Preparing learners for the

21st century
6Y06

Participants task 1: Critical thinking in Cambridge English exams

Read this opening paragraph of a Part 5 reading text, and the question below. Which
of the options A D are correct?

Classroom activities
Classroom activity 1: Mobile phones, love them or hate them?
Timing

50 minutes+, depending on time allowed for step 6

Materials

face2face Intermediate Students book 1B p6 (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press)

Rationale

This activity is aimed at learners who are at B1/B2-level English. It

uses the coursebook page as a starting point but then expands to
integrate reading, speaking and writing skills. It is essentially a
problem-solving task learners explore problems around the use of
mobile phones, and then come up with possible solutions. It helps to
develop critical thinking skills, by requiring them to justify their answers
and opinions and extend their reasoning. It also develops
communication skills, for example, through reading a text and
analysing the key points, discussing ideas effectively and considering
the audience when producing recommendations.

Procedure
1. Working in pairs, ask learners to discuss the following questions:

Does your mobile phone sometimes make you angry? What about other
people do they sometimes annoy you with their mobile phones?

Feed back ideas to the whole class.

2. Ask learners to focus on the pictures of Amy and Jeremy on p6 of face2face
Intermediate. Ask: Which one of these people do you think has a mobile phone?
Which one hasnt? Why? Encourage learners to justify their reasoning as they
give their answers, and encourage other learners to also question their
classmates reasoning. One way to do this is to ask: What (about X) makes you
think that?
3. Divide the class into two groups. Group A must read Amys text, and Group B
must read Jeremys text. As they read, they should consider the following:

Do you think your text was written: a) this year; b) 2 years ago; c) 10 years
ago? Why?

Ask learners to share their answers and explain why they chose them to the rest
of their group. Monitor and encourage learners to extend and explain their
reasoning.

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

4. Each group must answer comprehension questions about their text.

Group A

Do you use your phone for the same reasons as Amy, or for other reasons?

What problems does she have with her phone? Can you think of any
solutions?

Group B

What specific reasons does Jeremy have for not liking mobile phones? Do
you agree with any of them?

Can you think of anything he can do to solve these problems?

5. Regroup learners into groups of four, with two from Group A and two from
Group B. The new groups should carry out the following tasks:

Explain to your group when you think your text was written, and why.

As: tell Bs about Amys problems, and ask them for any solutions. Then tell
them what your solutions are.

Bs: tell As why Jeremy dislikes mobile phones. Ask them if they have any
solutions, and say what your answers are to these problems.

Overall, do you think people should be allowed to use mobile phones on

public transport (trains, buses, metro, etc.)? Why/Why not?

6. Still in their groups of four, learners must produce a set of recommendations for
mobile phone use, and decide how to present them. They will need to consider
who their audience is and where their recommendations will be displayed. Should
the recommendations be written or audio-visual? What style will they use? What
will be the tone? Once they have produced their recommendations, groups can
present them to the class for review and reactions on how effective they are.

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Classroom activity 2: Efficient internet searching

Timing

10 minutes

Materials

worksheet: Internet searching

Rationale

This activity can be used with learners of any level of English. It will
help them to become more efficient in their internet searching.

Procedure
1. Ask who has searched for something on the internet today/in the past 24 hours/in
the past week. Ask some questions, according to the learners level, such as:

What did you search for?

Did you find the information you were looking for?

Do you always find what youre looking for easily on the internet?

Have you ever been frustrated in an internet search? Why?

2. Elicit how learners go about searching on the internet. Write ~ on the board and
ask if anyone ever uses this symbol when they search. If not, explain that this
symbol can help make their searches more efficient. If so, elicit what the symbol
means (it searches for related words, not just the word you typed in the search
engine).
3. Give out the worksheet: Internet searching. Learners must match the search
terms with the functions.
4. When learners have done the task, take feedback (see key to worksheet, below),
and elicit situations when each search term would be useful.
Extension

Allow learners to practise using the search terms online.

Elicit any other search terms that learners know and ask them to teach these to
the rest of the class (in English).

Key to worksheet
1) e

2) d

3) c

4) b

5) a

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Worksheet: Internet searching

Match the search term to its function.
1)

2012..2016

a)

excludes this term from the search

2)

b)

searches within a specified site only

3)

c)

searches for the exact phrase

4)

site

d)

searches related words, e.g. college/university

5)

e)

shows results within a specified time period

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Classroom activity 3: Making a school logo

Timing

50 minutes

Materials

56 images of logos that will be of interest to learners (these can be

from companies or institutions); learners will need access to the
internet, but this can be done out of class time, or on personal devices

Rationale

This activity is aimed at learners who are working at A2/B1-level

English. The aim of it is to make a school logo, and it develops both
information literacy and ICT literacy, as well as other skills such as
problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and collaboration. As
well as those skills, the activity develops learners reading skills
scanning and reading for detail; their speaking skills expressing
opinions, justifying opinions; and language for making, accepting or
rejecting suggestions, as well as modal verbs for possibility. These are
all skills which are required in Cambridge English Reading and
Speaking exams.

Procedure
1. Show learners 56 logos of companies or institutions that are well known to them.
In pairs/small groups, learners must identify the company or institution.
2. Feed back in plenary, asking learners what the logo may represent.
3. Once you have a range of suggestions for each logo, learners go back into their
pairs or small groups to search online for the explanations or interpretations of
the logos. The teacher may need to divide the task, giving one logo per group.
Learners could also do this as homework, or on their personal devices, such as
mobile phones, if these are available. Learners should be encouraged or taught
to search effectively, e.g. using search terms.
4. When theyve finished searching, ask learners to feed back what they found to
the class. They should include the website/s where they found their information
and the search terms they used, and how these helped them.
5. Discuss the reasons why logos are so important and why so much thought goes
into their design. Learners could give examples of logos they find more or less
effective, and explain their opinions.
6. Regroup learners into groups of 46. Each group needs to design a logo for their
school (or town, or other institution of their choosing). This should be broken
down into smaller tasks: identifying the key values, perhaps through some
research or a survey; learning about making logos from internet sources;

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

sketching initial designs using computer applications or online applications. There

are some useful websites below.
7. Each group then presents their logo and the thinking behind it to the rest of the
class.
Useful websites

https://logomakr.com

http://www.wikihow.com/Design-a-Logo

http://www.car-brand-names.com/bmw-logo/

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Notes

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Notes

10

PREPARING LEARNERS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY