Transcript FLANC 2009 Session #36 Project based learning for the

FLANC 2009
Session #36
Project based learning for the
Spanish classroom
Thomas Soth, Northwest High School
[email protected], spanishisfun.org
Are your student projects bad? Do they seem to just
not get it? Well, come to this project based learning
session and experience how project based learning
units can be built around final products so that
students understand the what, why, and how behind
project based assessments.
What do we want our students
to be able to do and how does
that connect to how we teach?
Let’s look at a little multiple-choice
true/false questions with the ever
present “student will be able to”
statement to really get down to the goals
of our profession.
Student will be able to
• Conjugate verbs in the perfect tenses
• Use reflexives
• Understand when to use the preterit and the
imperfect
• Know when to use the subjunctive and the
imperative
• Obtain information from or give information
to a Spanish Speaker
SWBAT:
• Conjugate verbs in the perfect tenses
• to be able to apply for jobs within the Spanish
speaking world and be able to sit for an
interview in Spanish
SWABT
• Know when to use the subjunctive
• Communicate their emotional attitudes to
other speakers of Spanish
SWABT
• Understand the difference between the
preterit and the imperfect
• To report, in Spanish, about what has
happened in the Spanish speaking world
SWABT
• Use reflexives
• Describe the process they and others go
through in order to get ready for the day or for
a formal dance
SWABT
• Use the imperative in Spanish
• to get directions from a Spanish speaker if
they need help and for them to be able give
directions to speakers of Spanish.
How do task based learning goals
differ from traditional goals????
• Projects are decidedly different from
conventional activities that are designed to help
students learn information in the absence of a
driving question. Such conventional activities
might relate to each other and help students
learn curricular content, but without the
presence of a driving question or task, they do
not hold the same promise that learning will
occur as do activities orchestrated in the service
of overreaching task. Project-based learning also
places students in realistic, contextualized
environments.
What then should our class activities
and assessments look like?
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Verb conjugation practice?
Verb conjugation games?
Spelling drills?
Subjunctive/indicative verb fill-in sheets?
Students creating and performing, in Spanish,
a soap opera in which they ask and answer
about what they think and how the feel about
others?
It is clear to me that if learners are to
develop the confidence they need to
use a second language easily and
effectively in the kind of situations
they meet outside the classroom they
need to experience how language is
used as a tool for communicating
inside it.
–Rod Ellis, in his preface to Task Based Learning
and Teaching
Thus…
• If the tasks that Spanish speakers do are what
we want our students to do then those tasks
are what our students should be experiencing
in class.
• Students experience these tasks through
project based instruction.
So what are we talking about again?
Project or Task-based language teaching is an
approach to the design of language course in which
the point of departure is not an ordered list of
linguistic items but a collection of tasks. Tasks
provide the basis for an entire language curriculum.
Task-based language teaching provides learners
with opportunities to experiment with and explore
both spoken and written language through tasks
designed to engage learners in authentic, practical
and functional use of language for meaningful
purposes.
Projects can
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respond to diverse needs of students
increase motivation
prepare children for the workplace
improve academic performance
So why don’t we do more?
Many of us do projects but we may feel that projects…
1. Are a complete waste of time.
2. Are just fluff and a way to save student grades.
3. Are done last minute and thus do not represent a
learning experience over time which is a key factor
for retention.
4. Past experiences have brought what seem to be low
effort and low quality products to our already
massive pile of work to be graded.
But we shouldn’t be deterred
• The what and why’s of project based learning
should deter anyone from thinking that projects
are just fluff. However, I think that even the best
of teachers may come to that conclusion over
time when experience teaches them that many
projects are done last minute and are of subpar
quality.
• But the reasons for doing projects still exist and
thus instead of tossing out the project we must
look at the process in new and different ways in
order to engage our students.
And what about the grammar?
• Isn’t grammar the framework without which
language cannot be structured and a message
cannot be conveyed smoothly and fluently?
• It may be necessary then to combine the taskbased teaching approach with grammar teaching
in order to make grammar teaching more
effective.
• Grammar than becomes included in the process
but never separated from the project or task
goals.
Project based learning is…
• “a systematic teaching method that engages
students in learning knowledge and skills through
an extended inquiry process structured around
carefully designed authentic products and tasks
• a comprehensive instructional approach to engage
students in sustained, cooperative investigation
• an individual or group activity that goes on over a
period of time, resulting in a product, presentation,
or performance. It typically has a time line and
milestones, and other aspects of formative
evaluation as the project proceeds
It’s a process
• The task or project will serve to organize and drive
activities, which taken as a whole amount to a meaningful
project.
