TED videos for Business English, Part III (Motivation)

What gives you your buzz?  Your spark, your joie de vivre?

Why do we do the things we do?

Do you know?  Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I think I don't.   The other day I had a fascinating discussion with over 50 global students in the weekly live-chat session I host on MyEC.

Almost all of them started off by putting money on the top of the list of things that are highly motivational...

...yet the more we explored the phenomena, the more we thought through things like the fact that we all come together every week on a Thursday evening even though no one's paid to be there (them or me) and somehow that fact's part of the reason why no matter how busy I am, no matter what else is going on in my life, I turn up...

and we thought about

... things like how people do things for their friends and families unconditionally and how despite that, sometimes they then destroy their favorite people in the whole wide world...

how

some people study alone... yet some need a rod, a deadline to meet

And later on, I started thinking of how people write textbooks for really low advances and royalities...

some for the reverse

how people write blogs...   some start them and then some stop them,  some write for years

... and about how people cheerfully lose sleep and work their butts off for eduational start-ups with no guarantee of success, just the thrill of potentiality, of upsetting apple-carts... but how most would rather stay locked down within the walls of tradtional institutions...

It makes you think, doesn't it?

For many, it's responsibility that determines priority: their children need the clothes on their backs, food in their bellies and a sick parent needs  medicine.   Priorities differ.   For others, the iphone, ipad and flatscreen movie theatre have got to be paid for this month so the next new tech gadget that comes out to market can also get bought.  

For many, spending time with mates down the pub tops tweeting or working any day...   

For many, the opportunity to be the sage on the stage is a call way to loud to resist.   And as I mentioned on Harmer's blog, demotivation is an equally fascinating topic because they are, most surely, not always the flip of the same coin.

We're all such very different people, aren't we?  

Am willing to bet our/my list didn't even touch your own list, right?  As a person deeply fascinated by beingness and what drives us... I'll say this: anyone who thinks they know the one single motivational factor of any one other person is arrogantly deluding themselves.  

We are complex.

We do not know each other. 

We know each other so incredibly well.

I'll also, rather arrogantly, suggest that the why of the what we do cannot ever be set down in a pyramid nor carved into tomes for all eternity.  But we sure as heck can have some fun trying to get our fingers on that pulse.

So, anyway, anyhoo... along with Friday evening musings while I distract myself from the slides I need to write for next week's TESOL Spain... here's a list of my all-time favorite TED videos on motivation.   These can be used to spark off critical-thinking discussions with your adult and almost-adult students!   

You can use this short YouTube video with Victor Frankl as the intro / backup to a discussion you've been having with your learnes and  get students to individually choose which of the following TEDs they'd like to watch autonomously, reporting on their thoughts later...

TEDs...

Why we do what we do (21mins)
http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html

Tony Robbins makes it his business to know why we do the things we do. The pioneering life coach has spoken to millions of people through his best-selling books and three-day seminars and here discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone's actions.

The surprising science of motivation (19mins)
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.

The riddle of experience vs. memory (20 mins)
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory.html

Using examples from vacations to colonoscopies, Nobel laureate and founder of behavioral economics Daniel Kahneman reveals how our "experiencing selves" and our "remembering selves" perceive happiness differently. This new insight has profound implications for economics, public policy -- and our own self-awareness.

Our mistaken expectations
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_researches_happiness.html

Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong -- a premise he supports with intriguing research.  Here he presents data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. 

Why we love + cheat
http://www.ted.com/talks/helen_fisher_tells_us_why_we_love_cheat.html

Anthropologist Helen Fisher takes on a tricky topic -- love –- and explains its evolution, its biochemical foundations and its social importance. She closes with a warning about the potential disaster inherent in antidepressant abuse.

Life at 30,000 feet
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_branson_s_life_at_30_000_feet.html 

Richard Branson talks to TED's Chris Anderson about the ups and the downs of his career, from his multibillionaire success to his multiple near-death experiences -- and reveals some of his (very surprising) motivations.

 

Which was your favourite?

CHALLENGE

Write a lesson plan based on using one or all of these videos (or any other that refers to the subject of motivation) and post this up on your own website or blog.  Alternatively, upload the LP into a document sharing site (e.g scribd/ slideshare/ google docs)  and let us all know the URL in the comments below.

See also:
Part I: TED videos + decision-making 
Part II: TED videos + success/failure
Speaking activities for teaching English with TED + other important links
Best video websites for teaching adult Business English learners

Other videos discussing motivation:

• Nick Vujicic: Life without limits
  

TED videos for Business English, Part II (Success and Failure)

Often, whether we admit it or not, we measure a person by how successful they are...  but what exactly is success?

It's not how much money someone has, is it?

It's not whether or not they have a family  and friends... as good as all that may be, it's something else, it's something much more illusive.  How do we decide?  What leads us to  this sort of judgement... to saying "oh, don't bother with him, he's a loser" or "Wow, that woman is so amazing, gifted, she's really made it to the top of her profession."  Is it our  own culture that defines this or do these assumptions, opinions, ideas transfer globally?

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Anyway, here are my recommended TED videos for whenever the subjects of success and failure arise in your adult English classrooms.  I've also stuck up a SimplyConversations lesson on Achievements and Ambitions into Google Docs. which you can use as a  pre-task or follow-up activity.

A kinder, gentler philosophy of success
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html (17mins)

Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure -- and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work.

Measuring what makes life worthwhile
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/chip_conley_measuring_what_makes_life_worthwhile.html (18mins)

When the dotcom bubble burst, hotelier Chip Conley went in search of a business model based on happiness. In an old friendship with an employee and in the wisdom of a Buddhist king, he learned that success comes from what you count.  Fascinating!!

8 secrets of success
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html (3mins)

Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

True success
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html (18mins)

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father's wisdom. 

Keep your goals to yourself
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself.html (3mins)

After hitting on a brilliant new life plan, our first instinct is to tell someone, but Derek Sivers says it's better to keep goals secret. He presents research stretching as far back as the 1920s to show why people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them.

Success is a continuous journey
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_st_john_success_is_a_continuous_journey.html (4mins)

In his typically candid style, Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business' rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson -- when we stop trying, we fail.

Don't eat the marshmallow yet 
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet.html (7mins)
In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow.

Hope you enjoyed these as much as we did! 

Which was your favourite?

CHALLENGE

Write a lesson plan based on using one of these videos (or any other that refers to the subject of success and failure) and post this up on your own website or blog.  Alternatively, upload the LP into a document sharing site (e.g scribd/ slideshare/ google docs)  and let us all know the URL in the comments below.

Other great videos on this theme, via YouTube

• J.K Rowlings, The fringe benefits of failure
• Jeff Bezos, What matters more than talents
• Gary Vaynerchuk, Do what you love (no excuses!)
• Steve Jobs, How to live before you die

See also:
Part I: TED videos + decision-making 
Part III: TED videos + motivation
Speaking activities for teaching English with TED
Best video websites for teaching adult Business English learners

TED videos for Business English, Part I (Making Decisions)

Vicki Hollett recently mentioned a trouble I often hear being voiced by teachers who are trying to source samples of high quality, authentic Non-Native-English-Speakers speaking English and my tip, of course,  is that you can usually find quite a number of these on the adult-educational-deeper thinking-video-sites.

The other day, I finally finished putting together a post which had been lying around in draft for absolutely ages: Speaking Tips for using TED videos in class, conversation prompters, and so given Vicki's question, I thought, along with these dogme2.0-type suggestions I really should get around to organizing all the videos I've downloaded in the past, stored on my computer, used in classes, set as homework~put up as online discussion topics on my Ning(s), watched alongside students... and share with you the ones we've liked best!

I've sorted them into related topics to make it easier for you to share them with your own adult languge learners.  As often as I can - each Thursday/Friday -  I'll load up more of them, in a series of posts.  If you've any suggestions or recommendations from other sources on the same themes, don't hesitate to provide us with the links!   

