Level 0: Setting and Proposal
Since 2008, one of the most
heard words in newspapers, on TV or even in our daily conversation is that of “CRISIS”. Here, we are not going to analyse its causes, but to focus on one of its most serious consequences, the
difficulties for young people to get a job, and mostly, on how we can improve
our chances to be happily employed.
Is it possible to get our dreamed job
nowadays? And if it is so, what do we need to get it? We will answer to these
and other questions as you create a “Guide for the Perfect Young
Job Applicant”
and your own personal
applications.
Objectives
-You will think about your academic and professional future, looking for motivation and optimism agains the current situation of economic crisis.
-You will be able to use contents in a significant way, by means of cooperative work.
-You will be able to give possible and positive solutions to real problems, such as the acquisition of job experience or the reasons to choose a profession.
-You will be able to value the importance of the acquisition and the use of a Foreign Language in your future search for a job.
Contents
- Concepts
- Grammar: Present and Past Tenses Review
- Vocabulary: Jobs and Personality Adjectives
- Procedures
- Reading: A personality Test
- Listening: A job interview
- Writing; A Curriculum Vitae, a Decalogue
- Speaking; Oral Presentation
- Attitudes
- Interest on communicating in English inside the classroom
- Cooperative Work with team mates.
Resources:
- A classroom desktop + projector
- Wifi
- A tablet / laptop in each group. Mobile phones can also be used to search information.
- A copy of the Team Journal for each group.
- Dictionary (online also possible)
Part I: There's a place for everyone
Day 1
Level 1: Searching for information 1
- Team and Individual work: Visit this post at the Spanish blog El Mercado de la Incertidumbre. Study the infography and:
- Translate the list of jobs into English. Copy both the English and the Spanish Words on your Spelling Bees Competition Section in your notebook.
- Find the top ten jobs with the lowest rate of unemployment (i.e. there are less unemployed people for each job offer) and write them down on your Team Journal. Remember... use the English words!
Days 2 & 3
Level 1: Searching for information 2
- Team work: Visit this article at the BBC web. Click on the professions in the interactive guide and find the three most demanded jobs in four/five european countries (depending on the members of your group) where you can work if you speak English, German or French. Write them down on your Team Journal.
Level 2: Organising information
- Team work: With all the written information you have:
- Create a presentation in Drive. Title it “Guide for the Perfect Young Job Applicant” and share it with your teacher and all the members of your group.
- Create a table, a diagram or a conceptual map in which you compare the demand of jobs in Spain with that of other European countries. It is very important that you show which jobs are demanded both in Spain and the rest of Europe, and which are different. Use colours, different types and sizes of letters, images, arrows... Feel free!
Day 4
Level 3: Analysing information
- Team work: Taking into account your results, and using the Think, Pair, Share Cooperative Technique (1,2,4), discuss and write down on your Team Journal all your ideas about:
- Advantages and disadvantages of working abroad.
- What is more important: preparing yourself to work on what you like or on what is most demanded?
Level 4: Making conclusions
- Team work: Make an agreement as a group about the two questions above. Add two slides to your presentation (one for each of the questions) including your group answer and justifying your decision.
Part II: The Perfect Young Job Applicant
Day 5
Level 1: Searching for information 1
- Individual work: Your personality is quite important when choosing a job. In this exercise you will find a list of 20 opposite adjectives to describe personality (10 positive and 10 negative). You have to:
- Read the complete exercise.
- Look for the words you don't know in a dictionary.
- Do the exercise online.
- Copy the words on you Spelling Bees Competition List.
- Individual work: Visit this site and:
- Read the questions of the personality test and check the meaning of the vocabulary you don't know.
- Do the personality test. Check the meaning of the questions or the test won't be correct.
- When you finish, click on the “Get Personality Profile” button, and have a look at the Suitable Jobs box. Can you find your ideal job there? Write YES or NO next to your name on the Team Journal Personality Test Result Chart.
- Do you like any other of the proposed suitable jobs? Write it down on the Team Journal Personality Test Result Chart.
- Individual work: decide which three top qualities your ideal jobs need, and write them down on your Team Journal Personality Test Result.
Day 6
Level 1: Searching for information 2
- Individual work: Now that you have decided your criteria to choose a profession, it is also time to prepare yourselves to get it. Go to educaweb.com and look for the steps you will have to take to obtain the qualifications needed in your desired jobs (College / University). Write them down on your Team Journal.
- Team work: In order to get a job, you will also need a Curriculum Vitae (CV or resumè in US).
- Do you know what it is? If not, google it and have a look. Write a definition using your own words on your Team Journal.
- Visit cvspecial.com and find out which of the three types of CV’s is better for you (you are looking for your first job!), look at the example provided and identify its different parts.
- Write a scheme of the parts a CV must include on your Team Journal.
Day 7
Level 1: Searching for information 3
- Class, Team and Individual work: When your CV is accepted by an employer, you will have to take a job interview. This is a very important part of getting a job, because you will give a lot of information about yourself, not just with your words, but with your body language and your behaviour. So it is really important to make a good impression. Let's find out the best way of taking a job interview:
- Watch this video carefully (until 1.25). Don't write anything.
- Watch it again, and write down on your notebook all the mistakes that the interviewed girl makes.
- Let's repeat it, in case you forgot something. Now share the information with your group and write down your conclusion on your Team Journal.
- Now watch this video. Pay attention to both what is said and the interviewed girl's behaviour.
- Watch it again, and write down on your notebook all the good practises you can see.
- Let's repeat it, in case you forgot something. Now share the information with your group and write down your conclusion on your Team Journal.
- Read the questions about this interview on the screen.
- Now you will listen to the video again. Answer the questions on your notebook.
- Check your answers with your group.
Level 2: Organising information
- Team work: Now add a slide to your Drive presentation, including a Personal Information table with the following information for each of your group members:
- Name
- Desired Job
- Qualifications (what each of you have to study to get your desired job)
- Qualities (positive values that each of you possess and are useful for your desired job).
- Team work: Add another slide including a table with good and bad practises in an interview.
Day 8
Level 3: Analysing information
- Team work: One of the most difficult sections of a CV is that of Previous Experience. Employers usually discard people who do not have any practical experience. If it is so diffciult to get a job, and taking into account the information you have until now, how would you get that needed experience? Use the Roundtable Technique (Folio Giratorio) and write your conclusions on your Team Journal.
Level 4: Making conclusions 1
- Team work: With all the information you have until now, think about the good and bad practises when looking for a job. Create a slide with a decalogue of the Perfect Young Job Applicant. Use the best ten pieces of advice, according to your group.
Day 9
Level 4: Making conclusions 2
- Personal work: Create your own CV following the scheme you have on your Team Journal and add it to the presentation.
- Team work: Now is the time to check that all your work is done. Verify:
- You have completed all the sections on your Team Journal (except for the Assessment Section).
- You have all the slides on your presentation:
- Europe vs Spain's Job Demand
- Working abroad
- Desired Job Vs Demanded Job
- Personal Information Table
- Interview Good and Bad Practises
- Decalogue of the Perfect Young Job Applicant
- Each of the group member's CV
- Team work: Decide how you are going to organize the presentation, taking into account that every member of the group must do him/her part.
Day 10, 11 & 12
Level 5: Presentation
- Team work: You will have to share your conclusions (using the presentation you have created throughout this task) with the rest of your class.
- Team work: You will have to assess your classmates' work using the template on your Team Journal.
Day 13
Level 6: Assessment
- Team work: Complete the Group Assessment Chart.
- Team work: Complete the Task Assessment Chart.
