Textbook based on CLIL methodology for studying economics and english

1. Skills for Success
in Finance and
Economics
Textbook description
10 October 2022
1

2. Contents
1. Executive summary
2. Textbook structure and contents
3. Soft skills focus
4. Features of the RELOD online teaching materials
5. Teacher support
Appendix:
Example teacher materials, Unit 1
2

3. Executive summary
 Our aim is to help Russian university students to be as prepared as they can for their future careers
 This textbook deals with economics and finance
 We think it is important to teach economics and finance in English, to pass on to our students a different cultural
perspective that comes alongside with speaking and thinking in English
 This textbook aims to advance their:
- English language communication skills,
- Soft skills, which will help them in whatever career they choose, and
- Technical skills, to make them immediately effective at work
 Methodological objectives are linked as follows:
 Plus:
3
“Skills for Success in Finance and Economics” is RELOD’s working title
Economics / finance Technical skills
Communication Soft skills

4. Executive summary (cont’d)
Why are we teaching a subject matter in English, rather than just teaching students how to speak in English?
 Often students appear to have apparently an excellent command of English (according to their English language test
results), but at times they…
- Lack socio-linguistic skills,
- Appear to be more used to reading and writing in English, rather than speaking, or
- Cannot combine the ability to think critically, whilst at the same time speak freely in English
 We will challenge them to absorb the economics / finance course material in English (assuming a B1-B2 level)
- Absolute focus will be on their communication skills
- English language in our textbook is not meant to be difficult, but, importantly, it is meant to be authentic
- All the materials are online, which is perfect for the development of students’ communication skills (videos,
group discussions, presentations)
What about economics?
 Economic / finance topics are not exhaustive, but there are very much topical
 Emphasis is on cross-cultural comparisons of Western and Russian economic development
4

5. Executive summary (cont’d)
What soft skills are emphasised?
 Existential skills: students understanding their own ambitions, their own character (e.g. own motivation, leadership
skills), and
 Socio-linguistic skills: how you can influence others (e.g. teamwork, effective communication, debating, presenting,
public speaking and negotiation skills)
Bringing up socially responsible citizens
 Course materials are aimed at challenging students to think about a variety of social topics…
 …which are linked to finance and economics
 Example topics are:
- Income / wealth inequality
- Own financial planning
- Climate change
- Modern slavery
- Financial speculation
5

6. Executive summary (cont’d)
Teachers are supported by:
 Lesson plans (tasks are split into pre-reading, classroom work and homework)
 Detailed answers to all free form questions (i.e. no knowledge of economics / finance is required from the teachers)
 Automatic checking for tasks that deal with vocabulary development and socio-linguistics
Bloom’s taxonomy applied to help students absorb the course materials
 Easier tasks at the beginning of each lesson to introduce complex economic / finance topics
 Progressing to the most difficult, which are typically left for homework when students would have more time.
Answers to these tasks can then be reviewed at the beginning of the next class
6

7. 7
 The textbook is split into 7 Units
- Each Unit contains up to 10 individual lessons
- Each lesson is designed to be covered in 1 academic hour (45 minutes)
- Overall, there are c.70 academic hours, so this textbook can be covered in 2 or 3 semesters
 The textbook is designed for online use via the LMS platform
- Teachers and students would use Zoom or similar conference facilities to conduct interactive sessions
- LMS platform allows teachers to easily see how much effort each individual student is putting in and what their
progress is like
 Textbook exercises are split into:
- Finance / Economics tasks – they are either automatically checked on the platform or by the teacher who can
assign a grade after a manual review
- Automatic checks are for such tasks as: Completion, Drop list, Drag and Drop or True / False
- Manual checks are for Voice recordings, Written answers and Forums
- Textbook introduces a lot of economics / finance related vocabulary, which students will constantly
practice throughout the textbook
- English language tasks are mainly checked automatically, unless they require students to speak
- Video materials, oral recordings are used for listening comprehension and working on students’
pronunciation
- Specific exercises are included to develop students’ sociolinguistic skills
Textbook structure

8. 8
 Textbook exercises are split into: (cont’d)
- Soft Skills tasks which address:
o Oral comprehension
o Oral reporting
o Critical thinking (incl. case studies and project work)
o Group discussions
o Debating
o Presenting (incl. Powerpoint)
o Public speaking
o Role play
o Mind-maps
o … and finally… work-related topics (e.g. exercises geared for professional interaction, incl. business
correspondence, preparing for interviews, preparation of CVs, etc.)
- Technical skills which focus on:
o Understanding complex graphs and tables
o Learning where to find all sorts of economics / finance information online
o Doing Powerpoint presentations
o Reading the financial press
Textbook structure (cont’d)

