but there needs to be support with a mentor system.
Then we have the needs assessment and implementation The next slide we could spend an entire day.. neh.. a few good hours to explain this communication design. This is the example we use when we design the mentor system or a business, school, or course. You have to examine many variables; those who are learning, teachers, mentors, you see the Icelandic Village at the center This is all adapted to the group where we analyse communication opportunities Everything is mapped out, what possibilities exist and here you see the toolbox "assistance tools" here in the far right There are projects, tools and materials for everyone to use.
Just a bit about the mentor course that Menntaflettan is conducting for a few years for preschool staff of foreign origin This is professional instruction and Icelandic instruction I wanted to show you what is written here at the bottom. It says study process ternary this is very important It is all about preparing communication, communicating, and process what was communicated. So it's not just about getting together having a good time talking, maybe talk about a good dinner which of course we do too..
more here we put professionalism as a priority and Icelandic is adapted to professional related studies. We have conducted surveys at the end of these courses through the years There are two things I want to show you on the next two slides It is obvious that leaders and mentors see changes in confidence in participants in their jobs When those who are learning a language receive support then it goes better, better in learning a language. When it comes to progress in Icelandic then there is a distinct number who say this is so. Last slide Congratulations with the language policy you are working on or is being published, absolutely wonderful and I want to remind you all it is an incredible need for job related Icelandic courses and don't forget with mentors that occur during working hours. These are inclusive language courses, they in the context of the workplace and there are obvious progressions in confidence and the sue of Icelandic. they in the context of the workplace and there are obvious progressions in confidence and the use of Icelandic.
Takk fyrir Thank you kindly for that Guðlaug Next we will receive Harpa Björk Guðfinnsdóttir Director of HR for Reykjavík Sightseeting and affliliates. And she will present for us "Everyone understands English" I can't wait to listen. Welcome. Hello all, thank you and thank you for inviting me I commend this discourse about how we can support Icelandic in the tourism sector. And I am very pleased to be a participant in these discussions.
You could say in my workplace we are just beginning the journey and are taking our first steps So I am going to discuss WHY we are taking this journey, starting to teach our foreign born staff to speak Icelandic. and what our first steps are But first a bit about our workplace and the make up of our employee pool. We are a conglomerate tourism company. We offer various transport and guided tours, day trips, group trips, transportation services in addition to one Hostel.
Here you see our logos. Our people, we have a diverse group of staff which are dispersed in various locations Here you can see the entire number of staff are 364 which fluxgates with the seasons 80% of our staff are male and 20% female so the numbers favour men and there are no staff members who describe themselves other than male or female We have a high percentage of staff of foreign origin as is the case in many other tourism businesses We have 46% staff of foreign origin. This percentage reflects the Icelandic labour market where immigrants were 23% in 2023 Other than Icelandic staff are of 30 nationalities. The majority of them come from Poland or 49% (of immigrants) of them 10% from Lithuania, 7% from Romania, 4% from the Ukraine so essentially 23% of our entire staff come Poland. A pretty high percentage. For example in the office where I work in Klettagarður where we are 29 people they are office employees and shift managers there are 52% of foreign origin and we have 9 nationalities So you can say our group is very diverse.
English is the language most often used. We have minimum requirements in English skills But the majority of staff are of course providing services for foreign tourists where the language most often spoken is English. But we have diverse services, for example transportation services as I previously mentioned, where are customers are most often Icelandic or often people who speak little to no English Meaning it is important that communication is conducted in Icelandic so it is important that staff have foundational skills in Icelandic In regard to what I do. I place emphasis on the fact that everything I produce whether on workplace or other places including notifications, instructions or anything else I send it in both Icelandic and English. Most others do the same unless they are English speakers or lack skills in Icelandic, they send information in English.
I brought this up with a co-worker recently who is Icelandic that we need to introduce Icelandic courses for staff of foreign origin But the reply I received was "Why everyone understands English" It would be more intelligent to teach everyone English the majority of our staff are providing services for people who speak English and don't understand Icelandic I agree it would strengthen our staff or many of them, to learn English But it doesn't change the fact that it is important to learn Icelandic. or that we emphasize offering Icelandic courses, and there are many reasons why. Why offer Icelandic courses? People are the most important resource in a company, there is no questin aobu that because a workplace is built on staff We need to care for our people Because the happier our people are the more success we achieve. To offer staff Icelandic courses for free is an investment in our staff. an investment that helps the workplace to develop, blossom, create new opportunities, attract and retain talent staff.
