Welcome to Widgets, a different kind of communication course!

What makes Widgets truly different from other language teaching textbooks is its focus on creating a believable, “real-life” English-speaking environment in the classroom. Students imagine that they are new employees at an exciting international company, Widgets Incorporated, where they must work together in small groups to perform various practical, yet fun, tasks.

In this way, every classroom activity is realistically connected. All conversations, discussions, presentations, videos, interviews, role-plays have an authentic purpose.

This has several advantages:

• It recycles language: Relevant vocabulary and model sentences reappear again and again in inconspicuous ways. This not only implicitly reinforces language patterns, it also builds the confidence to use them in their appropriate contexts.
• It is easy to understand the purpose of activities: Because all tasks are realistic and connected, even less linguistically proficient students can always follow what is being asked of them, and indeed, often predict what might come next.
• It is motivating: Students appreciate the practical aspect of tasks, because more than just practicing English, they are also applying real-world skills. In our experience, this has led to greater participation, less use of the L1 in the classroom and a marked decrease in absenteeism.

As a result, we have found that students invariably rise to the challenge of the course and almost unanimously end up endorsing the approach with genuine enthusiasm.

We are sure you will also agree that Widgets is easy to use and fun to teach. However, it is extremely important that you consider the entire course as a whole before beginning. In particular, because much of the work is in the form of in-class discussions, project preparation and presentations, it is a good idea to think carefully about the timing of the full course. For example, a class of 40 students will take more than three times longer to give presentations than a class of 12!

Therefore, in order for you and your students to get the most out of Widgets, please do take some time to read over this manual and familiarize yourself with the Student Book. We especially recommend that you consider in advance how the suggested lesson plans match up with your own schedule.

Widgets was designed as a fluency building course for non-native speakers of English. Our primary aim was to create a course which could simulate a realistic English-speaking context for EFL students. However, we feel that the course is remarkably open to adaptation and could therefore be used in a wide range of situations.

The course is best suited for classes of between 12 and 40 young adult students (16–24 is ideal), at a pre-intermediate level and above. As it is sequenced according to task complexity rather than language forms, it works well even with mixed-ability classes.

Here are some important points to consider:

Widgets…

• is themed. All classroom work, tasks and projects were designed around the idea that students are employees at a company, Widgets Incorporated. This adds authenticity to activities, helps establish a real-life English-speaking context and allows for the recycling of language forms and vocabulary. However, this also means that the course must be taught holistically and in the proper sequence. We strongly advise against presenting these tasks or units as stand-alone lessons, changing the order of the six stages or skipping a stage. That would be a bit like trying to read a novel by reading its chapters out of sequence!
• is task-based. Activities and assessment follow the principles of task-based language teaching (TBLT). This means that the primary focus is always on “getting things done ” rather than on displaying a perfectly correct use of language forms. This does not mean that the usage of correct language forms is not important, only that it is of secondary importance after meaning (i.e., the appropriate completion of tasks) has been considered. See Part 2 of this manual for a clear summary of TBLT and task-based assessment.
• integrates all language skills. Although Widgets focuses on oral communication tasks, it includes short, but important, reading, writing and viewing components as well. Furthermore, because tasks are all thematically linked, they support each other in a realistic and approachable way. Throughout the course, other language skills always directly support the speaking activities.
• is communicative. The underlying purpose of nearly all tasks in this course, from video viewings to peer evaluations, is to get students communicating with each other and the teacher in authentic ways. For that reason, there are no prepared dialogs to practice and repeat. Rather, students are challenged to push the boundaries of their existing English ability by using the language as they might in a real-life context.
• is student-centered. In its team projects, Widgets offers an increasing amount of autonomy to students. Even as task complexity increases, you will find that teacher-fronted time steadily decreases. Widgets also features an innovative project manager system which further empowers and motivates students.

Widgets helps students who already have a basic foundation in vocabulary and simple grammar to develop their general fluency. By the time students have finished the course, they will be more motivated, confident and articulate speakers, and will have a greater implicit understanding of the importance of contextualized language, cultural conventions and negotiated meaning. They will also have practiced and internalized a variety of high-frequency vocabulary terms and idioms.

