My teaching practice is 14 years long. I have been teaching English and American studies in secondary school № 11 of the town of Marhanets Dnipropetrovsk region since 1999, the year of its opening. The supreme goal both for myself and my school is promoting new methods and methodologies in teaching and upbringing students. Our school fosters a positive, supportive environment that promotes the success of all students. Together with my colleagues we are apparently a good team searching for interesting and new technologies of teaching. As for me, I do not follow any one established approach but instead I take bits and pieces from all of them.
For ten years already I have been interested in project work. It is really difficult to manage the procedure of the project because of many reasons. Some of them are : it depends on the students' capabilities, their willingness to participate, personal relations in a class, etc. Nevertheless, project work is a great way to motivate students, on one side, and to give them language practice in a real context, on the other side.
The project work usually starts as we begin to study a new topic. I find something that interests all of students( ' A Trip around Ukraine', for example). I always make it clear how much time the students have and facilitate them to set attainable goals. I think that such organization of learning is successful because students have motivation from the very beginning: they choose from a variety of small themes included into the topic the one they are interested most. I encourage students to find their own way of doing the work.. I usually give students some criteria for successful project work :
*the project must contain all the necessary information on the topic;
*the contents of the project must be new, unknown or different from the other ones;
*it must be interesting or amusing for both the speaker and listeners;
*students must complete their projects by all means.
The result of all these efforts is the presentation of a piece of work.
Then the students are divided into groups who share ideas and they set objectives for everyone. They discuss who will be responsible for finding information, cuttings, painting and coloring, writing and so on. Project work enables students to continue their learning independently of their teacher. It is a good stimulus for students to look for new details, to find and learn new words they need to express their opinion themselves. Hence, they organize their self-education. In a group students discuss their ideas. They use the language more naturally if they are relaxed and feel secure in their learning environment. Of course, they can involve LI while discussing. So, I ask students to keep a kind of a diary in English.
However, a teacher is still a prompter and a recourser for his/her students. We should be a kind of walking recourse center, always ready to offer help if it is needed. I advise students how to organize their files and notebooks, how to find information in reference books, etc. I make myself available so that students can consult me whenever they wish. First, students make their draft. I look it through, make remarks with discretion, encouraging students to participate. Such work takes both students and a teacher a lot of time. But it makes possible for me to be an interlocutor and a participant of the activity. And motivation of my students is greatly increased by this fact.
Project can cater for classes in which there are children with a range of abilities, needs and interests. Within such work there are often opportunities for different children to make different contributions, depending on their capabilities.
It is a very good opportunity for weaker language students to use nonlinguistic skills, because some of them are very good at art, but may not be that good at English and vice versa. This project work helps all students to work cooperatively together and share their skills and experience. If individual contributions are valued, the children's confidence is boosted, they feel positive about their English classes, and they are motivated to continue to do well.
The students in such work are regarded as active participants in the learning process with shared responsibility for their educational development. And a project involves the development of the full range of students' skills:
*the intellectual skills of describing, drawing, conclusions, using imagination, reading and planning;
*the physical/motor skills of coloring, painting, cutting, folding, gluing and writing;
*the social skills of sharing, cooperating, making decisions together, appreciating individual contributions;
*learner independence skills of awareness of learning strategies, the importance of their contributions, responsibility for their own work.
Students end up the project with a piece of work they can show to the rest of the class. That is why, at the end of the work, the groups present their results. As the project could involve real research, collation of information students use pictures, plans, graphic data, posters, reports for this. Sometimes, it is a kind of a conference or a role-play. During the presentation students are very proud of themselves: they have taken part in the real work, their contributions are appreciated by all present. Comparing their work with other projects students learn from each other. Sometimes, after such presentations the social status of a student can be changed as the peers see how skillful he/she is in this or that kind of activities. Thus, the motivation as the main goal is achieved and both my students and I have something we can show as an indication of the progress we have made.
I began this work with students of the 11th grade first. Then little by little I involved students of the 8th- 10th grades. This year I have started project work with students of the 5th-7th grades. They like project work very much as it is new and unusual and gives them opportunities to express themselves in one way or another.
I delivered professional development seminars on this issue for English teachers of our town and my colleagues. At the seminars I made a report, shared my experience and gave practical recommendations to other teachers how to organize project work at their lessons. Last year I gave some demonstrational lessons showing it.