It is often stated that language is the key to a society. improved Icelandic skills strengthens staff also in other areas in increases participation in society and assists generally with getting the right footing in society and it is beneficial both for the workplace and our staff. It could be said in "bad Icelandic" its win win no question. In the recent OECD assessment on the situation of immigrants in Iceland the increase of immigrant in the labour market is greatest in Iceland among all OECD nations.
In the report Icelandic is defined as the key to creating and inclusive society. And can break down many of the barriers that immigrants encounter Language learning can support people socially and in the labour market I want to say it is a societal responsibility for companies to offer Icelandic courses for staff of foreign origin. The fact that there is little Icelandic spoken in the workplace is the fault of foreign born employees I mean.. it's our fault English is widely spoken and the majority of Icelanders understand English it goes without saying those who work in tourism the majority here are able to speak English. at least to some degree I think we use English because it's easy, it's quick and it's comfortable We don't have the patience to try and speak Icelandic with staff of foreign origin.
I think that is a foundational fact. I believe foreign born staff are interested I am not going to assert that everyone has the same amount of interest to learn Icelandic ..but definitely there is interest And I believe that there are more who are interested then we account for who wan to learn Icelandic. I can confirm that I truly find the interest is there What "WE others" need to do is display patience, empathy, admit it is okay to speak Icelandic with and accent and it doesn't have to be perfect. As I mentioned before at my workplace we are just beginning the journey So I don't have an empirical history going back years about how it works.
A while ago I sat with a colleague at work eating lunch and in our conversation that I am and Icelandic teacher a primary school teacher a few people were surprised I was asked if I wouldn't be teaching Icelandic courses or better yet when I would start a course I have not done so as of yet, question is if I do it or find someone else to do so We have been speculating as to how to start, where we begin what is the best way to go in Icelandic lessons We have just offered all of our employees, all employees of foreign origin access to the digital Icelandic application Bara Tala We decided to go this way.. to begin there I heard about Bara tala a while ago and what interested me was in Bara tala you can find both general vocabulary and also job related vocabulary which is offered up in collaboration with the workplace so there is a build up for vocabulary that immigrants need in their jobs to conduct basic communication and that is what impressed me the most Currently in Bara tala there are vocabulary lists for tourism including coach drivers and office staff and what is exciting about this is one of our projects ahead is to put together a vocabulary list customized for our activities and put them into Bara tala I immediately thought about vocabulary related to duty management because we have received complaints sometimes in the communication station you hear spoken Polish and that is of course because there are many Polish staff and they communicate with each other so that would be one project to put together vocabulary lists for duty management words and phrases that matter there I think another factor that matters is that the I as manager I have access to the control board where I can monitor usage I have been informed that for some reason women are more diligent about using Bara tala Many of them are like sponges and finish the materials in record time But being that a high percentage or 80% of our employees are men then this could be a big challenge Now what lies ahead As I mentioned Bara tala is just one method to teach staff Icelandic but of course it matters training and courses it is really important t that we use a variety of methods because the same things are not always suitable for all We have tried in the office, or it was the initiative of one staff member to put on the board in the office word of the week or phrase for example what does "ja jæ" mean in Icelandic "ja jæ" means a lot in Icelandic in regard to what context, what tone and the occasion And what do Icelanders mean when they say "þetta reddast"? So we.. that is something we will continue working with but this only reaches a small group of our staff so it is something we need to share with others as well. there we can use Workplace which others use almost daily.. so we can use that.
I hope after the day today I have even more ideas and perhaps even inspiration to continue the journey and keep Icelandic aloft And now I have the idea after the presentation about the Icelandic Village and mentor system I am convinced I will more ideas at the end of the day. I worked as training and education manager for a decade and know it is a challenge to encourage staff to participate It doesn't matter whether we are speaking about in person education or digital and there are various reasons behind that. I don't say it is because of a lack of interest I think it is firstly related to it is competition for peoples time We are all absorbed in projects and there is a lot of stimuli in the work environment which calls for prioritizing I give myself time to learn Icelandic I give myself time to speak Icelandic with people of foreign origin I put forth the message when I sent out access to Bara tala which was just last week so you see we don't have much experience yet I sent out the message that it could be a goal to give yourself five minutes a day go into Bara tala and do a few exercises it could be another goal to say a few words in Iceland each day and it could be a goal for those of us who are not of foreign origin to speak with those who are learning Icelandic.. that could also be a goal We have to display patience we need to listen and give people the opportunity to practice I know I have a project and the project is to keep people focused find new methods to support Icelandic and Icelandic learning keep reminding people to use Bara tala, use what they have learned I guess I should say it isn't just me but all of us in the workplace have a project to hold Icelandic aloft because of course it is a collaborative effort As I said before there isn't a lack of interest from people of foreign origin we must stop saying "they don't bother to learn the language" the interest is there.. we need to support and encourage them Takk fyrir mig Thank you sincerely for that Harpa Next up is Nichole Leigh Mosty She is a specialist at the Tourism skills centre..welcome Good day and thank you for these wonderful presentations before mine I am filled with pride and hope for us all. Exciting times ahead!
