The Dream Project (A Speaking Lesson)

It has been quite long since I wrote the last entry. I have been bogged down by work as the semester is coming to its close. I finally managed to have some free time today to put in this entry. Sorry if you have been waiting.

This is a Speaking lesson which I adapted from the reality show the 'Nescafe Kickstart'. As I watched it, ideas came to me that it could be implemented in class to make students speak. 

I call the activity 'The Dream Project'. 

To make it more interesting (especially for the students), you can put your institution's acronym to replace 'the'. So, for example, if the acronym for my institution is KPLM (pseudonym), the name of the activity/lesson is 'KPLM Dream Project'.

The objective of this lesson can be i) speaking with confidence and fluency [using correct pronunciation, stress, intonation and rhythm]; and ii) presenting an argument [making suggestions and recommendations].

Here's how to carry out the lesson:

Divide your class into several groups of 4 or 5 students. Then, choose one group to become the 'International' group while the rest would become 'Local' groups. To insert fun, make students draw lots to become 'International' or 'Local'. All in all, there would be 1 'International' company and several 'Local' companies.

Next, set the situation. You can write the situation on the board or alternatively, produce handouts and distribute them to the groups. The task and situation for all local groups are the same; but the international group would have a different task and situation.

Given below are the tasks for both types of groups. If you are going to do this lesson, you may copy and paste the given words into your handouts:

International Group

Situation:     You are representatives of an international firm. Your CEO intends to donate RM100,000 to KPLM. The money can only be used for projects (of any kind) to improve the state of thing in KPLM. Some local companies will plan the projects to be implemented and will present them to you. Your CEO has instructed you to listen to their presentations and choose a project to invest in. The money will only be given if you find the project workable and can be implemented.

You must:

a) decide whether each project is worth RM100,000 or not.

b) decide whether the project is workable or not.

c) choose one project to be implemented. Give reasons why you choose that project 
    and why you do not choose other projects.

Present your decision and reasons for your choice to the staff of the local companies.#

Additionally, you can ask the 'International group' to prepare one project that they themselves would implement in case other projects are not suitable.

Local Group

Situation:     You are representatives of a local company in charge of improving the state of things in KPLM. You have been informed that an international firm is going to donate RM100,000 to KPLM. The director of KPLM has asked you to decide on how the money should be used.

You must:

a) think of a project (of your choice) to be done in KPLM to improve the state of things in KPLM which is 

    worth RM100,000.

b) describe what you are going to do and how you are going to do it.

c) give reasons why you want to have this project.

d) explain why or how your project:     
     i) is good for KPLM

     ii) is better than the projects presented by the other companies.

Present your project to the representatives of the International firm. Persuade and convince them that your project should be selected instead of other projects.#

After the students form their groups, allocate around 7 to 10 minutes for group discussions. After the given time, start right away with the presentations as all the group presentations can take up the whole lesson. You can allow questions to be asked by the audience, but limit them to perhaps only 3 questions. But it actually depends on the time that you have, or whether you are comfortable to continue this activity in the next lesson.
Arrange for the 'International' group to present last.

All the best if you are doing this activity. Hopefully it will be an enjoyment to you, too, as it had been for me.

3-Part Argumentative Writing Lessons.

I find teaching argumentative writing is not easy. This is due to several factors, such as the lack of knowledge on current issues among my students and their inability to actually support their stance with logical and suitable reasons, which actually stem from their lack of reading especially on other people's opinion of a certain issue. 

I often ended up receiving essays written with lack of consideration of other issues surrounding the issue they are writing on, reflecting immature thinking and perhaps inability to critically discuss an issue. I also often receive essays which lack enough information to support the stand made. When there are actually many evidence or events that happened in the world which could be appropriately quoted as support for a point made in the essay, these events would usually would be incorrectly quoted or would go unnoticed - suggesting the lack of knowledge on current or relevant issues among my students.

Writing for the MUET or at Pre-University/ Form Six level actually require knowledge and critical thinking skills other than good English proficiency. I thus concluded that students need to read on the issue they are writing on in order to write good essays that have good content. And so this 3-Part Writing Lesson is created. Below is its description:

1st Lesson (1st Part):  Research

I had this lesson in the library. Alternatively you can ask students to bring laptops with Internet connection. Students were asked to work in groups. Each group was given (my students actually chose) a topic to research on. For my class, I had 5 groups so 5 different topics were used. Examples of topics I gave are "The Exploration of Antartica" and "The Possession of Nuclear Bombs (by Some Countries)". The students were given 3 aspects of these topics to find information on: 

1) The definition / explanation. 

2) The benefits

3) The negative effects

The students spent the whole lesson researching. Nevertheless, they should be encouraged to continue researching even in their free time. In order to do that, please do not plan the 2nd lesson to be right after the 1st lesson. Have a few days of gap in between the two lessons to encourage researching among the students.

2nd Lesson (2nd Part) : Thinking & Speaking

In this lesson, students continued to work in groups. The task given to them was to use the information they gathered in the 1st lesson to respond to some given (essay) questions. The questions I gave was an extension to the topics they received in the first lesson. For example, if earlier they had received the topic of "The Exploration of Antartica", now they received this question: 'The exploration of Antartica would bring more harm than good. Do you agree?' The students worked in groups to prepare their "answer", which they have to present orally to the class. They need to present on these given aspects: the explanation/definition; their stance; and the reasons for their stance (3-4 reasons).

What I find interesting here is that when the students presented their "answers", I as their teacher could already see whether they are addressing and attempting at the given question correctly or not. I could see whether they are on the right track or not even before they write the essay. It was also here that I evaluated their points/reasons; and advised them of any point/reason to add or to omit.

Ensure that all groups carry out their presentations as they are all dealing with different topics/questions.

3rd Lesson (3rd Part): Writing
This is the writing part after the researching, discussing and speaking on the topics. Students were given a writing task, which is given below:
"Choose one of the questions given in the 2nd lesson. In not less than 350 words, write an individual essay on your chosen question."

Students thus would write after having had researched, discussed and presented on their topics. If they plan to write on a different question than that they presented on, their friends' presentations and the teacher's comment should provide them with the background to write the essay.

All in all, I find these lessons comprehensive as they involved all the 4 skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing; and they also integrate Thinking Skills, which I feel is an essential element that should be included in MUET and  Pre-U English lessons.