This study is carried out in the hope to develop students’ presentation skills by pointing out some ways to conduct an effective project lesson and some ways to assess the students’ work
Trang 1I THE PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
1 Introduction
Nowadays, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education has undergone major reforms in the English Curriculum so as to meet the demands and challenges of globalization and the economy A total review
in the English curriculum emphasizes on several important aspects in English education which includes Communication and English for public presentation Especially, project-based learning has been proved
to be a good way to develop students’ speaking skills However, most teachers encounter problems of conducting and assessing the students’ work This study is carried out in the hope to develop students’ presentation skills by pointing out some ways to conduct an effective project lesson and some ways to assess the students’ work
2 The need of the research
Project-based learning (PBL) helps students apply what they learn to real-life experience and developing cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative groups Due to the active and engaged learning, students are inspired to gain a deeper knowledge of the topics they are studying In addition, students develop their confidence and self-motivation through team-based and independent work In the process of completing their project, students also improve their organizational and research skills and develop better communication with their peers and their teacher Project-based learning is also an effective way to help teacher explore students’ ability to integrate technology into their learning and in the classrooms Hence, it sparks students’ desire to explore the world and apply what they have learned in real life and improve their speaking skills both through group work and through present their ideas in front of the class Although project lesson is especially designed for students learning English 10-year program, it can be applied for those of 7-year one It has been proved to be effective
3 The content of the research:
This section discusses the procedure to conduct a project lesson and an effective way to help students develop their speaking skills through the project given to students following English 7-year program
a Procedure:
Step 1: Introduction
a Contextualize the task
b Inform the class of the lesson objectives
c Timeline and assessment Step 2: Divide class into groups
a Select the group members randomly.
b Adapt the topic according to students’ interests and levels
c Using lucky number for students to choose their parts
Step 3: Conduct the project
- Using questions to help students Step 4: Prepare students for information gathering & compiling, and analyzing data
- Ask them to make a plan to assign their members’ duty
Trang 2- Show them how to search for information and ways to gather information
- Help them make outline Step 5: Prepare students for the final activity
Step 6: Present the final outcomes of the project
Step 7: Assess students’ work
Step 8: Give key values
Lesson plan used for the study 1: (ENGLISH 11- 7 years)
PROJECT- TOPIC 8: CELEBRATIONS – ENGLISH 11 (7 YEARS)
Activity: Choose one of the celebrations to make a presentation on it.
- Tet holiday
- New Year in western countries
- Mid-autumn festival
- Christmas
- Valentine’s Day
A OBJECTIVES
Language objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
- further discuss the topic CELEBRATIONS and develop their communication skills, including reading, listening, writing, and oral presentations on activities of some CELEBRATIONS.
- use key terms and key grammatical structures related to “CELEBRATIONS” to discuss activities.
- apply language knowledge and skills acquired from the unit to give some information about
CELEBRATIONS in Vietnam and in the world.
Content objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will:
- present their ideas about CELEBRATIONS.
B LANGUAGE FOCUS
Key terms:
- Tet holiday
- New Year in western countries
- Mid-autumn festival
- Christmas
- Valentine’s Day
- Key grammar/ structure: present tenses
C METHODS
Communicative Language Teaching &Project-based Learning
D TEACHING AIDS
Textbook, board, chalk, a video, posters, pictures, photos
E PROCEDURE
Trang 3Step 1: Introduction
a Contextualize the task
- Ask students:
- When and where is this celebration originated?
- What do people usually do?
- What do you yourself often do on this occasion?
b Inform the class of the lesson objectives
- Address the objectives of the lesson to the class and emphasize on the core value and language requirements for the project
- Help students understand the instruction and the procedure for conducting the project Remind students of the following points:
o They should make a detail presentation on the origin, activities, special thing about each celebration.
o Then they brainstorm all the necessary information and illustrations related to the activities they will do and arrange them in a logical order on a poster/ power point
o They need to have a good preparation for their presentation on the project
c Timeline and assessment
- Allow 1 week for students to work on their project
- Introduce the form of project teamwork plan, checklist and rubric for project assessment to students Give a clear explanation to help students understand all requirements before they start doing their project (Appendix 1, 2 & 3)
Step 2: Divide class into groups
- Divide students into groups of 5 according to their concern about each celebration
- Have students in each group choose a leader who will assign tasks to the members and monitor teamwork and a note-taker who will be responsible for taking notes of group ideas for later discussions For example, the group leader has to guide and divide work among members in the group; member 2 is
in charge of collecting photos or pictures about a celebration; member 3 has a duty in writing the content of presentation; member 4 is responsible for presenting the form of the poster; member 5 who is
good at speaking has to make a presentation By doing this way the teacher encourages students to speak naturally with their peers and feel safe to ask the teacher questions
- Students discuss in group to complete the table and hand in
- Teachers guides students how to divide the task
Trang 4MEMBERS IN
CHARGE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Step 3: Conduct the project
- Encourage students to make a detailed teamwork plan for their project (See appendix 1)
- Elicit the information that should be put on the poster
Step 4: Prepare students for information gathering & compiling, and analyzing data
- Guide students how to collect information and pictures for their project
- Remind students that they need to compile, evaluate, and synthesize the relevant information for their project poster
EXAMPLE: (students’ draft)
• Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday which is celebrated on February 14th
by many people around the world.
• In English-speaking countries, it is the traditional day on which lovers show their love to each other by sending Valentine's cards, giving flowers, or going out for dinner together.
• One of the most common presents on this day is chocolate.The holiday is named after a Christian priest – Valentine.The most common symbol of St Valentine’s Day is Cupid - the Roman saint of love.
• Cupid is a young boy with a bow and arrow.The first Valentine’s Day was in England, and then spread around the world including many countries in Europe, Asia, and South America.
• However in some countries such as India, Valentine’s Day is not allowed.In India, many lovers are not even allowed to go out together or show their love to each other in public places.
Step 5: Prepare students for the final activity
Trang 5- Have students think about the language use, skills, the content requirements, and the format of the oral
presentation (see appendix 2) and final poster display (see appendix 3).
- Help Ss to simplify the ideas they get from the Internet
- Encourage students to anticipate questions the audience may ask them about their poster
- Help Ss to make an outline of a presentation:
Introduction: Welcome the audience Good morning everyone
Introduce the topic Today, I am here to tell you about … Body:
Introduce the first point, To begin with, I’ll suggest …
To move to the next point, My next point is……
Conclusion: To indicate the end of the talk To sum up, ……
To thank the audience Thank you for listening
Step 6: Present the final outcomes of the project
- Have students present the final outcomes of their work in the project show:
o Teacher sets the time for each group to present and rules For example, each group has 10 minutes to present their project and 3 minutes for question and answer section.)
o While one group presents its project, the others observe, tick the checklist and give comments.
NAME OF THE
PROJECT
INTRODUCTION ABOUT ONE CELEBRATION
PREPARATION
Have they had a group leader?
Have their leader assigned tasks to all members?
Have their group listed tasks and plans that you intend to do?
Have they searched the information from magazines, newspapers, the Internet, or libraries?
Have they taken your own photos of your community?
Have they given the relevant information?
DESIGN
Are illustrated picture/ photos eye-catching meaningful, and understandable
Does their product include:
- title of the project?
- name of group members?
