Let’s be friends in the Rainbow Village
Overall description
This project comes as a follow up of a task-based approach project, the Rainbow Village project, we conducted three years ago. This year, teachers from France, Greece, Italy, Poland, and Turkey are going to design collaborative activities – gathered in units - in order to provide their pupils with the input required for performing effectively the tasks in a fun way. Global simulation will also be encouraged through virtual worlds. As a result the pupils will be endowed with the mission of creating their village "at peace with itself and the world" (Mandela) from their arrival to the design of their own flag and anthem. In parallel teachers will contribute according to their specific know-how. A first group will design the units, a second one will keep up the learning platform while a third one will test the activities. All documents and productions will be gathered either on a learning platform or into an interactive coursebook.
Pedagogical background
When designing the activities, we aim at
- reinforcing the students' oral and written skills as defined by the Council of Europe in a "task-centered" approach
- developing phonological, grammatical, lexical, strategic and pragmatic specific abilities
All activities have a single purpose : acting as a back-up for the units. That is why units and tasks run abreast as they share similar objectives :
- developing the pupils' intercultural competence through a glimpse at values different from theirs - the purpose being a better understanding of foreign cultures and respect of other cultures.
- acquiring intercultural knowledge so that they can effectively interact in everyday situations
- motivating pupils to improve their use of the English language through the practice of the four competences with people of their age
- offering greater exposure to the target language outside the classroom through the use of ICT.
Work process with a view of designing the units
Unit 1 : introducing oneself
Unit 2 : living in the village
Unit 3 : building a village + sharing responsibilities as inhabitants of a new community
Unit 4 : discovering countries
Unit 5 : electing representatives