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Presentation in English for Guglionesi

  • DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

    Young Reporters of the Natural Disasters was a project for pupils aged 12-14 years old, who researched a particular atmospheric phenomenon in order to become experts. English was used to communicate with partner groups and interview them about these natural disasters with the aim of finding out enough information in order to write an article, which would then be assessed and voted for by their peers.

     

    LINKS TO THE PROJECT

    Links to this project are as follows:

     

    Material uploaded include:

    • The rubric used to assess the students’ work and give them a mark;
    • A table illustrating the way the groups were divided and matched;
    • An interactive spreadsheet to show the students’ marks.

    INNOVATION

    Six partners took part in the project from four different countries, each partner becoming experts in a particular field:

     

    • Tornadoes – France (Fr);
    • Drought – Spain (Sp);
    • Hailstorms – Ukraine (Uko);
    • Snow storms – Ukraine (Uku);
    • Earthquakes – Italy (Itg)
    • Volcanoes –  Italy (Itn).

     

    These groups were then divided into 15 smaller sub groups, which were then assigned to work in collaboration with a corresponding group (please see all the sheets on the uploaded excel file)

     

    Using Twinspace forums, students asked and answered questions about:

    1. Their partners’ schools, cities and personal life;
    2. The assigned natural disaster;
    3. The possible consequences;
    4. The prevention plans.

    Using pages students:

    • Uploaded articles under a section title prepared for them by their teachers.
    • Voted for the best article.

     

    The students found the topic of natural disasters stimulating, and the collaboration among teachers guided them into communicating effectively and enthusiastically. Students became more self-confident and able to identify themselves as positive parts of the class group. Other engaging activities were:

     

    •  Making logos and uploading them onto Tricider, then voting for the one they liked best;
    •  Making and playing Kahoot from the information uploaded onto the website;
    •  Making and exchanging greetings cards;
    •  Connecting and conversing using Skype (Spain and Guglionesi).

     

     

    INTEGRATION INTO CURRICULUM

    This project involved both the natural sciences as well as English. The research the students did on the natural disasters was shown the science teacher who was happy to answer questions and incorporate the subject into his programme. The Liceo linguistico also study French and Spanish so collaborating with students and schools from those countries incited the students’ curiosity towards those subjects. At the end of the project the students performance was assessed as a group activity and a mark was given to them

     

    COMMUNICATION AND EXCHANGE

    Teachers communicated mainly by email although some communication was done on Twinspace. Students were guided into communicating through carefully organised exchanges on the Twinspace forum.  Each stage of the project was dependent on the partner groups having completed the previous stage.

    TASK SHARING

    The work was divided equally among the partners. The French teacher divided and organised the groups while the other teachers laid the ground ready on the forum and Pages for the students to upload their work onto and to ask and answer questions;

    • Instructions were given using Animatron videos;
    • The teachers divided the students into sub-groups and explained what they would have to do. The students were able to be independent in completing the work, helping each other not only in groups but helping other groups when the need arose;
    • Teachers kept close contact, making decisions together and prompting each other when a group hadn’t got their work uploaded inside the deadline;
    • The final product was a joint effort whereby teachers shared their students’ articles in PDF format so the eBook could be made with the least possible effort.

     

    THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY

    Technology was an important part of this project. Students used various digital tools in order to do research;

    • Google translate helped them to understand terms they didn’t know;
    • Edmodo was used in order to facilitate autonomy;
    • You tube and educational websites helped them to learn more about content;
    • logomakr and simple tools such as paint in order to make the logo;
    • Tricider to upload and vote for logos;
    • Kahoot, online educational quiz;
    • Padlet for sharing information;
    • Animatron for making instructional videos.
    • Presentation making tools for the articles.

    RESULTS AND IMPACT

    The students involved in this project were first years coming from various different villages and with different sociocultural backgrounds including two immigrants: one from Nigeria and one from Santa Domingo. This project helped them integrate together and create a strong positive identity as a class unit.

    In January when the school held its Open Day for the ‘scuola media’, some of the class volunteered to help out and proudly explained the project and showed their work to parents and future students.

    At the end of the project we discussed the quality of work and time spent on each activity and we used a rubric (uploaded above) as a basis for assessment.

    The project is accessible on the school website and various teachers have asked to learn how to use eTwinning and be included in a project for next school year.