But those of us here at the Tourism skills centre want to share with you our "deep dive" to find materials to support that this comes true for us... not gets fixed.. comes true. for those of us working in tourism. And we reflected about.. Maybe just share with you a hotel manager here in the country who thanked us for taking this journey finding materials and make it accessible by saying what we can and should do to increase the use of Icelandic We at the Tourism skills centre have the role of working on the premise of the tourism sector through increasing skills and quality in the tourism sector and it is important that people understand thatthis"expedition" of ours to support, encourage, strengthen and to be there for you when it comes to working with Icelandic Eh.. and what about Icealndic?
Here you can see headlines, it is controversial, regarding tourism but it doesn't have to be so. As Lilja Alfreðsdóttir the outgoing minister for the sector states Icelandic mustn't be a divisive force in our society but there is risk if we don't handle it properly. And that is what we are attempting to do today. I have worked for a long time with cultural competency and often say that which we use to divide us is exactly what we need to use to unite us. And Icelandic is indeed that.
We have all kinds of laws and rules here in the nation with regard to Icelandic. It is important that we used them as the foundation for what we were doing And I want to point out here that we have a language policy for the years 2021 - 2030 and there is specifically discussed positive views about Icelandic in the business sector and there is also noted the tourism sector. that it is desirable that the view of the business sector is always that there are rewards to offering commerce and services in Icelandic but have English along side when necessary.
So nobody is saying one has to make way for the other... that we find a way to use them together to strengthen that which we do.. and do well in Tourism. Again lets acknowledge that we can and should ... Research results point out that there are barriers for people to learn Icelandic. and here on this slide we see that when people were asked about Icelandic skills they considered their skills to be very low and see how they viewed English.. They speak English very well.
But as Harpa displayed they come from other countries. English is also an additional language. Do we want to create an environment where people the choice of a second language is English over Icelandic? Or would we rather generate equality between these columns? we can trust that our Icelandic and English increases equally And barriers that.. among other things.. that have been identified as affecting our views to learn and how we assess our own skills in Icelandic include the need to take courses outside of working hours, on top of raising our children and other things a lack of support for practicing and speaking Icelandic daily and the cost.. And these are all things we as a society, we as employers, we as fellows to those who work for us can influence. We need to dare to lead and find ways for companies to participate and invite staff to speak Icelandic in an encouraging work environment I have often used the expression "safe work environment" of course we have safe work environments But do we have security in not having to define ourselves as "brave" for practicing Icelandic? Is our work environment supportive so that we believe it is just "fun" to speak Icelandic? fun to make mistakes, learn from them and continue moving forward? So back to Do staff want to learn Icelandic? The tourism department at the University at Hólar conducted research in 2021 Where administrators in tourism businesses were surveyed and see here in the pie The majority of people want to learn Icelandic. Those who didn't want to learn Icelandic, 47% it didn't apply to because they didn't have foreign employees But the rest, there were only 10% who generally had no interest But is that something we can turn around? Through providing appropriate support, by being encouraging, by creating and environment where it is fun to learn Icelandic.
Then we come to tourists... What about our guests? We have all travelled.. I recently went to Paris and the first thing I said was Bon Jour! We want to learn. And we want our guests who come to Iceland take home with them this heritage.. our cultural heritage... Icelandic. We find this that when people "takk" or how do I say that in Icelandic. It's just fun. Many tourists want to experience that authenticity and we have a Tourism policy that says we should be doing this Icelandic is key to this kind of experience.. we share this with our guests.
