Task Design for Language Learning in an Embodied Environment - Teaching through Multi-User Virtual Environments - page 275

Figure 6. Breakdown of section of B1 module, Travel and Tourism. (© 2009, Languagelab.com. Used
with permission)

• Objectives: By the end of this lesson se-

quence, students will be able to
◦

social knowledge, variation in experience) and
then matched with the standard syllabus. Each
lesson or task had a number of descriptors as a
main focus but these were recycled and reviewed
across the programme.
The approach to the Spanish beginners course
was slightly different. It was also thought that the
most appropriate approach for this course would
be a functional-situational approach (based on
CEF descriptors and can do statements) where
the students would learn Spanish experimenting
using authentic situations they would be likely to
face when visiting a Spanish speaking location as
tourists. Because of the goals mentioned in the
sample lesson as well as the immersive nature of
the course, a wide range of competencies (some of
them complex for an A1 level) were worked on.
However, both programmes were very much
influenced by a task based approach to design as

Give reasons and explanations for
opinions related to holidays

◦ Book a holiday at a travel agency

Syllabus Design and Task-
Based Learning

In planning the English programme a “framework”
on which to build a lesson curriculum CEF com-
petencies ('can-do) statements and descriptors
were used to develop themes and task areas and
then interlinked using a narrative structure go-
ing on holiday. The outcome was then matched
against a standard lexical-grammatical syllabus.
The descriptors (e.g. Can exploit a wide range
of simple language to deal with most situations
likely to arise whilst travelling) were considered
from different perspectives (language input,