I am glad that this academic year my colleague, a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, has decided to use my experience. She organized with the students of the 10th grade a project work "Ukrainian Folk Handicrafts." All the teachers, some parents and students from other grades were guests at the presentation of the results. The presentation included reports, an exhibition of handicrafts made by students and a short concert. It was a great success !
For ten years already I have been interested in project work. It is really difficult to manage the procedure of the project because of many reasons. Some of them are : it depends on the students' capabilities, their willingness to participate, personal relations in a class, etc. Nevertheless, project work is a great way to motivate students, on one side, and to give them language practice in a real context, on the other side.
The project work usually starts as we begin to study a new topic. I find something that interests all of students( ' A Trip around Ukraine', for example). I always make it clear how much time the students have and facilitate them to set attainable goals. I think that such organization of learning is successful because students have motivation from the very beginning: they choose from a variety of small themes included into the topic the one they are interested most. I encourage students to find their own way of doing the work.. I usually give students some criteria for successful project work :
*the project must contain all the necessary information on the topic;
*the contents of the project must be new, unknown or different from the other ones;
*it must be interesting or amusing for both the speaker and listeners;
*students must complete their projects by all means.
The result of all these efforts is the presentation of a piece of work.
Then the students are divided into groups who share ideas and they set objectives for everyone. They discuss who will be responsible for finding information, cuttings, painting and coloring, writing and so on. Project work enables students to continue their learning independently of their teacher. It is a good stimulus for students to look for new details, to find and learn new words they need to express their opinion themselves. Hence, they organize their self-education. In a group students discuss their ideas. They use the language more naturally if they are relaxed and feel secure in their learning environment. Of course, they can involve LI while discussing. So, I ask students to keep a kind of a diary in English.
However, a teacher is still a prompter and a recourser for his/her students. We should be a kind of walking recourse center, always ready to offer help if it is needed. I advise students how to organize their files and notebooks, how to find information in reference books, etc. I make myself available so that students can consult me whenever they wish. First, students make their draft. I look it through, make remarks with discretion, encouraging students to participate. Such work takes both students and a teacher a lot of time. But it makes possible for me to be an interlocutor and a participant of the activity. And motivation of my students is greatly increased by this fact.
Project can cater for classes in which there are children with a range of abilities, needs and interests. Within such work there are often opportunities for different children to make different contributions, depending on their capabilities.
It is a very good opportunity for weaker language students to use nonlinguistic skills, because some of them are very good at art, but may not be that good at English and vice versa. This project work helps all students to work cooperatively together and share their skills and experience. If individual contributions are valued, the children's confidence is boosted, they feel positive about their English classes, and they are motivated to continue to do well.
The students in such work are regarded as active participants in the learning process with shared responsibility for their educational development. And a project involves the development of the full range of students' skills:
*the intellectual skills of describing, drawing, conclusions, using imagination, reading and planning;
*the physical/motor skills of coloring, painting, cutting, folding, gluing and writing;
*the social skills of sharing, cooperating, making decisions together, appreciating individual contributions;
*learner independence skills of awareness of learning strategies, the importance of their contributions, responsibility for their own work.
Students end up the project with a piece of work they can show to the rest of the class. That is why, at the end of the work, the groups present their results. As the project could involve real research, collation of information students use pictures, plans, graphic data, posters, reports for this. Sometimes, it is a kind of a conference or a role-play. During the presentation students are very proud of themselves: they have taken part in the real work, their contributions are appreciated by all present. Comparing their work with other projects students learn from each other. Sometimes, after such presentations the social status of a student can be changed as the peers see how skillful he/she is in this or that kind of activities. Thus, the motivation as the main goal is achieved and both my students and I have something we can show as an indication of the progress we have made.
I began this work with students of the 11th grade first. Then little by little I involved students of the 8th- 10th grades. This year I have started project work with students of the 5th-7th grades. They like project work very much as it is new and unusual and gives them opportunities to express themselves in one way or another.
I delivered professional development seminars on this issue for English teachers of our town and my colleagues. At the seminars I made a report, shared my experience and gave practical recommendations to other teachers how to organize project work at their lessons. Last year I gave some demonstrational lessons showing it.
I am glad that this academic year my colleague, a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, has decided to use my experience. She organized with the students of the 10th grade a project work "Ukrainian Folk Handicrafts." All the teachers, some parents and students from other grades were guests at the presentation of the results. The presentation included reports, an exhibition of handicrafts made by students and a short concert. It was a great success !
