Developing Life Skills

Think about the last time you worked in a group… What was your role? How could you have performed better ?

Think about a problem you had at work recently… How did you solve it?

Describe a situation where you showed amazing speed of

thought and self control in the face of persistent

and irrelevant questioning.

Interviews are not like they used to be…

Make a guess:What percentage of employers place high importance on each of the following things?

• The ability to appreciate an alternative point of view• Communication skills and the ability to work in teams• The ability to grasp complex information• The right academic qualifications

Source GRADdirect, 2008

What skills are required outside the classroom?

Make a guess:What percentage of employers place high importance on each of the following things?

• The ability to appreciate an alternative point of view• Communication skills and the ability to work in teams• The ability to grasp complex information• The right academic qualifications

Source GRADdirect, 2008

What skills are required outside the classroom?

42%

Make a guess:What percentage of employers place high importance on each of the following things?

• The ability to appreciate an alternative point of view• Communication skills and the ability to work in teams• The ability to grasp complex information• The right academic qualifications

Source GRADdirect, 2008

What skills are required outside the classroom?

42%62%

Make a guess:What percentage of employers place high importance on each of the following things?

• The ability to appreciate an alternative point of view• Communication skills and the ability to work in teams• The ability to grasp complex information• The right academic qualifications

Source GRADdirect, 2008

What skills are required outside the classroom?

42%62%68%

Make a guess:What percentage of employers place high importance on each of the following things?

• The ability to appreciate an alternative point of view• Communication skills and the ability to work in teams• The ability to grasp complex information• The right academic qualifications

Source GRADdirect, 2008

What skills are required outside the classroom?

42%62%68%27%

The Four Cs of the Business World

Critical thinking

Communication

Collaboration

Creativity

Collaboration

Managing time & schedules Motivating a teamMaking plans Developing empathyBrainstorming Building communitiesWorking in a team Maximizing potentialHaving cultural awareness Understanding decision-Listening actively making stylesDiscussing alternatives Understanding rights &Reaching a compromise responsibilitiesGiving & receiving feedback Persuading others

Creativity

Doing research Developing curiosityBrainstorming Categorizing creativelyEstimating & guessing Making personal changeThinking “out of the box” Solving problemsAvoiding stereotypes Preparing an argumentDeveloping empathy or a presentationTurning problems into Contributing ideas to aopportunities team Maximizing your potential

Is education keeping up?

Learning: past, present, and future

In the mid-90s:

“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist . . . using technologies that haven’t yet been invented . . . in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”

Richard Riley, Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton

The future of work and careersAre today’s graduates better prepared to work?

“… students graduating from secondary schools, technical colleges, and universities are sorely lacking in some basicskills and a large number of applied skills:

• Oral and written communication• Critical thinking and problem solving

• Professionalism and work ethic• Teamwork and collaboration

• Working in diverse teams• Applying technology

• Leadership and project management

American Management Association(about 2008)

• Brought up on “teaching to the test”, students can lack the meta-skills – initiative, teamworking capability , etc. – required in the fast moving world of modern business.

• Meta (or transferable) skills such as teamworking, effective communication, and adaptability are becoming increasingly important to employers. They are vital in the modern labour market, as employees are increasingly required to move between quite different projects and roles.

The Mobile Economy, Reform (think tank), 2008

Innovation

Learning to….

UNESCO: Four Pillars of Education, 1996

Learning to…know

Learning to…do

Learning to…live together

Learning to…be

InnovationThe Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The 21st Century FrameworkCore Subjects: -Language arts, foreign languages, science, math,

history, etc.PLUS

21st century topics:-Global awareness, civic literacy -Learning and innovation skills-Information, media, and technology skills-Life and career skills

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

The big challenge…

How do I teach life skills/soft skills/competencies and still teach the present perfect?!

Competency development activities…

- are content / outcome based and not focused on accuracy or the use of specific language.- make the process at least as important as the product.- take into consideration the students’ age and intellectual capacity while keeping the language at an appropriate level.

For example…

Global and The Business 2.0 for the 21st Century classroom

Target skill: thinking creatively(the ability to think in new, innovative ways; “thinking outside the box”)

Understand the problem Open your mind and be creative Identify the best solution

Technique 2: “Different hats” technique

Look at the problem from different perspectives.

Consider each of these people in turn and decide what features each one might find most attractive.

the party animal

the busy mom

the student

the sports fan

Which features will……everyone be interested in?…people use most often?…probably be too expensive or too impractical?…people probably not use very often?

Features to keep:1 __________________________________________2 __________________________________________3 __________________________________________

Apply your creative thinking to the real world. Think about the features you have come up with and answer these questions.

Summary

The skills students generally acquire in the classroom may not represent the “whole picture”; i.e., they may not be the skills that employers value most highly and that give students the most flexibilityin their future careers.

We can help our students develop both their English-language skills and their“transferable skills,” or “life skills,” by including systematic work on these skills as a part of our regular syllabus.

Language competence + general competencies =

success!