What the lesson is about
Three-quarters of companies are keen to recruit employees with language skills, according to a 2008 survey by employers’ organisation the CBI and Edexcel. This lesson develops pupils’ awareness of the value of language skills, and the grammar and structures they might use in a business environment. It works best if you have access to an ICT suite.
Aims
- Develop pupils’ awareness of jobs that require language skills.
- Practise grammar and sentence structures used in business.
Getting started
Explain that 75 per cent of companies are interested in acquiring recruits with language skills: many companies in the UK have customers or business partners abroad who may prefer to communicate in their own language.
Visit a recruitment site such as www.toplanguagejobs.co.uk - if you can’t access the ICT suite, print off a selection of job advertisements from the site.
In English, look at the key skills required, location, salary and the like. For example, an accounts assistant in a global company who is fluent in French and English.
Ask pupils, in French (or any other appropriate language), to summarise the requirements of the post. For example:
- Le poste vacante, il est? Aide-Comptable
- La compagnie se situe a ...
- La personne doit parler francais courament
Once you have the details, discuss the grammar and structures and ensure pupils are familiar with the meanings.
For the main activity, ask pupils to access the recruitment site, find a job that interests them, and summarise key details and requirements in French, using the previous template.
Pupils then use that for their presentation. Taking it further
Stage a mock interview - or ask pupils to role-play one with each other - to see whether they meet the requirements.
What to watch out for
This lesson is more interactive when you have access to an ICT suite as pupils can browse recruitment sites together. Limit the number of sites so there is time for them to prepare a presentation.
Where to find it
For a PowerPoint presentation, lesson outline and recruitment site link: www.tes. co.ukjobs-requiring-languages
Further reading
The National Centre for Languages has many resources for secondary languages teachers: www.cilt.org.uksecondary.aspx. Its careers website, www.languageswork. org.uk offers case studies and careers advice for pupils considering a languages career.