Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

I'm trying to get my students to small projects every month, but individually. So foar I've thought of
book reports
comparing of Spanish subtitles with English voices in movies
Speeches
Recording themselves reading a text

Any other ideas taht you've successfully used with students in high school?

[denise]

If there are places where foreigners congregate or where people speak English, you can have them do eavesdropping projects. In Japan, I would give my students listening log worksheets every week. They basically had to eavesdrop on an English conversation (didn't matter whether the speakers were native or not) and take notes, make guesses, etc.--who are the people? what is their relationship? what is the topic? what is the tone? They also had to note new vocabulary and whether or not they thought the conversation was interesting.

d

[naturegirl321]

[denise]

It's as harmless as overhearing a conversation in a cafe or bus. Perfectly natural. I do it myself all the time in Spanish. If I hear a conversation next to me in the gym, I listen and try to follow along. I called it a listening log, not an eavesdropping project. And if the students know the names of the speakers, they are explicitly forbidden from writing them. But you're right. It doesn't work in all contexts.

d

[Glenski]

Have them make questionairres and do surveys within the class or the rest of the school (include teachers as fair game targets). They can summarize the data and/or present it as PowerPoint.

Have them do individual PowerPoint travelogues. You can even get them to record their voiceovers!! (Saw a presentation of this project, and the teachers went one step further by having every student listen to each other's travelogue (or whatever he had them make), and try to answer questions posed by the teacher. Takes lots of work for the teacher to assign good questions, but it's a good listening, writing, reading, and speaking exercise.)

[afowles]

I'm going to try to make my Korean kids make webpages next year. Maybe even blogs, so it can be ongoing. That way each kid--or group--can have an online collection of english-language work that they've done.

[thelmadatter]

Im a fan of projects (individual or group) as students can do things they couldnt otherwise do. Im also a technology nut, so I combine the two when I can. Projects I do with my advanced students are:

Internet chat (voice or text) with a table and reflective essay (short... basic idea is that they do it)

Plan a trip to an English-speaking country using English-language websites (my version is best done in groups as it is quite involved but Ive had students do it quite sucessfully as individuales)

Role Playing games (again with table and reflective essay)

Some sites which lend themselves to projects:
USDA Food Pyramid Calculator http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/login.aspx

Frappr Map http://www.frappr.com/c/user/createamap

Jung Myers Briggs Personality Test http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

Some lend themselves to higher level and some can be adapted to almost any level. PM or email me if you would like copies of the assignments I have done.

Of course, these projects assume no problem with Internet access by students.