Author: British Council | Published on 1 July 2023
Read what a teacher says about this activity:
Getting my learners to do project work is a good way to make lessons learner-centred. Once I’ve set up the project, the learners take control of it. My role is to monitor and help them if they face any problems. The best thing about project work is that all the learners get something out of it, whatever their abilities.
Stage 1: Prepare
Choose a topic or focus for the project. Here are some ideas:
- Save our planet!
- A class magazine
- Time capsule
- Local history
- Our community
For this activity plan we will look at the first one – Save our planet!
Stage 2: Introduce
On the board write ‘Save our planet!’ Ask: “What does this mean?”
Elicit that there are lots of environmental issues that are damaging the world we live in.
Say: “What problems can you think of?”
Elicit some problems the learners are familiar with e.g. climate change / global warming, plastic pollution, deforestation etc. Where possible, get them to think about local environmental issues. Allow learners to tell you in their L1.
Stage 3: Focus
Put the learners in groups and say: “Your group is going to design a campaign about one of these issues. Work together, brainstorm ideas and then create your campaign.” Again, it would be good if this could be local.
Stage 4: Develop
Tell the learners how long they have (some projects can last more than one lesson) and say: “You can discuss things in your L1 if necessary, but your campaign needs to be in English.”
Stage 5: Present
Get the groups to share their campaigns with the class.
If you want, they can vote on the ‘best’ one.
Note: Learners may be able to actually implement their campaign in real life. You could make them aware of this, and even make suggestions about how they could do this.
In project work different learners can choose, or be allocated, different tasks. This makes project work perfect for mixed-ability classes.