Project Work at Programas de Inglés Para Niños y Jóvenes

8/18/2019 Project Work at Programas de Inglés Para Niños y Jóvenes

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Project Work at programa de Inglés para Jóvenes

A learning tool to contribute to students’ meaningful learning

This paper is written with the aim of helping new teachers in the programs, teachers with little experience with

project work, or experienced teachers who don’t feel confident to work in the English class with projects, to

have a clearer idea of what is expected from them in the programs and also to enlighten their pedagogical

practice with some standard criteria of what doing project work implies. At the beginning, a short and general

definition of project work is given, then some of the main steps to carry out projects are enumerated and

explained, finally, some tips to implement project work successfully and further readings are suggested.

A project is an in!depth investigation of a topic worth learning more about. The investigation is usually

undertaken by a small group of "students# within a class, sometimes by a whole class, and occasionally by an

individual. The key feature of a project is that it is a research effort deliberately focused on finding answers to

$uestions about a topic posed either by the "students#, the teacher, or the teacher working with the "students#.

The goal of a project is to learn more about the topic rather than to seek right answers to $uestions posed by

the teacher.% &at', (. )*++-.

Steps for doing the project

! "opic selection# ince the very beginning of the course, the teacher should encourage students to decide on


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ome examples of oral formats are1 a presentation using visual aids like 4ower 4oint presentations or

posters, a video, a play, a news program, a talk show, a contest, a soap opera, a puppet show or a game

show. amples of &ritten formats are1 an album, a poster, a brochure, a booklet, a didactic game, a big

book, a web site, a blog, a maga'ine, or a newspaper. 0f the format for the project is of the type of a video or a

play, the oral format is the video or the play itself, and the written format will be the script.

'! ()ploration1 0n this stage the teacher should guide students to discover what they want to know about the

topic. 5ne suggested procedure is to ask students to do a brainstorm, share what they know about the topic

they chose individually, in small groups or as a whole class. Then the teacher should play the role of facilitator

and organi'e all students’ ideas into subtopics to give an order and present it to students the following class.

At this moment students can decide if what the teacher presents is what they really want to work on.

*! +uestioning1 5nce the theme of the project is divided into more specific topics it is necessary to

encourage students to go beyond the simple fact, asking them for instance what they want to learn, what

raises their curiosity about that topic, why they want to know about it. 0t is also necessary to explore if students

already know something about the topic chosen6 if that is so, the teacher should help students to discover

what else they want to know and how deep they want to go into that topic. pecific $uestions should be

formulated here, open $uestions of the research type that are not answered just with some specific

information. The teacher should remind students the idea with the project is to learn about meaningful and


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has been done and what is missing, discuss why things have been in that way and what can be done to

accomplish the plan designed. Another possibility can be assigning students individual, pair or small group

conferences to examine what has been done, what is missing and the difficulties found. At some other

moments of the course the teacher can keep individual advisory sessions to revise and correct grammar,

spelling, coherence, cohesion or rehearse pronunciation.

The feedback offered by the teacher in either of these cases should include content and form. 0n regards the

content, it is important to consider the originality of the text, that is, students should receive clear instruction

about writing their own texts, summari'ing, paraphrasing, $uoting and in all cases avoiding plagiarism.

:egarding the form, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, coherence and cohesion should be considered.

/! Presentation of the project1 At this part, the role of the teacher is very important since the results students

show in the presentation will reflect somehow the process carried out along the semester and especially the

guidance students received from the teacher. 0t is recommended that the teacher suggests students some

public speech strategies such as1 eye contact, speech speed, good use of visual aids and management of

nervousness. ome strategies previous to the presentations can also be promoted, for instance1 rehearsing in

front of a mirror, with some family members, a friend, the classmates or audio or video taping.

A good $uality of the work presented can be guaranteed if the teacher simply asks students to rehearse what


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Soft&are that can be downloaded from the 0nternet allowing students to record their voice when reading or

speaking and then listen to themselves to see how good they are at pronouncing1

http1//audacity.sourceforge.net/

Suggestions to take into account for the &ritten format of the project#

A cover1 with the names of the participants, the course, and the date

An introduction1 where the aim and the contents of the project are explained

An outline or table of contents

The contents

The conclusions1 where students write what they learned about the topic, doing the project, working

with their partners, and some recommendations for other students to take into account when doing

project work

The references1 the sources of information used for the project.

"ips for students and evaluation criteria for the teacher to take into account during students’

presentation of the project

3o not read or memori'e what you are going to present

Explain the text in a natural way

Try to make the audience part of the project presentation involving them into a planned activity such

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/http://audacity.sourceforge.net/


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clearly understand the procedures to develop projects, is a small contribution to guarantee the effectiveness of

a methodological tool proposed.

3eference

• &at', (. )*++- Accesible at1 http1//ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/*++/lk!pro+.html

4urther reading

• 9esa, @. ;rodden, @. )=BB- Promoting autonomy through project work. En1 0kala, :evista de

(enguaje y @ultura Col +, >o. *D )Ene!3ic- Accesible at1

http1//$uimbaya.udea.edu.co/ikala/images/43;s/0kala!Col.+F.pdf

• Toro, @. )=BBF- Promoting EFL students’ responsibility with learning activities through Project work. En1

0kala, :evista de (enguaje y @ultura Col. *= >o. *G )Ene!3ic- Accesible at1

http1//$uimbaya.udea.edu.co/ikala/images/43;s/ColH=B*=H=BarticuloH=B+.pdf

4repared by1 3iana 4ineda I ;ebruary =BB+

9odified by1 Tifanny @arvajal I 2ulio =B*=


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Programa de Inglés para 5i6os 7 Jóvenes

Suggested timetable for project &ork

"opic of the project# 4ormat#

Subtopics related to the main topic#

+uestions or issues that &ill guide the project#

Sessi

on

Stage Activit7 description 3esponsib

le

%eadlin

e

* Exploring the

topic

3ialogue with students about their previous experiences with project work, the talk can include the

project they did last semester.

Ask them to brainstorm what they would like to do for the project this semester in pairs, small groups or

as a whole class. 0t can also be possible that students bring the topics for next class.

how students different projects you or other teachers have done to motivate them to do something

challenging.

4lan activities to know students’ interests and talents.

tudents

Teacher

=nd class

=

3efining the

format

3iscuss and negotiate students on the most recurrent or interesting topics.

3efine with students the format they want to prepare for the project.

5rgani'e the subtopics of the project.

tudents

Teacher Jrd class

J Kuestioning

Ask students to talk or write what they want to know and what they would like to know about the topic,

why they want to know about it.

5rgani'e the $uestions taking into account the subtopics.

Teacher

tudents th class


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4lanning

The teacher organi'es the subtopics and tasks according to a plan that helps to achieve the final product

of the project.

The teacher presents and shares the timetable of the project to all the students that everyone can be

aware of what is going to be done and when.

Live students tips to find information in a successful way.

how students other sources of information1 interviews, $uestionnaires, videos, TC programs.

The teacher assigns students to bring the first source of information for next class.

Teacher Dth class

D

3eveloping the

project and

monitoring it

tart researching about the topic of the project.

Live students reading and vocabulary strategies for them read the information in English. tudents

Teacher

Mth class

M

3eveloping the

project and

monitoring it


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monitoring it room.

*B

3eveloping the

project and

monitoring it

Live students tips for public speech.

Teach them to use key words of key sentences in 4ower 4oint presentations or posters. Teacher **th

class

**

3eveloping the

project and

monitoring it

Documents

Project Work at Programas de Inglés Para Niños y Jóvenes