Workplace Worlds

Overview

Lesson 5 of 10 in Pathways to Employment Success. Students investigate how roles work together in a fictional Traralgon café or Morwell retail store, using role-play, visual information and collaborative discussion to connect workplace responsibilities with teamwork and communication.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• recognise and describe different roles in a local workplace
• explain key responsibilities linked to at least three roles
• discuss how workplace roles depend on one another
• use respectful signed, visual and spoken exchanges to plan and reflect with peers

Success criteria

• I can describe at least three distinct workplace roles.
• I can explain the main responsibilities of each role.
• I can identify how at least one role depends on another role.
• I can contribute respectfully to a workplace team discussion and reflection.

Curriculum links

• Auslan: using signed and visual exchanges to discuss, plan and reflect on activities and experiences with peers
• Auslan: initiating and sustaining interactions to exchange ideas, experiences and opinions
• Auslan: creating signed, visual and multimodal texts for familiar and some unfamiliar contexts and purposes
• Communication, collaboration and critical thinking through workplace problem-solving and reflection

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–8 min · Welcome and readiness. Teacher opens the welcome and check-in slides, displays the welcome page, gives an Acknowledgement of Country for Kurnai College, reviews the eight classroom rules and explains the 1–5 “How are you feeling?” scale. Students respond privately or visually with a number, gesture or placed card, then complete a positive primer: name one strength they bring to a team.

2. 8–15 min · Learning focus. Teacher presents the learning intention and success criteria slides and briefly models the difference between a job title, a responsibility and a workplace connection. Students paraphrase the intention with a partner and identify which success criterion they will focus on most strongly.

3. 15–25 min · Explore the workplace map. Teacher displays the large illustrated workplace diagram poster of the fictional Traralgon café or Morwell retail store and introduces manager, barista or sales assistant, customer service assistant and stock controller. Use the workplace roles and diagram slides to reveal one role at a time; ask, “What might this person need from another worker?” Students annotate the workplace roles and connections worksheet by recording duties, useful skills and one possible connection for each role. Read descriptions aloud and allow students to use the visual cues, sentence starters and paired explanation.

4. 25–42 min · Role-play simulation. Teacher places students in seven groups of five and distributes role cards and scenario prompts. Each group operates either a fictional café or retail store, with students taking manager, barista or sales assistant, customer service assistant, stock controller and observer roles. The teacher uses the role-play instructions and scenario slides to show the communication sequence: plan, act, respond and adjust. Students complete a short scenario, such as a busy lunch period, a missing stock delivery or a customer needing help. They must negotiate responsibilities, use a sentence starter such as “I need ___ from ___ because ___”, and show how one role’s action affects another. Observers record two examples of cooperation or dependence on the worksheet.

5. 42–52 min · Team debrief and share. Teacher pauses the simulation and displays the debrief question slides. Invite groups to share one successful interaction and one problem they solved. Students compare the café and retail contexts, explain which role was most dependent on another and justify their view using “because”. Provide wait time, allow visual responses and model respectful turn-taking, clarification and confirmation.

6. 52–60 min · Individual reflection and exit check. Teacher asks students to complete the final section of the workplace roles and connections worksheet: describe three roles, explain their duties and draw or write one dependency between roles. Students then complete the Success Criteria exit ticket slips by indicating which criteria they met and naming one workplace communication skill to practise next. Collect worksheets and tickets as students leave.

Resources

• the complete workplace learning deck
• the workplace roles and connections worksheet
• Large illustrated bird’s-eye workplace diagram poster
• Visual role cards with workplace photographs, plain-language duties and sentence starters
• Scenario cards for café and retail simulations
• Whiteboard, markers and display screen
• Number scale or visual cards from 1–5
• Tables or clearly marked areas for seven groups
• Optional timer and name badges

Assessment

• During the diagram discussion, check whether students distinguish a role from its responsibilities and can suggest a workplace connection.
• During role-play, observe participation, turn-taking, use of sentence starters and explanations of how roles depend on one another.
• Use the completed worksheet and exit ticket to check that each student can describe three roles, explain responsibilities and identify at least one dependency.

Differentiation

• Provide role cards with photographs, icons, plain-language descriptions and sentence starters; pre-teach key terms such as manager, customer, stock, responsibility and depend.
• Pair students strategically and allow responses through signing, drawing, labelled diagrams, writing or speech. Repeat instructions visually and verbally, one step at a time.
• Give students needing additional support a prepared scenario and a reduced recording task: two roles, two duties and one connection before extending to three roles.
• Challenge confident students to rotate roles, manage an unexpected change and explain how communication, efficiency or customer experience would be affected.
• For students who find group interaction difficult, assign a predictable observer or stock role first, provide a rehearsal with a partner and use clear turn-taking signals.