When I was an ESOL lecturer at City of Glasgow College, I delivered a lot of employability-themed and workplace English lessons. My learners were mostly from refugee backgrounds, wishing to get back into their profession or upskill to reap the economic benefits.
In my previous post, I reflected on Why You Should Teach Workplace English. In this post, I’ll give some of my top tips on "how."
Seek local (or online) partnerships
Students want to learn workplace English in order to enhance their career opportunities. To do this, connecting them with people who can offer further support is extremely helpful. Local and online partners could provide services such as:
- inspiring workshops and webinars
- mentoring
- job application advice
- work placements
- volunteering
- workplace visits and site tours
Share inspiring stories
Finding work in a language you are developing can be a challenge. Students can often get disheartened. To boost their confidence and motivation levels, share stories of people who have been in similar situations.
You can find these stories in newspapers, magazines, or blog posts. Alternatively, search through the content library at Ellii for a real-life reading, like this one on how Jack Ma became China’s wealthiest person after creating Ali Baba or how Milton Hershey opened a world-famous chocolate factory or how Hedy Lamarr went from acting to paving the way for Wi-Fi technology.
Personally, I find the most motivating stories for learners come from their own peers. Have them share their own success stories in class or invite previous students back to class to share theirs.
Bring in realia
When I was teaching ESOL for Social Care, learners had A LOT of technical vocabulary to learn. One of the most fun and realistic ways to get vocabulary to stick was by bringing in realia.
Luckily for me, my parents hadn’t retired at the time, so they brought me lots of cool stuff to use in class: colostomy bags, syringes, bandages, and bedpans. Students had a great time discussing these items as well as labeling them and doing role-plays with them!
Of course, it may not be practical or possible to bring real equipment to class. It’s quite unlikely you’ll be able to bring a dentist’s LED light to class, for example! That’s when you can rely on Ellii’s vast Media Gallery, which now has almost 5,000 images and 150 workplace videos.
Check out Ellii's growing At Work & On the Job flashcard category.
Focus on the English
When teaching workplace English, remember that you are first and foremost teaching English. You are (probably) not a pharmacist, dentist, phlebotomist, custodian, emergency medical technician, or nursing assistant. It can be tricky to distance yourself from learning (or inadvertently teaching) the workplace topic. That’s for your students to learn. You can give them the communication skills to succeed.
To get around this, ask your learners frequently what they need and what interactions they have (or may have) had. You can also have them bring any tricky coursework to class to inform your lessons. Use these to put the vocabulary into practice using role-plays and real-life scenarios.
It can take a lot of time and preparation to create high-quality workplace English lessons. That’s why Ellii has done the hard work for you with its new Career-Specific Pathway courses. The teachers and writers at Ellii are not phlebotomists or pharmacists, either! However, they hired real-life consultants to help build these courses for your students' career exploration and to ensure the scenarios are realistic and relevant. You can teach these in class or set them as self-directed study.
Check them out here:
Career-Specific Pathway Courses
Not ready for full courses? Ellii also has exploratory Career Pathways lessons that can be ideal to find out what your students are interested in.
Exploratory Career Pathways Lessons
Related
For more on our Career-Specific Pathway courses, check out this blog post from Tara Benwell and watch for an upcoming webinar!
You may also like this post on Why You Should Teacher Workplace English.
Have you taught workplace English? What career-specific topics have you taught? What are your top tips? Do you have any employment success stories to share regarding your past ESOL students?
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