Lesson 4: Creating online exercises

WHAT WILL YOU DO 

    TO GET A JOB?

Class: ESL for Work low intermediate students


I. WARM-UP: class discussion/small group 


Ask students the following questions:


What did you like about the job you had in your own country?  or about the job you had in Minnesota? or about the on-the-job training you attended? What didn't you like?


Teacher starts to make a list on the board with 3-4 examples in each column:
LIKES                                                         DISLIKES
worked only in the afternoons                 had to walk a lot


Can you make a list of 5 likes and 5 dislikes to add to this list?
Students then talk in small groups about their work experience and add their group lists to the one on the blackboard.


Class discussion: Is there any job that only has things you like to do? Why not?
Explain to students that the next activity will be about different kinds of work. 


II. ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY 


Read directions with students. Ask students what the following vocabulary words mean: commission, pressure, chemicals. Then write them on the board with the definitions.


Students work on assessment individually, but are encouraged to ask their neighbors questions - or the teacher, if none of them know the answer.



[Note to Group 1: I apologize for the bad formatting. I am using other people's computers, while my files are being transferred from my dead hard drive to a new one. This friend did not feel comfortable with my downloading Google.docs on her computer. If you want a copy formatted I can email you a word doc.]


WHAT WILL YOU DO TO GET A JOB?


Directions: Circle one answer for each question.  


1. Will you start work at 5:00 am?                                                                     YES NO


2. Will you work 10-hour shifts 4days per week?                                              YES NO


3. Will you work for minimum wage?                                                                 YES NO


4. Will you work outside in the summer?                                                          YES NO


5. Will you work the night shift?                                                                         YES NO


6. Will you work with a supervisor who is younger than you?                           YES NO


7. Will you work on your feet for an 8-hour shift?                                                YES NO


8. Will you work alone with no one to talk to all day?                                         YES NO


9. Will you do a lot of driving?                                                                             YES NO


10. Will you work fast under pressure?                                                               YES NO


11. Will you work on commission?                                                                      YES NO


12. Will you drive 20 miles to get to work?                                                          YES NO


13. Will you work on the weekend?                                                                     YES NO

14. Will you work with all women co-workers?                                                   YES NO


15. Will you do dirty jobs?                                                                                    YES NO


16. Will you work with chemicals that have a strong smell?                                YES NO


17. Will you get your hands dirty?                                                                        YES NO


18. Will you wear a uniform?                                                                                 YES NO


19. Will you work with all men co-workers?                                                         YES NO


20. Will you be trained by a man who is younger than you?                                 YES NO


21. Will you work in a noisy factory?                                                                      YES NO


22. Will you lift heavy objects?                                                                               YES NO


23. Will you answer the telephone and take messages?                                       YES NO


24. Will you take care of elderly people in a nursing home?                                  YES NO


25. Will you clean up after other people?                                                               YES NO


26. Will you be trained by a woman who is younger than you?                              YES NO


27. Will you work with very large machines?                                                          YES NO


28. Will you pick up and collect dirty laundry? YES NO


29. Will you work overtime on short notice? YES NO


30. Will you work with very sick people? YES NO




III. READING THE ANSWER KEY AND CLASS DISCUSSION


As students finish, pass out the answer key and let them count up their answers.
Note: flexible is a word they already know from flash cards describing workers (dependable, flexible, punctual, etc.).



ANSWER KEY


Look at the totals. How many times did you answer YES? ____________
How many times did you answer NO? ___________


If you have 25-30 YES answers:
You are very flexible. You are ready to do almost any kind of job. You do not have many personal barriers to finding work. Employers usually like people like you because you are ready to try new things, you are willing to make a big effort and you are not afraid to do things that are difficult or unpleasant. You have a great attitude!


If you have 15-25 YES answers:
You are quite flexible. You have some personal barriers which will stop you from taking some jobs. Maybe you have a certain job goal and you do not want to think about other possibilities. It is good to have a goal, but be careful! Sometimes it is not possible to go straight to your goal. You may have to take a temporary position that you do not like very much. If you are not flexible enough, it may take a long time for you to reach your final goal. You have quite a good attitude.


If you have 0-15 YES answers:
Watch out! Employers do not usually hire people like you. You have many personal barriers to finding work that will make it hard for you to find a job. You are not very flexible. You make it more difficult to reach your goal because you are not ready to do things that are unpleasant or difficult. You need to improve your attitude to work.

