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Project Pedagogy

Introduction

Project work means different things to different people. Standard definition of "project
"- such as "a detailed study of a subject" (Collins Cobuild English Language dictionary), or
"work or activity for any Kind" (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English), may either
suggest that project work is serious and academic, or that it is casual and unspecific.
As a classroom activity, it is often referred to in disparaging terms,
E .g.
-Project work? It's time consuming and boring.
-The teacher assigns project work when she cannot think of any other thing to do.
-It makes students work hard for nothing.
However, our experience working with many local teachers has shown us that project
work in the English classroom can be both stimulating and inspiring. Once teachers know
the "tricks of the trade" they will find that project work can be both meaningful and
manageable generating more benefits than they may expect.
Students, on the receiving end, will also find project work interesting challenging, and
beneficial to their learning and language development.

Project Work

What?

HOW?

WHY?

A/ WHAT?
It is theme-based.
It leads to a better understanding of the theme under investigation.
It enables pupils to recycle known language in a relativity natural context.
It engages pupils in a number of cognitive skills such as conceptualizing, inquiring
and problem solving.
It involves pupils in planning and execution of the project through a series of tasks.
It involves collaboration between pupils and pupil's teacher.
It stimulates real-life investigations.
It usually leads to a product.

Project work is both process and product oriented


a) - Process oriented:
It involves pupils in a process of planning, discussion, negotiation decision making.
b) - Product oriented:
As it is geared towards the creation of a tangible product without an understanding of the
process, the quality of the product will suffer

B/How to conduct the project?


-Here are the three phases.

1/THE PREPARATION PHASE

The theme

The duration

Grouping of pupils

Teacher's role

Assessment procedure

PHASE
Collecting
ideas

Defining
objective

2/THE
ACHIEVEMENT
Planning
actions

Imparting language
skills and other skills
related to the project
So the pupils will:
-Design their own material
-Collect information
-Collate data
-Organize their material
-Get prepared for the final presentation of their work

3/THE PRESENTATION PHASE

Pupil's feedback
Your feedback
C/Why project work?

Storing the products

Project work is valuable since it contributes to students' learning in a number of significant


ways.In this section, we shall briefly describe the benefits of project work.
1. Fostering learner autonomy.
(Project work provides excellent opportunities for independent and collaborative learning.)
learning.)

2. Enhancing motivation
3. Using language for real communicative purposes.

4. Practicing English skills in an integrated way.


5. Promoting cognitive development.
(During project work, students do not use language in a vacuum but rather to express
ideas and thoughts.)
6. Allowing for individual learning.
7. Establishing rapport in the classroom.
8.

Experiencing English as a real language.

Table summarizing the teacher's and pupils' roles in project work.


Teacher's role
Pupils' role
-Proposes a theme
-Design materials
-Sets the duration of
-Collect information
the project
-Select information
-Defines assessment
-Organize materials
criteria
-Present their product
-Groups pupils
-Sets limits to his
actions
-Provides his feedback
-Stores the finished
product
Common role for the teacher and the pupils:
-Collect ideas
-Formulate the objectives of the project
-Plan actions
-Practise language skills and other skills
related to the project
-Record the feedback.
SUMMARY OF PROJECT WORK
Project
work is not only interesting but
also intellectually challenging. It requires an array (a number) of skills, which can be
summed up in the following.

Planning
Reading
Observing
Judging
Enquiring
Collaboration
Thinking
Overall presentation of a typical project:

Theme of project: Make a poster of your favourite hero


Functions needed: - introducing
- greeting
- counting from. 1 to 13
- saying where you are from.
Socio- cultural themes: cinema heroes or cartoon heroes
Linguistic forms: grammatical (structure): - to be (present)
- This
- personal pronouns
Linguistic forms: lexical (vocabulary): - Hello! Hi!
- I'm / My name is
- He's , she's
- I'm from/ he's from/ she's from
- Monday, Tuesday
Strategies: teach the learner to: - seek information
- classify the information collected
- process information
- draw
- colour
Activities: - phonetic exercises
- structural exercises
- Short dialogues / role play/ drama.
Teaching (realias): - magazines
- pictures, photos, objects, prompts
- dictionaries, etc.

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