1. Product training: Academic Skills Builder : Apply (2 hours)
Objective:
To enable staff to apply their theoretical knowledge to planning and delivering APPLY sessions
Trainees:
All staff involved in planning, running and assessing APPLY sessions
Outline:
Review (Apply definition, system fit)
Review (Teacher roles and responsibilities)
Categories and features on OBOE
Learner Independence
Task 1: Labelling and altering a session plan
Task 2: Writing, critiquing and improving a session plan
Follow up task: Running, observing and improving the session, then reporting back.
Description:
In this session, trainees will obtain first hand experience of how Life Clubs are conducted by participating in short teacher-led demonstrations in which they take on the role of students. The demonstrations serve as a basis for further reflection on the importance of elements such as feedback and unstructured language practice. 1

2. Apply Product Experience Review:
Activate your English skills in fun, ‘real-life’ situations
Run 30 minutes of a fun Life Club

3. What is Life Club? and skills they have previously learned.
Apply creates fun, real world environments and situations in which students
are provided with the opportunity to use the English, knowledge
and skills they have previously learned.
Apply helps students to build confidence and fluency and to help them
notice gaps in their language competencies to guide their further study.
This includes developing skills and knowledge in social and professional
contexts. 3

4. Language Learning Principles Apply needs to be purposeful and answer:
Why do our students attend APPLY events?
How is APPLY different from our Learn and Try modules?
Never forget student progress! 4

5. Apply Product skills builder:
Activate your English skills in fun, ‘real-life’ situations
Run 30 minutes of a fun Life Club

6. Reflection – Teacher roles
Compare Life Club sessions with F2F and WS classes.
What is similar? What is different?
Think about:
what teachers do while students are talking
how the teacher helps students participate
what teachers give feedback on
how feedback is manifest in the session (technique and timing)
Discussion
10 Minutes, 10 minutes wrap up
Key take away points:
Teachers must be a facilitator and assessor, they are responsible for showing students achievement
Facilitated by ..
Task achievement is the goal and the focus of any feedback from the teacher
NO controlled practice

7. Categories of Life Club
LC name
Category
Description
Can Do Statement
Students will race in teams of four, working together using English to solve clues and puzzles. The fastest team s will win fabulous prizes!
EF Student Amazing Race
Sports and recreational outings
I can ask for and give directions
Sports, outdoor activities and good, healthy fun -- all in English!
Description of category
Students will mingle and chat with eachother while learning about, ordering and trying different cocktails
Cocktail Making
Task, Give titles and descriptions and ask them to classify
e.g. EF Student Amazing Race IV: Students race against each other to solve a series of clues around the city. (Sports and recreational outings)
Finish by again demonstrarting the value of the can do statements
Social Life
I can make small talk
Casual conversations about friendship, marriage, family, love and life.

8. Student Independence Add Models!!
Student Independence is a concept that applies directly to the
amount of freedom and choice that students have when it comes to
their activity and language use within a Life Club.
The choice is theirs.
Low Independence — a more structured and scaffolded
experience, including:
 Handouts
 Input and elicitation phases
 More controlled and guided tasks
Ex: English Corner Low, Museum Visit
High Independence — the context and environment is
provided with little else and students decide:
 Who to talk to
 What to talk about
 How long to talk for
Ex: Current Events, Bar Night
Task: Modify LP from High to lower I, present changes and why…

9. Student Independence Session Models
Task: Modify LP from High to lower I, present changes and why…

10. Life Club Skills Training
Run 30 minutes of a fun Life Club

11. Identify a Life Club by looking at the title and description.
In this section we will
Identify a Life Club by looking at the title and description.
Identify a Life Club by analysing the session plan.
Alter a session plan to make it more suitable for different levels of student independence.
Write, Critique and improve a session plan.
After this training you will actually run and observe these Life Club Sessions!
Attendees should be better able to:
Categorise Life Clubs:
1) Life Club types
2) Independence Levels
Label Life Clubs
1) Writing Life Club titles
2) Writing Life Club descriptions
3) Choose and adapt Can Do statements
Plan Life Clubs
1) Writing Life Club plans

12. Life Club Descriptions
Take a look at the following LC description
Choose:
LC Category
The Likely independence level
Title: Speed dating
Level: Mixed
Students will meet a number of other students with the aim of getting to know each other.
This is an English only event! During this event, students will work in pairs to introduce themselves and find out information about other students in order to find people they feel compatible with.
Improve the title here
B: The Life Club description. (find this in the comments section)
If you were a student, would this description help set the correct expectations for the Life Club before you booked it?
If not, how might you improve it?