IV. DISCUSSION/RE-ASSESSING YOUR FLEXIBILITY
What do you think about this activity?  Why do you think we did it? Why is it important to be flexible?
Teacher asks the students, regardless of how many YES answers you  wrote down, look at your NOs and find 3 or 4 of them (less if you had a high score) that you would consider changing to YES.


V. EXTENSION ACTIVITY
Students will go to mister poll to take the assessment again. This time it will add everyone's votes together and the class will see what are the most liked and least liked job characteristics as a class. Students will be able to reassess their choices.


Directions: click on the link for mister poll. Once the link opens, click on vote to open the poll. To choose an answer, click on only one answer: yes or no, using the mouse. Take your time because when you finish, you will not be able to see the poll again or go back to change your answers. When you are really finished, click on poll results. 


VI. NEXT LESSONS


Use 1 or 2 online employment sites to look for positions you like. 


Reading a short article about polls. Why people take polls and for what purposes.
Ask students if they would like to make a poll (How do students feel about looking for work, cultural differences...). Negotiation of the subject and questions.


REVIEW/ANALYSIS


1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?


Using Eva Eaton's list of resources, I was able to convert a job-readiness assessment into a class poll using mister poll. Flexibility is an issue that some ESL learners understand more readily than others. My motto has always been to show rather than tell, and preferably to model or demonstrate a concept in two or three different ways. The poll will allow learners to compare their individual assessment results with the class poll results. How do they compare - are they more or less flexible?


2. Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g. level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?


What will you do to get a job? is a needs assessment and poll that shows me, as the teacher/vocational placement professional, how ready students are to search for a paid position and how they will come across in a job interview. Are they realistic in their expectations?  At the same time, it is a self-assessment that lets them think through different characteristics of jobs; articulate what they like or don't like about a job, and think about which positions they would be willing to consider that they haven't before. The poll reviews target vocabulary used for ads, interviews and job descriptions. Students will work to assess and integrate new ideas about work into their frame of reference (metacognitive skills). They will work on making realistic employment choices that are relevant to their lives and meet their needs as individuals.


This assessment brings together a number of issues facing every job seeker today. There is no perfect job. Every job has plusses and minuses. The fewer jobs available, the more willing jobseekers must be to enlarge the pool of positions they would take. Flexibility in today's job market is key. Both the assessment and poll are good discussion starters that get students both thinking and talking about employment choices.


4. Are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource appropriate for your instructional goals?


I decided to use the poll, because it is presented in a very simple format. Students only need to use the mouse in order to click on their answer. I thought getting a collective poll of what were the most and least liked job characteristics would be fun for the students. I could see the students learning to use this site to create their own poll. 


5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical, that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?


Technical: In the learning center, I will assign partners, so that students with weaker computer skills have partners with stronger skills. Directions will be important, so that students feel comfortable taking the poll on line. We have never done this before! First students click on the link for mister poll and then once the link opens, click on vote to open the poll. To choose an answer, students click on either yes or no, using the mouse. Once they are finished, they click on poll results and can see their results. The poll will only let each student take the poll once.  The total poll results are available only to the maker of the poll. So, the students will only see the entire class results once everyone is finished and the teacher can print out the results or display the results on a classroom overhead projector. 


I don't anticipate many language based problems. The student washback to this assessment has generally been extremely positive. This is a fun activity and the answer key is a bit of a surprise element that they enjoy. Some students even wanted copies, so that they could take them home and give the assessment to a friend or relative. The poll results will be another take on the assessment - showing how the whole class voted on each question.

LESSON 3: PODCASTS, VIDEOCASTS, DIGITAL STORIES

MY OWN BUSINESS: BANADIR CAFE

Note: This activity will be inserted into a series of 4-5 lessons. In these lessons, each student chooses a small business they would like to start. They give the business a name and choose an employee they need to hire. Then each student writes a want ad for the position, giving the hours, days and rate of pay. Next, each student writes six interview questions to ask applicants at an interview. At this point, the want ads are posted around the room. Each student must interview 2 classmates and write down the answers they give to the interview questions. Finally, each student must choose the best candidate and write two sentences, explaining why this person was the best choice. The students then read their sentences to the class and make their job offers.

Language Learning Objectives: Students will use their reading/writing skills to answer questions about a model help wanted ad. Students will use employment vocabulary to formulate an ad for their own business. Students will gain speaking confidence and fluency through making a video of this ad. Students will learn the strategy of planning what they want to say, before talking to employers on the telephone, in person or at interviews. Students will be able to review their videos and self-assess. Students will learn how to upload a video to Youtube with a cell phone or digital camera.

