The 10 Introductory CareerKit Lessons for ESOL Beginning and Low Intermediate level students – adapted from NYSED/CUNY CareerKit Fundamentals Unit 1 – have level-appropriate information about the various sectors along with robust language practice. Students work on vocabulary development, work-related dialogues, reading comprehension, and question formation. Each lesson provides 6 hours of instruction. Teaching all 10 lessons gives a teacher the chance to provide up 60 hours of instruction . You’ll find all 10 lessons in Google Docs: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KA2CLCUVn7GU3zd0CvmuFzvIhPSSeTOg?usp=sharing
Each of the 10 lessons follows a similar format, and includes the following communicative activities that scaffold the career information for the sector and provide opportunities for practice and review:
• What Do We Know About the Sector
• Introducing Key Vocabulary for the Sector
• Practicing Key Vocabulary
• Jobs in the Sector
• Sector Profile and Interest Check
• What I Learned About the Sector
At the start of the lesson, students brainstorm to activate knowledge about the sector. All the lessons end with a simple survey that asks about interest in the sector, as well as a summary of what was learned. The
“Interest Check” allows students to begin to think about – and document – their careerpath interest. Students choose their own best answer (Yes / No / I’m not sure.) and then they discuss their answers.
Here’s a sample “Interest Check” from the introductory lesson for the Community and Social Services Sector.
“Interest Check: What about you?”
Choose the best answer for you.
- I work well with people. Yes No I’m not sure.
- I like to help people look good. Yes No I’m not sure.
- I communicate well with others. Yes No I’m not sure.
- I want to work for a government agency. Yes No I’m not sure.
- I want to keep people safe and protect neighborhoods. Yes No I’m not sure.
The key vocabulary practice is followed by a vocabulary review. The vocabulary review often has an intentional grammar point that teachers can work on. For example, in the Education and Childcare Sector Lesson, the sentences all start with “There is…” or “There are…” While there are no explicit grammar points written into the lessons, these intentional grammar points provide an opening for teachers to teach grammar in context.
If you are doing more than one lesson – perhaps even using the 10 lessons as a curriculum – you should consider having students use the information they have gathered to look at JobZone or CareerCruising. There is a note in each lessons (after activity four) suggesting this extension activity. This of course, will depend on the level of the students and their readiness to do such research.
These lessons are a great way to start the careerpath conversation with your students. They work as standalone lessons, but because they are written in a way that allows students to become comfortable with the format, I would suggest using them as a whole.