As an example I put a video in this slide you are welcome to view later.. it can benefit staff as well. A variety of phrases they can use. As an example I worked for Icelandair before I moved to Iceland and there I learned to speak with Icelandic tourists in America about their passports, how many suitcases they had, wished them a good flight and those are things we can have as a policy in our companies. And why are we bothering about this at the Tourism skills centre? Well simply because the status of Icelandic language will be strengthened best by using Icelandic widely in Icelandic society so that no one is left out and in diverse ways, and that is our goal with the materials that we create for use among companies in tourism. And again I wish to point out we work on the premise of the tourism sector to increase skills and quality we are here to support you.
We want to work with you. Also there are existing requirements emphasis and policy form authorities and in society speak to us There was Ministers Commission who recently release a report with actions regarding work related Icelandic and Tourism is one of the largest industry in Iceland The Act on the Status of the Icelandic Language states that Icelandic is our shared language and everyone who resides here will have the advantage of learning and using Icelandic for the general purpose of participating in public life. That is an appeal to all of us, that we need to find our way forward.
And what are we doing? One of our projects is to work at increasing the use of Icelandic in tourism and support visibility of the language in collaboration with companies. We have professional vocabulary lists which are accessible on our website its possible to hang them up or use them digitally to learn pronunciation and here is a fun picture that came to be out of a conversation with a company in the sector. Hotel Vellir in Hafnafjörður where we had a conversation about how to have that "visibility" factor The hotel manager said "yeah, we are playing with the idea of word of the week" and we discussed it and said why not also have it accessible for guest So now when we arrive at Hotel Vellir we see that word of the week...this week is "ljómandi" which means brilliant! and we can use it among staff members and with our guests.
And how are we supporting this..? How is the Tourism skill centre approaching this? We have decided...and dived in with increasing access to information about Icelandic courses Where it occurs, how it occurs where you can apply for funding to do so all of the diverse ways to approach Icelandic course We have increased access to information about support and practicing and the use of digital tools When we say practicing we mean ways to communicate We have put together practical methods for using Icelandic in day to day We are practical ideas to support the use and visibility of Icelandic So we have refined a template easy to use.. of a language policy
which has been adapted to... in collaborations with... excuse me.. to the work environment in tourism. Here are practical methods Support and encourage staff to learn Icelandic here we put forth as Harpa did, apply for courses assist staff with apply for funding work at finding ways to get people in courses connect them with self studies give them access to information about it. Then we have the use of digital solutions That isn't just about access to courses that includes That could be putting the Icelandic dictionary on our browser at the reception desk so people have access to all sorts of digital tools that exist. start up a language mentoring program like Guðlaug Stella showed us so fantastically about Inform foreign employees.. Did you know.. that in the Foreign Nationals' right to work act there is a clause that states that we are obligated to inform staff about the Icelandic course available to them? Just a little knowledge..
Visibility of Icelandic ... word of the week, which is apparently widely practices. and our vocabulary lists, just find a way to have Icelandic visible and remember that Icelandic is very phonetic so if we see words we should be able to pronounce them.. and it helps a lot. Praise and recognition at work, have a little competition. Who is best at supporting Icelandic? and how's it going to strengthen it? Communication with customers Remember to welcome our guests and people who come to us in Icelandic.
Keep and eye on Icelandic media Dare to set requirements and our language policy. Icelandic learning and support there are multiple ways there are learning centres there are self studies, as I mentioned before, its simple and is offered regardless of working hours or place of residence there are learning materials, digital tools There is community based Icelandic learning and practicing as Guðlaug Stella mentioned earlier and you may have heard of Give Icelandic a Chance which is widely used in West Iceland And accessible information about courses and learning centres which we have compiled Here for example on our website haefn.is under Course for tourism by going in the browser "choose education area" you see Icelandic lessons then come up all of the learning centres who are applicable for grant funding when one chooses digital there appears all sorts of digital options regarding Icelandic learning. And speaking of digital solutions here is just a small collection of what is available.
There is Bara tala, nútímaorðabók, TVÍK is set up for individuals can apply for themselves and talk with! There is Málstaðar which is in my browser it assists with correcting language and pronunciation Nútímaorðabók is there And Play your way to Iceland is a project form Mímir where there is also culturally connected Icelandic lessons. Now we have come to "the main event" The language policy we have put together for you to frame in your vision of language use. We are essentially saying what we are going to do. Companies set their goals. We know this, we have a policy for equality, we set our goals about what we are going to do and how we are going to it.
