Using the phone in English: building our course document



As we start our new topic of "Company Communication: Using the Phone in English," you the students are going to take charge of your own learning.

Is all of this because I didn't prepare my class? NO!

In fact, I have a document on "Phoning in English" all ready to photocopy, and using it would be the easiest thing in the world.

But wouldn't it be more interesting and relevant to produce a document based at least partly on materials found or created by the class? Of course, I can always add a few elements myself if I feel you're missing something crucial.

So today, you're going to work in pairs on Internet in the lab and your task will be to find materials to help create our unit on "Using the Phone in English."

Here are some guidelines to help you work better:

1. Each pair is NOT responsible for finding ALL the materials that the class will use. Focus on one element: vocabulary, expressions, a text, a video, a listening extract, images...and try to do your best to find useful and interesting material.

2. In your research, try to address the question "What do we need to learn about using the phone in English?"

3. When using Google for research, you will of course find more material if you do your research in English, although a search in French could uncover something useful. Add +ESL or +EFL or +"business English" to help you find materials adapted to learners of English.

4. You need to leave a trace of your discoveries for me, and we aren't going to print everything out. Either leave a link/links in the blog comments area, or, if you prefer, send me a link/links or a document by email.

5. If you find your material quicker than the other groups, you can already start working on it and learning from it, or even create an activity that could go with it.

6. When you return to class today, you will give a short presentation of how you worked, what you found, and what you have already learned along the way.