I haven't written anything for ages on my blog, this has been due to a very busy period of project work with my Business English class and getting involved with the social media side at my school. The project was based around a chapter in Business Result Upper Intermediate on Ethical Business and coincided with Oxfam's FairTrade Morning Tea fundraiser.
Oxfam Morning Tea
I used the model of project based learning as a guide during the project to begin with:
The driving questions were:
What was FairTrade?
How can we get students interested in this topic?
How can we raise money for the Morning Tea?
I began by showing the students a bar of chocolate with the Fairtrade logo on it and eliciting if they knew what it meant (none of them did). We then watched some videos on YouTube about Fairtrade and discussed the first question after they had made notes and I had written up some simple comprehension questions. Here is the video link:
Fairtrade Bananas
I asked the students to think about how they could explain what Fairtrade was to a friend:
Takashi and Leonardo telling their friends about Fairtrade.
It was really interesting to note that the students started to use persuasive tactics at this point without me prompting them which we then discussed after the role-play. We discussed how charities engage their audiences and how they raise awareness. I sent the students away to research more about Fairtrade and if it existed in their countries. The next lesson the students shared what they had researched and I wrote up key phrases on the board. I put the students into groups and told them we were going to visit a Trade Aid shop and interview the manager. The students brainstormed the questions they wanted to ask and after correcting them we visited the shop:
Carolina speaking to Linda the shop manager
Business English students in the Trade Aid shop
The students took pictures and recorded the interviews and then transcribed them at home. We used the information gathered from the interviews and the images to think about ways to start an awareness raising campaign at school about Fairtrade.The students decided that they wanted to make a video which could be played in each classroom and shared across social media platforms. The students selected the images and wrote the commentary and helped create the following video:
The students then had to focus on the marketing campaign for the morning tea. They created promotional material and engaged in direct marketing writing and delivering a mini presentation to each class.
Leonardo and Damon giving their presentation
Student designed slide for reception area
In order to encourage participation at the morning tea, the students decided to hold a raffle for a Fairtrade basket and printed and advertised the tickets. This was held over several days where the students had to explain again face to face to the students about Fairtrade as well as using their sales techniques. After each stage we evaluated the process in terms of strengths and weaknesses. This was an excellent opportunity to authentically use their English.
Once the students had finished the task of selling the raffle tickets for the Fairtrade Basket below:
they decided on the timescale and deadlines for the organisation of the Morning Tea. This involved negotiating roles and tasks, handling the budget ,designing the morning tea room, physical shopping and many other tasks. Again the functional language was highlighted and language given when needed.
The Morning Tea
The students organised the tables and set themselves up. I quietly observed as they took charge of the the entire event.
The interaction with other students and teachers was very interesting and I could clearly see a huge surge of confidence and pride in what they were doing. We raised $330!
Project Group
The students had time over the weekend to reflect on the project. I asked them to record the journey of what they had done and learnt, the successes and failures and what they would have changed.I gave them class time to compile their notes into one presentation and practice what to say. Theclass had merged with another the following week, they presented their project and reflections to this peer audience which brought closure to the project.
Final presentations
Since the project ended, three members of the group have got part time jobs in New Zealand with one of them being offered a volunteer role in the Trade Aid shop we visited. I was so pleased that he had gone back to the shop and his interest prompted the manager to offer him a job.