Here are practical methods strengthen language use and views about language within the company. This includes clear instructions about situations The language policy contributes to added value usefulness and purpose of Icelandic within a company. and it is accessible and easy to use. Here is the language policy. You go into our digital workspace..its very simple it includes the main items regarding what language we use when who the policy applies to how we conduct offering Icelandic courses and support for staff and how we follow up on this.
I thank you respectively and wish you all well with holding Icelandic aloft. Thank you kindly for that Nichole Now we are at our final presentation today I would like to invite Alexandra Leonarsdóttir with.. she is responsible for education and inclusion at ASÍ .. welcome Hello all its especially nice to be here today especially as I always see myself as an immigrant and representative of working people here in the country. as has been previously mentioned today we are about half of the entirety of staff in tourism. and one fourth of the labour market in Iceland. When I came to Iceland my first job was also in tourism.
and truth be told I didn't learn any Icelandic while I worked in tourism. and times have changed for the better and now we are considering how we can approach staff in this field. I want to discuss with you the statement I hear in my office when I have conversations with business owners especially in small and middle sized companies that it isn't worth it to pay for Icelandic the majority come for a short time for 3 - 4 months and have no interest in learning Icelandic...they just don't want to learn Icelandic. I to reflect about what can bring about these statements.
As has been mentioned especially in larger companies we see there is little by little a building interest but should we have in mind if this statement exists I want to start by turning this statement towards you... managers in companies do you want .. that your staff speak Icelandic? Why do you think it's important? Is it because you experience pressure in society? Is it pride or ambition? Or do you have think you have a societal responsibility? How do you approach the subject? Do you believe that you can achieve success? Do you think emphasis on Icelandic to be unnecessary trouble? Or can you see there will be positive developments in your company? Why should you ask yourself these questions? Because your view makes all the difference? You are drawing the line, and you have influence. Lets say you answer these questions positively. Yes I want that.
What next? What happens next. There have been all kinds of solutions today. But what I have often heard is Okay I can sacrifice a few hours this winter for Icelandic 1 for everyone. Yeah.. this could be in a minor amount of cases a good idea but in the majority... sorry.. it isn´t a good approach. I´ll just explain as an immigrant and as a person still learning Icelandic why it isn't the most fortunate outcome in these circumstances We have to begin at the beginning even if we think its ..boring
If we look firstly at what jobs immigrants work in in tourism. Currently we find them in cleaning, in room changes in reception services in hotels and car rental places in kitchens as waiters as guides as coach drivers Research illustrates the first jobs among immigrants here in Iceland is in tourism and the first language they learn in Iceland is English And we all agree, here in this room at least, that it is time to change this. If we go back to the beginning and ask those uncomfortable questions.. how do grown adults learn a language?
I ask that you forget for a moment about learning English of Danish as a child because adults approach material completely different than children in some manner and if we think in general why should I learn a new language there needs to be a reason job opportunity or some other opportunity to learn a language it could be love I found in a new country to understand that language better it could be an interest it could be friendship it could be I have a perspective new friend in another country Say I have made the decision to learn a language Spanish, Italian or German.. I am going to learn German Now there is a reason that we can say is encouragement So I make the decision and with making the decision I put responsibility on me to take uncomfortable lessons I have to sit difficult lessons, I have to take tests but it won't work if I only utilize these lesson times I have to also have other experiences go to the movies, games, events in other languages maybe read some books I want to take a trip To communicate in this language so all of this work I am putting into learning a language can be fun and rewarding and I can analyse my progress and boost myself forward but it all takes time It takes a lot of time to learn a language it isn't just time required to learn a new language it is respect that needs to be present there needs to be respect, for myself and for the language and the country I am getting acquainted with essentially mutual respect is the basis for encouragement for learning Icelandic respect for your own language and to be prepared to share it with others If I want my staff to introduce the country, Iceland, the country and the culture for tourist then I have to introduce it to them. Respect for the language and culture of others also needs to be in place... a certain curiosity. Mutual respect mutual communication trust and continued curiosity Now I want to ask another uncomfortable question. Do you respect your staff? Then I want to take a step further and ask you what do you know about them? of course it would be difficult in a large company with around 400 staff members maybe its not possible to know everyone but the majority of the companies in tourism are small and it is possible to learn all the names and why names? my staff matter If we think about immigrants who come here even for a short time they come with a little back pack. All that they have are their name, their personality, story all things that are not visible and I have to take the step to approach Have you tried to ask if you pronounce their name right? There you are displaying respect, you are approaching your staff and creating encouragement because you have learned their name I want you to say it correctly even if it is a bit of a challenge My name is maybe not the best example Alexandra is easy to say in almost all languages This is something you should be mindful of when you start implementing Icelandic learning in your company you need to do a bit of a check on the composition of your staff in most cases they are not people who have come for a short time here to work in this particular job how are they combined how many have been here a long time how many are new in Iceland and as soon as we place emphasis on communication and curiosity as a priority then we can begin to put the foundation for trust and implementation of Icelandic lessons in place next...