- main contents
- Observe and take notes while groups are presenting their projects
Step 7: Assess students’ work
- Use the rubrics for the project poster and for the oral presentation
Trang 6ORAL PRESENTATION RUBRIC Topic: _ Teacher: Group:
Content
Shows a full understanding
of the topic
Shows a good understanding
of the topic
Shows a good understanding
of parts of the topic
Does not seem to understand the topic very well
Clear speech
and
pronunciation
Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-90%) the time, and mispronounces
no words
Speaks clearly and distinctly most (89-75%) the time, but mispronounces
1, 2, or 3 words
Speaks clearly and distinctly about 74-60%
of the time
Mispronounces
no more than 5 words
Often mumbles or cannot be understood
OR mispronoun ces more than 7 words
Eye-contact
Confidence
Facial expressions and body language generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic with the others
Facial expressions and body language sometimes generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic with the others
Facial expressions and body language are used to try to generate enthusiasm, but seem somewhat pretended
Very little use of facial expressions
or body language
Did not generate much interest in topic being presented
Preparation
Student is completely prepared and has fully rehearsed
Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals
The student is somewhat prepared, but it
is clear that rehearsal was lacking
Student does not seem at all prepared to present
Discussion Student can
fully answer the audience’s questions
Student can answer the audience’s questions, but
Student can answer some
of the audience’s
Student can answer only
1 of the audience’s
Trang 7rather slowly questions questions
- Give constructive and positive feedback
- Praise feasible projects that completely meet the requirements
- Ask students to vote for their friends with good presentation and give their comments This makes them feel eager and motivated
Step 8: Give key values
- Ask students the following questions to identify key values after doing the project
o What have you learned today?
o What is the value of your project?
o How do you feel about your project?
o When do you intend to carry out your plan?
- Encourage students to talk about practical advice based on their real problem and their own ability
Lesson plan used for the study 2:
PROJECT- TOPIC 6: GLOBAL WARMING – ENGLISH 11 (10 YEARS)
Activity 1: Discuss which of the following activities your group can do to help reduce the carbon
footprint of your school and community.
Activity 2: Give your group’s activity a campaign and think about its purpose Then make a
detailed plan using the table below.
In Charge
Time/
Place
Possible Difficulties
Effects
Activity 3: Present your group’s detailed plan to the class.
A OBJECTIVES
Language objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
- further discuss the topic GLOBAL WARMING and develop their communication skills, including reading, listening, writing, and oral presentations on activities to help reduce the carbon footprint of your school and community
- use key terms and key grammatical structures related to “action plan” to discuss activities to help reduce the carbon footprint of your school and community
- apply language knowledge and skills acquired from the unit to give some practical advice on how to help reduce the carbon footprint of your school and community
Content objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will:
- present their ideas on how to help reduce the carbon footprint of your school and community
B LANGUAGE FOCUS
Trang 8- Key terms: climate change, global warming, greenhouse effects, deforestation, preservation, 3R campaign, going green campaign, raise people awareness…
- Key grammar/ structure: Use should, ought to, you’d better, need to make suggestions, or to give
advice on reducing carbon footprint in the school or in the community
C METHODS
Communicative Language Teaching &Project-based Learning
D TEACHING AIDS
Textbook, board, chalk, a video, posters, pictures, photos
E PROCEDURE
Step 1: Introduction
a Contextualize the task
- Ask students about the causes, effects and solutions to the global warming problems
- What are the causes and effects of global warming on the natural environment and our life?
- What can we do to reduce the carbon footprint of your school and community ?
b Inform the class of the lesson objectives
- Address the objectives of the lesson to the class and emphasize on the core value and language requirements for the project
- Help students understand the instruction and the procedure for conducting the project Remind students of the following points:
o They should make a detail plan on how to help reduce the carbon footprint of your school and community.