Level: ESL for Work low intermediate students

0. Homework given 2 days before the videocast activity:

Survey
1. Can you make a video with your cell phone?
2. Do you know how to make a video with your cell phone?
3. Do you have a data plan attached to your phone?
4. Do you have an I-phone or an android phone?
5. Bring your cell phone manual to class.

I. Model script for Faduma's want ad

Hello, my name is Faduma. My business is called the Banadir Cafe. The cafe serves delicious Somalian Food made with halal ingredients. I need a *waitress to work part-time, Monday through Friday, from 11am to 2pm. The starting pay is $7.00 an hour plus tips. If you are interested in the position, you can contact me at 612-377-3188.

(*Waitress is a radical idea that made my female students laugh, because most of the cafes in Somalia are for men only - and all the waiters are male! They were very excited to think that here in Minnesota, women could both own and work in their own cafe) 

I. Pre-write

Find a partner. Read Faduma's ad together. Then answer the following questions:

1. What is the name of the owner?
2. What is the name of the business?
3. What does the business do?
4. What position is available?
5. Is the job PT or FT?
6. What are the work days and hours?
7. How much does it pay?
8. How can you contact the owner?

Ask the teacher, if you have questions that you or your partner can't answer.


II. Learning Strategy Discussion (whole class)


How can you prepare yourself before you make your your want ad video?
(elicit: write it down, practice, know the vocabulary, etc.)
How can you use this strategy in your job search? When?

III. Writing a want ad for your open position


Use the questions above to create your own ad. 
Check your ad with a neighbor. Did you use am and pm? Did you write full sentences?
When you have finished, show your ad to the teacher.


IV. Role-play of want ad


Practice your ad with a partner, then practice theirs.
If you forget something, have your partner ask you a question from the list to help you.
Change partners and practice again.
(Teacher circulates and coaches students as needed.)

Extension/Next lessons: Making a video of your ad with Youtube


Using cell phones or a digital camera, we will film the ads and upload them to Youtube. 
The teacher will post them on the class wiki.


This will probably take 2 days to film everyone's ad. While one student is making their video, the other students can be writing their interview questions in small groups.


REVIEW/ANALYSIS


1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?


Instead of posting the written want ads around the room as I have done in the past, we will upload the video want ads to Youtube and post them on the class wiki. Students will be able to view and review the video clips and choose 2 positions to interview for.

Some of the students have an android or I-phone, since this is cheaper than having a phone and Internet access. This lesson series will make use of their phones for learning English. In addition to the phones, I have access to a digital camera with video capability. Students, who do not currently know how, will learn how to make a video with a cell phone and/or camera. Some students may already have made videos and uploaded them to Youtube, but for those who want to learn, this lesson series will show them how to use Youtube.


2. Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you plan to create?


 These lessons put a different spin on interviewing. The activity lets the students be the employers, who are doing the hiring, as well as the applicants. Students learn about the hiring process and about how employers think. This lesson will also motivate learners to think about starting a real business of their own in the future. Students will compare the positions available at the different businesses and think about which ones they like and why.


This is a good opportunity for students to film themselves and self-assess their speaking abilities. By making a video of a help wanted ad, students get a chance to practice speaking for several minutes. The learning strategy of preparing what to say, either mentally rehearsed or a script, will be important when making phone calls or going in person to businesses, job fairs, and interviews.


4. Are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource appropriate for your instructional goals?


Youtube is very user friendly. Anyone with a gmail account can click on Youtube and bypass the sign-in process, going directly to video upload. For educational purposes, I clicked on "private" limiting the viewers to the class members. The upload is very quick. Youtube also converts the original filming device format automatically to its standard format. Editing is available. It is important that we choose a good keyword and description (tag), in order to quickly find the videos on Youtube for upload to the computer There are only about 5 steps to the instructions. So, for the students, I think it will be a success. I have structured the lesson so that I can work with them 1 on 1 for both filming the ad and teaching them to use Youtube.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical, that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?


There are many potential technical difficulties. The survey will provide information about which students have phones capable of making videos. It will be important to buy or borrow a USB cable to upload the video from the android phones to the computer. By using the cable, we will bypass the phone fees for downloading from the phone. 


If there aren't any students with video capable phones, we will use the camera. The difference in using a digital camera with video capability is that if the filming stops and starts,  the camera will convert it to separate files. So, I need to explain to the students, that even if they make mistakes, they need to keep going to the end.  Either way, the phone or camera lenses need to be cleaned with alcohol before making the videos - to get the best picture possible. 


