bồi dưỡng học sinh giỏi tiếng anh thpt chuyên đề assessment and testing in EFL class at high school level

PART I: INTRODUCTION
Over the recent decades, educators all over the world have become more and more
interested in applying alternative assessment practices.

Other than traditional,

standardized forms of testing such as multiple-choice, these innovative practices can
properly assess students’ growth and development at school. Portfolio and project-based
assessment are two among such several authentic and non-traditional assessment
techniques in education, which are particularly applicable to EFL classes.
Despite the increasing popularity of using portfolio and project assessment tools
worldwide, learning English in Vietnam is still strongly examination-focused, especially
at high school level. Examinations in English are largely grammar-based, testing the
students' knowledge of grammatical structures and vocabulary. The final score during a
semester is generally the combination of the scores of two oral tests, two fifteen-minuteat-class written tests, two forty-five-minute-at-class written tests and one final semester
written examination. For gifted English students, some speaking tests are often added in
which the teacher normally asks students to give a small talk about one common topic.
At the end of the 12th grade, another national paper exam will determine high school
graduation and the exam results will be used as the basis for university entrance
admission. It cannot be denied that these traditional testing methods fail to take into
account students' growth and development as well as high-order skills required for
university-level study. As a result, different assessment methods should be used instead
of relying solely on a test aimed at measuring past achievement and learning. Other high
quality assessment methods such as portfolio and project should be employed to promote
students’ genuine improvement, which is especially important to English gifted students.
As far as the writers are concerned, portfolio and project have been more and more
widely used at many language-specialized universities right at the first year; however,
they are still “alien and complicated” methods to many high school teachers. Within the
limited scope of the paper, the authors aim to introduce the application of these two new
assessment methods in teaching writing paragraphs and speaking skill to English classes
at their own high school. Following the review of definitions, advantages and challenges

of each method, useful procedures to apply both are attempted to put forward.
Additionally, authentic samples are attached to provide a more detailed insight into the
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real application. Last but not least, some suggestions are valuable for the teachers who
desire to use portfolio and project in their classrooms.
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: WRITING PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
1. Definition of portfolio assessment
Portfolios are at the forefront of alternative assessment approaches, noted Hamp-Lyons
(1996). Hancock (1994) puts forward that a portfolio is defined as the collection of a
learner’s work assembled for the purpose of determining how much has been learned (p.
238). In other words, a portfolio is a purposive collection of student products to show
both the ability and the progress of a learner over a period of time (e.g. a semester or an
academic calendar year).
Portfolio includes multiple samples of student achievement and his/her own reflection
about his/her decision-making process for including such samples as an integral part of
the portfolio (Baume, 2001).
It is worth mentioning that whereas a portfolio is a collection of a student assignment
samples, portfolio assessment is the process of creating, collecting, and evaluating
contents of the portfolio (Moya & O'Malley, 1994)
2. Procedure of portfolio assessment in teaching and learning EFL
The five stages of portfolio procedure are specified as follows.
1. Planning: During this stage, teachers communicate to the students the purpose
of the portfolio and the assessment criteria. Also, the organization and presentation of
materials as well as portfolio maintenance and storage are discussed.
2. Collection: In the collection stage, students must decide the context and
contents of the portfolio to document their work and choose appropriate artifacts and
products.

3. Selection: The selection stage is a decision-making process in which collected
artifacts are stored and selected for inclusion in the portfolio.
4. Reflection: Reflection stage is often considered the most important step in
portfolio development. During the reflection process, students justify their selections,
highlight important learning gains, explain relevant skills and knowledge, and identify
areas for improvement.
5. Connection: In the connection stage, students expand on their reflections to
connect acquired knowledge and skills gained from portfolio assessment with course
goals and learning objectives.
3. Writing portfolio
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In writing, portfolio assessment is a technique to improve students' writing performance.
Students are asked to choose their best pieces of writing to put in portfolio to submit
assessment. Students can also include those samples of writing that represent the
development of writing process, including writing plan, different drafts, and evaluation
sheets.
The whole procedure of using portfolio assessment for writing skill is summarized in the
diagram below:
Step 1

