Topic: How to become an entrepreneurial person?

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th‑grade primary school student.

Core curriculum:

III. School and education.

The student:

4) describes the expected competences of selected socio‑occupational categories and their place on the labour market.

The general aim of education:

The student plans further education, taking into account his or her skills and interests.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• presents the characteristics of an entrepreneurial person.

• explains the contemporary meaning of the word “entrepreneurship” and the origin of the term.

• analyses the rules of entrepreneurship.

• explains how voluntary activity stimulates the development of entrepreneurial qualities.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences,

• sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.

Teaching methods:

• discussion,

• Phillips 66,

• snowball method,

• teaching conversation using interactive board, interactive scheme, recording, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• individual,

• group,

• collective.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will learn what it means to be an entrepreneurial person.

2. The teacher asks the students to do an exercise on the “What are the personality traits of an entrepreneur?” interactive board. The teacher then initiates a short discussion, asking students if they would in some way complement the list of proposed qualities of an entrepreneurial person. The teacher then asks the students to justify their opinions.

3. The teacher plays a fragment of the abstract’s recording containing Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Implementing the Community Lisbon Programme: Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets through education and learning.

The teacher then asks the students to identify the characteristics attributed to an entrepreneurial person in this document.

Implementation:

1. The teacher informs the students that by using with the snowball method, they are to define the term „entrepreneurship”. If necessary, the teacher explains this method to the students. First, each student writes down his or her own definition of the term. Afterwards, the students form pairs and agree on a common definition (also writing down their comments and arguments). The students then form groups of four and larger groups consequently, each time negotiating a common definition. The task ends with the establishment of a definition by the entire class, which is then written on the board.

2. The teacher displays „The rules of entrepreneurship” scheme on an interactive whiteboard. Afterwards, the teacher asks the students what their understanding of the different principles of entrepreneurship is. Willing/selected students share their ideas. The teacher asks a willing/selected student to summarize the exercise.

3. The teacher informs the class that they will use the Phillips 66 method and explains what it is, if necessary. The teacher informs the students that their task is to answer the following question: „How to become an entrepreneurial person”, while the students should include the following in their answers:

• attributes which in their opinion are worth to be developed for this purpose,

• ways of developing these attributes and exercising relevant skills,

• activities that can be undertaken to achieve this goal,

• persons from whom they can receive support, the type of such assistance, etc.

The students are to work in groups of six for 6 minutes. Then the presentation and confrontation of ideas before the classroom audience occurs. Afterwards, the students are to work again in their groups for 6 minutes in order to improve and complete their ideas. The confrontation phase and the group work phase can be repeated accordingly to the students' needs. At the end of the exercise, representatives of the groups present the group ideas. The teacher initiates a short discussion about the ideas that seemed most important to the students and asks them to justify their statements. At the end of the discussion, the teacher asks a willing/selected student to summarize it.

4. The teacher asks the students what they think their knowledge of business language is. To assess this, students solve Exercise 1. After completion, the teacher and the whole class discuss the exercise.

Summary:

1. At the end of the class, the teacher asks the students to complete the following sentences:

• Today I learned...

• I understand now that…

• I was surprised...

• I found out…

• It was easy for me…

• It was difficult for me...

The last two sentences help evaluate the difficulty of the discussed question; they enable the student to evaluate his own knowledge and skills.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Think about what you would like to do in life. To this end, perform Exercise 2.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

How to become an entrepreneurial person?

Entrepreneurship

People change the world, and certainly entrepreneurs are among the initiators of such changes. It is difficult to give one definition of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a very broad concept and occurs in various areas of life (education, work, social activity, politics). It is associated mainly with economic activities.

Entrepreneurship is:

• the process of creating and building something new, above all a new enterprise, involving the ability to use ideas, opportunities and accept risks (uncertainty),

• a set of features and attitudes describing a particular way of human behavior.

The term „entrepreneurship” appeared for the first time at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was associated with the industrial revolution and nascent capitalism. New forms of management were created at that time. The phenomenon of entrepreneurship was described in the works of representatives of economic liberal thought: Adam Smith, Jean‑Baptiste Say and Joseph A. Schumpeter. The term „entrepreneurship” was introduced to the scientific literature by Say, who defined an entrepreneur as a person investing resources in an unknown and risky future. He believed that the entrepreneur moves capital from the area with lower profitability to the area of higher productivity and profit.

Regardless of whether the ability to be an entrepreneur is hereditary or whether it is acquired during training and education, an entrepreneur always plays a major role in the process of creating and functioning of small and medium‑sized enterprises.

Volunteering and entrepreneurship

Apart from formal (school) education, experience and informal education also help to acquire entrepreneurial skills. Volunteering is an example of such activities. It is a free, voluntary and conscious work for society (a specific group or a person). Volunteering is not only helping others, but also the possibility for the volunteer’s own development. It is an opportunity to test your independence, creativity, resistance to stress. Volunteering develops the ability to manage time. Reconciling learning and private life with the work of a volunteer requires not only good planning and the ability to set priorities, but above all discipline and consistency. While working in volunteering, we have the opportunity to participate in ambitious and demanding projects. We acquire the ability to work in a group, manage a team and make new friends. Working in non‑governmental organizations is often associated with travel, not only in Poland, but all over the world, so it facilitates learning foreign languages, teaches tolerance and respect. Undoubtedly, volunteers are perceived as ready to take on new challenges, selfless, quickly acquiring knowledge, responsible, and at the same time outgoing and creative.

Entrepreneurship is defined in various ways, including: a set of traits, predisposition, attitude, talent, economic initiative, innovative action, specific behavior. It's more than just setting up and running your own business. Entrepreneurship is above all the exploitation of opportunities, which requires a specific way of thinking and acting. This can and should be learned.