Lanterna Rally

Author: Marcos Benevides

Publisher:

Published: 2018-04

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 9781941140000

Widgets Inc.: A task-based course in workplace English is a business communication course for English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) classes. It is the second edition of the course, which was originally published by Pearson Longman (Hong Kong: 2008).Students simulate being interns working for a fictional company called Widgets Inc. The course is designed to be compatible with a range of English proficiency levels (from CEFR A2 to C1), including mixed-level classes. It requires a class of 12 or more motivated adults who meet for between 22-45 hours (fifteen to thirty 90-minute periods). Students are placed into teams and follow a project-based product development cycle across 6 stages. Stage 1 introduces the company and a cast of fictional characters who interact with the class via online streamed video. Stage 2 is an R&D stage in which students brainstorm product ideas. In Stage 3, they are given several product ideas proposed by a different team, and must select the best one to go into production. In Stage 4, they are given another team's selected product and must perform market research on it. In Stage 5 they prepare a proposed marketing campaign for yet another product passed from a different team. Stage 6 is the conclusion, in which students prepare a resume and interview for a promotion within the company. Each stage is punctuated by a presentation and/or a writing task which is related to the stage's topic. Students are assessed via can-do statements built into the simulation as "employee evaluations" which include self, peer, and instructor assessments. The course features a task-complexity based syllabus rather than the traditional grammar syllabus or functional-notional syllabus.