I recommend either printing out a copy of this post , using the addthis/bookmark button at the bottom of this post, saving/ bookmarking / emailing yourself this page... (to find the links again later on in TED.com).

This week's Business English themes include:

Choices, Decision-making, Negotiating, Strategic-thinking

The art of choosing
http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.html
Sheena Iyengar studies how we make choices -- and how we feel about the choices we make. She talks about both trivial choices (Coke v. Pepsi) and profound ones, and shares her groundbreaking research that has uncovered some surprising attitudes about our decisions.

The paradox of choice
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

Are we in control of our own decisions? 
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, uses classic visual illusions and his own counterintuitive (and sometimes shocking) research findings to show how we're not as rational as we think when we make decisions.

A monkey economy as irrational as ours
http://www.ted.com/talks/laurie_santos.html
Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. A clever series of experiments in "monkeynomics" shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too.

How we read each other's minds
http://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_saxe_how_brains_make_moral_judgments.html
Sensing the motives and feelings of others is a natural talent for humans. But how do we do it? Here, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples' thoughts -- and judges their actions.

See also blog post and discussion on Vicki Hollett's blog regarding theories of the mind and issues related to this video - both post and comments hold potentially good conversation starter-type questions.

The walk from "no" to "yes"
http://www.ted.com/talks/william_ury.html
William Ury, author of "Getting to Yes," offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations -- from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East.

Carl Honore praises slowness
http://www.ted.com/talks/carl_honore_praises_slowness.html
Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world's emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there's a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives.

Hope you enjoyed these as much as we did! 

Which was your favourite?

CHALLENGE

Write a lesson plan based on using one of these videos (or any other that refers to the subject of decision making) and post this up on your own website or blog.  Alternatively, upload the LP into a document sharing site (e.g scribd/ slideshare/ google docs)  and let us all know the URL in the comments below.

Part II, TED videos: success / failure
Part III, TED videos: motivation

Cartoon Videos in Business and Financial English

With all the hullabaloo going on in Europe, Greece first and now Italy plus wherever's next by the time this post is actually published... because according to my students it was always going to be a W recession and now that the Euro is sinking fast, Friedmann-type prophecies threaten, whispers of deflation scatter, so  thought I'd better get on with posting up this interesting video I've done with my own ESP:Financial adult learners.

My own lesson plan with a Pre-intermediate group was based on taking the vocabulary presented in Ian MacKenzie's book, Financial English, and turning it into something a wee bit more exciting & communicative, ensuring that the vocabulary included some stickiness and of course, making it somewhat easier-to-swallow.

So...
a) we watched the video
b) did the exercise 6.10
c) watched the video again and discussed it for merit and content
d) got them to explain inflation and deflation
e) reviewed the questions on 6.10
d) talked through European periods of inflation and deflation
e) they created their own Powerpoint slides of the vocabulary in 6.10 (in exercise and text)

Would you have done this lesson any differently?

What other ways could this video (or the ones below) be used?

Best,Karenne




More Cartoon Videos for Business English (a playlist)










Useful links related to this posting: 
Business English Cartoons (Youtube link to the ones shown above)
The Dilbert channel on Youtube
Business English Pod
More video websites for Business English 
More Financial English tips

Squeezing the joy out of a thing

Darren Elliot, the blogger behind Lives of Teacher is one of my fave edu-bloggers but he was a complete meanie the other day - he told me, in his comments, that basically it wasn't cool  to keep being cool. 

So while I get the point (and don't think teachers should suck up to their students) I don't entirely agree and actually, fully intend on being über-cool well into my 60's (like our Sensei Jeremy Harmer) but what made Darren's comment worth blogging about, was that interestingly, it occurred just after getting home from class and recognizing that I'd way totally killed the joy out of something for one of my students...  

He's an adult though, so I really do hope not forever.

