Lesson plans and resources: Jobs, Careers, etc.
Teaching intermediate and upper intermediate classes lessons that derive from the Upper Intermediate and Advanced Oxford Wordskills is a somewhat soul destroying experience unless you create resources that correspond to the students' knowledge of these topics, their maturity and intelligence. As is the case on every page of this textbook, the language is far more advanced than the tasks offered. The activities provided in this book are suited to elementary students. It is a most unfortunate mismatch.
I spend a great deal of time preparing lessons that cover the required vocabulary while involving tasks and activities that require interaction, negotiation, mediation while attempting to develop the students' knowledge of the world (KOW). And I am happy to share these resources and the thinking behind them here.
The resources below were used with different classes of different levels during one week.
I spend a great deal of time preparing lessons that cover the required vocabulary while involving tasks and activities that require interaction, negotiation, mediation while attempting to develop the students' knowledge of the world (KOW). And I am happy to share these resources and the thinking behind them here.
The resources below were used with different classes of different levels during one week.
What does this job involve?
A list of jobs with a few pictures does not teach upper intermediate students how to speak about jobs. They need to know what the jobs entail as a bare minimum.
Job descriptions and subtasks
On the first two pages of th PDF below, there is a job description, beside which the students write the name of the job, e.g. plumber. Then they can read about the tasks that these workers undertake. Beside these, I put some Czech glosses for the intermediate students. Working in pairs, they match the subtasks in the two languages. While the names of jobs are not new to the students, these specifications are.
These four pages are available as a Google document for anyone who wants to adapt them in any way.
My own skills
On the third page of this PDF, the students rank their own skills by giving each one a score of 1 to 5. This is a reading and personalisation task. They are invited to invent a character if they don't want to reveal too much about themselves.
Job descriptions and subtasks
On the first two pages of th PDF below, there is a job description, beside which the students write the name of the job, e.g. plumber. Then they can read about the tasks that these workers undertake. Beside these, I put some Czech glosses for the intermediate students. Working in pairs, they match the subtasks in the two languages. While the names of jobs are not new to the students, these specifications are.
These four pages are available as a Google document for anyone who wants to adapt them in any way.
My own skills
On the third page of this PDF, the students rank their own skills by giving each one a score of 1 to 5. This is a reading and personalisation task. They are invited to invent a character if they don't want to reveal too much about themselves.
Careers advisor role play
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On the fourth page, there is a cue sheet for a careers advisor. Working in pairs, the careers advisor skims and scans the skills sheet their client has just completed, and uses the stages and the questions on the cue sheet to conduct and interview. They arrive at their conclusions. The students regroup to enact the other roles.
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Employment schemata
The concept of schema was new to the more advanced students, but once explained, it was within their grasp.
In order to talk about jobs and careers at a higher level, thinking about the topic in schemata is helpful. The students opened this Google document and explored the schema together. They then worked in groups creating posters to represent one of the schemata that they then presented to the class.
Creating posters is an act of negotiation and mediation. It requires depth of thought into how textual information can depict the relationships between all the moving parts.
In order to talk about jobs and careers at a higher level, thinking about the topic in schemata is helpful. The students opened this Google document and explored the schema together. They then worked in groups creating posters to represent one of the schemata that they then presented to the class.
Creating posters is an act of negotiation and mediation. It requires depth of thought into how textual information can depict the relationships between all the moving parts.
Sectors |
Internet research
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The sectors provided in the OWS book relate to a short text in the book, not to the real world. In order to develop the students' knowledge of the world (KOW) and their ability to speak about it, they were provided with the table that is on the first page of this Google document.
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Groups of students chose one sector each and using their phones and tablets found the answers to the research questions which are on second page of the same Google document. They produced mindmaps or spray diagrams to represent the answers.
As the questions were tailored to the Czech environment, adapting this task for other contexts requires only a slight adaptation of the Google document. |
