Activity 1:

Learning Objectives1
Students of the International Business Program of Universidad del Magdalena in Colombia,
belonging to the eighth semester and likewise to a B1-B2 level of English according to the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), will be able to both
remember and identify some common connectors prior to the main activity, which mostly
consists of listening to a six-minute conversation on empowerment and then writing down
their thoughts on 4 questions or items. Their ages range between 22 – 30 years and the
importance of learning English in their professional development becomes compulsory. On
the other hand, the topic was selected by its affordances on a topic that is catching more
and more global attention: women’s empowerment, needless to say, connected in a
countless of ways with the International Business field: Women as entrepreneurs, women
as presidents, women as scientist, women as inspiration for both other women and men.
Two important skills will be assessed: two receptive ones: listening & reading; and a
productive one: writing.

Introduction
(10 minutes)

Image on the left taken from: https://ar.radiocut.fm/radioshow/6-minute-english/

Image on the right taken from: https://www.amazon.es/6-Minute-English-British-
Life/dp/144588819X
 Students (around 30 in total), are told they are going to listen to the 6Minute English app
from BBC they have previously downloaded on their own mobile phones and what will it
roughly consist of. The ones who have not already downloaded it (very few of them, or
probably none, since they have been informed beforehand) must do it on the spot (all the
university classrooms are provided with free Wi-Fi access) so that the activity be carried
out thoroughly: first off, they will listen carefully trying to grasp the main idea and key
words and expressions; secondly, they will read the transcript from the app while listening
to it a second time.

1
English VIII Lesson plan, second follow-up class. Universidad del Magdalena. Professor: José Julián Bonilla
Acosta
 Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling
(10 minutes)
Students are given the questions they will answer, picking at least one in order to
compose their three-to-four paragraph essay:

1. Advantages & drawback of talking openly in business.

2. Why is empowerment so important nowadays?
3. How could first ladies level up presidents’ performances
4. Write about a product (logo, motto) which turn out to be inspiring for you

Bonus - Connectors
(15 minutes)
Have students define connectors in English by providing either a synonym or an example
sentence. Since using connector while writing down essays is, needless to say,
unavoidable, they are exposed to a good bunch of them such as:
Therefore, thus, due to, owing to, although, in spite of, so that, in order to, hence,
regardless of, providing, provided, as long as, unless, etc.

2-Dimentional Listening exposure

(20 minutes)
Students listen to the 6-Minute-English App twice:
 Dimension 1: without reading (focus on key words and expressions you are able to
understand and write them down)
 Dimension 2: reading while listening dimensional (try to infer the meaning of unknown
words though context and be aware of the accurate pronunciation of chunks)

Composition

(60 minutes)
After developing a very important receptive skill (listening), students are now ready to put
forward a productive one: writing. It goes without saying, they are made aware of the fact
of using quotation marks in case they will utilize any references from the 6-Minute-English
App transcript, otherwise they might commit plagiarism.

“Before we can understand a concept we have to remember it

Before we can apply the concept we must understand it
Before we analyse it we must be able to apply it
Before we can evaluate its impact we must have analysed it
Before we can create we must have remembered, understood, applied, analysed, and
evaluated. (Andrew Churches, 2004, p. 3)
Activity 2:

2. Name of the activity: Shark Tank

Directions & requirements
This activity is again aimed for International Business students of Universidad del Magdalena,
coursing eighth semester and therefore, eighth level of English. Their level must be B1 or beyond
due to the fact that they will be putting forward a business idea in front of some angel investors,
AKA sharks. This activity is inspired in a homonym reality available on YouTube, where different
offerors are given the opportunity of displaying their business idea and likewise talk some angel
investors into giving them enough capital to trigger their ventures. It seems a tough task (and it
actually is), consequently, students are given plenty of time to carry it out:

Phase 1: watch the links available on YouTube and get familiarized with both the topic, strategies,
vocabulary and pronunciation. (5 weeks before the final work)

Phase 2: present the draft of their proposal, either on word or power point. (3 weeks before the
final work)

Phase 1: performance of the activity (after having being checked in both the written part and
pronunciation, and given some ideas and suggestions about their own activity, students prepare a
video taking into account the corresponding rubric.)

