Nurlanbekova.Y.K.

Ibraimova B.S.

Kazakh State Women Teacher Training University

Project management as a tool for learning

Project work as a multi-skill activity is an ideal opportunity for students to use English in a creative and personal way that will give them a real sense of achievement. Working on a project, students are encouraged to draw on their knowledge of the world to produce an extended piece of English work that is both meaningful and relevant. Here is given the examples of the project –based lessons.

Procedure of the project-based lessons

Lesson 1 - the classroom planning stage - 15 minutes

During the first lesson dealing with the project, the teacher introduced the topic, i.e. "How to save our local environment", and informed that the projects would be shown on the display so as to improve the classroom decor. The teacher also reminded students of the criteria for evaluation of the project work.

Next, the teacher told students about the length of time they were given and arranged a discussion about methods of working, group formation and end products. Students agreed on a poster-shape, as the most suitable form for exposing on the display. After deciding on the number of groups, students were allowed to form groups on their own, with the result that four groups were created: two of three and two of four students in a group. To make comparatively equal commitment to the project work for all groups, the teacher proposed that the four-student groups should additionally prepare quizzes with questions about the topic.
Then, the teacher suggested using different resources and technical facilities to prepare the project. He proposed some books from the library and indicated the possibility of using the Internet. He also encouraged students to use the computer to edit the project work.
Afterwards, the teacher informed that students' homework would be to prepare all resources they need so as to work for a whole hour next class. He added that students should also arrange roles for each student in a group in order to share responsibility.
Finally, students, discussing their task in groups, agreed on a suitable technique, specified needed materials and divided roles for each member of a group.

Lesson 2 - the carrying-out the project stage - 45 minutes

After arranging enough space for each group, students, using gathered materials, worked on their projects. In the lesson, students were supposed to speak English in their groups. They had to discuss the layout and write a rough copy of their project work. The teacher took on the role of facilitator, sharing his advice and ideas about ways of arranging and performing the project design, as well as helping with vocabulary and grammar. However, students still had their autonomy, so that they could choose from the teacher's suggestions what they wanted. During working with groups, the teacher had a chance to observe each student's participation and involvement in his or her project; at that very moment a quiet assessment started. At the end of the lesson, students had at least most of written parts they had planned. All groups were to finish their work at home.
Lesson 3 - the reviewing and monitoring the work - 45 minutes

The first part of the final lesson was devoted to the presentation. The groups exposed, in an arranged order, their end products in front of class and each student reported on for what part of the project he or she was responsible, in other words, what was his or her contribution to the final product. The teacher confronted students' information with his own observation. Members of each group explained their work and some of them read written parts.

As it was planned, projects were designed in a poster-shape manner to be easily exposed on the classroom display. Two of final products were performed entirely with the use of the computer, where applied pictures and texts were just printed, the third one was partially made by hand, with hand-drawn pictures, and the forth one was made only by hand. The content of the presented projects was, in general, very good. All groups included the most essential information about the local environment and provided their own ways of limiting of the amount of pollution, by the way, some of solutions were really drastic. Although during the carrying-out stage students and the teacher took care of accuracy, several errors occurred as a result of adding some information after the lesson or automatic rewriting from a rough copy.

During the evaluation, students were assessed according to four major aspects: the content and developing of the topic, the design and the overall impression, language work, and oral presentation. All students had an opportunity to point to advantages and disadvantages of other projects. In the end, while assessing individual and group work, the teacher explained students' grades according to the criteria and elicited conclusions and further applications for the future project work. Students agreed that they should improve their teamwork, especially co-operation between one another in the field of gathering materials and sharing ideas. In the end, the final products were exposed on the classroom display.