-Discuss the
purpose,
content of
portfolio

Step 2

1. Write up first

draf

Repeat
procedure
for other
pieces of
writing

2. Peer- review
3. Write second
draf

- Discuss the
criteria for
portfolio’s
evaluation

Step 3

4. Teacher’s
feedback

- Students reflect
upon the portfolio
- Students select
three final versions
and their attached
drafs, feedbacks,
reflections for
grading purpose

- Teacher’s
evaluation for
students’
portfolios

5. Write final
version
6. Students’
reflection
7. Teacher’s
evaluation

8. Put all the
stuffsprocedure
in the
Adopted portfolio
from the Training Material by MOET
In detail, the procedure isportfolio
divided into three main steps as follows:

• Step 1: planning
In the first piloted-portfolio writing class, the teacher and the students discuss together
about the purpose of portfolio. The aim of the portfolios is to help students identify their
strengths and weaknesses, to show their progress overtime and also for grading purpose.
Accordingly, the content of portfolios is also decided that include all the students’ stuffs
such as drafts, feedbacks, reflections, teacher’s evaluation sheets and final versions.
However, at last, students would choose three final versions in their favor and their

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attached teacher’s evaluation sheets and reflections for summative grading. In the
planning stage, they also discuss about the criteria for evaluating portfolios.
• Step 2: Collection and reflection up on individual writing tasks
In each next writing lesson, the teacher and the students deal with one writing task which
follows the textbook or outside materials which are suitable for the lesson. Students
might choose textbook-based topics or any other ones of their interests but suitable for
the topics given to write about. After giving some necessary instructions, the teacher
asked students to make the outline maybe individually or in groups, and then write the
first draft. After finishing the first drafts, students exchange their writings with their peers
and write comments on their peers’ first drafts based on the given Peer comment sheets.
The aim of Peer comment sheets is to help the students enhance their critical thinking
through making judgment on their peers’ writing pieces.
At home, students have to rewrite their essays based on the peers’ comments and then
hand their second drafts to the teacher on a due day in the week. The teacher, have to
revise all the writings using Teacher’s feedback. The teacher’s feedback sheet is used as a
guideline for the teacher to make useful comments on students’ writings. In the next
week, the teacher returns feedbacks to the students, and the students have to write the
final versions at home.
Also, the students are asked to do self-reflection based on Student self-reflection sheet in
which they reveal their weak points as well as their strong points in their writing and
what they hoped to improve in the next writing.
Then, the teacher will collect and evaluate all the students’ final versions based on the
Teacher’s evaluation sheet. These evaluation sheets are very useful for the researcher in
comparing the results gained by students to explore whether they improved or not.
The process continues being carried out in the next weeks. All the drafts, peer comment
sheets, teacher’s feedbacks, teacher’s evaluation sheets, students’ self-reflection sheets
and final versions are collected and put into a paper bag by the students.
• Step 3: Reflection upon the whole portfolio, selection and evaluation
Then, the students are asked to do self-reflection upon their portfolios in which they

express what their favorite writing piece in their portfolios is and what writing piece they
are the most dissatisfied with, and state the reasons. To do this, students use Portfolio
reflection sheet.

