cambridge business english - four skills needs analysis
DESCRIPTION
Lesson plan and materials for the first lesson of a new course to help design the training.TRANSCRIPT
1.1 Four skills needs analysisTeaching notes
Finding out about your students 9
To practise Asking questions, discussing Englishlanguage needs and presenting information.
Level Lower-intermediate and above.
Class size Ideally four students or multiples offour. If you have one extra student, s/he shouldpair up with another student and share aquestion card. With two or three extra students,they can double up their cards.
Pre-experience learners This is an activity aimed atthose students who already have some businessexperience and wish to use their English at work.
However, you could redesign the cards usingmore general categories for pre-experiencelearners.
One-to-one Not ideal, but teacher and studentcan analyze the student’s marks, using them as abasis for discussing the student’s needs andpossibly also for devising a course syllabus.
Timing 30–40 minutes.
You will need One copy of each of the Worksheets(p10–11), cut into four, per group of four students.A flipchart is an advantage for stage four.
Procedure
Follow up
answers with any students who are waiting tointerview an occupied student.
3 When everyone has been interviewed, ask studentsto add up the horizontal total for each item on theirworksheet and write it in the ‘Total’ column. Theyshould then highlight the items with the highestscores. One representative for each group shouldthen collate this information. While students aredoing this, put the four skills as headings on aflipchart, if possible, or if not, on the board.
4 Starting with one skill, e.g. reading, ask eachgroup representative in turn to report on thethings their group needs to be able to domost. Where an item is repeated, add a tickor star to it. Then go through the other skillsin the same way.
5 The teacher or a confident volunteer thenpresents the collated class material.
Note down the information from this class andproduce a poster with a heading such as ‘Our classpriorities’ for the wall, or make a handout.
Periodically, check whether the list is still relevantto your students and revise it as appropriate.
You can use this activity early on in a course towork out a course syllabus which matches, asfar as possible, your students’ needs.
1 Explain to students that they are going to dosome research to find out what they need todo most in English. Put students into groupsof four, or as close as possible to this. Tell themthat each of them will research one of themain study skills. Hand out a different sectionof the Worksheet to each member of eachgroup and ask students first to complete thecolumn headed ‘Me’ for themselves. Ifnecessary, you could demonstrate this usingone student’s answers.
2 Next, students interview colleagues in theirgroup about their needs and fill in theremaining columns. Encourage pairs to workat a similar pace where possible. Discuss
10 1.1 Four skills needs analysis
How important is it for you to be able to read these things in English? Mark each one from 1 (notimportant/never do it) to 5 (very important/I really need to be able to do this) in the ‘Me’ column.Then ask the other students in your group and put their marks in the other columns.
PHOTOCOPIABLE Cambridge Business English Activities © Cambridge University Press 2000
A Reading
Me Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Total
Business letters
Reports and memos
Faxes
Newspapers and magazines
Specialist journals
Marketing and publicity material
Books connected with your work
Reference material (e.g. trade directories)
Other?
How important is it for you to be able to listen to and understand these things in English? Mark eachone from 1 (not important/never do it) to 5 (very important/I really need to be able to do this) in the‘Me’ column. Then ask the other students in your group and put their marks in the other columns.
B Listening
Me Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Total
Presentations
People speaking on the phone
People speaking at meetings
Lectures
Social talk
TV programmes and videos
Radio
Recorded material, e.g. answerphone, voice mail
Other?
1.1 Four skills needs analysis 11
Cambridge Business English Activities © Cambridge University Press 2000 PHOTOCOPIABLE
How important is it for you to be able to write these things in English? Mark each one from 1(unimportant/I never do it) to 5 (very important/I really need to be able to do this) in the ‘Me’column. Then ask the other students in your group and put their marks in the other columns.
C Writing
Me Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Total
Business letters
Faxes
Short messages, notes and memos
Articles
Reports
Notes for presentations
Formal speeches
Other?
How important is it for you to be able to do these things in English? Mark each one from 1 (notimportant/I never do it) to 5 (very important/I really need to be able to do this) in the ‘Me’ column.Then interview the other students in your group and fill in their answers in the other columns.
D Speaking
Me Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Total
Speak on the phone
Speak face to face in business meetings
Speak face to face in social situations
Negotiate
Give a presentation
Give a formal speech
Give a lecture
Sell or promote a product or service
Discuss statistics
Show visitors around
Other?