Students of Yuen Long Catholic Secondary School have limited exposure to English language and rare opportunities to use English outside classroom. Thus, it is essential to raise students' interest and motivation in learning English.

Teachers knew that their students learnt best through hands-on experience, so they decided to design a project which motivated and involved learners in “learning by doing”, creativity, experimentation, problem solving and decision–making.  They believed this would increase student ownership of the teaching and learning process and as a result enhance their commitment and motivation.  In order to ensure students’ needs and proficiency levels were taken into account, the teachers opted for developing all the teaching and learning materials themselves.  Teachers made use of the project to show the students the link between English and their future career. It was hoped that through this elective module, students’ beliefs and values, skills and aptitudes, interests, personality characteristics, and knowledge of the world of work would be developed. 

Below is an overview of the whole Workplace Communication elective module:

This report focuses specifically on part 2.

II. Strategies used

Before designing the activities, teachers identified the kinds of skills and attitudes students need to equip themselves with in order to become successful in the world of work.  They then infused the following career education elements into the Workplace Communication module:

 1.  Basic Competency Skills (reading, writing, computation)
 2.  Communication Skills (speaking, listening)
 3.  Adaptability (problem solving, creative thinking)
 4.  Developmental Skills (self-esteem, career planning, motivation and goal setting)
 5. Group Effectiveness Skills (interpersonal, teamwork, negotiation skills)
 6. Group Effectiveness Skills (interpersonal, teamwork, negotiation skills)

(Retrieved from http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/student-parents/careers-guidance/career/career-planning/what-are-the-required-employability-skills.html)

In addition to these, the teachers also infused the following values and attitudes into The Workplace Communication module plan:

When planning and developing learning and teaching materials, teachers tried to make sure students had plenty of opportunities to complete tasks that could help them develop what Howard Gardner calls the “Five Minds for the Future”: The Disciplined Mind, the Synthesizing Mind, The Creating Mind, The Respectful Mind and the Ethical Mind. According to Gardner, these ‘Five Minds’ can help a person deal with what is expected, as well as what cannot be anticipated in the future.