What and Why?
At the end of the D sections, children have the opportunity to work on projects. These are designed to extend the topic of the unit and to help them learn language by bringing other strengths to the language classroom. Pupils who may find it more difficult than others to learn new vocabulary and grammar may excel at project work and be able to take a leading role in helping others. This opportunity can have a significant impact on motivation.
The project work in Primary Colours 4 aims to:
- help the pupils with writing in English
- increase confidence
- encourage creativity
- develop collaborative skills
- foster the ability to work independently
Practical ideas
- Before the lesson, look ahead to see what the topic of the project work is so that you can collect reference materials and website addresses for the pupils.
- Pupils can work alone or in pairs or small groups for their projects.
- Decide which would be the best lesson in the week to set aside for the project. Some or even most of the project work can be done for homework but it is probably a good idea to start the project off in class so pupils can work out what they are going do, who they will work with and what they will produce.
- Make sure that pupils know what they are expected to do and when you want it to be finished.
- When pupils are planning their project, encourage them to think about how they will find materials, who in the group is responsible for each part of it and how and where they will work together.
- Decide how best the project work can be displayed. Displays can be in a variety of places and it is worth asking pupils for their ideas as this will increase their motivation. Within the school, displays can be made along corridors, in libraries and in canteens as well as in the classroom. There are often places outside schools in the town which enjoy having a temporary display. Once the pupils realise that their work can be displayed outside their school, they will generate lots of ideas for suitable places!
- It is important that you leave some classroom time for the evaluation process. This is done in the mother tongue and allows the pupils a chance to reflect on what they learned and how they learned it. Projects encourage pupils to work together as well as independently and children may find that both these ways of working are more demanding than they may be used to. During the time for evaluation you could ask them to think about these and other similar questions:
• What did you learn from doing your project?
• What did you find easiest / hardest to do?
• Is there anything you would change if you did a similar project again?
• What were the good / bad things about working in a pair / group?
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