This course is organized according to task complexity, rather than language complexity. It begins with rather easy tasks, such as shaking hands and chatting about the weekend, and quickly progresses through mini-debates, a formal business presentation, creating and presenting a short skit, and finally an in-depth job interview.

If your initial reaction after reading the above is, “Oh, no! There's no way my students can do that!” do not panic. We find that it is a common and understandable reaction in countries where communicative teaching has never quite taken hold.

To understand why your students can perform these tasks, please consider these points:

Widgets is divided into six stages. Some tasks appear in more than one stage, for example the Water cooler chat warm-ups or the “Sell, sell, sell!” information gaps. However, the stages do not generally follow a simple, recurring pattern of activities as in most English language textbooks. Furthermore, the stages are not equal in length—some are shorter, some are longer. Nevertheless, we have found that this format does not detract from the ease of use of the course. Since it reads like a story, it is actually quite difficult to lose one's place.

Perhaps the best way to think of Widgets is as a hybrid of the following three components:

• role-plays
• stories
• textbooks

Role-plays are effective in EFL classes because they allow students to step outside themselves, take risks and really try to imagine what it is like to be an English speaker. Stories have the benefit of structuring knowledge in ways that engage and pull us toward a satisfying conclusion. They are also a great source of real language used in context. Finally, textbooks are carefully organized in such a way as to deliberately lead learners toward greater knowledge and achievement.

We have gone to great lengths to balance these elements very precisely in Widgets.

The following stage-by-stage summary will give you a good overview of the sequence of the course.

Stage 1 is the introduction stage. It is designed to help students create a sense of context and community, and to ease them into the task-based, student-centered format of the course. For these reasons, Stage 1 tasks are relatively easy to accomplish, even for lower-level students. Please note, however, that task complexity will increase considerably as the course progresses. Note also that the teacher does not play a particular character role in Widgets, but rather is implicitly represented throughout the course as the "supervisor."

Stage 1 tasks were designed with the assumption that students do not know each other well, and furthermore are attending a class in an EFL context where cultural conventions such as shaking hands and exchanging business cards, as they are done in the West, are not entirely familiar. If this is not the case for your students, you may want to move more quickly through these tasks. In fact, Widgets is designed in such a way that Stages 1 and 6 are somewhat more adaptable to different classroom circumstances. It is possible to skip some Stage 1 tasks, and even Stage 6 in its entirety, without affecting the core of the course.

What is important is that students are placed in their teams of four (and/or five, if necessary) by the end of Stage 1!

Stage 2 is moderately more difficult than Stage 1, because students are now discussing ideas and engaging in goal-oriented tasks in their teams. Nevertheless, the main outcome, writing an official product proposal, is still relatively simple.

Teams
Four-person (or five-person) teams are a crucial component of this course for several reasons. First, being placed in small teams is an authentic real-world situation and should always be noted as such to students. Second, by dividing the class into small, semi-permanent groups, it allows students to have regular access to several different speaking partners, while still giving them a certain comfort level with a smaller group. Third, it allows each student to play an important role in each team project. That is, no one can get away unnoticed. Finally, it allows each student to be project manager at least once, and during that time to have a chance to evaluate the performance of each of their team members.

Most Widgets tasks were designed for teams of four students. This is the ideal situation; however, we realize that it may not be possible to do. If the number of students in your class cannot be divided evenly into teams of four, assign as many students as possible to teams of four, then assign the remaining students to teams of five. For example, a class of 22 students should ideally be divided into five teams: three teams of four students, and two teams of five students.

As a rule of thumb, note that the best case scenario for this course is a total of 16 to 24 students, in four to six teams of four (with the odd team of five) students each. All tasks were designed with this ideal range in mind. If you have considerably fewer or more students, you may need to adapt some tasks to your situation. For instance, you may need to adjust the time allotted for presentations. We do not recommend Widgets for classes of fewer than 12 or more than 40 students.

For large classes (25 to 40), overall classroom management may be smoother with teams of five, as this will cut down on the total number of teams. However, teams of five require that two students share project manager duties during one of the stages. We recommend Stage 4 or Stage 5 for co-managers, as these are the most complex stages. Also, the larger the teams, the fewer opportunities students may have to participate in discussions. Therefore, teachers should monitor these teams more closely. We do not recommend teams with more than five students each, or more than eight teams in total per class, unless the teacher is willing to make considerable adaptations to tasks where necessary.