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Also, students are asked to select the necessary artifacts including three final versions and
their attached drafts, peer review feedbacks, teacher’s comments, teacher’s evaluation
sheets and self reflection sheets for grading aim. They are reminded to select carefully
and thoughtfully based on what versions they find the best ones or the most meaningful
to them. Then, students are asked to design the cover of their portfolios in their own
ways.
Finally, teacher collects and evaluated all the portfolios based on the Portfolio rubric.
4. Advantages of portfolio assessment
Portfolios offer a number of advantages to both teachers and learners.
To teachers, Hedge (2000) states that portfolio assessment is seen as a more
comprehensive portrait of students’ writing ability than one essay composed under
restricted circumstances. Thus, evaluating portfolios instead of only one impromptu
timed writing sample of students will put teachers in a better position to make
informed judgments about students’ writing ability. To put it in another way, by
employing portfolio assessment in addition to standardized testing, foreign language
teachers can understand their students’ strengths and weaknesses thoroughly, wrote
Shohamy (1992).
As regards students, they benefit the most when they receive feedback while they are still
working on a paper rather than after the paper has been graded. Portfolios can encourage
students to be independent learners, taking responsibility for their own learning. Students
have to review their writing and decide which pieces they will present to their teachers
and/or what they would like teachers to see in that writing” (p. 109) Hirvela and Pierson
(2000). In addition, the application of portfolio assessment enhances students’ skills in

organization and development, as well as group work through peer-comment.
In brief, portfolio assessment can arouse students’ learning motivation and facilitate
students’ learning process as well as offer teachers a more accurate reflection of students’
learning.
5. Challenges of portfolio assessment
Brown and Hudson (1998) itemized the challenges of using portfolios under five
categories that can influence portfolio implementation: design decision, logistics,
interpretation, reliability and validity.
Design decision issues are related to content of the portfolio and its grading criteria. The
issues about who will decide upon the content and who will specify the purposes are the
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most challenging issues for the teachers who implement portfolio in their classrooms. At
the beginning of the term teacher must decide what to put into the portfolio and how to
evaluate them. If the teacher does not make decisions about these issues, it cannot be
possible to prepare grading criteria. According to Hamp-Lyons & Condon (1993),
establishment of grading criteria is also a critical issue, since it has been found that
portfolio readers often lack explicit criteria and standards to measure portfolios.
Another main concern about portfolios is dealing with logical issues such as lack of time
and increased paper load and workload. Bushman et al (1995) delineates that time
management is the biggest challenge of portfolio assessment. Teachers help students to
develop their portfolios in their planning, collecting, editing and revising stages. Student
– teacher dialogue during the portfolio implementation process increases the amount of
time and effort used by the teachers while developing this process.
Setting standards in grading, ensuring fairness to students and training teachers to make
fair evaluations are interpretation issues challenging portfolio implementation. Gottlieb
(2000) believes that teachers need sustained professional development to support
portfolio implementation. Guiding and evaluating students in portfolio assessment is not
an easy job and it is claimed that teachers need professional assistance on how to guide

and evaluate students in this process.
Another criticism surrounding portfolio assessment is the issue of reliability and validity.
According to O’Malley et al. (1994) there might be a possibility of subjectivity and lack
of consensus with other teachers because portfolio assessment relies on teacher
judgments to produce a score. Without reliability while producing the same score with
different raters, there might be concerns about inconsistent rating in portfolio assessment.
If an assessment system is not reliable, it is not also valid. Validity is about determining
how adequately portfolios exemplify students‟ work, development and abilities, and
whether portfolio purposes and the decisions made according to these purposes match
(Brown & Hudson, 1998). Dealing with these challenges is not easy for teachers and
requires commitment. Despite these challenges, it is important to ensure the balance
between the benefits and challenges of portfolio implementation with a careful design
and clear guidelines for the contents of the portfolios.
6. Authentic sample

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10th grade gifted students were asked to write paragraphs of different genres (i.e.
description, advantages and disadvantages, cause-and-effect, comparison and contrast)
during the term. The students completed the writing plan for the topics they choose and
write their first drafts at class, which were then commented by their peers at home on the
peer-comment worksheet. The next day, at class, the students wrote the second drafts
based on their peer comments. All the second drafts were submitted to the teacher who
will further commented before they wrote the final drafts (version 3). It is noteworthy
that the teacher signed at the end of the first and second draft to minimize any chances of
cheating. In short, the portfolio project required that students write paragraphs of
different genres. They revisited, reflected on and revised the paragraphs in response
to peer and teacher feedback during the term. For each genre, the students collected all
the related papers in one entry, including the writing plan, first draft, second drafts, final