o Then they brainstorm all the necessary information and illustrations related to the activities they will do and arrange them in a logical order on a poster/ power point
o They need to have a good preparation for their presentation on the project
c Timeline and assessment
- Allow 1 week for students to work on their project
- Introduce the form of project teamwork plan, checklist and rubric for project assessment to students Give a clear explanation to help students understand all requirements before they start doing their project (Appendix 1, 2 & 3)
Step 2: Divide class into groups
- Divide students into groups of 5 according to their concern about each type of pollution
- Have students in each group choose a leader who will assign tasks to the members and monitor teamwork and a note-taker who will be responsible for taking notes of group ideas for later discussions For example, the group leader has to guide and divide work among members in the group; member 2 is
in charge of collecting photos or pictures about the type of pollution; member 3 has a duty in writing the content of presentation; member 4 is responsible for presenting the form of the poster; member 5 who is good at speaking has to make a presentation
Step 3: Conduct the project
Trang 9- Encourage students to make a detailed teamwork plan for their project (See appendix 1)
- Elicit the information that should be put on the poster
Step 4: Prepare students for information gathering & compiling, and analyzing data
- Guide students how to collect information and pictures for their project
- Remind students that they need to compile, evaluate, and synthesize the relevant information for their project poster
EXAMPLE: (students’ draft)
-Purposes: +Celebrate the day of Foundation of The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union
+Raise people’s awareness about the importance of protecting the environment
-Time and place: +Time: 8am, 25.3.2016
+Place: Cho Moi park
-Task: Clean up the park, collect garbage, plant flowers
-Person in charge: +Founder’s campaign: Lan Anh, Mai, Uyen Em, Nhật, Duy, Trọng, Oanh
+Volunteers: 28 students from class 11C11
*Details:
-Bring: shovels, plastic bag, gloves, brooms, flowers (portucala)
-The park will be divided into 2 parts, here and here We will have 2 group, group A which is managed
by Lan Anh, Mai, Uyen Em, Group B which is managed by Nhật, Duy, Trọng, Oanh Group A will work here, and group B will work here
-Fill the vacant land by planting portucala flowers
- Collect the garbage and put them into the plastic bags
-Possible difficulties: +Lack cleaning tools So we can take turn to use
+The weather may be hot so I hope you will bring hat and masks
-Effects: +Help people understand the importance of the environment
Step 5: Prepare students for the final activity
- Have students think about the language use, skills, the content requirements, and the format of the oral
presentation (see appendix 2) and final poster display (see appendix 3).
- Encourage students to anticipate questions the audience may ask them about their poster
- Help Ss to make an outline of a presentation:
Introduction: Welcome the audience Good morning everyone
Introduce the topic Today, I am here to tell you about … Body:
Introduce the first point, To begin with, I’ll suggest …
To move to the next point, My next point is……
Conclusion: To indicate the end of the talk To sum up, ……
To thank the audience Thank you for listening
Trang 10Step 6: Present the final outcomes of the project
- Have students present the final outcomes of their work in the project show:
o Teacher sets the time for each group to present and rules For example, each group has 10 minutes to present their project and 3 minutes for question and answer section.)
o While one group presents its project, the others observe, tick the checklist and give comments(see appendix 4).
- Observe and take notes while groups are presenting their projects
Step 7: Gallery walk
- Have the class walk around and vote to decide which group had the best poster and the best advice or suggestions
Step 8: Assess students’ work
- Use the rubrics for the project poster and for the oral presentation (see Appendix 5)
- Give constructive and positive feedback
- Praise feasible projects that completely meet the requirements
Step 9: Give key values
- Ask students the following questions to identify key values after doing the project
o What have you learned today?
o What is the value of your project?
o How do you feel about your project?
o When do you intend to carry out your plan?
- Encourage students to talk about practical advice based on their real problem and their own ability
II THE RESULTS:
A project-based learning environment provides students with opportunities to develop their abilities to adapt and change methods to fit new situations Further, students have greater opportunity
to learn real Communication associated with seeking information from any resource such as Internet
The research instruments used in this study were interview form for students from 11C1
(2016-2017) (the control group) and 11C11 (2018-2019) 11C10 (2018-2019) (the experiment group) and the score on presentations of these two groups The questionnaire helps to know the students’ attitudes towards speaking using projects The result of this study indicates that the experiment group is better than the traditional group and better than before This study makes students understand the lesson easily with positive attitude They also scored higher than the control group in terms of representation and explanation Their presentations were evaluated by their preparation – (25%), Coherence and cohesion (25%), design (25%) and discussion (25%)