For small classes (12 to 15), teams of three students can still be effective, but keep in mind that one student will need to be project manager more than once. We do not recommend any teams of fewer than three students or fewer than four teams in total per class. Again, if you are going to attempt this, please take extra care when reviewing the various tasks and overall scope of the course, and adapt where necessary.

Choosing teams
This can be done in various ways, but generally, random selection works well. Numbering off students works especially well, since it tends to break up cliques who might otherwise choose to sit together.

To number off, first calculate the total number of teams you want, then point at each student in turn, assigning them a number from 1 to the total. Then, ask each student to stand up, find students with the same number and sit together. This will become the standard seating arrangement for most classes between Stages 2 and 5.

Note that teams do not need to be physically in the same class, though they do need to proceed at the same pace. It might be possible, for instance, to use Widgets in a small private conversation school where each class of four students meets at a different time and/or with a different teacher, though this would require some careful planning.

Projects
The main tasks, or projects, constitute the bulk of Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5. They are outlined here in terms of outcomes, or final goals. Keep in mind that each of these projects includes several important steps or component tasks which are completed in sequence.

• Stage 2: Each team submits one appropriate Product Proposal Form per team member.
• Stage 3: Each team gives an appropriate, informative poster presentation.
• Stage 4: Each team prepares and presents a formal, business-like presentation.
• Stage 5: Each team prepares and performs a short TV infomercial skit.

There are several ways to organize and present these tasks to students. We have found that the most effective is to use the project managers as intermediaries between the teacher and the teams. In this way, it becomes each project manager's responsibility to organize their teams as they think best.

Here are some brief notes regarding each project:

Brainstorming project (submit Product Proposal Forms)
This is the simplest project. Project managers are in charge of coordinating and encouraging discussions, and monitoring that all students are on target. In the end, students will be graded as a team, although teachers may wish to give bonus points to students who submit particularly good proposals.

It is extremely important that all students submit their Product Proposal Form on time. This project is a good opportunity to highlight participation issues. For instance, what happens to employees who do not contribute to the team, who are late or absent or who miss deadlines?

Poster presentation
A poster presentation is a way of displaying information in a more informal way than a regular presentation. Some of its advantages are that it encourages one-on-one interaction, allows for immediate clarifications, is less intimidating for both presenter and observer, and, in the language classroom, allows students to present the same information several times over.

Teams prepare a large poster and put it up around the walls of the classroom. You may want to move tables and chairs into the center. Two team members stay with the poster, and two team members move in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction so all students are moving in the same direction. They then listen to the next team's presentation, ask questions, etc., before moving again in the same direction. Once the moving students have gone all the way around the classroom, repeat the cycle one more time, but this time the two students who stayed with the poster now circulate around the classroom.

The atmosphere for this project should be relaxed and informal, and students should feel free to ask any questions they may have. And remember, each student is an inventor of at least one product on the wall, so there will be questions!

Market research presentation
This can be a complex project to organize. However, we are very confident that the Student Book provides plenty of examples and support for students, especially the DVD. As the teacher, your major concern in this stage should really be timing. How many class periods will your students need? How much extra support do you want to give? For example, do you want to give a tutorial on using PowerPoint or on making handouts, or just leave it all up to the teams?

Remember that the lesson plans included in this book were written with a certain generic classroom situation in mind. This would be relatively well motivated, intermediate-level students, in a class of 16–24 students. So you will need to consider how your own students compare.

It is difficult to give advice specific to each classroom situation, but the following general guidelines have worked well for us:

• A total of 40 respondents is a good, manageable number for teams to survey.
• Depending on your location, you may not be able to expect students to actually hold interviews in English. This is not a big problem, although of course, conducting interviews in English would be preferable.
• Interviews should be done outside of class time.

Infomercial
The infomercial project has always been the high point of the course for students, but it does take some setting up. It is important, first of all, to give students some examples of the fun characteristics of infomercials (over-acted, somewhat contrived, overly enthusiastic and pushy).

