SKKN Some techniques to enhance the grade 10 students' active participation in the Project lessons

nt
5.Technique of observing and evaluating students’ projects

20



80
4
 Very urgent
Results from the survey have shown that most of the participants taking part in the survey agreed that using some techniques to enhance the grade 10 students' active participation in the Project lessons is very urgent. Of all the techniques suggested, technique of dividing students into groups, observing and evaluating students’ projects were considered very urgent. Besides, technique of contextualizing the topic of the project, delivering tasks to each student or controlling students’ task fulfillment are also urgent. No respondent evaluated all the techniques a little or not urgent. We can conclude that, our suggested solutions in the teaching experience are urgent in real life teaching practice.
4.2. Evaluating the feasibility of the suggested solutions
Suggested solutions
Very feasible
(4 points)

Feasible
(3 points)
A little feasible
(2 points)
Not feasible
(1 point)

Results
Respondents
Respondents
Respondents
Respondents
∑
(points)
(points)
Scale
1. Technique of contextualizing the topic of the project
5
15


65
3,25
Feasible
2. Technique of dividing students into groups
2
18


62
3,1
Feasible
3. Technique of delivering tasks to each student
20



80
4
Very feasible
4.Technique of controlling students’ task fulfillment
20



80
4
Very feasible
5.Technique of observing and evaluating students’ projects
3
17


63
3,15
Feasible
It is clear from the survey results that all of the teachers taking part in the survey saw the feasibility of the suggested solutions. 100% of the respondents considered technique of delivering tasks to each student and controlling students’ task fulfillment to be the most feasible. Some of them chose technique of contextualizing the topic of the project, dividing students into groups and observing and evaluating students’ projects to be very feasible. Others evaluated other techniques to be feasible. To conclude, using some techniques to enhance the grade 10 students' active participation in the Project lessons is feasible for the current teaching and learning process.
VI. SAMPLE APPLICATION
Project-based learning lesson plan
Textbook: Tieng Anh 10
UNIT 7: VIETNAM AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 
Lesson: Project (p.85)
An international organization
DESCRIPTION:
In this project, students will discuss an international organization. This project is designed for grade-10 students at Do Luong 2 upper secondary school, Nghean. The time for each period of students’ project presentation is 45 minutes. However, in this study, we have prepared the whole project lesson plan following the given steps. The project is for a class of about 40 students. The students are divided into 4 groups. They will work in one week to finish the project.
PROJECT: 
 Work in groups: 
- Do research on an international organization 
- Present your findings to the class. Your presentation should include:
1) What is the name of the organization?
2) When and where was it formed?
3) How many member countries does it have?
4) What are the organization’s aims?
5) What are the current activities/projects of this organization?
6) What has this organization done to help Vietnam?

THE UNITED NATIONS
A. OBJECTIVES
* Language objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
- identify lexical and grammatical items related to the topic “an international organization” 
- develop their communication skills, including reading, listening, writing and oral presenting on the topic an international organization.
* Content objectives	
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
- Recognize different international organizations and inquire more valuable information about these organizations.
- Raise students’ respect and gratitude for the contribution of international organizations.
- Build up classmates' awareness of the need to show their responsibility to society by their practical actions.
B. LANGUAGE FOCUS
* Key vocabulary: Use words related to volunteer projects: name, foundation, headquarters, member countries, aims, activities, projects... 
*Key grammar/ structure: Use past simple tense to introduce the time and place of formation, use present simple tense to introduce activities.
C. TEACHING AIDS
Textbook, board, chalk, pictures, photos, projector. 
D. PROCEDURE
Step 1: Introduction
a. Contextualize the task
- Have the students watch some pictures about some logos of international organizations to elicit the task
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION

WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION

THE RED CROSS
INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANISATION

INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION

INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR STANDARDIZATION

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION
- Ask students to work in groups to discuss all the information they know about these international organizations such as their name, foundation, headquarters, member countries, aims, activities, projects
- Elicit ideas from each group and increase students' interest about the project assignment they are going to do.
b. Inform the class of the lesson objectives
- Address the objectives of the lesson to the class and emphasize on the core value and language requirements for the project.
- Help students understand the instructions and the procedure for conducting the project. Remind students of the following points:
+ They should discuss to select an international organization that they can find lots of information about.
+ Then they brainstorm all the information and illustrations about the international organization they choose.
+ They critically discuss what they can do to help our society.
+ They need to have a good preparation for their presentation on the project.
c. Timeline and assessment
- Allow 1 week for students to work on their project.
- Introduce the form of project teamwork plan, checklist and rubric for project assessment to students. Give a clear explanation to help students understand all requirements before they start doing their project 
Step 2: Divide class into groups
- Using multiple-theory technique to divide students into groups of 10 according to their competence.
- Have students in each group choose:
- 1 leader who will assign the tasks to the members and monitor teamwork 
- 1 note-taker who will be responsible for taking notes of group ideas for later discussions. 
- 3 members have a duty in finding and selecting information required about the international organization
- 2 members is responsible for arranging the content corresponding to the illustrated pictures to prepare for presentation
- 2 members are in charge of designing slides
- 1 member who is good at speaking has to make a presentation.
The duties of group members may change basing on the task delivery in each group.
Step 3: Conduct the project
- Encourage students to make a detailed teamwork plan for their project. (Ask them to make a time line).
- Elicit the information about the way to promote the image of the international organization. For example, if students want to use the internet to promote the image of the international organization, ask them some guiding questions such as which website they would like to use, how they can spread the image, etc.
Step 4: Prepare students to collect the used things and make new things
- Guide students how to collect pictures and information for their project by doing a search on the internet, in magazines or newspapers.
- Remind students that they need to compile, evaluate and synthesize the relevant information for the project presentation. For example, instruct them to arrange the information into a suitable order such as name, foundation, headquarters, member countries, aims, activities, projects, etc.
Step 5: Prepare students for the final activity
- Have students think about the language use, skills, the content requirements and oral presentation.
- Encourage students to anticipate questions the audience may ask them about their presentation. 
Step 6: Present the final outcomes of the project
- Have students present the final outcomes of their work in the project show:
+ Teacher sets the time for each group to present and rules: Each group has 5 minutes to present and 4 minutes for question and answer section.
+ While one group presents its project, the others observe, tick the checklist and give comments. 
- Observe and take notes both the good and bad points while groups are presenting their projects. 
Step 7: Assess students' work
- Use the rubrics and checklists for the project product and for the oral presentation 
- Give constructive and positive feedback.
- Praise the best product.
Step 8: Give key values
- Ask students the following questions to identify key values after doing the project
1) What have you learned today?
2) What is value of your project?
3) How do you feel about your project?
 - Encourage students to talk about practical advice based on their real problem and their own ability.
VII. RESULTS AND COMMENT
1. Results
	We applied these techniques to teach Project lessons in the school year 2022-2023. In spite of some difficulties, we achieved considerable successes in students’ activities and competences, which are the results of improving their active participation.
We have carried out the last survey with the same questions on the same students from the four classes. The survey was done the second time after using these techniques to check how effective the ones have brought about. The table below shows the results of the survey before and after using the techniques with the aim of enhancing active participation in project lessons.
Questions
Answers
Percentage(%)
Before using the techniques
After using the techniques
1. Is the active participation of each member in group activities important?
Very important
52,8
74,5
Important
27,5
25,5
Less important 
11,5
0
Unimportant
8,2 
0
2. How important is the use of techniques to promote your group participation?
 Very important
38,3
88,7
Important
54,1
11,3
 Less important 
4,5
0
 unimportant
3,1
0
3. How often are you involved in product evaluations of other groups' projects?
Usually
10,4
76,2
Often 
26,6
21,3
Sometimes
53,7
2,5
Rarely
9,3
0
4. How was your level of participation in group activities during the lesson?

Very active
9,8
37,3
 Active 
27,3
45,5
 Less active
12,5
17,2
 Inactive 
50,4
0
5. What abilities have you improved by actively participating in group activities in the project lesson?
Communicating
25,2
3,6
Cooperating
24,6
2,4
Solving problem
23,5
9,3
All of them
26,7
84,7
2. Comments
The survey has shown that the using of techniques to enhance students’ participation in project lessons is very effective. 74.5% of the students agree that the participation of members in group activities is very important, which means that group work benefits them. Besides, 88,7% of the students realize the importance of using techniques. It is clear that the techniques help to make students actively participate in group work. Thanks to the techniques, 76,2 % of the students assure that they have more chance to get involved in product evaluation of other groups’ projects. Moreover, they participate in group activities more actively than before. Especially, 84,7% of the students show that actively participating in group activities in project lessons helps to improve their abilities including communicating, cooperating and solving problems.
PART III: CONCLUSION
The study was implemented at the beginning of the school year 2022-2023, when we were assigned to teach grade 10 students. The fact that our students’ school entrance marks were low, especially the English subject means the students’ knowledge and competences are not good. Consequently, in contrast with the continued advance of civilization, our students have had more and more difficulties in both study and life. Hence, we have made great efforts to find solutions to help our students to improve their learning and achieve successes in the life. With the techniques suggested in this study, our students are engaged in their tasks. They take part in Project lessons more actively, which helps develop their skills and competences including communicating, cooperating and problem solving competences. 
To carry out a successful Project lesson, it is necessary for teachers not only to have competence and enthusiasm, but also the ability of applying appropriate teaching methods and teaching aids creatively as well as the ability of organizing and controlling the class to achieve high efficiency in their activities.
Through the process of applying the study “Some techniques to enhance the grade 10 students' active participation in the Project lessons”, I personally think we need to note the following points: Before giving students a "project", teachers need to choose a form of "project" expression: presentations, writing reports, recording video clips or making advertisements.... In addition, teachers need to divide groups to implement the project in the most convenient and effective way, assign tasks to each member, master the requirements, necessary lists (checklist, rubrics) and time limits of the performance; When evaluating products, teachers need to do it objectively, with cross-evaluation assignments, and feedback to promptly draw points that need to be fixed for the next project; In order to raise awareness and promote education, teachers need to draw out meanings, lessons or key values ​​(key value, big ideas) after each time students carry out a "project" in a residential community.
Our measures have been taken during the teaching process. Thanks to the development of information technology, we have searched for much useful information to carry out the study. In addition, the study has been completed with the assistance of the foreign language experts, our school’s Board of Directors, our colleagues and students. We would like to express our sincere acknowledgement of their support and cooperation. We would be grateful if we receive the comments and good ideas from readers and other teachers so that the study is getting more and more effective and interesting.
REFERENCES
1. C.Richards, Jack and S. Rodgers, Thedore. 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
2. Duc, Hoang Tang. 2016. Project-based Learning. Vinh university.
3. Hoang, V.V., Hoang T. X. H., Dang, H. G., Phan H., Hoang. T. H. Hai, Kieu, T. T. P., Vu, T., L., Dao, N. L., & Kayle, D. (2014). TiengAnh10: Student’s book2. Hanoi: Education Publishing House and Person (Global Success)
4. Hoang, V.V., Hoang, T.X.H., Dang, H.G., Phan H, T. H., Hai, Kieu, T.T.P., Vu, T.L., Dao, N.L., & Kaye, D. (2014). TiengAnh10: Teacher’s book 2. Hanoi: Education Publishing House and Pearson (Global Success)
5. Larsen-Freeman, Diane. 2001.Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press.