Students will have a large cue poster held to the side of the camera in front of them, to help them remember the script. Students may get nervous in front of the camera and need to start over a number of times. Interruptions will be kept to a minimum, by filming in the resource center and having all the other students work in the classroom. Even so, this process may take longer than I think. Because this is my first experience with video want ads, my friend, Alexander, has volunteered to come for these lessons. A former Apple Store employee, he will help me troubleshoot and teach me more about the differences in individual phones.

LESSON 2: BLOGS, WIKIS, TWITTER

here

NETWORKING STRATEGY:

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWS

Lesson time: 1 hour

Listening, speaking, reading, writing

Level: mixed intermediate (low-high) ESL for work

Note: In the previous lesson students watched a video, What is an Informational Interview, and answered T/F questions about the video. Students interviewed each other about what jobs they wanted to learn more about and why. The teacher modeled writing a summary. Students wrote summaries of their partner’s information, made corrections and read them to the rest of the class.

 

I. Modeling the informational interview

Directions:      

                        1.  Listen to your teacher interview a store manager from Goodwill EasterSeals 

                             about a Retail Sales Clerk position.

2.      Use the worksheet below to write down the answers. You may ask to hear the conversation several times.

 

INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1.      What is your job title?

2.      How did you get started in this kind of work?

3.      What are your main responsibilities?

4.      What skills do you need for an entry-level position in (retail sales)__?

5.      Do you need experience for an entry-level position in ____________?

6.      What level of education or training do you need?

7.      What is the starting pay for this job?

8.      What are the most difficult parts of your job?

9.      What do you like the most about your job?

10.   What is the best way for me to find out about available positions?

II. Practice writing a summary

Directions:

1. Write at least 4 sentences to summarize what you learned about being a Sales Clerk.

2. Read your summary to a partner, then listen to your partner’s summary.

3. Give respectful feedback and make changes.

III. Attach and email your interview summary 

 

Directions:       1. Open a new Word document.

                       

2. Type up your summary of the Retail Sales position.

3.  Save the document with the name: your name_retail sales

                        (For example: Kate_retail sales)

4.      Click here to open a new message

5.      Attach your word document to the email and send.

6.      Kate will post your summaries to the class wiki at esl career connections

III. Extension Activities/Next Lesson

1.      Opening and reading the home page on the class wiki (with more on it than is there now!).

2.    Learning how to use the assignment page on the wiki.

3.    Reading the class retail sales summaries. Writing about the retail sales job. Do you think you would like this job? Why? Or why not? Give reasons: I like this job because…

4.  Students will choose a person on their Personal Network worksheet and set up an

informational interview to learn more about that person’s job. Students will use the questions above and write additional questions of their own if they prefer. Students will type up and email their summaries to the teacher to be posted on the wiki. Students will hand in their interview sheets.

 

REVIEW

How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

I will use the wiki as a template website, which will allow me to create and edit a class website without having html or website programming skills (from lesson 2 overview). This will also help me to make student time in the learning center more social and group-oriented. The CD applications we have (Rosetta Stone, GED, Typing Tutor) are all individual activities (except when students work together on workbook exercises). I have wanted a way to create a job board, where students can post jobs they found for other students. I will start by having students email me information about different careers (informational interview summaries) and job postings they have found. Then, I will introduce how to use an assignment page for actually doing assignments on the wiki. Next I will create a job posting area where students can enter information themselves and teach them how to use that. I think student use needs to increase very gradually and be limited to certain areas of the wiki. Most of my students don’t know how to send an attachment by email and many don’t know anything about email until they come to our class. So, using email as a way to send me their work to be posted on the class wiki  will be a skill upgrade for them already!

The students enjoy using the computer and are learning to integrate keyboarding skills, spelling, and complete sentence formulation into their writing. However, using all of these skills at the same time is sometimes too hard. For this reason, I’m having them write their summaries and then type them into a word document. In this way, they can focus on different skills at different times.

What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional resources?

Each time the class uses the wiki, the first activity will be to review wiki use. I will create written instructions for using the assignment page and the job-posting page, as mentioned above. These will be lessons in their own right. I plan to place instructions for different wiki tasks in plasticized covers and have many sets available for use during class. Above all, I will be careful to teach how to use the wiki separately from how to perform employment-related tasks. Students will take time to integrate these skills and gain confidence in being able to use them.

Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?