The infomercial provided in the DVD is a good model, but feel free to bring in real examples as well.

One of the most successful parts of this activity is getting audience participation. By this point in the class, most teams have some stake in the various products. During any particular infomercial presentation, there will be four or five students who had a hand in coming up with the product idea, four or five others who chose it from a selection of ideas and then a few who performed market research on the product. This means that a majority of the students in the class will be genuinely interested in watching the infomercial! Encourage teams to use this energy by asking rhetorical questions of the audience (e.g., “Do you want this product? YES!”) and eliciting applause and cheers.

Product rotation
It is very important to the product development sequence that the products rotate between teams as the class progresses through Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5. You may want to think of a system in advance, for instance, rotating products clockwise based on where teams sit in the classroom, so that you do not become confused. You may also want to keep a detailed product portfolio (see below).

Product portfolios
Product portfolios are an optional component of the course. However, we find that keeping an organized file containing summaries of the outcomes of Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 is a good way to ensure that teams can build on previous teams' work. Here is a brief description of the process:

1. Prepare a folder or binder for each team. This should be large enough to accommodate up to about 50 sheets of paper, and preferably be divided into four sections.

2. After collecting and evaluating the product proposals at the beginning of Stage 3, place them in the portfolio, ready to be passed to the next team.
3. At the appropriate point in Stage 3, give the portfolio to the next team's project manager. Stress that it is their responsibility to keep it safe, and to bring it to class each day.
4. At the beginning of Stage 4, the portfolio is handed in to the teacher, who passes it on to the next team.
5. Repeat the process as in step 4 above, when the students begin Stage 5.
6. At the end of Stage 5, the teacher may take the portfolio to assist in grading. (Later, be sure to return any items which the students may want to keep!)

Note that, in our minds, the product portfolio is more of an aid to organization than it is a project by itself. We have started implementing it in our own classes as a way to deal with the occasional problem of students forgetting materials at home, which can impact team projects.

Project managers
The use of project managers is an integral part of the way this course is organized, and it serves several very important functions. For instance, it quickly organizes groups of students in an authentic way, it allows for a more student-centered classroom and it pushes all students to take on more demanding tasks in a controlled and relatively comfortable situation.

The first project manager chosen, in Stage 2, is almost invariably the most capable and confident student in the team. This is perfect, because this student then sets the standard for what a good project manager should do. As the course progresses, the shy or less confident students will learn what is involved in being project manager, and hopefully, will rise to the challenge when their turn arrives. It can be incredibly empowering for them when this happens, and you can even tell the student afterwards that their stage (Stage 4 or Stage 5) was much more challenging than the earlier ones!

A possible adaptation to consider is pulling out project managers during the Water cooler chat warm-ups, for a short management meeting where you prepare them for the day's tasks.

Ultimately, the teacher has a lot of leeway regarding how to organize this aspect of the course. You may choose to use project managers simply as informal group leaders with no special roles beyond those outlined in the Student Book.

However, we have found that a strict hierarchical approach, where the teacher gives instructions directly to project managers, who are then responsible for rallying their teams on their own, is very effective and realistic. For instance, as the teacher circulates around the class during discussions, any criticism can be directed at the project manager directly. For example, we find it very effective to ask the project manager, rather than the other students, “Why are people in your team not speaking English? You know that this is your responsibility to control, right?”

We also find that it is motivating to give grade bonuses and penalties to project managers. For example, if a team achieves a grade above 80 percent in their team project, the team manager receives a bonus of 5 percent added to this total. On the other hand, if the team gets a grade below 70 percent, the project manager receives a 5 percent penalty deduction.

Debriefing interviews
This is an optional, albeit recommended, aspect of the course. At the end of Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5, we suggest that the teacher schedule one-on-one interviews with each project manager. This is advantageous for several reasons:

• It allows the teacher to interview each student in the class by the end of the course, aiding in assessment and increasing direct teacher-student interaction. Yet, because there will be a small number of project managers to interview each time, it is still manageable for teachers in terms of time.
• It allows teachers to indirectly assess other students in each team and keep track of potential problems on an ongoing basis.
• It provides a realistic context in which students can speak more naturally than they might otherwise. Consider the average interview situation, which tries to simulate a conversational context, but really is just a sequence of prepared questions. Because the debriefing interviews in Widgets, on the other hand, are based on authentic information, students can reasonably predict and prepare what they might talk about and be asked to answer, which is directly related to language forms and vocabulary they have been using in the classroom.