9. Textbook contents, Units
Unit contents described below are only with respect to economics and finance topics. Exercises for the soft
skills development are within each Unit and lesson
1. Initial industrial growth
- History of the Industrial Revolution
- Introduction of basic microeconomic concepts
2. Growth in international trade
- Importance of free trade to economic growth
- Balance of Payments
- Currency valuation
- Sanctions
3. Emergence of finance
- History of private credit and equity markets development
- Bank lending now: small business lending, mortgages
4. Booms and busts
- History of global crises (e.g. the Great Depression)
- Margin trading
- Income / wealth inequality
5. Economic management
- Comparison of different economic systems, e.g.:
o The USSR command economy
o Free market economies
o The Swedish model
9

10. Textbook contents, Units (cont’d)
6. Financial regulation
- The 2008 financial crisis
- Monetary policies and tools
7. Economics and social policy
- Variety of case studies focused on the current “hot” economic topics, e.g.
o Climate change,
o Sanctions,
o Micro finance,
o ESG
10

11. Soft skills focus
 Tasks are based on Mckinsey: “Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work”
11
SOFT SKILLS
Oral reporting
Synthesizing
messages
Public speaking
Presenting
Debating
Role play
Critical thinking
Structured
problem-solving
Time management
Adaptability
Self-management Integrity
Self-confidence
Courage and
risk-taking
Social values
Resolving
conflicts
Project work
Teamwork
effectiveness
Note: Mckinsey, “Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work” https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-
sector/our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-world-of-work
Seeking relevant
information
Developing
relationships
Effective
communication
Self-
leadership
Cognitive
Interpersonal

12. Features of the RELOD online teaching materials
12
LMS features Advantages
Teaching / learning materials
accessible on any electronic
device
- Students can be anywhere
- Equally, by using a projector, teachers can just as easily work in a classroom
Easy lesson preparation - Lesson plans available (what is for “pre-reading”, “classroom” or “homework”)
- Detailed answers to all economics / finance questions available on “Teacher” site
Automatic checking of
exercises
- Ease of assigning homework tasks
- Students can check on their own progress
All free form written or oral
answers can be evaluated and
commented on by a teacher
online
Effective student feedback possible given that:
- All student answers for each exercise, whether written or oral are permanently
recorded
- No difficulties with understanding students handwriting
- Oral answers can be listened to as many times as needed
o Importantly, also by the students themselves, which helps with proper
pronunciation development
Forums – group discussions
of 2+ students
Students are encouraged to speak in English amongst themselves:
- This maximises the amount of time each student gets to speak in English
(compared to what is possible in class when all the students are in the same
room)
- They would not be distracted by other people speaking in the classroom at the
same time
- Teachers can easily monitor all group discussions

13. Features of the RELOD online teaching materials
(cont’d)
13
Content features Advantages
Split Units, all of which are standalone - Flexibility in how you would like to teach – you can
integrate any Unit it in your programme, according to
students’ educational needs
Chat function - Effective communication with each individual student
(private) or all students at once
Huge variety of tasks in different interactive forms,
e.g. voice recording, group discussions, videos…
- Flexible approach to lesson organisation (individual, in
pairs or group work of different students at the same
time)
Tasks in the lessons are sequenced in accordance
with Bloom’s taxonomy
- A more effective approach for learning and development
of students’ skills (efficient learning)
Supplementary tasks with automatic checking in each
lesson
- Students can practice vocabulary and language skills
after class
Each unit has a lot of authentic video and audio
materials
- Pronunciation and listening skills practice
- Students learn where they themselves can find new
materials in the future to continue learning (e.g. TED
Talks; best universities: Standford, Harvard)
Tasks involving video or big texts can be completed
before the lesson
- Ease of access – students do not need to play CDs to
access oral or video materials
- Students come better prepared
- Teacher can use the lesson time more effectively

14. How will the teachers be supported?
 Teachers benefit from:
o Answers to each of the English language and finance / economics questions posed to students
o Teacher’s materials in powerpoint format, which outline:
- Objectives of each lesson with respect to finance and economics topics
- Soft skills that students are being challenged to develop
- Description of each individual task
- Key finance and economics vocabulary
- Socio-linguistic tool kit in terms of phrases and expressions
o Lesson plan in terms of a split of student tasks into:
- Pre-reading materials,
- Classroom work, and
- Homework assignments
 Each Unit has an End of Unit Test, which can help teachers evaluate student progress every 2-3 weeks
o This minimises the amount of time teachers have to spend on evaluating students’ progress
14