Sidebar
We blogging teachers do tend to have a habit of only posting up lesson tips and ideas which have worked in our lessons - I mean, that's why we share them, because they worked so they'll probably work for other teachers too.  

But what about the things that don't work?

The things we do that fall flat...

Aren't there lessons worth learning and therefore worth sharing in those things too?  Or do we blogging teachers want everyone in the big old world to think that we're perfect teachers with perfect classes and what we teach is spot-on all the time and the students just love what we do all the time?

Not terribly realistic or truthful, now is it?

Anyhoo, here's my story:

One of my absolute favorite sites is TED.com, the lectures are simply fascinating and very often there are short videos filled with incredibly rich experiences - sometimes I just go in there only to drown in the knowledge of others.  Of course, because the lectures presented  are often by important leaders in the business world, it also is a soucre of authentic content especially if you, like me, teach adult ESP students.

Phillip, the student of the dogme-in-tech-movie fame, has an i-phone so one of my tips for him on developing learner autonomy was that he subscribe to TED.

And he followed through on the advice. SCORE...

He followed through on it so much so that in the last six months he has now watched more videos than I have, shares his favourites not just with me, via email, but also forwards them on to friends and colleagues he knows.

SCORE...

Feeling chuffed to bits that I'd managed to share one of my passions with one of my learners, I said to him, "hey, why don't you write up a blog post of your Ten Top TED videos." (Good so far).  

But then I said:

"Maybe you can include a list of all the new vocabulary you learned."

His face looked a bit incredulous but I continued undaunted.  "Yes," I said, "and maybe you could write about how you see TED as a great learning tool, how you were able to pick up these words from context, how you are then able to transfer that knowledge into the language you need in the workplace."

"Karenne," he replied in a slightly bemused voice, "I just like the videos.  I don't know which words I learn.  I understand some and I don't know what others are.  I don't think about that I watch them on my way to work, they're interesting."

He shrugged.

Oh.

Oh.

OH crap.  I thought to myself - now why'd I have to go and spoil his new hobby?   Now, everytime he looks at his i-phone to watch the latest on TED he's probably going to think about my über enthusiastic  English-teacher-suggestion and instead of  enjoying his videos and soaking up some great  vocabulary subconsciously, he'll now be thinking about what he's "supposed" to be extracting.

A lot of trainers will probably tell you just how important noticing is (including me) but noticing that you're supposed to be noticing - ummm - well, it's probably a distraction and probably hits all the wrong neuro-transmitting-signal-thingies in the brain.

Squoosh!

Best,
Karenne
image credit: diet coke by nesster on flickr.com

p.s. Have you ever gone and accidentally squeezed the joy out of something your students were enjoying doing by making it a way too learning oriented task instead of a simple life-experiential language experience?  Ever brought something into the classroom which completely bombed because it was your passion, not your learners'?  

Useful related links
The video Phillip sent me that launched this conversation. You'll love it :)
My delicious bookmarks: TED videos for Business English
More video sites for Business English classes
If your teach General English: also see Larry Ferlazzo's Best of TED videos.

Interesting articles on failures/successes in the TEFL classroom
Darren Elliot's The importance of failure
Jason Renshaw on Lindsay Clandfield's blog:  Six signs that you are on the right track


(There's a poll going on the Lexiophiles site to determine a list of the best language blogs, see my post about that here and if you haven't yet voted and you don't this it's  tacky of me to ask, do please click and visit the site to let them know you rate my blog :-) thanks muchly).

I'm Not Afraid: Banish the Word and U give it its Power

Ooooh, I'm musing on a Tuesday.

That's, in my editorial calendar, not allowed (did you know that I have one of those?  For a private edu-blog, yeah...) because I save my deep thinking for Sundays.

But, see... thing is, I tweeted out this fantastic link to Enimem's lastest video:

If you are reading my blog in a country where this youtube video is not accessible, 

the song I am discussing is I'm Not Afraid by Enimem

and many of the teachers who saw the link immediately saw it's potential because the song is so fuckin' rich: each line filled with delicious collocations and examples of real life and its real life street pronunciation; subliminal messages in idioms which almost make a joke of the listener.  

