Projects, tasks and case studies

Bridges to Business

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

• 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?

Lead in

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

Starting a project

•Invent a company•Choose a job•Design a business card•Introduce yourself

Developing the project

•Review what’s been done•Build up a more detailed company profile•Exchange information

Developing your project

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

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

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

Business tasks

•Brainstorming•Planning•Explaining•Presenting

Student roles: Team A

Student roles: Team B

Business tasks

•Analysis data•Presentation•Feedback

Student roles: Teams A - C

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

Introducing case studies

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)

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

Type of Type of casecase

Skills practiceSkills practice StrengthsStrengths WeaknessesWeaknesses

Dilemma and Dilemma and DecisionDecision

Brainstorming, Brainstorming, discussiondiscussion

Authenticity, Authenticity, interestinterest

Input-heavy, open-Input-heavy, open-ended, ended, unstructuredunstructured

Multiple choiceMultiple choice DiscussionDiscussion Structured, Structured, controllablecontrollable

Less scope for Less scope for involvementinvolvement

SimulationSimulation Meeting / NegotiationMeeting / Negotiation involvement, involvement, realismrealism

Potential lack of Potential lack of conflict of interestconflict of interest

Problem-Problem-solvingsolving

DiscussionDiscussion Clear Clear success/failure success/failure outcomeoutcome

Logic more Logic more important than important than language?language?

Role-playRole-play Meeting / NegotiationMeeting / Negotiation Conflict of interest Conflict of interest built inbuilt in

Less realistic than Less realistic than simulationsimulation

Creative BriefCreative Brief Brainstorming, Brainstorming, discussion, discussion, PresentationPresentation

Room for creativity Room for creativity and competitionand competition

Timing & Timing & outcomes outcomes unpredictableunpredictable

In-trayIn-tray Prioritizing, problem-Prioritizing, problem-solvingsolving

Structured, Structured, controllablecontrollable

Less scope for Less scope for involvementinvolvement

MazeMaze DiscussionDiscussion StagingStaging Less scope for Less scope for creativity, creativity, “cheating”“cheating”

ManagemeManagement Gament Game

Meeting / NegotiationMeeting / Negotiation InvolvementInvolvement Complex set-upComplex set-up

Example case study – Gap Years

The benefits of case studies

• Bridge gap between classroom and Bridge gap between classroom and real worldreal world

• Real-world issues foster authentic Real-world issues foster authentic communicationcommunication

• Develop communication skillsDevelop communication skills• Familiar tool for business peopleFamiliar tool for business people• Learner-centred = meaningful, Learner-centred = meaningful,

motivating, memorablemotivating, memorable• Fun!Fun!

Let’s do a case study

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

References:

www.businessenglishonline.net

An A – Z of ELT Scot ThornburyProject Work: Step-by-Step (out of print)