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Tag Archives: Task-based language learning


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What is the impact of English on your town or city?

ESL EFL English in your town or cityNina Leeke, co-author of International Express, provides ideas for a lively lesson or homework activity around this topic. It’s also the subject of the International Express Digital Poster Competition, which challenges adult students to produce a digital poster around this theme.

Like the majority of teachers, I like to personalise lessons and make them as relevant to my students as possible. Students usually find it easier to talk about things within their own experience and are more motivated to do so, and the language learnt as a consequence is likely to be more useful for them.  As I generally teach in-company classes, we spend a lot of time talking about the students’ jobs and everyday work. But it’s also interesting to broaden the scope and look beyond the workplace.  The local town or city is a topic which everyone has an opinion on, as we experience our environment day by day. The International Express Digital Poster Competition neatly brings these subjects together.  It challenges adult learners to produce a digital poster illustrating the impact of English on their local town or city, and they must include something about the local work environment and social life.  The topic provides plenty of engaging content for a lesson or two! Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Take in some prompts to initiate the discussion. For example, you could choose English-language tourist leaflets, menus, photos of billboards or signs, workplace material such as company documents, newsletters, and emails, videos or recordings of spoken English such as public transport announcements, workplace conversations, or conversations with tourists.
  • Alternatively, you could set the question as a homework assignment. Ask learners to keep their eyes and ears open for evidence of the impact of English on their locale and report back in an upcoming lesson.
  • If English is a strong workplace requirement where you are, you could start by asking learners about changes in the job market and workplace over the years. What skills are necessary for their jobs? How is English used in their workplace? A good starting point is to take in local job adverts or have learners research job ads online.
  • Interviews and surveys always provide a lot of language practice – especially those question forms which students so often struggle with. Learners can create surveys or interview questions on the topic and then interview each other, their colleagues, or people on the street. Your students could then present their findings in graph form – which would provide content for the digital poster if you decide to produce one.
  • Have a debate! Start by brainstorming the pros and cons of the local impact of English. Then divide the group into two teams, for and against the motion English has had a positive impact on … (name of your town/city). This fun activity should facilitate useful language practice of agreeing, disagreeing and the language of cause and effect.

Once your students have come up with enough ideas on this theme, it’s time to get them started on producing their digital poster.  For many learners, this activity will represent a break from the usual routine, which is usually motivating in itself.  The learners I tried it out with – one of my in-company classes – were excited by the change! Plus participants can enjoy the visual appeal and the hands-on nature of the task. Digital posters also represent a good opportunity for task-based learning and collaboration. The results can be displayed either online or physically, and learners can present their poster to their peers.

If you and your students are new to the medium, the following tips may be useful:

  1. Provide your class with some examples first, either by finding them online or creating something yourself. Alternatively, you can have learners look for digital posters for homework and share their favourites in the next class. To avoid too wide a search, you can specify a site for learners to look at.  For example, choose a topic on the glogster education samples page.  Much of the material on this site has been produced by school-age students, but you will find content relevant to adults too.
  2. The examples should give learners ideas on the possibilities for content, for example, photos, text, and illustrations. If they haven’t come up already, you may also like to suggest the use of word clouds, mind maps and infographics. Free resources to try include wordle.net, www.mindmaple.com and www.easel.ly.
  3. Ask learners to select which posters they like best and why. Analyse the elements of a good digital poster, for example, interesting content and simple rules for presentation (such as not too much clutter, and text that is easy to read with appropriate fonts and colours).
  4. Simple software to use includes PowerPoint, Word, Photoshop and Google Drive (go to create/drawing). Glogster has more opportunities for multimedia content and is designed for educational use. There is a limited free version (which includes advertising) as well as various subscription options.
  5. You may wish to create some content guidelines or a template in order to focus the learners and prevent them from feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities.  If you use Glogster, there are various templates to choose from. If you are using other software, you could impose boundaries by specifying the number of different items on the page, or the mix of text/pictures/graphics. Conversely, you may well wish to give your learners the freedom to do whatever they like, if they are not the kind to be spoilt by choice!
  6. Allow enough time for learners to ‘play’ with the technology! If you are like me, they will be more adept at using it than you are! However, they will still need time to experiment.
  7. Having said the above, ensure that learners get their content ideas down on paper first! Otherwise they may spend most of their time trying out presentation options rather than thinking about their message and content.

