Equipping Adult Learners For The World Of Work

Connecting Jobs to the Classroom

With the implementation of the Workforce Investment Act, an increased demand for basic skills on the job, and an emphasis on moving TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients into the workforce, more students are entering adult education classrooms with a job-related focus. They establish goals such as, "I need to get a job. I want to get a GED to find a better job. I want to communicate better with my supervisor." When students express their goals in terms of a job, the next step for a teacher in an adult basic education or ESL class is how to connect that goal to the classroom. One strategy popular among practitioners is to assist students from the context of their work background. In workforce development, that translates into these categories: emerging worker, incumbent worker, and displaced worker.

An emerging worker is someone who is entering the workforce for the first time or after an extensive time out. They may not have any concrete job skills to list on a resume and few, if any, references for work history. Often in the classroom, you may hear them lament their lack of skills, "I've never really worked. I've been at home with my kids as a single parent. What kind of skills do I have?"

An incumbent worker is someone who is employed but looking for a better job or opportunity in the workplace. This worker might not have finished high school, may be working full-time, may have family responsibilities, or has chosen to return to school for very specific reasons. "I need to be able to communicate better with my supervisor and I want to get the promotion I'm up for."

A displaced worker is someone who has been employed at length, but due to economic changes or Free Trade, has lost a job through company migration offshore or general corporate downsizing. This worker may have a solid employment history with one company for many years, yet never attended school past the sixth grade or learned to speak English. "I worked for a company for 15 years and did the same job every day. I only took ten days of sick leave during that entire time. I take pride in my work and doing a good job. Then my company moves to Mexico and now a caseworker tells me I need to learn English." (translated)

Recently, in a workshop where I presented this information to adult education practitioners. a fourth category was suggested: returning emergent worker. Often that first step into the world of work after a long absence is not a 'take'. These students return for a second round of classes not having been successful the first time. "I guess I recognize that work is inevitable - perhaps more training would help me get the 'right' job."

As a teacher, you may have students that typify all these backgrounds in one class, thus the challenge to connect jobs in your classroom. Following are some strategies and activities that may be useful in working with different groups of learners at various stages of their job and skill ladder.

1. Identify skills participants have that are transferable to a job (or a better job). In one classroom, students identified how a neighbor was always able to get the best deal, whether at the flea market or the shoe store. In deconstructing what they saw, their observation became "able to communicate well with others, able to negotiate costs, uses resources i.e. coupons, discounts." Having stayed at home with children or a sick parent does not mean that an individual didn't informally develop or refine their skills. Start with what students bring into the classroom and create a checklist with students of employability skills they can identify in others and in themselves. This exercise can be done several times throughout the program.
2. Identify skills employers want in employees. Have students conduct interviews with employers to identify the top three characteristics they look for in a new employee. Prepare students for this activity by researching employers to call, what department to request, and preparing one or two short questions and responses. An example of skills employers want can be found at http://www.workplacebasicskills.com. This can be used to design an inventory checklist that students can prepare, which identifies their employability skills vis-a'-vis what employers want. Resources on the Internet for skill sets include O*NET and SCANS at http://online.onetcenter.org/ and http://www.scans.jhu.edu/NS/HTML/Index.htm.
3. Survey workers as to job satisfaction, how they got their present job, level of education required, and length of time employed. Students can outline their own series of questions for workers. This data can be correlated in charts, graphs, summaries, and reported both in the classroom and in the community. Communication, basic skills, and numeracy are all skills students will develop as they progress through the survey and report process. A project-based approach to designing, implementing, and compiling the results of the survey would provide many opportunities to focus on basic skills and language development. [For more information on project-based learning, see the July 1999 issue of Literacy Links available on the TCALL Web site. [Click on the "newsletter" button.]
4. Research in-demand occupations in your region by visiting the Texas Workforce Commission's database at http://www.twc.state.tx.us/. This site can provide useful information for locating job clusters and a list of skills needed to perform related jobs. Displaced workers are moving from an employment sector that is no longer in demand. Hence, they need new job-specific skills in demand occupations. In the beginning of their training, it's important to provide exposure to existing job opportunities. It is important to make the training/employment connection as soon as possible for a more successful learner outcome.
5. Set up mock job interviews. With new technology resources such as CD-ROM, DVD, and DVD-ROM, videotape often takes a backseat. Dust off that camcorder and role-play job interviews. Discuss topics such as: What is appropriate dress for an interview? What can and cannot be asked during a job interview? What questions should you ask a prospective employer? How do you follow-up? Providing more opportunities for students to practice the job interview will increase their comfort level with job hunting. Whether an emerging, incumbent, or displaced worker, mock interviews and a review of the culture of the workplace can be a great resource to a student looking to get a job. As preparation, have students go into a business and request an application. Prepare them by doing a few role-plays. One student had a surprising experience while requesting a job application. The clerk behind the desk turned to the owner, who turned to the student with a barrage of questions and ultimately an interview offer. Role-play to unearth unique opportunities. Experiment with responses.
6. Customize a lesson or small group activity around written materials from the job site. For those class participants who are employed and want assistance reading and responding to material they get on the job, ask them to bring in non-proprietary "environmental print" from their work site. Often students will bring in employee handbooks along with safety manuals and procedure books. If this information is not proprietary, it can be useful to all students. Perhaps some classmates have never seen an employee handbook. The class might want to write a classroom handbook.
7. Use student-generated dialogues around work issues. For ESL students, conversation role-plays are always useful. Informal and formal communication on the job can be very disconcerting to someone struggling to learn English. Authentic language can be unpredictable. Tone of voice, body language and context make all the difference and provide rich cues as to meaning. Student dialogues can be used to reinforce both speaking and listening skills.