It's backed by a solid, deep, belly-hitting beat which is powered by rhythmic personal storytelling as Enimem begs his fans for their forgiveness, like a gambling man promising to never pick up the cards again.   There is so much here for teachers to exploit  (the language / the story of his past: his despair, depression, obsessions: predictions for his future; the business of fame and how it wears on those who reach it)  sparking off numerous authentic conversations.  

Can Shakespeare reach teenagers or young adults like this piece could?

Oh...wait, are you still reeling - did you stop to blush in horror at the use of my phrase above, the so fuckin' rich, each..?  Are you sitting in front of your computer gob-smacked, in shock, that OMG, you saw me just use that word, out-loud and in-public, on my blog? 

Why?

Don't worry, though, it's probably for exactly the same reason that this absolutely amazing poetic resource won't get used by many teachers and it sucks.  Really, it does....

Because if you listened to this song (and to the majority of Rap) and you don't ever use it because you're worried your students' parents and/or your DOS will raise wagging fingers at the inappropriate language - can I just say: please - you think they don't know those words anyway?  Check out Chaucer desalinated, take a good ole gander at Shakespeare's insults:

Our language may have been cleaned and spruced up around the 18th Century, but you know what, those words only attained power as a result.

Without a doubt, undoubtedly

And all those who look down on me

I'm tearing down your balcony

Enimen, 2010

Thoughts? 


Useful links related to this posting:

• Pinker: The Language of Swearing***
• The F-bomb by Anne Hodgson for Spotlight Magazine
• The origins of British Swear Words, BBC
• The history of American Swear Words, CBS
• Urban Dictionary see blog post by Chris Cattaneo
• Flocabulary: a new movement in teaching through Rap music (thanks Teresa)
• $trictly 4 my teacherz  (blog with rap songs)
• Shakespeare was, like, the ultimate rapper (thanks Nicky)
  

Best, Karenne
image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smileham/3543823314/sizes/m/

p.s. follow the hyperlinked links in the text too :-)
p.p.s see Practical English Usage, Swan, page 573-578
p.p.p.s. thanks to my bro' Martin for sharing the vid with me on Facebook

Videos for Valentine's Day

I'm sure you've all got your Valentine's Day lessons sorted but just in case you're looking for a nice video to use in class on Friday/Monday as conversation starters...

Here are a few of my favorites plus an old one I made for a friend:



6 Billion Others
This beautiful video actually inspired one of my students to download and mash-up into a new version for his brother's wedding, adding interviews from the rest of his family on what love means.














The Break-up
Satirical look at marketing practices in 2010 - a good one to show to Business students who you perhaps don't want to do something mushier with.

















Valentine's Day, the trailer
Cheese. Pure cheese. Use with teenagers.

















Ah, L'Amour
A short, sweet and engaging film on modern love.

















Plenty of Fish
Um, yea. I made this last year for a friend who got divorced after 15 years of marriage and was my way of cheering her up.  It's actually a poem so if you read it aloud, you'll have more fun with it than just watching! :-)















More videos

• What is love? (series on The Big Think)
• How to Flirt (How stuff works)
• How to find your soul mate (by Guy Kawasaki - yea, the entrepreneur guru)
• Up in the air (movie trailer)
• The JK Wedding Dance  
• Parisan Love, a search story (hat tip Anne Hodgson) 
• I don't like flowers (a video activity, Jamie Keddie)

Each video chosen should be significantly poignant that it will generate conversations, dogme 2.0 style, in your lessons so I've not added any questions of my own, however, here are some useful links:

• Ozge's list of tech tools and tips for Valentine's Day
• Lesson Activities for Valentine's Day  
• Larry Ferlazzo's Best Sites to learn about Valentine's Day
• Breaking News, Valentine's Day Lesson Plan
• ESL handouts, advanced lesson plan
• Free English Lessons Online 
• ESL Handouts (scroll all the way down to download)
• GuardianWeekly: The languages of love
• FoxNews: Beauties and their boy toys

