Bridges to Business

1. Bridges toBusiness Projects, tasks and case studies

2. Overview • Your university students’ needs • Simple business project ideas to help students orientate themselves to work / company culture • Engaging business tasks that help learners imagine workplace scenarios • Varied case studies that build confidence to apply knowledge to the workplace

3. Lead in • Do your students have substantial work experience? • If no do they see the relevance of studying business English? • If no do they find it difficult to envisage working scenarios? • If no do they feel confident that they can apply what they are learning in their future careers? • What business skills and knowledge do your students most need to develop? • What do they expect to gain from studying a business English course?

4. Business projects • Project work is a task-based learning process • It involves a sequence of tasks over a period of time • Projects have a visible end product • Projects are flexible • Projects in the language classroom should involve linguistic input, processing and output Project Work step by step

5. Starting a project • Invent a company • Choose a job • Design a business card • Introduce yourself

6. Developing the project • Review what’s been done • Build up a more detailed company profile • Exchange information

7. Developing your project • Plan and create an advertisement for • your company’s products / services • Display and read ads. • Give feedback

8. What are the advantages of project work? • Allow students to express their individual strengths • Accommodate varied learning styles • Promote learner independence • Enhance group dynamics and interpersonal skills • They are motivating for the learners • Create a need to use the target language • Help build bridges from the language classroom to the real world • Produce visible results • Increase learners’ self-confidence

9. Tasks “A task is a classroom activity whose focus is on communicating meaning. The objective of the task may be to reach some consensus on an issue, to solve a problem, to draft a plan … In the performance of the task, learners are expected to make use of their own linguistic resources.” Scott Thornbury An A – Z of ELT

10. Business tasks • Brainstorming • Planning • Explaining • Presenting

11. Student roles: Team A

12. Student roles: Team B

13. Business tasks • Analysis data • Presentation • Feedback

14. Student roles: Teams A - C

15. Other business tasks • Planning an employee ice-breaking session • Planning redecorating the office • Drawing up teleconferencing guidelines • Planning a meeting • Writing a resume • Simulated job interviews

16. Introducing case studies

17. Criteria for good case studies The incident • has emotional power • entails difficult choices • entails fundamental/underlying value conflicts • allows multiple interpretations and solutions • presents issues that benefit from collegial discussions • (ntlf.com - National Teaching and Learning Forum)

18. Good EFL case studies are: • accessible for learners • manageable for teachers • structured and staged • delivered via a variety of media • designed to provide practice in a range of language and communication skills

20. Example case study – Gap Years

21. The benefits of case studies • Bridge gap betweenclassroom and real world • Real-world issues fosterauthentic communication • Develop communication skills • Familiartool for business people • Learner-centred = meaningful, motivating, memorable • Fun!

22. Let’s do a case study

24. When to use case studies • as a free production activity • to practice meeting/presentation/negotiation skills • as a change, e.g. in intensive courses • to get away from the coursebook • as a test/teach/test sequence • when you don’t know the group • with mixed ability classes • as a back-up • as a reward

25. References: An A – Z of ELT Scot Thornbury Project Work: Step-by-Step (out of print) www.businessenglishonline.net