Wednesday, February 13, 2008
immigration
Since many students study English for traveling I always enjoy doing this lesson. Immigration questions at airports were scarce and rarely asked a few years ago. But now airport security at international airports has been enhanced to its highest level ever. So has the importance and benefit of this Smith's School of English lesson.
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I feel it is essential now more than ever to introduce common questions asked by immigration officers especially in North America. These include "What is the purpose of your visit?" , "How long do you intend to stay?" , "Are you traveling alone?" and "Where will you be staying?". These are the basics that the students should have a firm grasp of. So when the students practice reading the practice dialogue they can quickly identify the important role these questions have. The picure cards used next offer great opportunities for the students to practice immigration conversations in real-life role playing situations. I often have students switch roles several times. Then depending on the class chemistry and student level I try to challenge the role of the customs officer by encouraging additional WH question formation. This allows the students to naturally memorize the conversations instead of redundantly reading them from the whiteboard over and over again.
By the end of this lesson the students of even lower level ability are asking questions confidently from "May I have your passport please" to "Enjoy your trip". Their awareness of immigration issues if nothing else has advanced. I feel their alertness will now improve when the students travel abroad again. The best part is that I feel assured that they will feel more comfortable when immigration asks them questions that they are now familiar with.
This is a very important item that has benefits for lower level students when really drilled. After going through a written dialogue a number of times, I like to challenge the student at the end of the lesson to engage in the dialogue with no written cues. Not just that lesson, though, but return to it at a later date, and with no prior review of questions or vocab. Introduce the situation - at immigration - and if you have two students, let them dive straight into the deep end and have them ask and answer immigration questions off the top of their heads. It doesn't really matter how thoroughly the lesson has been gone through prior to a review such as this It's an extremely useful exercise that is good for any level student and that really helps the student memorise and be able quickly fire back responses perfectly in real life situations.
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