Auntie Lucy,
I thought it was a great idea to work with my business students on their company's annual report. They remembered to bring one in for me, we've talked around it once and now I'm stuck for ideas on how to use it.
What can I do?
Alan
How can I teach using company annual reports?
Moderator: Joe
Using Company Reports
Dear Alan,
A company report offers many opportunities for language practice. You can try the following:
For speaking practice:
split the students into 2 groups: one group are company representatives, the others are (potential) shareholders. Give them time to prepare for a discussion.
split the students into 2 groups: one group are company representatives, the others are journalists getting ready to write a review of the company. This alternative could be followed up with writing practice.
For reading practice:
You could write some questions that check whether they have got the gist of a particular section of the report. Follow this up with some in-depth questions and deducing words from context.
For language practice:
There are many opportunities for studying the present perfect and simple past. You can ask students to underline examples that they find and to analyse why the tense was used.
Reports also contain word sets such as increase, go up. Students can look for these and organise them according to the type of movement they describe.
You can take one section of the report and create a gap-fill activity. You could blank out every tenth word. Alternatively you could choose to focus on an aspect of language such as tenses, word sets. Check on regulations before you photocopy.
A company report offers many opportunities for language practice. You can try the following:
For speaking practice:
split the students into 2 groups: one group are company representatives, the others are (potential) shareholders. Give them time to prepare for a discussion.
split the students into 2 groups: one group are company representatives, the others are journalists getting ready to write a review of the company. This alternative could be followed up with writing practice.
For reading practice:
You could write some questions that check whether they have got the gist of a particular section of the report. Follow this up with some in-depth questions and deducing words from context.
For language practice:
There are many opportunities for studying the present perfect and simple past. You can ask students to underline examples that they find and to analyse why the tense was used.
Reports also contain word sets such as increase, go up. Students can look for these and organise them according to the type of movement they describe.
You can take one section of the report and create a gap-fill activity. You could blank out every tenth word. Alternatively you could choose to focus on an aspect of language such as tenses, word sets. Check on regulations before you photocopy.
Lucy is the author of Lucy Pollard's Guide to Teaching English