Projects are engaging because they're creative,
they're collaborative, and they represent a
different way of working, a way that breaks up
the regularity of a typical class.
Projects help learners to develop communicative and
organisational skills. Projects require
negotiation and cooperation.
Sometimes students need to lead;
other times they need to listen and accept others' opinions.
Of course these are all essential life skills as
well as study skills. Project work is
motivating because students engage with the topics in
personal and meaningful ways and because their work leads
to a clear outcome. They often link to
other subjects in the curriculum, and students really
enjoy learning about new things - real things -
in a second language.
In terms of language practice,
projects integrate skills - not only
reading and writing, but also listening
and speaking in English.
For the rest of this video, we're going to
talk about how to organise project work.
Project work is a good opportunity to mix
up the classroom, move students who always
sit together and put them in new groups, according to
their skills and strengths.
Don't assume that students will automatically know
how to plan or research a project.
Work with students at a whole-class level, then
at group-level, helping them to think about how
to approach it.
It usually makes sense to let students use their own
language for planning and producing their projects.
From a language learning point of view,
what's important here is the final outcome.
Help students to find the most
reliable information online.
They can copy ideas, but encourage
students not to copy text exactly
as it appears on websites.
Show students how to organise their ideas into
categories, for example students may need help
with brainstorming or using spidergrams.
Work with the project groups,
don't leave them on their own for too long.
And don't tell students what to do -
give students the confidence to find their own solutions.
Evaluate the most effective presentation
vehicle for each project.
If there's a lot of data, should
students make a poster?
If there's a lot of argumentation or narrative
should they do a spoken presentation?
Or produce a video?
Make sure that groups share the presentation
between group members.
Don't let leaders take over, and check
that shy students have achievable roles they
feel comfortable doing.
Work with students to select the best
ideas for their text or presentation.
Students have to produce their work with members of their group.
That might mean that they have to write, edit,
find images, design posters, learn to use presentation software,
or practice speeches.
Ask students to produce a rough draft of the
project so that you, and they, can assess
its strengths and weaknesses.
Then they amend it and produce a final version.
Now that we know what's involved in project
work, it goes without saying that you should never
underestimate how much time it will take
students to complete projects.
Finally, celebrate! Successful
project work is a cause for celebration.
Make sure every project is praised for its strengths,
and acknowledge the hard work of the students who did it.