ORTESOL-Developing Projects from Textbooks

Erica Harris, Ursala McCormick & Julie Vorholt Academic English Studies (AES) ORTESOL Conference November 16, 2012

Developing Projects Related to Your Course's Textbooks

Overview •  Introductions to program and presenters (5) •  Project 1 (10) •  Project 2 (10) •  Further examples (15) •  Design your own project (35) •  Plenary discussion/Q & A (15) Note: You can download a copy of this PPT later on

SlideShare. http://www.slideshare.net/julievorholt

Introductions Who we are... About our program..

Lewis & Clark College •  Small liberal arts undergraduate school

Academic English Studies (AES) program ~100 students •  Low-Intermediate entry level •  Intensive English language program •  Emphasis on academic language skills and content-

based learning About you...

Project 1

Type of Class: Communications

Level: Intermediate

Objectives: Public speaking skills, Team building, Learning the process of designing a product or service, Present in a poster session

Text: Four Point 1: Listening and Speaking Intermediate

Chapter Topic: Business: The World of Entrepreneurship

Schedule (how far into the semester): near the end of our 6-week summer course

Project 1 Cont. Overview of project: Unit 3 “Business: The World of

Entrepreneurship:” 1.  characteristics of an entrepreneur

2.  developing a company

3.  analyzing a new business

Details of project (timeline): 3 week unit

Introduction Guest

Speaker Vocabulary Shark Tank clip

SWOT Analysis

Impromptu Speeches Assessment

Group Project: New Business

Venture

Presentations & Poster Session

Project 1 Cont. Examples:

•  Guest speaker: entrepreneur •  TV show: Shark Tank •  Project: New Business Venture •  Presentations & Posters

Assessment: •  Unit Test (45% of grade) •  New Business Venture (35% of grade)

Reflection: •  Very positive responses (survey); engagement & motivation •  “I like this lecture style, of a group project and watching a video

related to the lecture. “ •  “I liked listening to others’ presentations and I also improved my

own speaking skills, so this is a good opportunity.”

Project 2 Type of Class: Seminar/Communications Level: Advanced Speakers

Objectives: Research, Use APA citations, Learn to make graphic posters, Present research in front of large group

Texts: Human Ecology & Omnivore's Dilemma

Chapter Topic: They have a few choices

Schedule (how far into the semester): Introduce at Midterm (about 8-9 weeks into a 16-week semester)

Project 2 Cont. Overview of project and details:

•  Students are assigned partners based on a match of written proposals on the topics that each student is interested in.

•  They must develop a research question and use at least 5-7 sources exploring the question. They also must write an annotated bibliography exploring the question (no thesis).

•  Once research has been completed, they are given a workshop about making a poster. They must organize and design a poster that is both creative and informative.

•  At the end of the semester, they are invited to present their poster with LC undergraduate students for the Environmental Studies end of semester poster session.

•  Based on the poster research, they also write an extended research paper changing the initial research question into a thesis statement. This is done individually.

Project 2 Cont. Timeline: The students are given around 5 weeks to work

on this project.

Examples: To be shown.

Assessment: This project is worth 15% of their grade and is assessed based on the objectives given.

Reflection: This project has been very successful in the past. It gives students the opportunity to research, be creative, and participate with undergraduate native speakers.

Further Examples

•  Low Intermediate Level: story PowerPoint project •  Intermediate Level: Pamphlets for communication •  Low Intermediate Level: UNESCO PowerPoint project •  Multiple Levels: iMovies •  Advanced Level: Creating resources for other students •  Intermediate Level: Creating commercials for products

Design your own project Class: Level:

Unit/Chapter topic:

How much time given:

Details/End product:

Plenary Discussion / Q & A

For a copy of this PPT Download a copy from Julie's SlideShare account, found at: http://www.slideshare.net/julievorholt