The tweaking will help prepare learners to deal with the
Unpredictability element they will encounter in real life – we
Have all had to deal with difficult people at some point!
I was marvelled recently when I saw Driss (Omar Sy),
in the job interview scene from Intouchables, in which
he inverted the power roles between him (a
Senegalese immigrant) and Phillipe, a quadriplegic
millionaire (François Cluzet). In stark contrast to the
other candidates’ enthusiasm, Sy expresses no
desire to get hired and simply requires a signature
confirmation of attendance – he ends up getting the
job.
Phillipe conducts many interviews for this role before
Driss’. Driss, on the other hand, has clearly been
through this process before – he is unemployed. For
both these characters, were they to do this in a
Business English classroom, their tasks would be
similar to those they carry out in real life, and not
roles for them to act as different people. It makes
sense, at least for me, to use simulations with
learners over role-plays, because it draws upon their
pre-existing knowledge and experience.
How do you run a simulation? Take the job interview
again from Intouchables. As I mentioned previously,
both parties in the interview had practised it before
hand, whether that be Sy’s experience of getting the
impractical for me to assume so and provide them
with a structure for the interview. Rather, I elicit the
missing information to ‘flesh-out’ the simulation
skeleton. Working with this information, we coconstruct the stages of the simulation in order to
align it more closely with a task-type learners are
likely to encounter.
Going back to the interview scene in Intouchables, I
would like to pull out another element present in
Driss’ interview tactic – unpredictability. I often allow
learners to run through the simulation once before I
assign a new role for them to play in the task.
Essentially, this is an element of a role-play in so
much as it requires learners to perform or act a part
they would not otherwise. It does, however, play
some relevance to their job roles. For example, I ask
them to invert the status roles (interviewer with the
power - interviewee without) by asking the
interviewee to use higher status behaviours (speaking
slowly, using more complex sentences or sitting back
in their chairs, stand instead of sitting). The tweaking
will help prepare learners to deal with the
unpredictability element they will encounter in real life
– we have all had to deal with difficult people at some
point!
All of these are tweaking tricks I have used to push learners to experiment with new
language and provide more focus on the process of completing the task rather than
completion of the task.
signature or Phillipe’s previous interviews that day.
Rehearsal. After setting the scene, ask learners to
call their partner or friend to ask for some advice for
the interview – it does not rehearse the interview per
se, but it certainly runs them through the script they
will use after.
My learners – experienced business people who need
English to help them do their jobs better and not to
pass university exams - know much more than I do
about their interactions in the workplace, so it is highly
Dale Coulter
Dale Coulter has taught in a variety of teaching
contexts for the past five years. He now specialises in
corporate language training and is the Human
Resources Manager for All on Board in Berlin. You
can find him on his blog here at
www.languagemoment.wordpress.com
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