Best,
Karenne

p.s. Did you find or create a material / read or write a blog post for teachers with ideas for Valentine's day?  Don't hesitate to add the link below.

p.p.s. Not to be all bah-humbugie (that was Christmas, right) but ya kno' I, personally, despite having gotten married on Valentine's Day myself, think it's all a bit materialistic and plastic.  What do you think?    In Ecuador, they made the day a celebration of friendship too and I quite liked that!  So... dear readers, Happy Valentine's!

The walls that divide us

(A Business English/EFL/ESP:marketing lesson)

After having lived, worked and taught English all over the world, I've noticed that cultures differ from workplace to workspace and this cultural divide isn't limited to the country of residence, nor to the sub-cultures there but, instead, is a part of a company's own philosophy.

Here in Germany, many people work side-by-side for years, never ever reaching first-name basis. Often they think Americans and Caribbeans are far too relaxed and dislike what they perceive to be a level of superficiality.

On the other hand, when you get to know the Germans, they are, deep-down, some of the most warm-hearted and generous people I've ever had the pleasure of teaching and they continually surprise me with their insights and knowledge.

As you've probably had conversations with your own students about cross-cultural business communication issues, no matter where you live, I thought I'd post up one of my older video exercises (you'll have seen it already if you've been in one my training sessions).

This video is a brilliant supplementary activity to take in with you: it's short, the speech of the actors is clear and the advertisement is particularly poignant for a Business/ESP:marketing lesson.

You can use it across a variety of objectives. On one side working on the concepts of business communication/cross-cultural issues or concentrating on the emotive metaphors, expanding the activity further by brainstorming others.

If you're teaching a group of marketing students, discussing the actual effectiveness of the advertisement can turn it into a particularly interesting conversation.

As an extra bonus, the video also provides a great context for practicing the Present Perfect vs the Past Simple.

Worksheet here (pdf)

Video here

Teaching notes:

The video works well with PreIntermediate students right up to Advanced students.

With the latter, the comprehension questions can be quickly glossed over if you wish, spending more time on the discussion, post video.

With the lower levels, watch twice and do the questions which your students can handle comfortably. Prompt your students to give you their general impressions and/or work on the grammar presented in the dialogue.

Enjoy!

Useful links related to this posting:
How to download video on to your laptop/netbook.


Best,
Karenne

List of Business English textbooks this video activity can be used to supplement:
-Business Basics unit 10
-Market Leader PreIntermediate unit 7 /unit 9
-Business Focus PreIntermediate unit 7
-Intelligent Business Intermediate unit 6
-InCompany PreIntermediate unit 4
-InCompany Intermediate unit 17

As a warmer
-Up to Speed unit 6
-Business Result unit 8

As always, if you'd like to add a book title to this list or you've got a suggestion for working with the video in another way, don't hesitate to add your thoughts!

Where’s the love y’all –part 2b Art of Teaching Conversation

If you just read the posting above on how important motivation is as a factor in teaching fluency to your language learners and you watched the video of my class in a brainstorming session then you’ll have seen that the Sundance film festival was one of our scheduled topics.

Here’s a look at the short we watched and discussed:

"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.

BTW, Neal Chambers of English Spark actually passed this on to me via Facebook, isn’t it just gorgeous?

Had to share it on with you guys too!

To download your own copy go to Youtube here.

Not sure how to, come here.

The History and The Future of the Internet -supplementing your business English textbook with video

As a Business English teacher, you've definitely stumbled across units in textbooks which use the history of the Internet as their introductory theme.

However, they're not always up-2-date or interactive, are they?

Not their fault - history isn't always that interesting especially when it's a subject which is still evolving.