Ask students to generate dialogues from work that they anticipate might occur, that have occurred, or that they'd like to initiate. Allowing them to generate the dialogues in their native language can capture the richness and emotion around the initial incident or proposed situation. Gradually, move from the native language into English.

These activities can be easily integrated into the GED or ESL classroom in order to tie workforce development to instruction. With a strong instructional framework, the Internet, commercial resources, and your creativity as an instructor, connecting jobs to the classroom can help bridge the gaps in academics, language, basic skills, employability skills, and job awareness for all types of students. 

Ann Savino is Project Director for WLTTAP (Workforce Literacy Training and Technical Assistance Project) a Texas Education Agency Special project that provides technical assistance and staff development opportunities for educators and their work-force partners. She has been involved in Workforce Development for over ten years and was part of the curriculum team for one of the first projects in Texas funded as a National Workplace Literacy Grant through the USDOE in 1990. She has worked with employers to develop on-site literacy training that is industry specific and developed curriculum in partnership with manufacturers such as Baxter Convertors, Levi Strauss & Co., and labor groups including the AFL-CIO and the Rio Grande Workers Alliance. WLTTAP is a member of the Adult Education Professional Development Curriculum Consortium and is housed at the El Paso Community College in El Paso, Texas.

Funded by the Texas Education Agency Division of Adult and Community Education under Special Projects, WLTTAP provides resources to adult education programs and their workforce partners. WLTTAP is a member of the Texas Adult Education Professional Development Consortium and is housed at the El Paso Community College as part of the Workforce Development Division. WLTTAP provides the following:

Workshops: Connecting Jobs to the Classroom - A two hour workshop to assist teachers in adult basic education and ESL programs to tie workforce development to goal setting. A longer session assists programs with lesson plans for working with students with a goal "to get a job" or "communicate better on the job".

Products: What is Workplace Literacy? - A ten-minute video produced by WLTTAP for stakeholders to review for program start-up.

Are You Ready? Packet: A detailed questionnaire for administrators to assess your readiness to deliver training to business.

CD-ROM - Dictionary of Terms for Workforce Education: A CD-ROM quick reference guide for definitions of workplace literacy, workforce education, CASAS assessment and much more. Available April 15, 2001.

The Resource Center - WLTTAP provides books, articles, and general reference materials for loan through the TCALL Clearinghouse at (800) 441-7323 or e-mail tcall@tamu.edu

In addition, WLTTAP provides consultation services to adult education programs and their workforce partners in program start-up and delivery for on-site initiatives.