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

Nina 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.