• You then create step by step assignments that engage the
students in the project over time.
• And you manipulate textbook tasks to engage the students
in learning new material as they continuing building their
product or products (you are not reinventing the wheel).
• Keep in mind that both the product and the process are the
goals of task based learning with learning over time
generally being the teacher goal and the product generally
being the motivating factor for the students.
SWBAT:
• to be able to apply for jobs within the Spanish
speaking world and be able to sit for an
interview in Spanish
• Conjugate verbs in the perfect tenses
The process
• What do are the tasks we want students to do.
• Rubric development
• Class activities that develop communicative
competence (vocabulary and grammar
integration)
Tasks
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Create a classified add for a job
Send a letter soliciting employment.
Go through a job interview.
Write a follow up thank you letter.
Where to begin?
• Explain the task.
• Summarize the task as new vocabulary is
introduced (Sigamos a Paco mientras que busca
un trabajo… lee un anuncio, escribe una carta de
presentación, tiene una entrevista, y escribe una
carta de agradecimiento).
• Build vocabulary and language structures through
activities that mimic the job search project.
• Tweak book activities so the become part of the
project process.
Tweaking the text: Examples
• Vocabulary: (conocimientos, habilidades,
trabajos)
– Túrnate con otro estudiante para hacer y contestar
preguntas sobre cómo Uds. son. Usa las siguientes
expresiones (Sé …., Soy …, Me gusta …, Para mi es
importante…)
– Túrnate con otro estudiante para hacer y contestar
preguntas sobre cómo deben ser las personas que
quieren hacer los trabajos de estos anuncios
(cocinero, arquitecto, niñero, etc. )
• ¿Cómo debe ser la persona que quiere el puesto de
_________?
• ¿Qué debe saber hacer?
Tweaking vocabulary building
• Escribe cinco palabras del vocabulario de las
páginas 206-09 en una hoja de papel, y en otra,
escribe una definición para cada una. Túrnate
con otro estudiante para leer las definiciones y
digan de que palabra se trata.
• Usando por lo menos 10 palabras del vocabulario
nuevo, escribe la descripción de dos trabajos,
cómo debe ser la persona que quiere ese puesto,
y que se necesita hacer en ese trabajo. Túrnate
con otro estudiante para leer las definiciones y
digan de qué trabajo se trata.
Tweaking vocabulary building
• Escribe cinco palabras del vocabulario de las
páginas 206-09 en una hoja de papel, y en otra,
escribe una definición para cada una. Túrnate
con otro estudiante para leer las definiciones y
digan de que palabra se trata.
• Usando por lo menos 10 palabras del vocabulario
nuevo, escribe la descripción de dos trabajos,
cómo debe ser la persona que quiere ese puesto,
y que se necesita hacer en ese trabajo. Túrnate
con otro estudiante para leer las definiciones y
digan de qué trabajo se trata.
• Tarea/TASK: Escribe el anuncio clasificado para un
trabajo que te gustaría hacer. Sigue la rúbrica.
Tweaking Grammar
• Present perfect.
• Escribe siete preguntas para saber lo que han hecho
o lo que no han hecho otros. Para hacer tus
preguntas, usa el presente perfecto de los verbos.
Con otro estudiante, haz y contesta las preguntas.
Después, la clase va a formar dos círculos
concéntricos con los estudiantes cara a cara. Al oír
música, los estudiantes se mueven a la derecha. Al
para la música, deben parar y hacerle una pregunta
al estudiante que tienen enfrente usando el
presente perfecto.
• Prepara diez preguntas para preguntar al
candidato para el trabajo de tu anuncio. Usa el
presente perfecto en por lo menos seis preguntas.
Después, hace el papel del entrevistador y da una
entrevista a unos de tus compañeros de clase
anotando sus respuestas o hace el papel del
candidato con otro compañero. Luego debes
escribir si quieres dar el trabajo al candidato
según sus respuestas.
• Later present an example of a cover letter for a
job and the assign them to write a cover letter in
response to their own classified advertisement.
(Rubric)
Estimado Señor,
Me llamo Juan Antón Fernández y soy recepcionista. Yo sé que usted está buscando
un recepcionista y quiero decirle a usted por qué tengo los requisitos para este trabajo.
Ahora soy un estudiante en la universidad. Tengo muchas clases de relaciones
públicas y esta es mi especialización. Soy muy organizado y dedicado a mis trabajos.
Según mis profesores, soy simpático, determinado, trabajador, e inteligente.
