FLT 807 Methods of Foreign Language Teaching

Date 11/06/15

Activity Design: Job interview

Names: Melissa Sainz and Carla Campos
Communicative Mode: Listening
Overview:
Source:
Description:

Context:

http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm
The activity has 4 parts:
Pre-listening: Students will activate personal backgrounds, vocabulary and will
anticipate and predict.
While listening: Students will listen for a gist and will share responses with a
classmate and then with the whole class.
Intensive listening: Students will complete two activities on detailed
information.
Post listening activities: Students will develop a role play activity using
previous and new knowledge.
Institution: Language Academy in Geneva
Course type/aims: General English
Students proficiency level: Advanced 1 (C1 according to the CEFR)
Students ages in class: adults.
Other students information: students have different nationalities and L1
Information on the class: classes take place three times a week; one hour and a
half each session. There are 12 students per class.

Objectives:

Students will be able to describe personal qualities and qualifications in their fields that make them
strong candidates for future positions.
Students will be able to review question forms in different tenses, with wh-question words and
without.

Plan:
Class Time:
Materials /
Preparation:

One class period plus homework

Access to internet or media player to play the audio; speakers; ads printed.

Procedure:

Pre-listening: (whole class activity- 10)

Introduce the topic: job interviews. Ask students to think about the following: Based
on previous experiences, what kinds of questions do businesses ask potential
employees during job interviews? Give examples. What information does interviewers
need to get from candidates?
Write answers on the board. Write some vocabulary provided by students as well.
While listening: (3:55 +15+3:55)
(Listen for global understanding) Listen to the audio for the first time. Then, first in
pairs and second in whole class group, get students compare what they understood
from the interview. Compare some answers to the ones on the board and use the
vocabulary from the board. Then ask for any pieces of information students get. Listen
to the audio for the second time. Check if such pieces of information were correct,
write them on the board.
Intensive listening: (3:55+3:55+20)
(Listen for detail). Activity 1: write the questions (see appendix 1). Play the tape and
pause after the end of each question. Repeat the whole audio if necessary, as many
times as needed.
Activity 2: complete the sentences with words from the right column (see appendix 2).
Give students 8 minutes and then in pairs, have them compare answers. Finally, in
whole group check responses.
Post-listening: (25) In pairs, each student will receive two job ads from internet (job
position 1 and job position 2). They will play roles as A (interviewer) and B
(candidate). Students will have some minutes to prepare questions (in the case of
interviewers) and arguments (in the case of B students) that explain how their qualities
or/and qualifications make them strong candidates for the position. Exchange roles.

Recommendations /
Variations:

If time is not enough, post-listening activity may be different: have learners look up for
a job position in internet that really suits students profession and write a letter in
response to such advertisement, explaining how their qualities or/and qualifications
make them strong candidates for the position.

Rationale:
1. Pre-listening: when thinking on previous experiences, students will activate background and will
anticipate. About vocabulary: they will remember words or they will have the necessity to know some
new words to express what they want.
2. After the first listening students will check if that they anticipated and expected is correct. After that they
will pay attention on getting the information they got wrong about or on confirming what they first heard.
3. In listening for detail, students will pay attention to bottom up structures, building up new vocabulary and
reviewing structures they already know.
4. Post-listening activities may allow students to put in practice they have learnt.

Appendix 1
Transcribe the questions for the following responses.

1. _______________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay. Um, yeah. I've always been interested in teaching in a language program like this,
and uh, I graduated with a degree in English and psychology eight years ago.
2. A._____________________________________________________________________________________
B.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Well, I worked full time, um, for a private language school in Tokyo for the first two years,
and then I found a job at a community college.

3. _______________________________________________________________________________________
Well, well, I know it sounds like an unusual combination, but I completed a program in
culinary arts before I got my, uh, English and psychology degrees.
4. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Right, right, but then, but . . . I want to return to teaching. I've also been working as a
therapist at a treatment center for teenagers struggling with depression and other
mental health disorders.
5. _______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Well, I speak Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese at an advanced level.

Appendix 2

Fill in the blanks with the words from the right column.

I hope you can ___________ a fabulous job as

soon as you finish college.

Land

The woman's resume was so ___________ that

we interviewed her immediately.

Tourist spot

This beach is a great ___________ where many

come on their vacations.

Impressive

The service at this restaurant is __________, and

for that reason, the price is a little expensive.

Depression

Has you father struggled with _____________

for a long time? He look so down.

Top-notch