drafts, peer-comment worksheet. It should be noted that the student’s reflection on each
entry and the whole portfolio were eliminated in the writer’s classroom. It was her own
thought that the reflection seemed to be too demanding concerning her students’ level.
The score of each entry was decided upon that of the final version based on the guidelines
for the national high school examination suggested by the Ministry of Education and
Training in 2014. The students were required to select three best entries for summative
grading. The portfolio score of the students was the average of scores on those three
entries.
The writing forms utilized in the portfolio was adapted from the portfolio model by
English Teacher Education Faculty, University of Languages and International Studies,
Vietnam National University. Minus points were given to the lack of any necessary
components in each entry, i.e. without peer comment or writing plan, one minus point;
without one of the three versions, three minus points; without the teacher’s signature, two
minus points.
On the next pages of the paper comes one authentic writing portfolio entry from one
student in which the teacher also gave comments and mark as well.

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10


11

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15


PARAGRAPH SCORING BY MOET (2014)
Mô tả tiêu chí đánh giá
1.

Bố cục
-

2.

0.40

Câu đề dẫn chủ đề mạch lạc (Câu chủ đề (Topic
sentence) nêu ý chính của đoạn văn
Bố cục hợp lí rõ ràng phù hợp yêu cầu của đề bài
Có thể có câu kết luận (Concluding sentence) tóm
tắt ý chính của đoạn văn, hoặc đưa ra một gợi ý,

một quan điểm hay một dự đoán.

Phát triển ý
-

Điểm tối đa

0.25

Phát triển ý có trình tự logic
Có dẫn chứng, ví dụ, … đủ để bảo vệ ý kiến của
mình . (Nêu được những lý do về lương, điều kiện
làm việc, khả năng của bàn thân, cơ hội cống hiến,
đóng góp hoặc những thuận lợi khác mà công việc
mang lại cho mình.)

3.

Sử dụng ngôn từ

0.30

4.

- Sử dụng ngôn từ phù hợp nội dung
- Sử dụng ngôn từ đúng văn phong/thể loại
- Sử dụng từ nối các ý cho bài viết uyển chuyển
Nội dung

0.30

-

5.

Đủ thuyết phục người đọc
Đủ dẫn chứng, ví dụ, lập luận
Độ dài: số từ không được nhiều hơn hoặc ít hơn so
với quy định 5%
Ngữ pháp, đấu câu, và chính tả
-

-

0.25

Sử dụng đúng dấu câu
Chính tả: viết đúng chính tả
+ Lỗi chính tả gây hiểu nhầm/sai lệch ý sẽ bị tính
một lỗi (trừ 1% điểm của bài viết)
+ Cùng một lỗi chính tả lặp lại chỉ tính là một lỗi
Sử dụng đúng thời, thể, cấu trúc câu đúng ngữ
pháp.

Tổng

1.50

CHAPTER TWO: PROJECT ASSESSMENT
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1. Definition
Project-based learning is an instructional method with the center on the learner. Instead of
following a rigid lesson plan that instructs learners down a specific path of learning
outcomes and objectives, project-based learning (PBL) allows in-depth investigation of a
topic under discussion. Through PBL, learners have more autonomy over what they
learn, maintaining interest and motivating learners to take greater responsibility for their
learning (Tassinari, 1996). PBL enables the expression of diversity in learners, such as
interest, abilities and learning styles.
PBL is a teaching method aimed at solving problems in a collaborative environment over
an extended period of time. PBL is a hands-on experience which starts from driving
questions and problems that creates activities and leads to the meaningful product in the
end.
2. Procedure of project development
The four main steps of PBL are shown below:
Step 1: Starting the project
Step 2: Developing the project
Step 3: Reporting to the class
Step 4: Assessing the project
Adopted portfolio procedure from the Training Material by MOET
The following is the summary of the four project steps:
2.1. Starting the project: this stage involves selecting the topic that is of
interest and relevance to students. The teacher can create guiding questions so that
students have an idea of what to do and are encouraged to study or develop.
Students then establish the project outline and plan the method

of

development, the final outcomes and individual’s responsibilities. The project should be

challenging and motivating such that students can develop and have the flexibility to
work at their own level, while team members within the group offer advice and
assistance. This is an important feature as it contributes to a successful outcome.
2.2. Developing the project: this stage involves the research which is undertaken
by all group members either individually, in pairs, or as a group. This should be
decided by the group before commencing the project. Students search for
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information to answer their driven question, note down the results they achieve,
any problems they encounter and ways to solve them. This is an efficient process
that can be used to improve the project as it progresses.
2.3. Reporting to the class: this stage involves presenting and receiving
feedback from other students on the progress of and improvements to the project. The
steps occurring throughout the project are assessed to make sure that students
comprehend the problems and apply the skills and concepts necessary to complete
the project.
2.4. Assessing the project: the final product can be evaluated by an
individual student, students as a group, a teacher or external audience. This stage allows
students to apply and present what they have learned.
3. Assessment of project
Assessment of PBL can be difficult and challenging compared to the assessment of
traditional learning. Students in PBL are assessed by various means such as “traditional
paper-and-pen tests to new modes of assessment: case-based assessment, self and peer
assessment, performance-based assessment and portfolio assessment”. However, there
are some arguments that standardized tests are inappropriate to evaluate students’
learning outcomes in PBL.
In disciplines rather than language teaching, various assessment practices can be
integrated. For example, homework assignments, laboratory exercises, final project
papers and presentations can be employed to measure learning outcomes, while

implementation evaluation, informal evaluation and project papers are used to assess
scientific process learning outcomes. In addition, assessing the overall outcomes of
students can be done through a peer review form, a faculty review panel, a final research
presentation and a final paper.
In language teaching, students in PBL use real communication, authentic language and
learning experiences to achieve their learning goals. Therefore, performance assessments
are crucial in PBL as they allow a variety of assessments to evaluate students’ process of
learning and tasks. The accuracy of grammatical and linguistic structures of target
language should not be the only focus of PBL assessment. The principal way for
assessing project work is evaluating what students learn, the processes and efforts that
lead to the final production and what the learning outcomes are. Therefore, multiple types
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of formative and summative assessment should be integrated as a part of an effective
assessment program.
Assessment of problem-based learning:
1. Written examinations
2. Practical examinations
3. Concept maps
4. Peer assessment
5. Self assessment
6. Facilitators/tutor assessment
7. Oral presentations
8. Reports
9. Student Portfolios
Written examinations
Traditional written examinations can be conducted either as closed-book or open-book
examinations. Questions should be designed to ensure transference of skills to similar
problems or subject domains.

Practical Examinations
These examinations are used to ensure that students are able to apply skills learned during
the course.
Concept maps
Much of learning that goes on during problem-based learning is more than just a
compilation of facts. As such, written examinations may not be an adequate measure of
student growth. Requiring students to generate concept maps, in which they depict their
knowledge through the creation of identified node and links, may present another option
to determining their cognitive growth.
Peer assessment
Because life outside the classroom usually requires working with others, peer assessment
is a viable option to measure student growth. Providing students with an evaluation rubric
often helps guide the peer evaluation process. This process also emphasizes the
cooperative nature of the PBL environment.
Self assessment
An important element of problem-based learning is to help students identify gaps in their
knowledge base in order for more meaningful learning to result. Self assessment allows

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students to think more carefully about what they know, what they do not know, and what
they need to know to accomplish certain tasks.
Facilitators/tutor assessment
The feedback provided by tutors should encourage the students to explore different ideas.
It is important that facilitators not dominate the group, facilitate learning and exploration.
Tutor assessment may consist of how successful individuals interacted with their group
and their cognitive growth.
Oral presentations
Because so much of work life revolves around presenting ideas and results to peers, oral