So, if you are looking for ways to link your classroom to the wider world, the International Express Digital Poster Competition provides the perfect opportunity.  Digital posters present a good opportunity for task-based learning and collaboration – and they are fun to produce!  I hope some of these ideas inspire you, and good luck with your competition entries!

We’re awarding an iPad and an OUP business writing folder to the winning teacher.  Each member of the winning class (up to twenty five students) will receive an OUP laptop sleeve and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Ninth Edition.  Visit the competition website to find out how to enter.


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Writing their way to the top: Process strategies for English language learners

Teacher writing on whiteboardWhat are some strategies for helping students with academic writing? Alice Savage, Effective Academic Writing co-author, will look at this topic in her upcoming webinar on December 10th. In this article, she presents a task to help build students’ confidence in their writing.

When hikers plan an adventure, they agree to take on a challenge. They understand that it might be hard sometimes, but they also know that if they stick together and have faith in the process, they will make it to their destination. The same is true for writers, particularly writers learning to operate in an academic English context. In my webinar, we will examine the writing process and look at specific strategies and activities that can support English learners along the way.

The following group task is one of several strategies in the webinar. Its aims of community-building and orienting students to process writing techniques can ensure that a class gets started on the right foot.

Objective: To help students build community, confidence and an understanding of the writing process.

Start by putting the students in groups of four and creating roles such as manager, note-taker, writer, dictionary-person, or editor. Tell them that they are going to do a writing task together that shows their combined experience and talent. Then set the following questions:

  • How many languages does your group speak in total?
  • How many years has your group been studying English in total?
  • How many countries has your group traveled to in total?
  • What kinds of writing has your group done in the past?
  • What is a name that fits your group?

Once they have shared information, instruct the writer to turn the answers and notes into a paragraph. Have them start by introducing their group’s name in a topic sentence. Then have them explain why they chose it. They can include answers to the questions or other ideas that come up while they were talking. The teacher can circulate and provide assistance as needed.

When the writing section of the task is finished, the group can work together to edit. The editor, with help from peers, can check for complete sentences, grammar and spelling. As they work, they have an opportunity to see how their knowledge and skills fit with their classmates and to see how they can benefit from or help others later.

To mirror the stages of writing, the task ends with publishing. The groups can post or circulate their finished texts and compare results. The class can identify which group speaks the most languages, has studied English the longest, or seen the most countries. This final stage, in addition to serving as an icebreaker, allows the class to experience one another’s writing as readers. This publishing stage can instill a habit of responding to content that will pay off later during peer feedback throughout the term.

Finally, the teacher can build confidence in the process by leading a reflection on the stages that the groups went through. They can look at generating ideas and developing content, planning, revising, editing, and publishing.

The teacher might then use the opportunity to highlight the activities and aims of each stage. For example, many teachers do not address grammar errors in the early revision stages because students are still shaping content and often cutting or changing sentences. Many students do not automatically anticipate these major revision tasks, so working through revision techniques in an explicit way in a practice activity can foster trust in the process.

The discussion can end with the question, “What do you know now that you didn’t know when you started this assignment?” as a way to finish with a focus on writing as knowledge making. If all goes well, students see the advantages of the writing process and its ability to provide a sequence that allows them to focus at distinct stages. They know their classmates and the writing process better, and perhaps they feel better equipped for the adventure of a new task.

To find out more about improving students’ writing skills, register for the webinar at either 12:00 or 15:00 GMT on December 10th.