A big part of job search is learning different ways to look for a job. Networking is a strategy that is increasingly important, as more and more of the application and interview process are done on-line or by telephone. Networking is an authentic and necessary skill in the US. Sometimes it is the only person-to-person contact that applicants will have until they go to an interview.

The interview between the teacher and Goodwill store manager takes place in person (could be tape-recorded as a back-up). Because many students are interested in retail positions, I thought this would be a good first interview. I’m very tired of finding ELL job descriptions for dishwasher and janitor. Although many students do work in these positions, I want to educate them about a variety of employment opportunities and encourage them to continue to improve their English language skills, so they can move into more enjoyable and less grueling work.

The students will conduct their own informational interviews as homework, before the next lesson. I will try to get each student to interview a person in a different profession (if possible). So, this could be a project similar to Coast to Coast. Students could write about many different professions and then read what other students found out as well. The main difference being that I would post their work on the project page.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

Some of the students are self-conscious about the low-level of their reading and writing skills vs. their aural skills, which are often 2 levels higher. In the beginning, I want to give them the privacy to practice these skills. So sharing or having other students give feedback would be voluntary in the beginning, until they got used to it.

In the first few lessons, it may be beneficial to pair students weak-strong: a better computer user with a less able, newer user.

There are many potential problems for me as a first-time teacher using a wiki. I won’t always be ahead of the students 100%. In planning lessons that incorporate the wiki, I will need to have alternate activities ready, in case the site is down or there are problems with our computer network.

I do think the possibilities outweigh the potential problems. I started out to write a lesson using a blog. But in the process, wikis demonstrated that they were more flexible and capable of storing a greater variety of information. Ultimately, the wiki served my purpose better. Wikis won me over!

 

 

 

click on ASSIGNMENT 1 to post a comment

Kate Sweetser 

INTERVIEW QUESTION:

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF

   

Lesson time: 1 hour

Listening, reading, writing

Level: mixed intermediate (low-high) ESL for work

 

I. LISTENING ACTIVITY

 

DIRECTIONS

Click on the link http://www.ricdwyer.com/ABE/PQ01.html to watch a video.

Read the written directions on the right side of the page.

If you need more help: Below the screen, click on the left arrow to start the video.

II. CHECKING LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Answer the questions at the end of the video. Circle your answers on the worksheet.

Compare your answers with a neighbor. Did you circle the same words?

III. WRITE YOUR OWN ANSWER

Write 3 answers to tell me about yourself, using some of your flashcard adjectives (reverse side of handout).

1. What kind of worker are you? 

2. What are you good at?

3. What other adjectives describe you and why?

Exchange answers with your neighbor.  Are your sentences complete?

Hand in your paper.

REVIEW

1.  How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

2.  Why is this topic, information or content appropriate for the lesson you plan to create (e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy, interest level, and motivation)?

I will use this resource to meet several instructional purposes. First, to provide real examples of other job seekers, answering the interview question “Tell me about yourself”.  I like the fact that the video content shows both native English and ESL speakers. This video is very relevant to my students esl level and experience.  The short answers correspond to the level of oral language my students can produce in their own interview practice. The positive examples should encourage my students that they can do it, too!

In the previous lesson, I will already have introduced the adjectives used in the video. In class, the students usually make their own vocabulary flashcards for self-descriptive adjectives. I try not to introduce more than 20 words total (an even number is good for pairs games or concentration) and to have matching synonyms (punctual/on time, dependable/reliable).

The video will serve as a pre-writing activity to activate student schema and review descriptive vocabulary.  Students will hear the adjectives modeled in sentences. The questions after the video will check student listening comprehension and allow student to see the adjectives in written form.

3.  What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional resources?

5.  What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

From reviewing the video and following questions, I can see that some students may have difficulty remembering what each job seeker said. It is possible to go back to a particular video segment and remain on the question related to that speaker, but not every student may be able to navigate that. Another issue in answering the follow-up questions is that the correct answer is given after only two attempts to answer the question. Consequently, I will take the questions following the video and put them on a worksheet that students can circle their answers on. I will use the reverse side for the 3 prompts to help the students write their own answer. If students need a word bank, they can refer to their adjective flashcards.

I don’t think the instructions for starting the video are especially clear, which is why I added the “if you need more help”. 

This website is uneven in quality and language level. It has some very good language samples - such as the one above. However, it would benefit from additional reworking by both ESL and vocational professionals. I am aware that the interview question “tell me about yourself” is most often defined as a short précis of skills and experience relevant to the job for which you are applying. The answers given are not the best examples, but can be further explained and expanded on in later lessons with specific job goals.