Introductory lesson                                                                       2 September 2017

Ex. 1 Do you know what is it?

What was it created for?

Who were the authors of this item?

Introductory lesson                                                                       2 September 2017

Ex. 1 Do you know what is it?

What was it created for?

Who were the authors of this item?

Ex.2

Iconspeak T-shirts for International Tourists

Many tourists have no idea how to communicate in the country of their visit. Actually, it is almost impossible to learn all the existing languages, but this fact does not diminish people’s desire to explore the beauty of foreign places.

Imagine how amazing it would be if all the people in the world could easily understand each other? The team of the Iconspeak was inspired by the same idea, when they started to design clever T-shirts for travelers.

The developers were biking in Vietnam when they needed a help of a mechanic. According to George Horn, they could not get any help from the natives: nobody in the local village understood English or French. That’s how the idea of the smart icons was born.

The team started with pictures on pieces of paper. Then they realized how much benefit this approach could bring and decided to create T-shirts with the same figures, so that the communication would become more comfortable. The broken bike brought about a creative language solution for tourists.

The clever T-shirt incorporates 40 basic icons that help travelers to explain major needs to natives in any country. For example, one can point to the “bed” picture, when he is looking for a hotel or choose the “plane”, when a ride to the airport is needed. The product is designed purposely in order to omit any negative situations: there are no religious icons but instead drawings representing “love and peace” are shown.

The founder George Horn reported that the idea of clever T-shirts is successful and continues to expand. According to him, the product has been travelling all around Europe and currently is being tested by the Iconspeak team member Florian in Latin America.

Would you like to join the team to test it on your next trip to Ukraine or Russia?

The Iconspeak is a young company, founded in 2015. The owners recently started to grow the business internationally, so that more and more tourists can enjoy smart products and forget the embarrassment of the language barrier.

Besides the T-shirts, users can also purchase other stylish elements such as bags, hats, tops, long sleeved shirts, and so on.

The slogan of the startup inspires travel lovers to explore dream places without the fear of being misunderstood.

Really, if the ICONS can allow anybody to SPEAK and feel comfortable in any foreign country, what are the reasons to skip an overseas vacation? Travelling is an important part of human life, so it is good to have tools to avoid potential problems during trips.

Ex.3 Who are the people in the proto? Can you interpret the icons?

Ex. 4 Project Work "ICONSPEAK JUNIOR"

Use the link below to answer the following questions:

http://iconspeak-junior.ru/en/

What is the aim of the protect?

What instrument did the author of the protect use?

What is the final product and can it be used?

Ex. 4 Project Work "ICONSPEAK JUNIOR"

Use the link below to answer the following questions:

http://iconspeak-junior.ru/en/

1. What is the aim of the protect?

Unfortunately, it is for adult travelers. I decided to create something similar for teens based on the "ICONSPEAK" T-shirt. I think such a T-shirt can solve some of the problems of a traveling teenager. It is my hypothesis. 

The objective of the project is to create an "ICONSPEAK JUNIOR" T-shirt.

To do this I needed:

1. to study the history of the icons;
2. then to contact the ICONSPEAK team and ask for their permission to use the brand in my project;
3. after that to make a survey among the classes to find out what icons are necessary on a teenage T-shirt, and which ones should be removed;
4. to make a T-shirt sample for teenagers and print it;
5. and finally to conduct a game among the classmates to find out if the T-shirt works.

2. What instrument did the author of the protect use?

1) First, I contacted the creators of the "ICONSPEAK" T-shirt. During our communication I got their permission to use the brand and the materials from their information resources in my project.

2) To understand how a teenage T-shirt should look like and how it should differ from an adult one, I decided to conduct a survey among the students of our school. I prepared the forms for each test person with some questions, for example: what icons are necessary on a teenage T-shirt and which are useless, etc.

3) Sixty people took part in the survey. Then I examined the forms and received the data. After analyzing the voting results I made the tables and diagrams. Then I could understand clearly what symbols should be on a teenage T-shirt.

3. What is the final product and can it be used?

Then, I tried to group the icons in a certain order for easier use. I got five columns on topics: "travel", "equipment", "life", "leisure" and "food." Finally, I created a T-shirt for a teenager with thirty-four icons and the logo "ICONSPEAK JUNIOR".

To test the effectiveness of my T-shirt, I created a game based on the rules of a guessing game. I prepared twenty-four cards with the tasks. For the game I took the common situations during the trips abroad. The players had to explain each situation either by miming or by using the T-shirt. Twenty-six students took part in the game.

Answer to hypothesis. Using my T-shirt allowed to improve the understanding of the questions in about four times.

Conclusion:

Working on the project, I created the "ICONSPEAK JUNIOR" T-shirt based on the results of the survey. The T-shirt was printed, and it was tested. With the help of the game, I proved that in some situations the T-shirt is more effective than gestures.
I believe that my T-shirt reaches its main goal - overcoming language barriers in the beginning of the communication.
What is more, my project can have a practical application. This T-shirt can be an excellent gift for the foreign guests of our school. It will also help school groups travel abroad.