Курсовая работа: Project Work in Teaching English

Symbol Shadows

1. Write the quotation by Rabrindinath Tagore “What you are you do not see, what you see is your shadow.” on the board. Discuss it briefly with your students. Then draw a symbolic representation of your own ‘shadow’ on the board - various symbols that in some way represent you and things/people that are important to you. When you have drawn your shadow explain the symbols to your students.

2. Ask them to draw their own shadows. When they have done that, if you have a small class, ask them one by one to explain their shadow to everyone else. If your class has more than around a dozen students, divide the class into groups of between six and a dozen to do the cams. If you remain in whole-class formation, make sure the explanations are directed towards everyone in the class, not just you. If you have groups, monitor them discreetly, again making sure the explanations are directed towards their colleagues rather than you.

3. As a follow-up task, either in class or for homework, ask your students to write up the explanation of their symbols.

Here is an example of shadows done by a student with her own explanation of the symbols:

It is a sort of box because I’m very closed in myself, and with a locker because I do not let everybody in. In it there is a book, a radio/tape recorder and a TV, it is mainly what I spend my days doing when I am not at school or studying. There are also faces of boys and girls: these are my friends, and they are in a little box apart because I do not reveal myself to them, I do not have as many close friends as I would like.

Beatriz

The Happiness Cake

1. Ask everyone to think for a moment about the ingredients for happiness. Tell everyone to imagine they are going to bake a happiness cake. What ingredients and what spices would they put in? Ask them to work alone and write down the ingredients and spices for their cake. Allow five minutes for this.

2. If you have a small class, ask each member in turn to tell the others about the ingredients and spices for their cake. You tell them your list last. If you have a larger class, divide it into groups of six to dozen, and get them to do the same. Monitor the groups and when they have finished, ask them to report back to the whole class. Again tell them your ingredients and spices last.

What Went Right? What Went Wrong?

1. Talk to your students about your own good and bad learning experience and the extent to which these correlated with good and bad relationships with your teachers.

2. Tell your students to draw two columns. In the first they are to list teachers they remember getting on well with and in the other those they got on badly with. Divide the class into groups of four or five and ask them to tell one another about these teachers and effect they had on their learning.

3. Bring the students back together as a whole class and ask them what they feel are the main things that contribute to a good relationship between students and their teacher. The most important thing is regular, honest communication, because everything else both depends on this and can be remedied through this. Your students may come up with other points but be sure to emphasis the importance of regular, honest communication.

Variation

As a follow up, either in class or for homework get your students to write about their positive and negative learning experience.

If a Table Could Speak

1. Draw an object, e.g. a table, on the board. Tell the students that your object is the starting point for a picture you would like the class to create and that you would like them to come up to the board one at a time and add more things to it. Tell them that they can draw absolutely anything except people and that quality of the drawing does not matter. The picture is finished when there are about a dozen items in it.

2. Put the chalk or board pen where everyone can reach it easily – make sure they know where it is. Then get out of the way and let them draw the picture.

3. When the picture is reasonably complete declare the picture ready. If your class has had to come out to the front, send them back to their usual places.

4. Divide the class into pairs. Ask the pairs to choose any two items. In the picture write a dialogue between them of about ten lines. Tell your students they must not mention the name of their items in the dialogue. For example, if it is a dialogue between the table and a plant, the plant must not say, ‘Hello, table. How are you today?’ but just, ‘Hello, how are you today?’ Give a time limit of fifteen minutes. First reaction to this task would usually be a gasp of shock, but they should quickly get used to the idea. Keep out of the way for about five minutes while they settle. Then be available to help with vocabulary, etc. If you are not needed, do not hover, just sit down out of the way. As they are finishing, go round and check they have not mentioned the names of the ‘speakers’ in their dialogue as this will ruin Step 5.

5. When they have finished, ask the pairs in turn to read aloud their dialogue, each partner taking a part. The others in the class must guess which item is talking to which. This phase is very good for making students read loud and clearly as colleagues will not otherwise understand.

2.2 Project Work Activities for the Intermediate Level

Magnet, Island or Bridge

1. If you have a magnet, show it to the class and check if they know what it is called. Otherwise, you may need to explain it in the next step. On the board draw three columns, heading them respectively ‘magnet’, ‘island’ and ‘bridge’. Divide your class into pairs and ask them to draw up a list of characteristics in the columns on the board.

2.Ask your students to think for a moment about the way they act in various social contexts, for example at parties, with colleagues, in the family – more like a magnet, an island or a bridge. Divide the class into groups to discuss the problem briefly.

3. Ask them, still in groups, to discuss which attitude – the magnet, the island or the bridge – is most conductive to a good working environment in class and what that implies in term of actual behaviour.

4. Discuss as a class the findings of the groups. They should feel that being a bridge is the most conductive and that it implies a spirit of co-operation, participating, helping others. At the same time a magnet may on occasions act as a catalyst to encourage shyer members of the class when/how a magnet might be a positive element in a class and when/how a negative one.