15. Overwhelmingly positive РАНХиГС student
review of the course material evaluation
 In July 2022, we have invited 15 РАНХиГС university students to participate in evaluating the course materials
 This took form of two 1.5 hour sessions. We covered two lessons each in Units 1 and 4
 We asked these students, who have a “Business Studies” focus and a good level of English, what they thought
about the materials via:
o A free form evaluation session, and
o A detailed questionnaire (please see Appendix for the form of the Questionnaire used)
 Main comments aired by РАНХиГС students re the course materials
o They like that classes are online, rather than in person
o They feel that for every 2 academic hours, appropriate level of homework is c.1.5 hours
o They would prefer to review the lessons and do some tasks ahead of the online classes
o They think it would have been quite beneficial to do this course in English alongside studying finance /
economics in English
 Please see links to РАНХиГС student Zoom calls on textbook evaluation
o Unit 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncn5HM9UdaI
o Unit 4: https://youtu.be/Tn2slfyBt2Q
15

16. Appendix
Example teacher materials, Unit 1
16

17. Unit 1 contents – “Initial industrial growth”
17
Students will learn about:
- Origins of modern microeconomic theory
- Microeconomic concepts, such as demand and supply
- Growth of the Russian railway network
- Emergence of an industrial workforce
- Role of the textiles industry in the Industrial Revolution
- Giffen goods
Students will learn to:
- Graph supply and demand curves to explain classic microeconomic theory
- Apply supply and demand concepts to everyday business analysis
- Build mind maps
Students will develop such skills as:
- Expressing and justifying their opinions
- Debating
- Preparing for and delivering presentations

18. 18
Lessons
#
Specific topics
addressed
Types of activities for soft skills development
Oral
reporting
Critical
thinking
Case
study
(scenarios)
Socio-
linguistics
Group
discussion
Presenting
Debating
Project
work
Role
play
Understanding
graphs
Mind-mapping
Work-related
topics
Life
skills
Social
values
Cultural
refs.
to
Russia
1
Origins of
microeconomics         
2
Microeconomic theory      
3 Supply & demand    
4
Delivering
presentations       
5 Russian railways        
Note that the following exercises are included in every lesson, therefore they are not specifically highlighted in the table above: reading, writing,
expressing and justifying your opinions, listening comprehension, vocabulary work via identifying definitions, True/False statements; statement
completion; sentence matching
UNIT 1: SOFT SKILLS ADDRESSED (1/2)

19. 19
Lessons
#
Specific topics
addressed
Types of activities for soft skills development
Oral
reporting
Critical
thinking
Case
study
(scenarios)
Socio-
linguistics
Group
discussion
Presenting
Debating
Project
work
Role
play
Understanding
graphs
Mind-mapping
Work-related
topics
Life
skills
Social
values
Cultural
refs.
to
Russia
6
Growth of the British
textiles industry      
7
Creation of mobile
industrial workforce      
8
Russian urbanisation      
9 Giffen goods    
UNIT 1: SOFT SKILLS ADDRESSED (2/2)

20. Unit 1, Lesson 1 contents – Lesson plan (1/3)
20
Pre-reading
Typically, we would ask students to do some activities ahead of the class. For this lesson, teachers would have asked
that students read Task 1 and:
• Recall what they know about this particular topic, and
• Think of how they might answer the questions in English during the lesson
Students should also watch all the videos for the upcoming lessons, because they may need to watch them multiple
times to properly understand the course material.
For this lesson, students should have been asked to watch the videos in Tasks 2 and 13 and think of what their answer
would be to the following questions:
• Task 2: What are the key benefits of a free market economy?
• Task 13: Why do so many people think that Adam Smith’s work was so influential?
We want the students to be motivated ahead of the lesson. Video materials are more easily absorbed, and something
that they will be more willing to do in order to prepare for the lessons.
Automatic checking exercises
Tasks with automatic checking (4-8 in this lesson) can be completed by students either ahead of the lesson or the
teachers can run through them by way of a class discussion. If a teacher is running out of time during class, he/she can
assign these exercises for homework. This will also help the students to easily revise the materials.
Classroom exercises
During class, teachers either can discuss the interactive exercises directly with the students or ask the students to
complete the exercises in pairs or in groups.
In this lesson, Tasks 1-3, 9 and 11-14 could be discussed during the Zoom sessions.

21. Unit 1, Lesson 1 contents – Lesson plan (2/3)
21
Homework
Certain tasks will need to be assigned as homework, as there will not be enough time during class to do such things as
prepare a presentation with slides, for example. For such tasks students can:
• present their answers to the rest of the class during the next class, or
• use the voice recording function at home, so that teachers could listen and give their feedback on the students’
answers.
For this lesson Task 13 would need to be assigned as homework, as students will not have enough time to do online
research. Alternatively, given that it is not a difficult topic, it could have been assigned ahead of the lesson and then
discussed in class.