13. The likely independence level
Again, choose:
LC Category
The likely independence level
Is the wording in the plan clear enough to allow another teacher to follow it easily?
Do you agree with the stated stage purposes?
Now run the task:
Group attendees.
They should decide on the independence level and explain why
They should then try to modify the plan to change the independence level

14. Now, take a look over the lesson plan you’ve been given.
Task
In your group use the planning tool provided to write a Life Club session plan.
Choose a Life Club you are actually going to teach in the coming weeks!
Now, take a look over the lesson plan you’ve been given.
Would you be able to teach this easily by simply following the lesson plan?
Write down some suggestions and questions you have about the Session.
Now, in your new groups improve one of the session plans based on the suggestions and discussion you have just been through.
Attendees should be better able to:
Categorise Life Clubs:
1) Life Club types
2) Independence Levels
Label Life Clubs
1) Writing Life Club titles
2) Writing Life Club descriptions
3) Choose and adapt Can Do statements
Plan Life Clubs
1) Writing Life Club plans

15. The Life Club Page
This page was put together to help teachers and other staff in a number of ways…
It hosts the toolkit (Session planning tool, observation form, Life Club Manual…).
It hosts the training and information materials and videos.
It hosts example videos, and example session plans
You can check out and take part in the discussion boards.
You can post comments and questions about planning and running Life Clubs and get responses
Discussion
10 Minutes, 10 minutes wrap up
Key take away points:
Teachers must be a facilitator and assessor, they are responsible for showing students achievement
Facilitated by ..
Task achievement is the goal and the focus of any feedback from the teacher
NO controlled practice

16. Handouts at Life Club events?
Handouts can be a useful tool for a teacher at Life Club. Their use can vary depending on the activity but an important point is that they are not intended to be the main focus of the event. The handout is intended as support material and they may also be given out at different stages.
- At the beginning: Handouts can be given out at the beginning of an event as an instructional tool e.g. at a cooking event.
- During an event: The handout can be used as a conversation starter or a discussion point e.g. at a bar night
- Near the end of the event: It can be used to re-cap ideas, language and skills that were useful during the event.

17. What tools are available for planning Life Club sessions?
Review
In your group summarize the main points you’ll take away from today’s session.
What do you need to know and be able to do to plan and execute Life Club events?
What tools are available for planning Life Club sessions?
Where can you find them?
Where can you find help when planning Life Club sessions?
Attendees should be better able to:
Categorise Life Clubs:
1) Life Club types
2) Independence Levels
Label Life Clubs
1) Writing Life Club titles
2) Writing Life Club descriptions
3) Choose and adapt Can Do statements
Plan Life Clubs
1) Writing Life Club plans

19. What makes a successful Life Club event?
The elements for a successful Life Club event can be categorized under the following:
Fun - Did the students enjoy the event?
Interactive – Was the event conducive to interaction between participants in English? Was the room set up good enough?
Educational – What type of feedback did the participants take away from the event?
Labour the point about room set up.
Elicit different seating arrangements and how to decorate the room with pics and realia to enhance the experience
Cultural – Were there any cultural elements that the participants could experience from the event?

20. What should a good LC teacher do?
When attending a pre-planned event
- Did they carry out their assigned job duties for the event?
- Did they interact with students on a consistent basis?
- Did the teacher encourage the use of English only?
- Were they aware of potential problems with student interaction during the event? E.g. isolated students or incorrect seating arrangements.
- Did the teacher set up the room in the best way? E.g. placing materials, seating arrangements.
- Did the teacher make use of the event handout as a language tool?

21. Follow Up…
You’ll be assigned a partner In the coming weeks, run the Life Club session you have planned for real. Your partner should observe, using the Observation form provided. Switch roles and repeat. Improve the session plans based on the feedback you got from your partner. Report back to the group on how you improved the session and why the session was: A great experience for students Useful for students
Framework:
What did you plan?
Why?
How well did it work?
What did you decide to change?
How was the final version:
Fun, engaging and a great experience for the students?
Useful and effective in helping students to improve their English?