Job Discussion Forums

[dragonpiwo]

Has anyone got a really good task-based activity that they would like to share?

I've done the building a helicopters and designing a product and things like that.

If you've got a good one, please share it. I need loads as I have a 160-hour course to teach with zilch materials.

I'm particularly interested in activities which encourage soft skills ie teamwork, meetings, presentations and negotiations skills as well as further skills like following SOPs and instructions from workplace manuals.

I'm onto a good business English book with this stuff in it but I'm after the kind of crypton factor stuff that's fun in a classroom like building a bridge to get from A to B etc.

Any good supplementary materials links and book recommendations would be great too.

TIA

[dragonpiwo]

Let me get you started.

1-Put SS in teams of 4
2-Give them ingredients
3-tell them to make a cocktail ie a healthy one, a sour one, a foul one and make names for all of them
4-Get people from other teams to taste and guess the ingredients
5-Feedback on best/worst

This is about teamwork, making suggestions, agreeing/disagreeing

Any more ideas like stuff you can make with classroom stationery or games/puzzles which require all of them to work in a team to solve a problem.

[buravirgil]

dragonwipo, THAT is quintessential, acme, the head-liner no sensible performer would open for...oops, follow...

[dragonpiwo]

You write something about the cost of living or wages and the world replies. Ask a practical question and zilch.

How sad.

Now I remember why I don't hang around with TEFL teachers.

[scot47]

Most of them are brain-dead.

[nomad soul]

You're bound to find ideas from the following resources for teaching business English and business communication:

ESL Flow
Breaking News English
ESL Gold - business English
Ethics cases
ESL Cafe Idea Cookbook

[buravirgil]

What you want...okay...when you want it? It's been what, three hours?

Quodlibetal (thank you AWAD)...however, where I can't fulfill the request is a tangible product to the task. Dmitry Davidoff's Mafia (Werewolf) is a game/simulation that is certainly a task, but requires an experienced facilitator to work well in my opinion. And by the same caveat, trade simulations for Econ classes.

[HLJHLJ]

Give us a chance dragonpiwo, it's only been a few hours (and I was asleep for most of them).

In a previous life I did a lot of science and engineering workshops. I found that most of the stuff for teenagers could be easily adapted to adults. Crime scene activities were always popular, and if you are seeing the same group regularly, you can easily put a sequence together to get a few classes out of one scenario. Other things that can be used with any age are designing something to protect an egg when you drop it, and anything to do with making things that move (boats, cars. etc). It's been a while since I used it, but there used to be good ideas on here.

http://stem-works.com/activities

Designing board games works, but you have to give a lot of guidance with that or it goes on forever. Creating flow charts for decision making, that can be as serious or silly as you like, depending on your group. It can be anything from deciding which materials to use in construction to deciding what to have for lunch.

Give them a series of tasks related to a single goal, with insufficient time to do them all, so they have to prioritise, but time spent negotiating priorities eats into the limited time available to do the tasks. (Be careful with that if you have any very dominant personalities, people can get aggressive).

I'd definitely suggest you try to extend tasks over a couple of classes if you can. For example, if you have them design a product, then in the next class they produce the marketing materials for it and then in the 3rd class they negotiate with another group to sell it to them. (Both groups decide in advance what they need and want from the final sale, and then try to negotiate a deal that suits both sides).

If you have some stuff planned already and want ideas for extension activities, just ask.

[dragonpiwo]

Thanks. Stem-works is excellent.

[Knedliki]

A virtual stock market portfolio, see which team can make the most money!

[3701 W.119th]

My only real problem is I can't nail my plan in the time allowed ( 2 x 50 minutes). The English level here is so low.

I have my 'go-to' contexts - home, food, free time, travel, sport, family, etc.

Extend it over both classes, yes.

Design a menu, next class, have them role-play the waiter/customer.

It's oral English, though. Get them talking.

[santi84]

The following PDFs are big files, but have a lot of great task-based activities in them. They are for CLB levels 1-4 (which is beginner to pre-intermediate). I highly recommend reading them and adapting them to suit your locations/audience. 3701 W.119th, I think you would find them quite useful, as they are geared to such a low level within your time constraints.

http://www.moresettlement.org/LINC1-4/LINC4/LINC_1_Classroom_Activities.pdf

http://www.moresettlement.org/LINC1-4/LINC4/LINC_2_Classroom_Activities.pdf

http://www.moresettlement.org/LINC1-4/LINC4/LINC_3_Classroom_Activities.pdf

http://www.moresettlement.org/LINC1-4/LINC4/LINC_4_Classroom_Activities.pdf

And the audio files/higher levels (CLB 5-8, or B1-C1) are here:
http://wiki.settlementatwork.org/w/index.php/LINC_1-4_Classroom_Activities

[adventious]

I really like all of these resources! The last one especially!