La Playa

Describe:
This photo project represents a quick vocabulary-learning project.   Students were learning vocabulary about the beach so we completed a two-day project based upon the new vocabulary.  Students were asked to bring in a photo or a magazine picture of the beach.  They had to incorporate the new vocabulary into a paragraph describing a trip to the beach.  We typed the paragraphs in the computer lab where students were taught how to include accents using Microsoft word.  The projects were completed at home.  Students had to present them to the class and they were then displayed in the classroom.

Analyze:
This project is useful in three ways.  For one, students are practicing new vocabulary.  Learning vocabulary is an essential element to language learning and it’s not always easy for some students.  The second reason this is a useful learning tool is that it is a real life application of the language.  Students are expected to use the language to describe something from their own lives; they are using language as a communication tool.  Thirdly, students are writing.  Writing is a skill that takes practice and I believe it is not just the job of the English teachers.  Writing is an important form of communication and is a great way to learn language.  Students write all the time in my classes.  This type of mini-project is a way to make writing more enjoyable to students.

Appraise:
I have found this type of project useful for teaching vocabulary.  Students enjoy projects that are personalized.  They like to show photos from their own lives and for most students this is a fun way to write.  This project is not a major experience in my class; it is however an example of how I teach vocabulary.  I used to use this type of project to teach adjectives to Spanish 1 students.  They had to bring in a picture of a famous person to describe to the class and the class had to guess who they were describing.  Describing a personal photo is an effective way to learn new vocabulary.

Transform:
This is an example of a mini-project that has already transformed from when I first used it in teaching.  It is not a project I would spend a long time with but I do similar type projects, which are more specific and we spend longer on those.  This particular project “la playa” is focused on vocabulary so it is not too difficult in nature.  The longer, more critical projects are more focused on more intense material and take on a different form.  The longer and more critical the project, the more drafts the students will be required to do.  They include peer editing and teacher editing and we spend more time with these.