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MOTIVATING AND CHALLENGING ADVANCED BUSINESS ENGLISH LEARNERS

MOTIVATING AND CHALLENGING ADVANCED BUSINESS ENGLISH LEARNERS. Rachel Appleby IH Barcelona ELT 2010. OVERVIEW. What is an advanced learner? What can they do? What do they lack? What problems do they have? Are we addressing these issues? Ideas and activities.

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MOTIVATING AND CHALLENGING ADVANCED BUSINESS ENGLISH LEARNERS

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  1. MOTIVATING AND CHALLENGING ADVANCED BUSINESS ENGLISH LEARNERS Rachel Appleby IH Barcelona ELT 2010

  2. OVERVIEW • What is an advanced learner? • What can they do? • What do they lack? • What problems do they have? • Are we addressing these issues? • Ideas and activities

  3. WELCOME: STUDENT’S INTERESTS! Complete two of the sentences below. TASK! Sentence starters: 1. If I wasn’t a teacher … 2. Not many people know that I’m particularly interested in … 3. By this time next year … 4. If I didn’t have to work to earn money, I’d … 5. One of my most memorable experiences was … Now share and discuss the information in groups.

  4. WHAT IS AN ADVANCED LEARNER? Someone who … • has passed / could pass FCE / B2 exam • has a wide range of language between FCE and near-NS level (B2-C2) 1. Language - - - 2. Communication - - -

  5. 1 - LANGUAGE Linguistic ProfileAn advanced student has … • some knowledge of all structures • active vocabulary c. 3,000 words; < passive • English sounds / intonation patterns • ingrained mistakes • Linguistic NEEDS • An advanced student needs … • revision of structures • sophisticated structures • activation of passive vocabulary & • vocabulary discrimination • work on pronunciation The grammar’s awful and the spelling’s atrocious – otherwise it’s an impressive CV.

  6. 2 - COMMUNICATION CommunicativeProfile An advanced student has some ability in / awareness of … • style / register • functional elements • non-specialized spoken and written English Communicative NEEDS An advanced student needs … • further practice in different styles /register • expansion of range of functions (in-/formal) • extensive practice in freer Speaking, development of R, W, L skills, especially in specialized areas.

  7. Problems for Students • basic ingrained mistakes • avoidance strategies • register/style – over-formal, or over-familiar • language plateau / lack of sense of progress • unbalanced proficiency in the skills • [ they know what they want …] • - FOR TEACHERS • apprehension • diverse needs • mixed levels • ….

  8. APPROACH – TO BEAR IN MIND 1 NEEDS ANALYSIS– check / redefine INTERESTS – exploit for practising language, vocabulary & skills 2 DIAGNOSTIC TEST– for strengths and weaknesses RECORD freer speaking activities – for priorities for correction 3 SYLLABUS– course planning = packaging language to motivate and show progress, e.g. • by TOPIC / THEME • by SKILLS • by FUNCTION NB: short and long term goals

  9. TASK! GRAMMAR Context: Extracts overheard from a meeting of the IH Barcelona conference team, who are discussing the conference over coffee… a. Read the following. Would you like to be on the conference committee? b. Can you label the sentences according to a ‘conditional’ type? • If we’d advertised the conference earlier, we’d have got a lot of this paperwork out of the way sooner. 2. But count yourself yourself lucky: had we invited more big name speakers, we’d be overrun with participants, and have far too many people to deal with! 3. If we spoke individually to some of the key participants, do you think we could try to encourage them to join the committee? c. Now decide what the function of each sentence is.

  10. INFO ABOUT STUDENTS / GRAMMAR:ADDRESSING CONCERNS Sentence starters If I wasn’t a teacher … By this time next year … One of my most memorable experiences is … • If we’d advertised the conference earlier, we’d have got a lot of this paperwork out of the way sooner. • But count yourself yourself lucky: had we invited more big name speakers, we’d be overrun with participants, and have far too many people to deal with! • … TASK! Reminder: To what extent does each activity meet advanced level students’ needs?

  11. VOCABULARY 1 – FAMILIAR WORDS TASK! Phrases with “say”. Match an example with its meaning beneath. 1 I have to say that I was expecting something a bit more professional. 2. What does this logo say about our company? 3 He should be promoted after this project finishes – it goes without saying. 4 You can say that again!  a. communicate an idea ___ b. introduce a strong opinion ___ c. someone has made a good point; you agree ___ d. it’s obvious ___

  12. VOCABULARY 2– CONFUSING WORDS Choose a pair of words from the box below for each pair of sentences; decide which goes where. 1 a. We’re expecting him at 10, so I’m sure he’ll arrive _________. b. So, __________, let’s summarize what we’ve done so far. 2 a. Alan’s leaving in 3 months, but, _________, due to the holiday he’s owed, he’ll be leaving mid-March. b. We travelled ________ every weekend – there was hardly a Saturday when I was at home. 3 a. We had ________ a great time in Peru – I’d love to go back. b. The weather was ______ wonderful – we were really lucky. practically / in practice so / such shortly / in brief

  13. SKILLS - SPEAKING TASK! 1 Is a global event like the Olympic Games more about politics and money rather than sport itself? 2 Are hobbies only for people who have too much leisure time? 3 Is Formula 1 motor racing really a sport? 4 Who is your country’s most famous sportsperson? How are they a reflection of national identity? 5 Which sports are most popular in your country with a) teenagers and b) women? 6 Describe your perfect weekend. 7 How will you spend your retirement? SPORT (& LEISURE) “Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night.” George Allen TASK! Money, wealth and poverty Food and Drink

  14. SKILLS – ACTIVATING PASSIVE LANGUAGE • PRON.(intonation, sentence stress, pausing)& REGISTER • AIMS: Make sure tasks are focused, with a clear communicative aim. • CHALLENGE sts to use new words and phrases, e.g. as follows: A list of phrases: the student ticks them off as they use them: Put phrases on cards: place on desk / students turn over when used Deal out phrases: students speak, and race to use them up

  15. SKILLS – ACTIVATING PASSIVE LANGUAGE 2 PRONUNCIATION AIMS CHALLENGE

  16. SHOWING PROGRESS • Elicit what has been covered (make a list, draw a mindmap, … ) • Refer back to your original plan • Run a discussion / meeting where students give feedback • Adapt the sentence starters • Get sts to indicate how they feel about each language area / skills, e.g. ✓ ✓

  17. RECAP: ARE WE ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES? ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

  18. Thank you! MOTIVATING AND CHALLENGING ADVANCED BUSINESS ENGLISH LEARNERS Rachel Appleby IH Barcelona ELT 2010

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