I. Student questionnaire, reflections and interviews
1.Students were motivated to learn English
More than 95% of students found the workplace communication module interesting.
Students’ reflections
~ “…the project made learning English become lively.” |
They enjoyed learning English through watching videos of job interviews role played by their teachers (89.7%), making outfits for the CatWalk and preparing for the CatWalk (89.1%), doing/ watching sales presentations (88.2%), watching the CatWalk/ being models (84.1%), setting up booths for the Wedding Expo (82.9%), reading magazines (72.3%) and browsing wedding companies websites (68.5%).
More than 90% of students reported that they had actually looked for extra information for the project on their own.
2. Students’ confidence in using English
Students’ reflections
~ “We could have the chance to use English to communicate with the visitors. Though I was a bit scared, I enjoyed the whole process very much.”
~ “I can learn a wide range of knowledge and skills in this project. I have made improvement in my writing skills.”
~ “As a presenter, at first I was quite worried. My voice was really low. After the rehearsals and the encouragement of the classmates, I felt better. Practice makes perfect. Just believe in yourself. I could speak very loudly in front of the class.” |
3. Students realized the usefulness of English Language in the working environment. They would like to improve their English standard and equip themselves for their future career.
The students learnt how to express their opinions (89%), how to agree and disagree with others’ opinions (94.5%), interview skills like introducing themselves, answering questions (93.8%), how to write job application letters and resumes (89%) and slogans (82.2%), how to conduct sales presentations (85.6%) and use English to introduce some products to the customers (87.5%).
5. According to the questionnaire and interview data, students felt that through the project they were able to improve their creativity (95%), problem-solving skills (88.1%), self-management skills (89.5%), communication skills (90.9%) and collaboration skills (96.5%). Many students enjoyed this aspect of the project, although many also found it challenging.
Students’ reflections
~ “The project developed our creativity.” (Creativity)
~ “Luckily all the members were involved and we had lots of idea exchanges, and finally we overcame all the problems.” (Problem-solving)
~ “We analysed the problems from different points of views.” (Problem-solving)
~ “I found it difficult to explain and promote our services and products to the clients, as our promotion and sales methods were not that attractive and not too many clients visited out booth. We changed our promotion method and from then we attracted lots of clients.” (Problem-solving)
~ ‘…sought advice from experienced people and searched information from internet.” (Problem-solving) |
Students also agreed that the project has enhanced their speaking skills (92.5%), listening skills (89.7%), reading skills (83.6%) and writing skills (79.3%). Their vocabulary span has been widened. They learnt new vocabulary to talk about clothes (91.7%), good stuff (86.3%) and the wedding industry (86.3%). The students also reported that they were more aware of the use of appropriate tenses to introduce their companies (89.4%), past, present and future events (86.7%), and to introduce themselves during job interviews (85.1%).
6. Students developed a sense of achievement
Students’ reflections
~ “Our hard work has earned others’ praise, it is very rewarding.”
~ “I felt very touched and had a sense of achievement when seeing the model wearing the dress designed by our group.”
~ “We could see a lot of different models wearing the wedding gown designed by other classmates. The Catwalk reflected our effort put into the event”.
~ “I could never imagine we can do something like this.”
~ “We were really shocked to know that we had to design wedding gown for the Catwalk. We thought it would be impossible for us to do this with our limited experience. But under the guidance our teachers, showing us some magazines for reference, we gradually understood more. Finally we could design a beautiful wedding gown, and we were astonished. |
7. Students get to know more about a typical working environment
Students’ reflections
~ “We could learn more about workplace English and oral skills through this module. Besides, I know a bit more about operation of a company.” |
II) Teacher questionnaire
Although 80% of the teachers thought that the topics of this module were not relevant to the students’ experience, all the teachers were surprised to see that their students participated actively in the project and 80% of them agreed that their students found the materials interesting.
All teachers found job application letter and resume, job interview, sales presentation, company establishment, booth setting and CatWalk tasks helped their students develop their language skills and broadened the students’ vocabulary. Through the project, their students developed a positive attitude towards learning and practising English. The project provided them with chances to think creatively and work with their peers. Teachers themselves liked the materials and the project. Although some materials were too difficult for students, they provided plenty of room to cater for learner diversity. They would like to continue to use this set of materials in the coming cohorts.
Through this project, teachers developed appropriate teaching strategies to cope with the senior secondary curriculum. They were encouraged to use life-wide and experiential learning approaches and a culture of collaboration and reflection was strengthened among the English panel members.
Facilitating factors
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The success can be attributed to the involvement of enthusiastic and creative teachers who were devoted to planning the elective module and developing the materials. They were dedicated to help the students to achieve the tasks. Teachers were willing to role play and video tape the job interview episodes. This caused a deep impression on the students and they all remembered the tips for attending interviews.
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The school made good use of human resources to handle the large production. They invited a professional wedding planner, Jack Chan, CEO of Jack Creations to give comments to the students. He shared with the students some real workplace experience. The school also involved parents in the project -- the decoration of the stage and the run-way were prepared with the help of the parents; the school also invited the parents to the Wedding Expo. Parents got to know more about the senior secondary, what their children were doing or what their children will do in the future. Some teachers of other subjects volunteered to provide assistance to the project (e.g. training students to do Catwalk, visiting the booths and using English to communicate with students during their visits).
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