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classmates asked them the questions they wrote. This exercise proved to be very beneficial because
students could learn the structures of questions in the English language. The class was very active
since all students participated and they asked each one of their peers interesting questions which
enabled students to be more prepared for interviews in the future.
Activity 2. The second activity is called “Circles of Life”. In order to listen to what students
have to say and share I proposed a very interesting activity that enabled me to get excellent results. I
asked students to draw three big circles. In the circles, they had to write about the most significant
aspect of their lives. For example in Circle 1, they had to write the people who are dear to them; in
Circle 2, the most happiest events they have; in Circle 3, the most difficult periods of their life.
Students were told to stand up and walk around the classroom sharing every circle with the other
students. As a hometask I asked them to do Reflective writing. Students should write a reflection
about the video they have watched.
It is very important to design tasks for the video with right stages. The listening part should
involve the lead-in, the pre-teaching of vocabulary, a gist task and a more specific information task.
The whole listening and viewing process in turn acts as a lead-in and contextualization for the
teaching of the topic, where students got through similar stages and were guided to do some creative
tasks. Through this arrangement, students are well activated as they are given lots of opportunities to
make use of their knowledge to develop their creativity both before and after watching the video.
REFERENCE
1.Widdowson, J. (1984). Video in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity
Press.
2. Wing, J. (2008). Using Authentic Video in the Language Classroom. UK: Cambridge
University Press.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMpjENF1VDc
THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF USING PROJECT WORK IN TEACHING ENGLISH
Abdullaev Maksud.Alimbaevich-dots.
Karakalpakstan
Institute of agriculture and agro-technology
According to the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), project-based learning has its roots in
experiential education and the philosophy of John Dewey. The method of project-based learning
emerged due to developments in learning theory in the past 25 years. The BIE suggests, “Research in
neuroscience and psychology has extended cognitive and behavioral models of learning — which
support traditional direct instruction — to show that knowledge, thinking, doing, and the contexts for
learning are inextricably tied.” Because learning is a social activity, teaching methods can scaffold
on students’ prior experiences and include a focus on community and culture. Furthermore, because
we live in an increasingly more technological and global society, teachers realize that they must
prepare students not only to think about new information, but they also must engage them in tasks
that prepare them for this global citizenship. Based on the developments in cognitive research and the
changing modern educational environment in the latter part of the 20th Century, project-based
learning has gained popularity.
To meet these communication needs, more and more individuals have highly specific academic
and professional reasons for seeking to improve their language skills.
Project work is characterized as one of the most effective methods of teaching and learning a
foreign language through research and communication, different types of this method allow us to use
it in all the spheres of the educational process. Project work is not a new methodology.
Project work seems to match this English teaching and learning need. Project work is simply
defined as “an instructional approach that contextualizes learning by presenting learners with
problems to solve or products to develop” [1;1]. PBL is different from traditional instruction because
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it emphasizes learning through student-centered, interdisciplinary, and integrated activities in real
world situations [2;20 -27].
In particular, PBL activities can be characterized as follows
• focuses on content learning rather than on specific language patterns,
• is student-centered so the teacher becomes a facilitator or coach,
• encourage collaboration among students,
• leads to the authentic integration of language skills and processing information from multiple
sources,
• allows learners to demonstrate their understanding of content knowledge through a product
(e.g., an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin board display, or a stage performance),
• bridges using English in class and using English in real life contexts.
More importantly, Project work is both process- and product-orientated [1;19). Students have
opportunities to use several skills (e.g., problem-solving, creativity, teamwork, as well as language)
at different work stages, so the work and language skills are developed.
Since Project work is potentially motivating, empowering and challenging to language learners,
it usually results in building learners’ confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy as well as improving
students’ language skills, content learning, and cognitive abilities. Learning becomes fruitful for
learners because they exhibit their abilities to plan, manage, and accomplish projects through their
content knowledge and language skills.
Its benefits have been widely recognized for many years in the teaching of subjects like
Science, Geography, and History. Some teachers have also been doing project work in their language
lessons for a long time, but for others it is a new way of working.
The main idea of project work is considered to be based on teaching students through research
activities and stimulating their personal interest Project work provides an opportunity to develop
students’ creativity, imagination, enquiry and their self-expression. It must rank as one of the most
exciting teaching methodologies a teacher can use.
A project is an extended piece of work on a particular topic where the content and the
presentation are determined principally by the learners. The teacher or the textbook provides the topic,
but the project writers themselves decide what they write and how they present it. This learner-
centered characteristic of project work is vital, as we shall see when we turn now to consider the
merits of project work. It is not always easy to introduce a new methodology, so we need to be sure
that the effort is worthwhile. Students do not feel that English is a chore, but it is a means of
communication and enjoyment. They can experiment with the language as something real, not as
something that only appears in books. Project work captures better than any other activity the three
principal elements of a communicative approach.
These are:
a) A concern for motivation, that is, how the learners relate to the task.
b) A concern for relevance, that is, how the learners relate to the language.
c) A concern for educational values, that is, how the language curriculum relates to the general
educational development of the learner. [3;40]
A project is an extended task, which usually integrates language skills through a number of
activities. These activities combine in working towards an agreed goal and may include planning,
gathering of information through reading, listening, interviewing, discussion of the information,
problem solving, oral or written reporting, display, etc.
LITERATURE:
1.Moss, D., & Van Duzer, C. Project-based learning for adult English learners.
Eric. Digest.
Retrieved September 20, 2010 from http://www.ericdigest.
org/1999-4/project.htm(1998).
2.Solomon, G. Project-based learning: A primer.
Technology & Learning
,
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, (2003). 20-27.
3.Brumfit C. Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching. The Roles of Fluency and
Accuracy. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. – 500p.
