Transcript Project work

Project work
Compiled by Alla Otwynovska ,
a teacher of English
Drabiv secondary school.
Why use project work ?
Work on projects in English lessons is a very good
opportunity for students to use in practice what they
already know theoretically. In his Introduction to
project work Tom Hutchinson claims: “A foreign
language can often seem a remote and unreal thing.
This inevitably has a negative effect on motivation,
because the students don’t see the language as
relevant to their own lives” (Hutchinson, p. 11).
SOME ADVANTAGES OF PROJECT WORK ARE









Increased motivation
All four skills
Autonomous learning
There are learning outcomes
Authentic tasks
Interpersonal relations
Content and methodology
Learners often get help from parents
A break from routine
Possible drawbacks
Noise
Time
Using L1
Different levels
Noise
The level of noise in lessons that are engaged in a project
is probably much higher than in traditional lessons. Matt
Wicks asserts that it can be a good sign which often means
that children are enjoying the activity. If the noise is
disturbing, the class and a teacher have to agree on some
“quiet sign” (e.g. teacher rising or clapping hands). He or
she should try to speak quietly and not to shout louder
than children (Wicks, p. 11).
Using native language
. The problem with children speaking their
first language instead of English may
appear in monolingual classes. However,
rather than seeing this as a problem
Hutchinson tries to consider its merits. He
persuades that L1 and the studied language
are not two “completely separated
domains”, but the learner who can operate
them both may switch constantly and
naturally from one to anotherAs long as
the final product is presented in English,
the usage of L1 does not matter.
Different levels
The aim for teachers should be to teach
all the students in a classroom in spite of
their different ways of learning, and learning
and progressing at different speeds.
Although it can be difficult for the teacher to
know about each student and to follow how
much he or she participates in the lesson, it
is important to try and reach their needs in a
variety of ways to achieve effective teaching
(Şalli-Çopur).
Planning the project
Choosing the project.
There are many approaches in choosing the suitable
project. It can be related to the topic, vocabulary or
grammar that the students have already covered in
the course book or to the topics in which the students
are interested. The teacher may be also led by the
syllabus needs, cross curricular links or decide
according to the time amount which can be dedicated
to the project work.
Phillips, Burwood and Dunford note that the best
way how to start planning the new project is to think
of the end product and then choose the activities that
will ”lead to its successful completion” ((Phillips,
Burwood, Dunford, p. 11). There is a wide range of
final end-products which can be used: wall displays
and posters, exhibitions, booklets, magazines or
newspapers, models and presentations, reports,
videos, various events such as a party or a theatre
play etc
Timing
Hardy-Goud suggests that a project can be a
part of a course or it can be used on a special
occasion such as the end of the term. The most
common way is to use the projects to
consolidate the grammar or the vocabulary
covered and to extend them with new
expressions and vocabulary.
Another way of approaching a project work is
to “set aside one or two hours every week” and
let the students do the individual tasks as a part
of their homework (Hardy-Goud, p. 6).
I NTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT
The project work needs to be
presented to the class in a “stimulating and
enthusiastic way” (Wicks, p. 10). How to
introduce the new project depends on the
age of the children and their maturity. But
it is essential to explain the final outcome.
Teacher can discuss the end product with
the children and explain what exactly they
will do and how, what they will practice or
learn, what they can expect and what is
expected from them, the choices they will
have, the rules they will have to follow
Setting goals
Students need to focus on a goal. It is
advisable to begin with mini projects
or to break the bigger project into
smaller micro-tasks when the children
are beginning with a project work,
later they can progress to more
extensive work. The goal may be the
completion of the whole project or the
conclusion of tasks (Wicks, p. 10)
Arragements
In order to create a positive working
atmosphere for the project work the layout
of the classroom can be changed. The
desks may be rearranged, so that students
sit facing each other. This will encourage
cooperation. One student from each group
can be nominated as a“ group secretary”
and write down notes and assist in
focusing the others on the task (HardyGoud, p. 7).
Managing the project
Stages of the project
1. Realization
2. Planning
3. Presentation of an output 4. Evaluation
Teacher’s role.
In the first stage there is an
active part when the teacher
explains important points to
the whole class and clarifies
any new language. Later when
the students are left on their
own working creatively, the
teacher changes into a
monitor, a resource and a
facilitator.
Classroom management
Initially the children must know
what to expect and what behaviour
is permissible, the teacher must
introduce the project carefully and
establish the rules. It is important to
plan the lessons very carefully even
for the individual groups and start
with a whole-class work before the
different groups will be asked to do
different tasks.
Presentation of the final product.
Legutke and Thomas argue that many projects
have a form of presentation that is intended to
audience outside the group. This stage enables
the pupils to communicate in the target
language and to practise acquiring presentation
skills. The presentation itself is a short-time
event but it is preceded „by a preparatory
process of collective decision making, data
reorganization and skill acquisition.“ (Legutke
and Thomas 1991, p. 179)
Feedback and avaluation.
Correcting.
The teacher should be careful and realize
that language is only a part of the project
and that credit must be given mainly for
the overall impact. Firstly the drafts should
be corrected in a normal way in order to let
students incorporate corrections in the
final product. If the errors occur also in
there, the separate sheet of paper may be
attached to the project or the corrections
can be done in pencil (Hutchinson, p. 21).
Classroom feedback
When planning the project it is
important to earmark time for
evaluation of the process and the
product. The teacher should
incorporate the feedback sessions
into the timetable when the class
can review what they have done,
why they did it and how successful
they have been.
Final avaluation
At the end Phillips, Burwood and Dunford
bring some ideas for class review and
evaluation such as looking and reviewing
each other’s work, awarding prizes for the
best contributions or selecting the best
examples from the different groups for the
class magazine or a wall display. They also
concede that children, when they are used
to doing evaluation tasks may be asked to
decide how they would like to get
feedback from the teacher and the other
students in the class.
Example
of the evaluational tables of the project work
Student’s The
name
Presentation Lexical Grammar Urgency
Design ofof the project level
level
the
Of
Final
themark
information
document
Student’s
The Urgency of the
name
topic
Technical
Quality
ofPresentation ofNotes Final
Completeness requirement the report the project
s
mark
References
Tom Hutchinson, Introduction to Project Work,
Oxford University Press 1991
Haines S (1989) Projects for the EFL classroom
Further Reading
Phillips D, S Burwood & H Dunford (1999) Projects
with Young Learners
Oxford: OUP
Fried-Booth D (1986) Project Work Oxford: OUP