Classroom Activities

• Practice presentation skills in an effort for students to understand that speaking before a class is very challenging for some people
• Publicize each guest speaker visit with student announcements, posters and banners as appropriate.
• Learn and practice vocabulary appropriate to the speaker’s field
• List the occupations of the students’ parents. Have students classify them into clusters.
• Research the history of a particular occupation. Have students make a timeline showing how that occupation has changed over time.

MORE IDEAS

• Have students prepare a list of questions, along with what they think are the answers.
• Sponsor contests and scavenger hunts based on Labour Market Information obtained on-line.
• Create displays featuring different occupational clusters. Include tools, clothing, products and other paraphernalia associated with the cluster.
• Do interest and personality inventories.
• Assign a project on an occupation/topic of interest. Compile all of the reports into a “Dictionary of Work” for class reference.
• Create an Occupational Kit. Include a cover page, a few items of interest about the occupation, some”test” questions, a game, puzzle or maze, and an evaluation that classmates can complete. Display the kits and have students visit the stations to read, do games, puzzles and tests, and complete the evaluations.

You may even want to include a class project in a particular unit where each student must choose an occupation/topic related to the course of study. The class might then choose to invite a guest speaker. Students should actively participate in finding and inviting a speaker and making all necessary arrangements.

Each student or group must find a guest speaker, invite the speaker in and make all the necessary arrangements.