But if you've been looking ahead, racking your brain, thinking about just how to jazz up your next lesson on the internet - yet keep the content and language you've got to teach - then here's an amazing documentary video produced by Melih Bilgil.

Mr Bilgil is a German freelance graphic designer - he made the video (using PICOL icons which he also created) for his diploma in graphic design at FH-Mainz University of Applied Sciences. You can pick up your own copy here (not sure how to download, come here).

One of the complaints revolving around this video is that it only goes up to the 1990's. See article on Time (which you can read yourself to help brief you so you can spice up the discussion with your students) :Brief history of the Internet


My rough lesson plan/ tips for a lesson on the History of the Internet would be:

• Use the video as a pre-task activity before working with the textbook. There's a lot of great jargon which you can extract (or better yet, get your students to note down key business and IT words and phrases themselves).

• Do the exercises in your textbook, possibly skipping what's now out-of-date or redundant.

• Write the words "The Future of the Internet" on the board and challenge your students to fill in the blanks by talking about web2.0, web3.0 and web3D plus the developments they anticipate.
  

• Present this slideshow from Slideshare:

Future Web Trends - at Innovation series with Jimmy Wales

View more presentations from matthewbuckland. (tags: wales jimmy)

• Discuss the ideas presented - what do your students think - do they agree, disagree? Do they have any examples to put forth, opinions, fears?

Business English Textbooks that have internet related units:

• InCompany, Intermediate, unit 13: Technology
• InCompany, Intermediate, 2ndEdition, unit 13: Entering the blogosphere
• InCompany, Upper Intermediate, unit 7: Information age
• InCompany, Upper Intermediate, unit 18: Shaping the future
• Intelligent Business, Upper Intermediate, unit 4: Information
• International Express, Upper Intermediate, Unit 5: The Internet
• IT Matters, Unit 4: The Internet
• Market Leader, Upper Intermediate, unit 7: E-commerce
• Market Leader, Intermediate, unit 13: Innovation
• The Business, Upper Intermediate, Unit 2: IT Solutions
• Technical English, Unit 12: Innovations

• Do you know of any other books/units? Add them in the comments section.
  

If you're not using a textbook and would like to do this as a lesson:
***for IT students mainly, your normal groups might seriously go to sleep if you try doing this with them.
Upper Int/B2

• Wikipedia, The Internet
• Internet society

• Download and then split up the text you've chosen to use.
  

• Divide students into pairs or groups, handing out different sections to different students to read - encourage them to highlight difficult vocabulary and check meanings.
  

• While they're reading, put some or all of the following categories on the board:
  

~ Dates:
1957-1973 / 1974 - 1983 / 1984-1990 /
1991 - 1995 / 1996 +today
~ Uses of the internet
~ Global impact and cultural implications
~ Difficult terminology
~ Your own idea here

• Get your students to walk around the room telling each other what they did/ learned about and what happened in those events.

• Show the video.

• Discuss.
  

• Elicit answers on where the future of the internet's leading.
  

• Show the slideshare.

• Discuss - what was new, interesting?
  

Extending this lesson:

• Watch the video in detail, pausing often, looking for all collocations that go with the word: network. Then get your students to explain what the differences are between the phrases - basically teaching you the terminology!
  

• Create a mural depicting the time-line/ evolution of the internet using items they learned from the video, using the language taught in the textbook and vocabulary and ideas from the slideshare. (Group activity, project work).

• Use my SimplyConversationsTM and SimplyQuestTM material - question prompt cards and post-task activity: shop here
  

Technology - €1.99 (individual trainers) and €4,99 (institutes)
Email and the Internet - €1.49 and €3.99

Do you have another idea for exploiting these materials and turning them into a really effective and interesting lesson?

Share your tips with all of us by clicking on the comments button - if you've already created a great worksheet of your own (or stumbled across one on the 'net) and you'd like to pass on the details, link it here, (even if it's commercial) no problem, am happy for you to share!

Best,
Karenne

p.s More blended learning/TwIT tips here (scroll down). More lesson tips, here
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