This activity is not assessed by the teacher herself but by the students themselves, therefore
follows the group-evaluation instructions.

Further recommendations:

Maximum amount of participants per group: 7

Minimum amount of participants: 2

Recommended time of participation per member:

3 – 5 minutes.

Activity relevancy:

This activity aims to boost students required negotiation strategies by using authentic materials
and situations, reinforcing indirectly vocabulary and enriching the necessary vocabulary for
developing it accordingly.

Triggered skill:

Speaking.
 Shark Tank Rubric:

Image taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Tank

Date: ________________
Name of the group (BRAND) who evaluates:
_______________________________________
Name of the group (BRAND) evaluated:
__________________________________________

Fluency: Pronunciation There were Pronunciation

The message was on point. some errors was poorly
was No mistakes while conveyed
understandable made on this pronouncing
matter few words
(14) (7)
(20)
Security: There was In spite of The offeror(s)
Words were security from being a little was(were) so
connected with beginning to hesitant, the hesitant that
body language end. The offerors left no doubt on
answers were successfully being rejected
pretty defended
convincing his/her reasons
(20) for being (7)
selected
(14)
Avoided use There was no There was little There was
of reading: reading reading constant little
whatsoever reading

(20) (14)
(7)
Teamwork: The teams It was The members
were coping perceived that of the group did
together in the team not work as a
order to reach worked team; they
 a common together but were trying to
objective there were at sell the
times some business idea
disconnections in isolation
as of putting
ideas and
messages
(10) together (4)
(7)
Video quality: The quality of Both the edition The quality was
the video was and the quality fairly good and
really good. of the video the sound was
The edition was were on point compromised
on point and but the acoustic by external
the acoustic failed factors
was totally sometimes (5)
favourable (10)
(20)
TOTAL:

Activity 3:

This activity is quite similar to number 2, but this time, rather than being group-evaluation
based, it will be peer-evaluation based, that is, 101. One student will assess just another
one, and vice-versa. They also belong to the eighth semester of the International Business
Program of Universidad del Magdalena, Colombia, owning a decent B1, and in some
cases, B2 level as well. This activity usually takes place at the first follow-up of the
semester and is presented during the first week of class, which means that students will
count on 4 weeks approximately for preparing it, especially watching videos related to
body language during presentations.
Instructions:
Make a 3-minute video recorded by your own cellphone simulating that you are applying
for an internship at Silicon Valley. The main requirements for being recruited are:
1. Possess a good level of English
2. Demonstrate you are a trouble-shooting candidate
3. Leadership skills and ability to work under pressure
4. Prove you possess both endurance & resilience

All these characteristics will be assessed when answering the question: Why do
you consider you are the best candidate for this six-month internship?
 You have to pretend you are actually making the video for the Human Department
Office of Silicon Valley, therefore, you must be impeccable on that video (Be
selective and wise at picking your clothes). Be careful about the audibility and quality
in general. In spite of the fact that it is a video, if you read, it will be notorious. There
must be eye contact with the camera from beginning to end. Remember: Speak
clearly & loudly. Bear in mind not only pronunciation but rhythm & intonation as well.
Your whole body must be recorded, since body language will also be taken into
consideration.

Triggered skill:

Speaking.

Rubric:
Name of the student who evaluates: _______________________________________
Name of the student being evaluated: ______________________________________

Fluency: Pronunciation There were Pronunciation

The message was on point. some errors was poorly
was No mistakes while conveyed
understandable made on this pronouncing
matter few words
(3) (2)
(5)
Security: There was In spite of The candidate
Words were security from being a little was so hesitant
connected with beginning to hesitant, the that left no
body language end. The candidate doubt on being
answers were successfully rejected
pretty defended
convincing his/her reasons
(5) for being (2)
selected
(3)
Avoided use There was no There was little There was a
of reading: reading reading little reading
whatsoever

(5) (3) (2)

Length of There was There was less Two minutes or
time: enough time than 3 minutes less speaking
duration (the
advised 5
minutes)
(5) (3) (2)
TOTAL:
Bibliography:

Churches, A. (2004). Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. [online]. Available at:

http://www.ccconline.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/Churches_2008_DigitalBloomsTaxonomyGuide.pdf [Retrieved 24th
July 2019].