Employability Skills in Action

This is lesson 2 of 10 in the unit "Pathways to Employment Success". Lesson Title: Employability Skills in Action Lesson Description: This 60-minute lesson begins with a welcome page, Acknowledgement of Country for Kurnai College, 8 classroom rules, and a 'how are you feeling' check-in scale (1–5), followed by positive primers and clear learning intention and success criteria. Students watch short real-world video clips of workers demonstrating key employability skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, then complete a 'skill spotting' activity and a collaborative card-sort group challenge using examples from local Morwell and Traralgon employers — such as customer service at Traralgon's Mid Valley Shopping Centre, teamwork at the Latrobe Regional Hospital, or problem-solving at a local tradie business in Morwell. Large illustrated anchor charts are prominently displayed featuring real workplace photos from the local area — for example, a photo of retail workers at Mid Valley beside 'Teamwork,' or a hospitality worker at a Traralgon café beside 'Communication' — with simplified skill definition cards with pictures, colour-coded by skill type, and a visual bingo-style spotter sheet supporting students with extra needs. Learning Intention: Recognise and discuss a range of employability skills and how they are applied in different job roles. Success Criteria: Name and describe at least five employability skills and provide a real-world example of each from local Morwell or Traralgon workplaces discussed in the videos or class activities.

Overview

Students explore how employability skills show up in real workplace situations by watching short video clips and completing a structured skill-spotting task. They then collaborate to match specific skills to local job examples from Morwell and Traralgon, building clear descriptions they can use in future interviews, applications, and training pathways.

Learning intentions

Students will:

recognise and discuss employability skills in action across different job roles
identify evidence of communication, teamwork, and problem-solving (and other skills) from real-world examples
plan and explain workplace examples using signed and visual exchanges and group decision-making
reflect on how teams organise roles and share responsibilities during the group challenge

Success criteria

I can:

name at least five employability skills
describe each skill in my own words using a workplace-relevant example
give examples from local Morwell or Traralgon workplaces used in videos or class activities
work respectfully with peers, using visual/signed exchanges to negotiate answers during group tasks

Curriculum links

Auslan (Years 9–10 pathway): use signed and visual exchanges to discuss, plan and reflect on activities, events and experiences with peers (AC9L1AU10EC02; AC9L2AU10EC02)
English Literacy (Years 9): plan, create, edit and publish multimodal texts by organising ideas for an intended purpose and audience (use this to support students creating short descriptions for their group card-sort) - Employability-through-language focus (supports learning evidence): students use structured exchanges and visual supports to express ideas with peers during the skill-spotting and card-sort challenge

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

0–5 min · Welcome & routines. Teacher greets students, shows the welcome page, and leads the Kurnai College Acknowledgement of Country and a quick review of the 8 classroom rules. Students enter, settle, and follow posted routines silently first, then join the group.
5–8 min · Feeling check-in (1–5). Teacher displays the “How are you feeling?” scale and models how to respond without long talking (pointing/choosing a number card). Students indicate their number on the scale using the fastest allowed method, then one or two students share briefly.
8–12 min · Positive primers & learning clarity. Teacher posts two positive primers (e.g., “We can learn from mistakes” and “We listen and build ideas together”), then introduces the learning intention and success criteria clearly on the board. Students copy the success criteria into a quick personal checklist.
12–22 min · Video 1–2 viewings. Teacher plays 2 short real-world clips (retail customer service, hospital teamwork, or tradie problem-solving), pausing after each to prompt: “What skill did you notice? What evidence shows it?” Students complete a first pass “spotter thinking” on blank paper: one skill + one clue each time.
22–30 min · Skill definitions anchor charts. Teacher directs students to the large illustrated anchor charts (real local workplace photos labelled by skill type) and reviews simplified skill definition cards with pictures (colour-coded). Students choose two skill cards to add to their personal learning page, matching the skill to a workplace photo.
30–40 min · Skill spotting activity (structured). Teacher explains the visual bingo-style spotter sheet and demonstrates how to record evidence using short phrases and icons (e.g., speech-bubble for communication, group-arrows for teamwork). Students watch again or rewatch one clip segment and fill at least 3 squares with “skill evidence” (icon + short word/phrase). Teacher circulates to support and checks for understanding using quick teacher-student exchanges.
40–55 min · Collaborative card-sort group challenge. Teacher forms groups of 4–5 and gives each group a set of local workplace example cards (Mid Valley Shopping Centre, Latrobe Regional Hospital, local Morwell tradie business/café). Teacher assigns roles using visible role cards (Reader, Evidence Finder, Speaker, Recorder, Checker). Students sort each workplace example under the correct colour-coded skill card(s), then negotiate to agree on which skill evidence to write/say for their chosen workplaces. Recorder completes the group “five skills” mini-summary using sentence starters.
55–60 min · Share-out & exit reflection. Teacher calls for a quick whole-class share: each group names one skill and one workplace example. Students complete a 30-second exit ticket: “Today I can name ___ skills and my best example is ___ (workplace + skill).”

Resources

Welcome page display (digital or printed)
Acknowledgement of Country prompt card for Kurnai College
8 classroom rule posters
“How are you feeling?” scale (1–5) with number cards
Positive primer posters
Anchor charts with real workplace photos (Morwell/Traralgon) and skill labels
Simplified skill definition cards (pictures, colour-coded by skill type)
Visual bingo-style spotter sheet (skill evidence icons)
Short real-world video clips (teacher prepared; no student searching)
Local workplace example cards (Mid Valley, Latrobe Regional Hospital, local Morwell tradie/hospitality)
Group role cards (Reader, Evidence Finder, Speaker, Recorder, Checker)
Sentence starters for descriptions (e.g., “I noticed ____ when ____.” “This shows ____ because ____.”)

Assessment

Formative check during video pauses: teacher asks “Which skill and what evidence?” and notes student responses.
Spotter sheet review: teacher checks that at least 3 squares include correct skill evidence (icon + short phrase).
Exit ticket: confirm students can name at least five employability skills across the lesson and provide a local workplace example for each.

Differentiation

Provide sentence starters and word banks tied to the colour-coded skill cards (communication/teamwork/problem-solving).
Use visual supports first (icons/photos) before requiring longer explanations; allow pointing, nodding, and short phrases for students who need language processing time.
Flexible groupings: assign roles that match student strengths (e.g., Evidence Finder uses the clip evidence cards; Recorder uses icons).
Extra-needs support: offer a “teacher-checked” mini track where students complete only 3–4 squares on the bingo sheet before joining the full group card-sort.

Teaching Instructions