In this lesson, we had a look at an overview of the course, touching on a few basics of writing for business:
It involves a process, not a product, approach.
It is essential to think about your reader/s - especially by trying to imagine that you're in their shoes.
Writing is not 'formal' and Speaking 'informal': these skills can be formal or less formal depending on appropriacy of register, the nature of your relationship, the message you need to communicate, and so on.
The main activity in this lesson was 'needs analysis'. In the first part of this, each participant interviewed a partner on the provided worksheet (attached below) in order to find out more about their role in the organisation, needs, background in English language learning, and expectations for the course. The activity involved note-taking - another writing skill - and each person was paired with someone from a different department in order to ensure new knowledge was involved, and to help promote group solidarity. The second part involved the teacher asking which of the aspects of business writing the participants felt confident doing in English, and whether or not they felt these aspects would be useful to them as learning outcomes for the course (see 'page 1' attachment below). The teacher took note of class preferences so as to adapt future course materials more appropriately to learner wants and needs.
Participants asked the teacher questions for the last five minutes or so. Plastic wallets for keeping course documents in were also handed out.
Self-study Practice
The homework for this lesson was to write an e-mail to the teacher, summarising the interview conducted during the needs analysis, i.e. 'introducing your partner'. This is to be completed by Monday, March 30th.
Lesson One / 25/03/2009
(Absent: Hee Young Shin, Kwang Jun Jang)Lesson Summary
In this lesson, we had a look at an overview of the course, touching on a few basics of writing for business:The main activity in this lesson was 'needs analysis'. In the first part of this, each participant interviewed a partner on the provided worksheet (attached below) in order to find out more about their role in the organisation, needs, background in English language learning, and expectations for the course. The activity involved note-taking - another writing skill - and each person was paired with someone from a different department in order to ensure new knowledge was involved, and to help promote group solidarity. The second part involved the teacher asking which of the aspects of business writing the participants felt confident doing in English, and whether or not they felt these aspects would be useful to them as learning outcomes for the course (see 'page 1' attachment below). The teacher took note of class preferences so as to adapt future course materials more appropriately to learner wants and needs.
Participants asked the teacher questions for the last five minutes or so. Plastic wallets for keeping course documents in were also handed out.
Self-study Practice
The homework for this lesson was to write an e-mail to the teacher, summarising the interview conducted during the needs analysis, i.e. 'introducing your partner'. This is to be completed by Monday, March 30th.Resources
Resources used in this lesson: