In response to the electives in the senior secondary English Language curriculum, English teachers of Catholic Ming Yuen Secondary School have perceived the need to give junior secondary students exposure to non-language arts components and for them to gain teaching experience in covering workplace communication in the classroom. They therefore incorporated workplace communication into a task-based unit to motivate students' learning of English and to extend it outside the classroom. A unit "Enjoying Life – Shopping and Travelling" was designed by adapting from the textbook material and some training packages for such jobs as sales persons and tourist guides were included. As an extension of classroom learning, an English activity "Olympics Fair" was then conducted to give students authentic situations to apply workplace English used in retailing and tourism.

1. To enable English teachers to develop knowledge and skills in workplace communication in the classroom
2. To motivate students to learn English by including practical English in a task-based unit
3. To expose students to workplace contexts to help them get a taste of using workplace communication in preparation for the new senior secondary English Language curriculum

Strategies adopted

1. Different job-related roles with varied cognitive and linguistic demands on students
   There were different job-related roles for students to play – ushers, customers, Olympic ambassadors, little tourist guides and supervisors. Students were trained for different jobs using the training packages designed for them. Based on their language abilities and the job requirements, they were assigned different roles to play in the Olympics Fair.
   
   
2. Inter-level collaboration between S1 and S6 students
   S6 students were invited as supervisors / managers supervising S1 students working as little tourist guides or Olympic ambassadors. In the running of the stalls, S6 students provided support to S1 students. Thus, there was close collaboration between S1 and S6 students and much peer learning occurred in the process.
   
   
3. Use of appraisal forms to assess employees’ performance in the workplace
   There were different assessment forms designed for different jobs with criteria for assessing the performance of Olympic ambassadors and little tourist guides in a workplace context. S6 students working as supervisors were asked to take on the responsibility of assessing S1 students’ performance using appraisal forms.
   
   
4. Use of Olympic passports by customers, Olympic ambassadors and tourist guides as a means for peer assessment
   The Olympic passports were designed for customers to evaluate the performance of Olympic ambassadors. Olympic ambassadors and little tourist guides could also use the Olympic passports to assess their own performance.
   
   
5. Much autonomy given to students in the running of the Olympics Fair
   Olympic ambassadors and tourist guides had to make their own decisions about how to boost their sales or attract customers. Customers were given play money to buy Olympic souvenirs and could earn coupons by playing games at stalls run by the tourist guides. S6 students were also invited to set up and decorate stalls with their own design.

Implementation