Two Integrated English teaching projects: Practical nursing class & Welder's workshop

Overalls are quite comfy!

Workshop calling!

Suomeksi: http://erilaistaenglantia.blogspot.fi/2015/03/kaksi-ammatillisen-englannin.html
My blog entry about simulations & integrated teaching in general:
http://englishteachingwithatwist.blogspot.fi/2015/03/intergrated-teaching-role-playing-and.html

As a vocational school English teacher, I try to integrate many kinds of professional English into every English course I teach.  Usually, this type of integration takes place in the classroom or the IT class. Here you'll find an account of my two integrated English teaching projects that took place outside the classroom.

:D

Venla

PROJECT 1: ENGLISH FOR PRACTICAL NURSES IN THE NURSING CLASS

I wanted to try out integration with two separate groups of practical nurses last spring. Their English book is made specifically for their field of study, so we studied professional English every lesson anyway. At the end of the 28-hour-course, we went to the nursing class, where we simulated different nursing situations with the group. I had made cards that helped them with the exercise.
 

In the nursing class, each student went throught several ”work scenarios” with a pair. Each got to be the practical nurse and the patient/customer in their own turn. Students got into their characters by talking. They could also if they so wished use the equipment in the class – get the rubber gloves needed for certain situations, lie in the beds provided etc. This way, they went throught several different potential work scenarios. The teacher walked around the class, helping each person in whatever way they wanted.

This approach can be called edu-larping, simulations or role-playing. The important thing is the absence of an audience. The student doesn’t perform to anybody. On the contrary, they develop the situations and roles given to them on their own, with a pair or in a small group.  This way even the shyer students and those whose skill level of English is not very high have the courage to function and to speak despite the rather demanding level of the exercise.
 

The project went very well, much better than I had expected. I thought many students would freeze, the scenarios would fall apart and that the level of English used would be too low for any learning apart from “well, they learned to open their mouth no matter what comes out” (which is not a bad goal in itself). I was happy to be wrong in all these three accounts.

Students regardless of their level spoke English a lot and at a level that was rather challenging to them. They seemed to be having an excellent time, and they wanted to use the equipment in the classroom. The atmosphere was good for learning and the feedback I got from the students was overwhelmingly positive. Moreover, they all spoke English much, much more than during a regular lesson in class. This is also easy to arrange as the simulation can be done with the whole class at the same time, you don't need to divide the class. Many small groups fit easily in the nursing class.

Next, I am going to make proper character cards to replace the trial versions we used during the project. I will also do this kind of simulations during all my future lessons for practical nurses. I warmly recommend you to try out something similar. This project was relatively easy to do, very functional and a lot of fun!

PROJECT 2: PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH AT THE METAL WORKSHOP

Next, I wanted to do a different kind of a project. Something more challenging and difficult for me and the students. I chose the field of welding and metalwork, as lots of machines that are difficult to operate are used in everything they do. I got an old class and their vocational teacher to participate.

Joni, Arttu, Roope and Petri study lathe parts in class
 before going to the workshop

 I wanted to try out different approaches this time, so we did three slightly different trial sessions. Each contained a briefing in the classroom, simulations at the workshop with both me (in the leading role) and the vocational teacher (as a consultant) and a debriefing in class. The language at the workshop was English. Finnish was used very rarely. In the classroom, I spoke English and the students spoke both English and Finnish.

I planned two simulations – one easier, one more challenging:

1) Work safety package with handouts. The teacher is a security inspector and comes to the workshop to have an inspection.

'What is this safety shield for?'
Safety inspector is being very thorough.

She leads the simulation by asking a number of questions about the safety issues and how they are handled at the workshop. (Safety gear worn/used when different machines are being operated, close call –situations, what to do in case of an accident and so on). The simulation is done entirely in English. Everyone learns both by listening and by answering questions and communicating. Everybody speaks and students can help each other out. A wide range of work-related safety issues is handled this way.

 

2) A study package about operating a machine. The theme is machine operating guidance for a foreign worker who doesn’t speak any Finnish. A student plays the foreign worker who has, for example, “operated a different lathe in their home country”. He is instructed to ask many and as “stupid” questions as possible. All the others tell him how the machine is operated, each according to his level of English. During this exercise, the machines are actually operated. 

'What do I do now?' Operating the lathe - instructions. Max asks stupid
questions on purpose. Vikke can't help laughing.

This is a more challenging package that can be done only when all the students are able to operate the machines at the workshop. In practice, this means English course 2 or later. For reasons of both safety and expertise it's essential that in addition to the English teacher, the vocational teacher is also present at the workshop.

Antti operates the welding machine with
appropriate safety equipment

This project was a success, too. The atmosphere was positive and all the students regardless of their level of English said that they’d much rather study a part of their English course this way.There were three things that came up in the students' feedback the most:

1)  Studying English at the workshop was described as challenging and laid-back. Much more “chill” and fun than in the classroom. This despite it having been very difficult.

2)  Everyone said you can’t just go and do the exercises at the workshop (we tried this, too), no matter how good vocabulary cards you have with you. It was seen as essential that all the things will be studied thoroughly in the classroom prior to the simulation. The students did not hope for an easier exercise, they wanted the level to be ”real English language communication”.

3) The question of study group’s size came up. All the students thought it would be best if the number of students in each simulation would be quite low, around 3-6 students. The whole class could study in the classroom, but at the workshop, smaller group would be better so that everyone would get to speak a lot and to hear what is being said. (It is often quite noisy at the workshop.) 

This could be achieved relatively easily. First, the whole class would study English in the classroom during the regular English lessons. Then, as the students study general subjects during certain days of the week and professional subjects during others, I would go and visit them during their professional study days at the workshop. There, I could go from machine to machine, teaching English for each group for a brief time. The vocational teacher and the students said this would be perfect for the way they work at the workshop – there are always some activities that can be interrupted for a while.

Applied English books, safety instructions such as this one
and conversations with the welder students and teacher helped
me design the safety simulation.

Luckily you don't need to know all (milling) machine
parts to succesfully go through the operating guidance simulation.
One idea is to use 'this', 'that' etc instead of the name of the part.

So what do you need if you want to complete such an integration project?

1) More than anything, you need enthusiasm. You need to be enthusiastic about integration, but you need to enjoy working with the students and the vocational teacher even more. Otherwise this kind of a project can become too overwhelming as you have to try and learn something you are not good at. 

2) You need to be able to prioritize and be efficient. You need to be determined in order to be able to draft a plan and make it work. Otherwise far too much time will be spent on moving from one place to another, on general hassle, on planning, on sitting at meetings with the vocational teacher and on drafting materials. I tried to keep myself in check and succeeded pretty well, except for the time I accidentally prepared materials for using the wood lathe ;)…

3) It is a bonus if you are sociable and not afraid of new situations. You need to be able to jump in the deep end of the pool: improvise, guide and handle situations in a rather close contact with the students. On the other hand, these same abilities come in handy in the classroom, too.

I was very lucky – I had an excellent team of students to work with and the cooperation with the vocational teacher went very smoothly, too. This was a big help for me as I was learning new things. The project was rather big, I was nervous at times and the lathe... well, I am still a bit scared of it. But I had a blast, thanks to the great people who were involved in the project!

Me, the vocational teacher Arto Tiainen and most of the students who tried out my simulations