Water cooler chats
The Water cooler chat activities have been quite popular with students. These are meant to simulate what happens in most work environments, where casual interaction between co-workers often occurs before work or during breaks.

Within the Widgets framework, Water cooler chats function as speaking warm-ups. Although the water cooler chat icons are only specifically indicated in the Student Book in a few places, we encourage teachers to set aside 10 minutes at the start of most lessons for this activity, after it is first introduced on page 11 of the Student Book. The first few times, students can begin by referring to the situation cards in Appendix A of the Student Book for support, but the idea is that they will eventually move towards simply conversing about their own lives. We also encourage teachers to use this opportunity to circulate among the students and participate themselves.

We have had excellent results encouraging students to get together in groups of two or three from the time they enter the classroom and start speaking English until we give them the “OK, let's get to work!” instruction about 10 minutes into the class itself. It might be preferable to ask students to switch partners each time, but this is not something we have enforced very strictly. In the end, it is better to keep this activity as unstructured and authentic as possible.

Remember that water cooler chats can also be used as fillers when some teams have finished a task ahead of others.

Note also that it might be important to work out a strict lateness policy in advance, as some students tend to initially see this activity as an excuse to come in a bit later than usual.

Language models
Widgets contains many models of authentic language, which is intended to help focus students on their interactive tasks. These often take the form of short illustrated dialogs, like the one at the bottom of page 9 in the Student Book. Please note that these are not standard dialogs such as you will find in many ELT textbooks. They are presented as implicit examples only, and are not meant to be rehearsed by students.

It is an important tenet of task-based language teaching (TBLT) that teachers do not normally specify the language forms to be practiced during a task. Rather, as the instructor, your job should be to monitor how students are trying to use their language to interact, giving them language solutions if they ask for them, and noting any relevant examples of language used (poorly or well!), which can then be discussed with the class after the task has been completed.

In short, it is important to let students try to communicate right from the beginning, because this will make them more likely to realize where they need to learn a particular structure or vocabulary term. It is then that they will be truly receptive to new language.

For a clear summary of TBLT, please refer to Part 2 of this manual.

Widgets product catalog tasks (Sell, sell, sell!)
These tasks are classic information gaps. Each student looks at a different product catalog page and relates information to their partner, who writes it down and asks clarification questions. As such, they can be managed in various ways by experienced teachers. We recommend this general sequence for intermediate-level classes:

1. Divide the class into two groups: Person As and Person Bs.
2. Have all of the Person As, together, open their books to the appropriate page and read their own catalog product page. Person Bs do the same.
3. Have Person As discuss the product together, in preparation for the information gap. What is it, how does it work, etc. Person Bs do the same. This is to ensure that all students understand the product and its function.
4. Pair off Person As and Person Bs, and have them do the information gap, as instructed in the Student Book.
5. After the task, briefly discuss the two products and the students' reactions with the whole class. They are likely to have several questions, which could lead to interesting discussions (for instance, “Why are there fine print disclaimers?”)

For advanced students, it may be not be necessary to do steps 1 to 3 above, and you might simply start at step 4.

Note that, in the Widgets simulation, these pages serve several important purposes.

• They heighten the context by reminding students of what it is the company does.
• They add a sense of fun, since the products are meant to be somewhat humorous.
• They give students a chance to mix with classmates outside of their teams.
• They provide examples of language which is useful throughout the various stages.
• They give students ideas for the kinds of products they themselves can think of.

The Widgets product catalog tasks only appear in the first three stages of the Student Book. However, two extra sets of the Widgets product catalog tasks, featuring new Widgets products, are available on the Downloads page. These can be downloaded and copied for use in later stages or whenever you have extra time in your lessons.

