I wonder whether it is really that necessary to be able to read and describe graphs in a foreign language. I have been teaching this skill for several years now, always going into minute detail, and can say that very few people actually need it in their jobs. They usually spend a few weeks learning all the possible collocations with synonyms of increase and decrease and the degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs. They then describe a number of graphs and charts, study model answers, and some of them eventually sit the exam and … archive the acquired skill:(
The same is true about the language of broadsheet headlines – it may be very exciting to learn, but how many students continue reading such magazines as the Economist or newspapers such as the FT after their Business English course is over? I would certainly like someone to prove me wrong in this pessimistic assumption. I put such a lot of effort in all those lessons that it makes me cringe at the mere thought that all this devotion is in vain, and the students will not need anything of the kind once we are done with the topic.
