Class projects are a great way to put into practice skills that have been learnt during an English course. The following projects that I’ll be sharing with you have worked really well with teenagers who were on short term courses of a few weeks. It’s a fun break from structured lessons and also gives the teacher a break for two days!
Class Magazine
To lead up to this activity, ask students to brainstorm types of magazines and what sections they would find within them. Explain that you will be creating a class magazine over the next couple of days and ask students to pick two topics from the board in pairs (fashion, agony aunt, technology, food and drink, news, editorial etc.) Get the students to appoint an editor who will oversee the article writing and delegate work to the pairs.
Have several different types of magazines at hand for the students to look at. Initially, ask them to brainstorm with their partners and get ideas about what they’d like to write about. When they feel ready, they can attempt a first draft which the teacher will correct. For the final copy they can cut out pictures from the magazines available and personalise their pages. The editor will then be in charge of collating the articles and as a group they can choose a title for their magazine. Students are often quite proud of their magazines so we pass them round the different classes. This activity, although very fun and relaxed, is very beneficial as it requires students to discuss with their partners in English and write an article.
This type of project can also work with a class newspaper, although the format and reporting styles would be different. A newspaper often works better with adult and business students as they can write about a topic relevant to their interests or careers.
Perfect EFL School Brochure
The following project is quite similar to a class magazine as you will need an editor and a lot of creative input. To start off with, ask students what they think of their language school and what can be improved. Then let them decide what could be improved and what their idea of a perfect language school is.
Collectively they should decide what country their school is in, what it should be called and what its ethos is. In groups students can then proceed to write up a school and accommodation description, class schedule, extra curricular schedule, teacher profiles, interview with the Director of studies, menu etc. being as detailed as they like depending on the size of the class.
Surveys
Survey projects are always a favourite because it means the students can leave the class to go out and find their data. There are infinite topics for surveys and questionnaires so put the class into groups and let them decide what they would like to survey. Give them some examples such as restaurants, entertainment, local people, and foreigners’ perception of the country.
Ensure that your students have discussed and written out their questions (usually at least 10) relevant to their survey. Once they have been corrected send them out for an hour to research their topic or to ask people.
When they are happy with the material they have collected, they can then decide how to present their information, as graphs, paragraphs, pamphlet or poster. At the end of the activity, all groups will have to present their findings to the class and discussions can be started according to the topics.
I always like to keep the best examples of previous students’ work in my classroom to show my new groups. It gives them an idea of what level of work is expected from them and gives them something to try and improve on. These projects have worked well as a finale for a departing class or as a breather when there was just no time to prepare a lesson!
8 comments
Violeta
Great ideas and great article! Thanks Nadia! This will make a difference for many teachers.
Projects really boost learners’ language acquisition and make them more confident about their learning. They also strengthen team spirit and make learners more aware of their own interests and talents as well as of the ones of their classmates.
Rasamee
Project Based Learning has always been productive. The students will not only learn knowledge but also develop their skills for learning. I have used Project Based Approach in my business English classes with Thai University students. The majority of the students seem to appreciate the lessons as they gradually developed their skills in communication. Some of them also admitted that the process of learning with this approach has furnished them with the skills necessary for life long learning. Some of the students have also improved their interpersonal skills. There are, however, a minority of students complaining about not enjoying this way of learning as they are not familiar with it. I believe that these students are still attaching themselves to traditional way of teaching which is spoon feeding. I only hope that all of the students in Thailand will understand the meaning of learner center soon so that project based learning approach can be employed more efficiently.
Mariana
I find the web page very useful. I’d like to share the following project with you.
AN IDEAL HOLIDAY
*You are going to make plans for travelling to the place you choose. You can use the internet to search for the information you are going to include in your report:
DESTINATION:
MEANS OF TRANSPORT (plane, train, bus, car etc.):
TICKETS PRICE (If you travel by plane include class and airline):
KIND OF HOLIDAY (cheap/luxurious/adventurous/exotic/other):
BEST WAY TO GET AROUND THE CITY/TOWN:
HOTEL (name and price):
SEASON:
WEATHER:
CURRENCY:
TYPICAL SOUVENIRS:
TYPICAL SIGHTS:
*TRIP DESCRIPTION (places and activities):
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
Day 6:
Day 7:
Day 8:
Day 9:
Day 10:
(add more days if you want)
Orlando
Great idea, thank you.
Bob
Another useful project which I have used successfully is to ask the students to provide a guide to the school, teachers, course… to help the next intake of students. This gives opportunities for students of most levels to produce a worthwhile piece of work which may be really used as intended
Sol
I love your ideas and I have tried some of them with my classes in Madrid (teenagers). Unfortunately I still haven’t found the best way to assess them. I would like to give students a peer-evaluation, a self-evaluation and an evaluation on the project. Any ideas where to find templates that could help me?
Dirk
Love the ideas !
Thanks.
Hopefully, I will be back to share some of my own.
D
HABIB ZAKZAK
Great contributions! I would like to leave a comment here regarding the evaluation of students’ projects. The project should be broken down into stages where each carries a certain weight. The overall weight is later added up towards their final project grade. I must mention here that clear-cut rubrics be there to guide students to perfect what they are doing.