22. Unit 1, Lesson 1 contents – Lesson plan (3/3)
22
Lesson plan for Unit 1, Lesson 1
Task Suggested category Comments
1 Classroom
2 Pre-lesson + Classroom Video materials
3 Classroom
4 Automatic checking
5 Automatic checking
6 Automatic checking
7 Automatic checking
8 Automatic checking
9 Classroom
10 Homework
11 Classroom
12 Classroom
13 Homework + Next lesson’s classroom
OR Pre-lesson + Classroom
Video materials plus students are asked to do online research. There
will not be enough time to do that in class
14 Classroom
15 Classroom Conversational English

23. Unit 1, Lesson 1 contents – example of
description of student tasks
23
Task 1 Discuss in class the following questions: Форум
- What do you think the science of microeconomics attempts to examine?
- Who are the main economic agents?
- Why is it important to examine individual buying or selling decisions, made either by people or by businesses?
Task 2 Watch the video. Write down in your own words what are the key benefits of a free market economy.
Письменный ответ в поле
Task 3 Study the poster “Economics, Finance and Business in Russia and Great Britain”. Discuss with your classmates
who you think were the pioneers of microeconomics and why.
Task 4 Match the following definitions to the correct terms or expressions. Выпадающий список
Task 5 Choose the correct Russian equivalents to these terms or expressions. Выпадающий список
Task 6 Read the text Adam Smith, “The Father of Economics”. Choose “True” (T) or “False” (F) for the statements below
the text. Выпадающий список
TEXT: Adam Smith, “The Father of Economics”
Task 7 Match 1–9 to the words from the list to make phrases from the article. Выпадающий список
Task 8 Match phrases listed below to how they are paraphrased. Перетаскивание слов
Task 9 Read a short introduction into “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. Can you provide several examples of when
people in our society succeed or fail to achieve “a mutual sympathy of sentiments”? Запись устного ответа
TEXT: Introduction to “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”
Summary of texts and tasks (1/2)

24. Unit 1, Lesson 1 contents – example of
description of student tasks (cont’d)
24
Task 10 Do some further research about Adam Smith’s “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. How do you understand it?
Think of real-life examples of how people experience mutual sympathy and develop behavioural habits Письменный
ответ в поле
Task 11 Work in groups of 2. Listen to a dialogue between two sales managers, David and George. What are they
discussing? Listen again and complete the sentences with the words and expressions from the dialogue Краткий ответ:
отдельное поле под каждое слово в ключах
TEXT (audio file): Dialogue
Task 12 Pick whether you are Person A (David) or Person B (George). Role-play a dialogue on whether applying Smith’s
theory of moral sentiments can help you at your work place in the following scenario Запись устного ответа
Task 13 Search online to answer the following questions about Adam Smith’s career development. Also watch the
following video to help you answer the questions. Запись устного ответа
TEXT (video): Adam Smith’s biography
Task 14 Read the tips for a perfect presentation and get ready to tell the class about Adam Smith’s career development
Выпадающий список
Task 15 Let’s finish the lesson on a light note. Correct the following conversational English phrase.
Summary of texts and tasks (2/2)

25. Unit 1, Lesson 1 contents – socio-linguistic
competence
Discourse markers
25
Asking for and expressing an opinion:
- What do you think? – Personally, I feel that… / I believe… / Well, if
you ask me (…), I think that…
- What strikes me as important is that (…). Would you agree?
Justifying your opinion:
- The reason I think that (...) is because...
- The main reason is that...
- For one thing, (…). Another thing is that...
- On top of that…
- I definitely think that it is better to (…), because…
- Thinking about it, I suppose that…
Asking for clarification:
- Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?
- I don’t quite follow you. / I didn’t quite follow you.
- What do mean by (…)?
- Is that something like when you (…)? / Is that the same as (…)?
When you do not want to offend someone when expressing
your point of view:
- I think we are mostly in agreement, I just wanted to add that…
- Of course you know that…
- Of course, I just wanted to add that…
- Could you just humour me for a second? I thought that…
- I agree, but still I think / I believe that…
Giving clarification:
- Let me put it this way...
- What I mean is…
Checking that the listener understands:
- Do you understand where I am coming
from?
- Do you see what I mean?
- Is that clear?
Confirming understanding:
- Agreed.
- I understand what you mean.
- Right, I’ve got it now.
Summing up:
- To sum up...
- To conclude…
- On balance, …

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