He trabajado en la oficina de “Idiomas Romances” en la universidad. He organizado los
papeles, he contestado el teléfono, y he ayudado a la gente. Antes de esto, había
trabajado como un voluntario en una oficina del servicio social. Allí yo trabajé a
tiempo parcial por dos años, y he tenido mucha experiencia en la computación.
Yo quiero trabajar para esta compañía porque tengo las habilidades que usted
necesita. Espero que me ayuden mejorar mis habilidades y cumplir con excelencia las
tareas de la compañía. Ojalá que usted esté justo en su búsqueda, y que me recuerde.
Me encantaría trabajar para usted y me interesaría el trabajo a tiempo completo, pero
a tiempo parcial si no tienen el trabajo a tiempo completo.
Espero que usted me llame para una entrevista, y estoy listo para las responsabilidades
que usted va a darme.
Atentamente,
Juan Antón Fernández
Interview practice (exam review)
• Already had a bunch in vocabulary and
grammar building.
• Create a possible set of questions for the
interview that include all forms and grammar.
This is your exam review.
• Have students go through the process for
various jobs.
• Do the interview in a formal way (and get help
if you can).
• Follow a rubric.
Interview day
• Students practice while others go through the
interviews.
• Students receive the follow-up thank you
letter rubric after the interview.
• Project based learning unit completed.
SWABT
• Students will create and perform, in Spanish, a
soap opera in which they ask and answer
about what they think and how the feel about
others
• Students will learn the subjunctive and use it
to talk about wants and desires.
Tasks
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TV Guide description for a soap opera
Script for a soap opera screen
Video project
(introduction to the subjunctive)
Building communicative competence
• Introduce the theme with the students acting
out a professor made soap opera with the
students as characters.
• Tweak activities for a chapter on ¿Cómo te
llevas con los demás? So they help the
students build towards the commulative
project.
Tweaking Vocabulary
• ¿Cuáles son para ti las cinco cualidades más
importantes que debe tener un buen
profesor?
– ¿Cuáles son tres cualidades que tienen cada
personaje de tu telenovela?
• Tarea: Completa los párrafos con las palabras
del recuadro.
– Escribe la descripción de tu telenovela usando 20
palabras del vocabulario nuevo.
Tweaking Grammar
• Workbook: Fill in the verb conjugations in the
subjunctive in each of the following 20,000
blanks.
– Escriban lo que piensan y dicen los personajes de
las otras personas de tu telenovela. Usa por lo
menos 10 expresiones diferentes de emoción.
SWABT
• To report, in Spanish, about what has
happened in the Spanish speaking world
• Understand the difference between the
preterit and the imperfect
Projects
• Front page of a newspaper
from a Spanish speaking
country
• A video news report from a
Spanish speaking country
Steps
• Introduction of new vocabulary and forms
through examples of what the final products
should be like. (newspaper/news report)
• Class activities that buildup to the final
products.
• Homework that help students take steps
towards the final product.
Tweaking the text
• Escoge verbos del recuadro u otros verbos y
escribe tres series de acciones en orden
lógico, diciendo qué ocurrió primero y que
ocurrió después.
– Escoge verbos del recuadro u otros verbos y
escribe un resumen de siete a ochos frases de un
evento qué ocurrió en tu país ayer.
More tweaking of the text for a
chapter entitled “Un acto heroico”
• Los padres de Isabel planearon una fiesta de
sorpresa para su cumpleaños, pero ella llegó tarde.
Con otro estudiante, describan la situación usando
el imperfecto de las expresiones del recuadro.
– Describe lo que ocurría en esta foto de la Ciudad de
México cuando el terremoto empezó.
– Tarea: Busca o dibuja una foto de un desastre natural en
tu país y explica lo que ocurría cuando el evento
comenzó.
• Más: describe lo que pasó antes y después de la
foto.
SWABT
• Describe the process they and others go
through in order to get ready for the day or for
a formal dance
• Use reflexives
What would you do?
• Introduction
– TPR?
• Projects???
• Video?
SWABT
• to get directions from a Spanish speaker if
they need help and for them to be able give
directions to speakers of Spanish.
• Use the imperative in Spanish
What would you do?
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TPR introduction
Class activities
Classroom drive
(culture Map) Homework, Directions
Overheads
Giving and receiving directions
It is clear to me that if learners are to
develop the confidence they need to
use a second language easily and
effectively in the kind of situations
they meet outside the classroom they
need to experience how language is
used as a tool for communicating
inside it.
–Rod Ellis, in his preface to Task Based Learning
and Teaching