Employee Evaluation Forms
The Employee Evaluation Forms at the end of each stage should ideally be handed in to the teacher at the end of that stage. There are two ways in which this can be done:

1. The teacher downloads and photocopies the form and gives one to each student. In this case, the copy in the Student Book should be used as a rough draft.

or

2. Students fill out the appropriate page for homework, then make a photocopy themselves before the next class and hand it in.

After the students hand them in, the teacher should scan them, add comments where desired and return them to students to keep as an ongoing log of their progress in the course.

These self-evaluation forms should not impact the student's final grade (except, perhaps if they do not complete them). They are intended to focus the student's attention on some of the objectives of each stage and the course as a whole. We have found that these are an invaluable way for students to think about their own goals and objectives throughout the course.

The items in the evaluation forms are presented as “can-do” statements. This is in accordance with task-based assessment principles and is an especially practical way for students to think about their language learning achievements. Compare, for example, the relative impact of the following two statements:

“I have a score of 540 on the TOEFL.”

or

“I can comfortably participate in a group discussion.”

Which is really more meaningful to students?

Please refer to Part 2 of this manual for a more detailed explanation of task-based assessment principles.

DVD video
The DVD video scenes included in this course were all written specifically to present authentic models of language in use in context. For this reason, the actors were instructed to not adapt their speech. This may make it difficult for lower-level students, but please keep in mind that at no point in the course are students expected to understand 100 percent of what is said in the video scenes.

Indeed, we have designed these video tasks to be difficult for the average intermediate-level student. The purpose of these tasks is to generate group discussion. In all cases, students are expected to take short notes and to catch as much as they can. In the follow-up pair work or group discussions, they must then attempt to reconstruct the meaning of the message together. In other words, remember that the video viewing activities in Widgets are really just set-ups for speaking activities.

While students should always be encouraged to review the video scenes at home after class, stress that they should not watch ahead. Since Widgets is organized along a story arc, it may spoil some of the fun if students do not follow the course together.

For added student support, a full transcript of the video can be found in Appendix C of the Student Book. As a general rule, the video script should not be used while students are watching the video scenes, especially for the first time. This will encourage students to hone their listening skills and stay focused on the video. The video script is better used as a reference or as a check on what students have heard. An MS Word version of the video script is also available on the Downloads page, allowing you to easily create your own activities, such as cloze passages, for your students.

We have designed Widgets according to a task-based model, a crucial aspect of which is assessment. We believe that assessment is one of the core defining characteristics of TBLT, and therefore urge you to consider this section carefully in order to get the most out of the course. Please also refer to Part 2 of this manual for a clear explanation of TBLT principles.

Self-, peer- and teacher-assessment
Widgets includes self-, peer- and teacher-assessment components:

• Self-assessment is presented to focus students' attention on aspects of communicative language use that they may not have considered before, such as asking follow-up questions or presenting opinions politely. It also highlights participation and motivation issues. Self-assessment sheets are included in the Student Book, on the last page of each stage. We do not recommend that self-assessment be weighed for grading purposes, rather, it should be used as a way to initiate and maintain a running dialog between student and teacher.
• Peer-assessment is introduced at various points in the course. For instance, students evaluate other teams' presentations at the end of each of the main projects in Stages 3, 4 and 5. Also, project managers present an oral debriefing of their team's performance at the end of each stage. We recommend that peer-assessment be weighed along with teacher-assessment in grading. In our own classes, we have been satisfied by grading the main projects as 50 percent peer-assessed and 50 percent teacher-assessed.
• Teacher-assessment can be adapted in several ways to the preference of each teacher. Widgets gives you the opportunity to keep ongoing notes on the oral ability of individual students as they perform casual speaking tasks and prepare and present more formal reports. Also, the project manager debriefings at the end of Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 are an excellent and manageable opportunity to hold at least one one-on-one interview with each student by the end of the course. Sample assessment forms and instructions on how to use them are available on the Downloads page.

Appropriateness
The concept of appropriateness is an important one in task-based assessment. In brief, it means that task outcomes are assessed first of all according to how appropriate they would be in a particular language context. In other words, would the outcome work to achieve its purpose in a reasonable situation? Note that this is not the same thing as, “How well was it performed?”

For more information on task-based assessment, please refer to Part 2 of this manual.