Part of our children future lies in their openings to the outside world, to other ideas, to other cultures; this we can achieve by creating partnership links, exchanges of opinion, comparison of ideas and activities based on collaborative tasks.
It is in such a perspective that this project has been organized, to generate an ongoing relationship between language learners from different cultures within the framework of a VIRTUAL CLASS. By operating in a real context, pupils understand the need for working with foreign languages, they see that it is possible to work together and to learn how to write a professional-style report.
PROJECT V2CL-AN12 : This program in the English language is aimed at students between the ages of 16 and 20 from high schools and colleges of further education who are not native English speakers. You just need computers connected to the Internet.
Diary : This is the basis for the time management.
The assignment will follow 11 steps :
FROM MARCH 2010 TO AUGUST 2010: LIFE IN MY TOWN : PHOTOS.
TEACHER'S TIME: The subject is our pupils’ life in their towns. We will talk about their favorite places and the activities that they pursue outside of school.
We ask the pupils the question: “For you, what are the4 most important places in your town, apart from your home?”. For CINEMAS, we write the URL, for example: http://www.allocine.fr
SEPTEMBER 2010 : THE CHARTER OF GOOD CONDUCT.
First of all, the teacher will translate the charter in the students' native language. The teacher presents the charter governing the use of the virtual learning environments to his/her students, explains the reasons for a charter, and asks them to agree to it before they can take part in the program.
SEPTEMBER 2010 : FORMING INTERNATIONAL GROUPS OF STUDENTS.
Best before September 18th
Your students are invited to join a virtual class: 1 to 2 students from your school per virtual class. Each group will be matched with a number of foreign teams working on the same basis.
Organization: In each virtual class one student is the class manager responsible for keeping the records and for maintaining the communication_area page correctly by checking from the virtual class students' list that all the contributions are dated and signed and are in the right order by date starting at the bottom of the page.
SEPTEMBER 2010 : STEP 1. STUDENTS' TRAINING.
Best before September 28th
STUDENTS' TIME: Students will read the students users' manual and open the TRAINING AREA of their virtual class in order to learn how to use the virtual learning environments WITHOUT DAMAGING SOMEONE'S ELSE CONTRIBUTION.
STUDENTS will write the date, their firstnames, the town where they live + a small text concerning their school: Insert texts in the TRAINING AREA of your virtual class.
SEPTEMBER 2010 : STEP 2. STUDENTS' INTRODUCTION.
Best before October 10th
Introducing yourself is a significant moment and an opportunity to establish new contacts, for this reason, write your text with much care, giving details.
This exchange consists in writing the introduction of the team. Each student will introduce her/himself (6/7 lines = 100 words). Please write your first name, the name of your country and announce if you are a woman or a man because your first name is certainly unknown in the other countries. Optional : students can also ask their teacher to send one small sized photo (60 to 100ko in .jpg) of the group of pupils of your class.
Insert texts in the COMMUNICATION AREA of your virtual class.
Best before October 31th
The students are invited to make a list of the places they like to go in their town.
Then, the students will write a short text to describe the places where they like to go in their city : 8/9 lines = 120 words in accordance with the charter.
Insert these 8/9 lines of comments in the COMMUNICATION AREA of your virtual class.
OCTOBER 2010 : STEP 4. WORKING TOGETHER BY CONDUCTING A SMALL SURVEY : TRANSLATE THE QUESTIONNAIRE FROM ENGLISH TO YOUR OWN LANGUAGE.
Best before November 10th
The students will be given a short questionnaire concerning where young people like to go in their town :
They will translate this questionnaire from English to their own language (= step 4) with a view to conducting a survey in their own country (= step 5).
Then they will collate all the results from the other countries (= step 6).
They will then be able to write a collaborative report concerning the results (= step 8). One report for each virtual class.
NOVEMBER 2010 : STEP 5. WORKING TOGETHER BY CONDUCTING A SMALL SURVEY : QUESTION PEOPLE.
Best before November 20th
The teacher will make photocopies of the questionnaire: each student will ask 2 people aged between 15 and 20 years old in this survey.
Here are the questionnaires in the different languages which, if you like, you can download, print and put on the classroom wall. They are ready to be used in Step 10 for the presentation of the final report :
NOVEMBER 2010 : STEP 6. WORKING TOGETHER BY CONDUCTING A SMALL SURVEY: RESULT OF THE SURVEY.
Best before November 26th
The students ask their teacher to send the results of their survey to be inserted on an excel page.
DECEMBER 2010 : STEP 7. WHILE WAITING FOR THE RESULTS : PRESENT ONE AFTERNOON IN A TOWN.
Best before December 19th
While waiting for the results of the survey (STEP 6 excel page) coming from all the countries, the students will imagine one afternoon in a town. The subject for the present schoolyear is Санкт-Петербург Россия.
Open a browser and search for information concerning what you will do in the afternoon, where you will have dinner in the evening and what you will eat, what you will do at night and in which hotel you will finally sleep.
Students will write a text (10/12 lines = 150 words) to be included in the communication area of their virtual class.
Insert the text in the COMMUNICATION AREA of your virtual class.
JANUARY 2011 : STEP 8. PUPILS WRITE THE COLLABORATIVE REPORT.
Best before January 26th
PRESENTING THE INTERNATIONAL-SCALE OPINION POLL.
Each virtual class prepares a report of their activities. They write this presentation of work in the native language of their country or in English language respecting the charter of good conduct :
INTRODUCTION.
1. PRESENTING THE TOPIC OF THE OPINION POLL.
2. PRESENTING THE RESULTS OF THE OPINION POLL + GRAPHS.
3. ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE RESULTS.
4. Explain why this pluridisciplinary V2CL project is good training for your professional career development.
CONCLUSION.
Overall size: 150 lines of text in Arial 12 + annexes.
ANNEXES : QUESTIONNAIRE IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF EACH GIVEN COUNTRY + COPY OF THE EXCEL TABLE PRESENTING THE FIGURES + COPY OF TEXTS APPEARING IN THE COMMUNICATION AREA OF YOUR VIRTUAL CLASS.
Presentation :
- Paper copy in ring-bound file form with page numbering, including the names of all members of each work group.
- Slide show. JANUARY 2011 : STEP 9. WORKING TOGETHER : THE INTERNATIONAL REPORT.
Best before February 16th
Each group of students prepares a 6/10 lines = 100/150 words report to be included in the communication area of their virtual class. In this report they will outline the conclusions they have drawn from the survey.
The text and the idea must be in accordance with the charter (ex : no political opinions).
Insert the text in the COMMUNICATION AREA of your virtual class.
FEBRUARY 2011 : STEP 10. PRESENTING THE COLLABORATIVE REPORT.
Best before March 27th
The students present their report written in their native language to their school authorities and wherever possible to the media such as newspapers, televisions, radios, magazines and authorities to get labels and diplomas.
YOU ARE INVITED TO SEND A PHOTO of THE REPORTS FIRST-PAGES.
MARCH 2011 : STEP 11. SAYING GOOD BYE.
Students will say good bye to their partners in their COMMUNICATION AREA.
CONCLUSION.
We are going to teach our students a new way in collaborative work. We expect a lot from this working scheme. It will enable students from different countries to become aware of the benefit of practicing and using the English language. They will discover different cultures and develop their communicative skills by using the Internet and by commenting on photographs.
Students are going to develop their skills in computing by taking part in the management of a web collaborative area. It is the way of working and communicating in the business world, which is underlined in this project.
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