could be a bit of a challenge how often over all are my staff in communication with others it can be especially challenging in fields where we have lots of drivers and many who have roles without having much communication So if we are going to implement this project with Icelandic lessons we need to be aware of how often people are in contact with Icelandic language and culture. or even in communication with other people in general So when we are collecting this information we need always to begin first with a conversation By starting with a conversation with my staff I am making them participants in this project then I bringing people together I am approaching people on their priority I am essentially enabling them ... and allow them into decision making. There is a certain freedom in understanding you do are not fully responsible you can look for assistance among your staff they can take these decisions better and know how to approach the subject better and move forward so when you have gathered all the information that you can most likely to through the project Nichole has introduced us to then you are ready to make a policy and it is likely your staff will agree to the policy and receive it positively if they have been participants along the way of this policy so when you decide to work with the policy you have to create a plan about how you will implement Icelandic in your company.
Then predictability becomes the priority If you have predictability people understand what is occurring when courses are and no "hips um hops" now I am sent to a lesson with this centre while I also have to take extra shifts or something similar to this You also have to connect with certified course providers to determine what types of courses, mixed courses, you can offer and they don't have to be difficult we can start with simple courses as with the many examples we've seen today Also discussed is the need to provide people with praise and continued encouragement because the foundation for people is to say " I see you, I see you have made progress" and I encourage you to continue. Once you have gathered all this together I encourage you to review your hiring process but not before you have tried to implement this process first. Then its worthwhile to say "Here we speak Icelandic" I have put together some incentives on this slide Many believe that the only incentives in the workplace are salary increases or promotions but there are far more options. essentially... a ha here It has been noted here today that the goal in the workplace should be "win - win" We are talking about group strengthening where a shared language will create a better work culture and better teamwork.
Staff who grasp the language are more secure and independent also in daily life and of course on the job. A company's image is reliable if staff have the opportunity to develop in work but you must have in mind communication and not single words Communication reduces conflicts in the workplace and fear of other cultures as well as encourages people Investing in Icelandic lessons is an investment in the people in your company as has been stated today and is important to repeat again and again. and investing in access to our Icelandic culture and language is our responsibility and one of societies major equalizing tools I thank you kindly and good luck! Sincere thanks for that Alexandra and thank you all for coming here today and and how should I word it.. inspiring us to continue the work We have arrived at the end today and We can say that Icelandic learning isn't just our private issue in Tourism.. it pertains to all areas workforce sectors. though we have been focusing on tourism today. It is obvious that there is a lot of interest and willingness to increase the use of Icelandic in tourism.
Maybe we need that encouragement to get started encouragement to our staff, and in our system We have that giant mountain before us and we are unsure of how we get over it or what the first steps are for the journey. But today we were shown there are paths over the mountain, their are guides along the path to help us to take these steps to take... maybe simplify the project seeing the project ahead of us makes it incredibly large but once we are into the project maybe it isn't so large Its also important to remember there are more thinking about this than just us here in our companies or professions.
There are solutions out there and available support. And in your communities. And for those of us working at the heart of the system we need to remember we need to hold this aloft we need to remind people what is available and communicate this steps forward In all regions and across the country is an active support system and educational network which work on courses and help companies through this. We would also like to point out there is support materials available as Nichole introduced.. a lot of material on haefn.is through the Tourism Skills Centre which is aimed at staff in tourism because we have to target vocabulary to the sector we work in and the people we work with.
On haefn.is there is among other things information about available Icelandic studies and information about practical methods and the Language Policy template This Education Morning was recorded and is accessible on haefni.is and on the facebook page Hæfnisetur ferðaþjónustunnar" and their YouTube channel as well this project is accessible at the destination management orgs and SAF as well.
The next Education morning will be in the new year and we look forward to sharing it with you. We encourage you to register on our mailing lists and our collaborating partners who sponsor this project. In closing I thank you all for watching and listening. Thank you all.
2024-12-20 20:34
