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SECOND MIDTERM TEST

(REFLEXIN)

Florencia
Zurbrikgg
4 A - Ingls
to

Project: Be a star!
Description of the Project:
During the last couple of weeks my students and I have been working with
the thematic unit General Culture. Instead of asking them to sit and
complete a written formal evaluation we agreed to make something more
creative, where students could express themselves and feel free to use the
language for real purposes. We voted on it and the majority of students
wanted to make videos about their favorite T.V. series, movies, books, etc.
The idea was to interpret one, two or as many scenes as they wanted to in
English. They could work in groups as long as they all participated and
spoke in the target language. They had to be stars for one day.
Goals of the project:
To evaluate students progress at the end of the thematic unit
To foster students creativity
To motivate students by asking them to record videos of their favorite
movies, T.V. series, etc.
To encourage students to evaluate themselves in terms of originality
To expose students to the target language
To develop speaking skills
Results:
The class was divided into five groups but only three of the groups coped
with the activity. The results were very good in general. The language
spoken in the videos was very accurate and similar to that in the original
stories. An outsider could easily see students were having fun as they
recorded themselves. Two of the groups even included bloopers at the end
in order to show all the attempts they did before finally reaching the desired
result.
Video #1: One direction Best song ever
The first group was formed by Tatiana, Cecilia, Hernn and Matas. They
recreated the scene previous to the One direction music video Best song
ever. In the scene you can see two movie producers in a meeting with the

One direction boys. It is a very funny scene since everything surrounding the
movie producers is ridiculous. Besides, all the characters are interpreted by
the One direction boys themselves in disguise. This was a real challenge for
the students since they were only four to interpret nine characters but they
managed well and they could do the video successfully.
Video #2: Scenes from Friends and The big bang theory
The second group was formed by Agustina, Mariana, Natalia, Danilo, Franco
and Ezequiel. The decided to recreate some scenes from two of the most
popular American TV shows: Friends and The big bang theory. From friends
they interpreted three scenes: the one where Joey thinks its just a crush,
the one with Rosss inappropriate song and the one where Monica and
Rachel fight. From The big bang theory they selected some of the most
popular Sheldons knocks.
Video #3: My routine, At the restaurant and story Dont judge too quickly
This group was formed by Fiorella and Paola. They didnt understand the
instructions of the project properly but they did a very good job anyway.
They made three videos. The first one shows Fiorella reading aloud what she
does every day. The second one shows the two girls acting a scene at the
restaurant. The first video in the only one where the girls did something
similar to what they had been asked to do. They interpreted a story written
in class Dont judge too quickly
After all the videos were handed in and checked by the teacher, we worked
with them in class. The lesson plan for this lesson is attached below.

Lesson plan 16/09/2014


Theme: Project Be a star!
Thematic Unit: General culture
Objectives:
o
o

To work with the videos students made


To encourage all students to actively participate in the finalization of

the project
To develop speaking skills

Materials:
o
o
o

Videos made by students


Flashcards with useful expression
Video of an interview

Delivery of the lesson:


Timing
15:25-

Description
Teacher shows students a short video of a man interviewing Jhonny

15:30

Depp. She asks students to watch the video carefully and to pay

Warming-

attention to both the questions asked by the interviewer and the

up

answers given by the interviewee.


When they have finished watching teacher asks students questions in

15:30-

order to work with meaning.


Teacher shows students the videos made by the groups.

16:00
16:00-

Teacher explains they are going to divide the class into two groups.

16:10

One group will be the group of the stars and the other group will be
the group of the interviewers. She gives each group different
flashcards with useful expressions (some of them taken from the
video) to role-play an interview. She works with each group and

16:10-

clarifies doubts.
Break time

16:15
16:15-

Teacher pastes the flashcards on the board. She asks the group of the

16:30

interviewers to write some question and to organize those questions.


Then, she asks the group of the stars to think about possible answers
to those questions. Students will be able to do this because they will
have to look at the flashcards and help themselves using that

16:30-

information. Teacher monitors and helps if students need it.


Now teacher asks each interviewer to find one, two or three stars to

16:50

interview (there are more stars than interviewers). She helps students
to organize themselves. Once all the interviewers have stars to
interview, teacher asks students to begin asking and answering the
questions they have prepared. She gives time and she monitors and
helps students. She makes sure all students speak and express some

16:50-

ideas.
Teacher encourages students to think about what they have learnt

17:00

today. She also asks students how they felt making the video, if they

think it was a good experience and if they would do it again


sometimes.

Reflections:
This project was both original and diverse. It helped me evaluate my
students in a way I have never done before, both academically but also in
that other aspect of teaching, that part that is more connected with
emotions and motivation.
As students had total freedom in choosing what they wanted to do, this
project allowed them to be 100% creative and to work with something they
really like. They had fun making the videos and they had fun watching them,
and the best part was they were working with the target language without
even realizing it. It was not some dull meaningless activity; it was not yet
another formal written test. This project was something thought for and by
them. Here motivation was not an issue in most of my students. They felt
motivated because it was something that I think they enjoyed doing, and
the videos reflect that.
I will definitely keep doing these kinds of projects with future generations.
Not only because we could work with the language at another level but also
because it allowed me to create a different type of bonding with my
students. I got to know a different part of them a more cheerful, emotional,
lively part.
Regarding the lesson after the students made the videos, this gave me the
opportunity to work with dialogues which is a very important element in the
syllabus of the third form. Students were motivated and they engaged with
the activities quite fine. At the beginning it was hard for me to make them
focus on the tasks because they were too exited after watching the videos.
Nevertheless, once they got to work this lesson proved to be very useful.

I know there are some aspects that I need to improve. For instance in the
future I would like all my students to hand in one video. I think I would be
better if we take one lesson before they start making the videos. This will
allow me to help them organize themselves, to give them roles, to help
them with the screenplays. This was something that I did with most of the
groups but individually and I think that I should have done it with the group
as a whole first. That way I can be certain everybody will work and
everybody will be fulfilling the task.
All in all, I think this project proved to be worth of my time and also my
students time. Although one of the groups didnt understand the
instructions quite well, their results were also satisfactory. Besides, the other
two groups understood perfectly and the results were just outstanding. I am
very proud of all of them!

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