PROJECT WORK

"project" is "a task that requires a lot of time and effort." The project work at schools is used across the curriculum. We can use projects in a school subject separately or we can join more school subjects in one project. Sometimes we call „project work“ every activity that is different from a traditional way of teaching and learning. According Oxford Advanced Learner´s Dictionary "project" is: . planned work – a planned piece of work that is designed to find information about sth, to produce sth new, or to improve sth. The definition of "project" in Oxford Wordpower Dictionary is: . a piece of work, often involving many people, that is planned and organized carefully, . a piece of school work in which the student has to collect information about a certain subject and then write about it.   In Advanced Learner´s English Dictionary,defines : "project" is "a task that requires a lot of time and effort." Cambridge Advanced learner´s Dictionary defines "project" as: . A piece of planned work or an activity which is completed over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular aim. . A study of a particular subject done over a period of time, expecially by students.

In educational context, the project work should be pupil-centred activity, no teacher-centred or syllabus-centred one. The pupils have to understand why they make a project and how it is useful for them. The best way is when they can choose the topic of the project themselves. They usually work in groups and they develop their social skills to cooperate and communicate together. They choose the way of work, divide tasks and agree on the output of the project. The pupils are responsible for their work on their project and for their results. At the end, the pupils present the result of their project and the teacher evalutes not only the project itself but also the work of each pupil on the project and the cooperation among the pupils in their groups.

The advantages of project work

a) It is very personal - the pupils are writing about „themselves, their lives, their town, their dreams and fantasies, their own research into topics that interest them.“He continues that because the project is very personal experience for the pupils, its meaning and presentation are very important for them and that is why they put a lot of effort into doing it right. b) The pupils are „learning through doing“– they are not just receiving and producing words, they are also collecting information, drawing pictures, cutting out pictures, arranging texts, colouring, carring out interviewing and surveys …etc. c) Project work gives the sense of achievement and it enables the pupils to produce the worthwhile product. It also enables to the pupils to work on their own level and achieve their goals. Better pupils can express what they know and slower pupils can be successful by using more photos and pictures.   d) Project work helps to integrate the foreign language into the learner´s own world , encourages the use of communicative skills and provides the opportunities to write about things which are important for them. e) It enables to make the language more relevant to the pupils´ needs. f) It enables the relationship between the language and the culture, while the pupils learn a foreing language, they learn about other cultures.

Benefits to learners

The most important benefit of project work for the pupils is that it enables them the contact with real world in which they use the target language that they have learnt. . They work on their own level and can achieve a goal regardless how good they are at the target language, which is very motivating for them. . They work with a wider range of materials than their textbook offers. . They improve their communicative and social skills, such as cooperating in groups and developing their personality, acting with other pupils in a group, listening to others and expressing their own opinions, stating their cases and attitudes, solving the problems. . They deal with problems which they are interested in and they learn to solve them. . They are taught to be responsible for their work and its results. . The pupils´ efforts and joining the project are more important than linguistic accuracy.

The role of teacher

Although the responsibility for project work is given to the pupils, a teacher´s role is not insignificant. In the project, the teacher is acting as consultant and co-ordinator. Making a project does not mean „more work“ for the teacher if he is able to plan and organize it well and he makes the pupils to take the responsibility for the end product. The teacher´s role . Initiating role: the teacher decides when it is the suitable time for a project and how long it should last. Then he should also „introduce a broad discussion topic which may develop naturally into a project.“ . During the project: a) the teacher is an advisor being prepared to advice and help if the pupils ask for it, b) as a referee he is assisting to solve out arguments and differences of opinion, c) as a chairperson, „from time to time groups will report their activities to the whole class. On these occasions the teacher can take on the role of an objective chairperson.“ . Finally: when the project is coming to its end, the teacher becomes „an organiser being actively involved in the organization of displays, the final production of written reports, etc.“ As an evaluator, he encourages the pupils „to evaluate the project work process for themselves“ and he should be prepared to comment honestly on what the students have reached.“

The role of teacher Advisor Assistant Co-ordinator Chairperson Organizer Evaluator A good Leader The role of teacher

Stages of a project

Organization of materials The success of project work depends on planning and organization that pupils and a teacher deal with together. If a good timetable of the project is established, it helps to avoid the chaos and similar problems. Generally, I think that every project should have four stages: topic, collecting data, presentation and evaluation of a project (by the pupils and the teacher). Presentation Topic discussion Stimilus Practice of language skills Design of written materials Collating information Group activities Organization of materials Final presentation Evaluation

Opening a project This stage has several aims: to develop a positive group dynamic, to introduce learners to a communicative approach, to give learners personal experience of using multi media, to introduce the live community as a resource base for language learning where appropriate, - to introduce textual data (content materials, process materials) for research activities.

Topic orientation The time devoted to this stage can be short, comparing to stages 1 and 3. The teacher´s objectives are following: to sensitize learners towards the theme, to mobilize existing knowledge, to arouse curiosity, - to allow for the exchange of personal experiences.

Research and data collection This is the longest and the most intensive part of the project and it includes the planning and other procedures needed to complete the target task, practising required skills and data collection. The objectives are summarized as following: defining the nature and extent of the project tasks, learning how to carry out research in the live community using appropriate means of investigation and recording, how to research textual data, how to comprehend a literary text, - completing the target task.

Preparation of data presentation   to remotivate learners towards completion of an end product, to encourage and monitor team building and acceptance of areas of responsibilities, to enable learners to decide on the form of the end product. The objectives for learners in this part of the project are: to present information to a live audience using the appropriate media, to structure and direct the event and interact with the audience. On presentation, the pupils also present their end product of the project

Presentation Many projects have a form of presentation that is intended to audience outside the group. This stage enables the pupils to communicate in the target language and to practise acquiring presentation skills. The presentation itself is a short-time event but it is preceded „by a preparatory process of collective decision making, data reorganization and skill acquisition.“ (Legutke and Thomas 1991, p. 179) The objectives for learners in this part of the project are: to present information to a live audience using the appropriate media, - to structure and direct the event and interact with the audience.

Evaluation A concluding evaluation stage involve an overall evaluation of: topic understanding, group and teacher interaction, procedural organization, input materials, language gains and deficits, examples of learner work,

CONCLUSION Project work in the language classroom is the opportunity for learners to develop their language skills, it encourages learners to use the foreign language and motivates them. Moreover, it develops the learners´ social skills, the ability to cooperate together, because they often work in groups on their project, and their sense for responsibility for their work

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT EVALUATION GRID CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT SCALE TOTAL 1 2 3 4 5 ORGANISATION OF PROJECT : ( developing the product/ setting objectives and planning) COLLATING INFORMATION : (Notes reading / explanation of visual materials) PRACTICE OF LANGUAGE SKILLS : ( Langage used for the initial stage/ introduction/ suggestions/ discussions) TYPE OF PROJECT ( The manner of presenting: booklets/ video/ exhibition/ oral presentation …..) MARK /20