“This extreme sport is a survival tool for employing students abroad.” PLP Letters – English at Jean Vigo High School in Millaw (12), Karen Ovalet imagined with her PLP kitchen counterpart Didier Rivmale that it was a serious game to meet their teaching needs. Through “Tips and Tricks”, students can undertake professional tasks in English. The game is accessible to everyone.
The plan to make English more attractive
“We were looking for a plan to bring the students in the class together and make English more attractive.” Karen Ovalet teaches a professional bachelor’s degree in hotel and catering at Jay Vigo High School in Milla. Students go on to vocational internships in English-speaking countries and English is one of the basics of their vocational training.
“We work through the task, for example to prepare a team reception, so both can not only prepare stocks for the kitchen and living room but also interact with resource persons”. This means that the English course is directly linked to the cooking course. It’s natural that Karen Ovalet and culinary teacher Didier Rivmale worked together on this extreme sport. “We need to work together,” says C. Ovalet. “Although I work a little in catering, I listen to his vision when editing a scene. We learn from each other.”
Receive and meet the expectations of English customers
“The idea came from meeting educational engineering students at the University of the Grenoble Alps. They suggested we create a prototype of the game.” Once, the needs of the teachers are served. “We proposed a requirements analysis,” says C. Ovalet.
This game should be used to prepare for the exam, so for example learning professional vocabulary in English. He should help prepare internships abroad, so he should prepare students to join a kitchen team and interact with clients in an English-speaking country. Finally, it should help the professional integration of young graduates.
In the game, students need to answer customers’ questions correctly, ensure their satisfaction, find the right cooking tips or have orders to buy.
Another way to teach
“We place students in pairs in the kitchen and staff and ask them to report as many satisfaction points as possible,” explains C. Ovalet. “When interacting with customers or chefs, their satisfaction scale changes according to their responses.” So students work on English vocabulary. But it also works on oral comprehension and written expression.
But “Tips and Tox” brings a lot to the editors and especially to Karen. “Sports have changed our relationship with him. I’m no longer a teacher. I’m more in a horizontal relationship with students. I’m a help to them, it’s a very positive relationship.
This adventure is a functional game, open to everyone for free, and it should be of interest to English teachers beyond the kitchen.
Francois Jarrod
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