presentations in problem-based learning provide students an opportunity to practice their
communication skills. Presenting findings to their group, the class, or even a real-life
audience can help strengthen these skills.
Reports
Written communication is another skill important for students. Requiring written reports
allows students to practice this form of communication.
Student Portfolios
Samples of student work in various media forms provide a tool to show achievement and
growth. This is a valuable way to collect and showcase authentic evidence of learning.
Rubrics
The most common assessment and evaluation tools used for collaborative learning are
web-based rubrics. Most generate printable versions of the rubric. Some have a rubric
calculator, allowing the teacher to select appropriate performance indicators and have a
grade generated. Developing meaningful rubrics can be a challenge. Involving students in
the development of rubrics helps them with their thinking, creates buy-in on their part,
and clarifies expectations all around.
A rubric simply lists a set of criteria which define and describe the important components of
the work being planned or evaluated. A given criterion is then stated in several different
levels of completion or competence, with a weighted score assigned to each level (0 being
the lowest level)
4. Benefits of PBL in areas other than language learning
As a traditional textbook-driven approach does not engage students in the learning
process in ways that PBL does (Markham et al., 2003), research has shown that there
are many benefits in implementing PBL in a variety of educational contexts as follows:
• Enhancing academic achievement and content knowledge relevant to the course
• Increasing autonomous learning
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• Gaining important life skills

• Developing higher-order thinking skills
• Increasing motivation
4.1. Enhancing academic achievement and content knowledge relevant to the
course.
As PBL allows students to have first-hand experience of the topic being studied
through their project, it is evident that students can reflect on their experience and
make a meaningful transition between the in-depth project and the topic of the study.
4.2. Increasing autonomous learning.
PBL offers students an opportunity to direct their own learning by setting their
own objectives. They acquire the knowledge of the targeted theme at their own pace
and in their own time and they become more responsible in their learning to achieve
education value from the outcome
4.3. Gaining important life skills.
PBL allows students to be actively involved in their own education through
projects. Students have opportunities to undertake field work, speak to experts, carry
out a variety of investigations and gather materials to develop the project. When
students enter the real world, knowledge construction and life skills are necessary
(Markham, et al., 2003). PBL develops not only knowledge of the topic but also
boosts “learner’s problem-solving skills, research skills, collaboration and resource
management skills, negotiation, organisation and interpersonal relations” (Stanley,
2000, p.4).
4.4. Developing higher-order thinking skills.
Higher-order thinking skills are one of the main benefits of undertaking PBL;
students develop skills in analysing and interpreting data and other cognitive processes
that lead to in-depth understanding (Curtis, 2002; McGrath, 2002-2003). To
accomplish learning goals, students need to think, plan, analyse, research, develop
technology, learn inquiry skills and complete the process, and this leads to the
production of high-quality outcomes.
4.5. Increasing motivation.
As students choose their own project and set their own goals, they are aware that

their work is valuable in answering the questions, solving the problems or being
beneficial to the community. They are personally involved in the project and are
stimulated to work hard. PBL builds intrinsic motivation and commitment that drives
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students to be involved in a self-learning process in ways that are not possible in
traditional methods of teaching and learning (Katz, 1994; Markham et al., 2003).
Therefore, students are motivated as they develop a sense of ownership of the project
(Dhieb-Henia, 1999).
From the number of benefits mentioned above, it is evident that the gains offer a
perspective on the effectiveness of PBL in empowering students to take full
responsibility for their learning. PBL should be promoted in classrooms as it is a way to
allow learners to achieve academic, content and other skills required to undertake
the project. In addition, PBL allows students to direct their own learning and builds
motivation that drives students in the learning process. This type of learning is related to
the current trend of teaching and learning in recent curricula, including that of
Vietnam.
5. Challenges in implementing project-based learning
Although studies have shown that PBL allows students to understand and reflect on
particular learning areas, taking responsibility for their own learning with increased
achievement in their learning processes, performance skills and valuable outcomes,
there are difficulties associated with PBL such as time-management, crafting questions,
keeping focus and some concerns of teachers.
5.1 Time-management.
According to a study of project-based learning by Gülbahar and Tinmaz (2006),
students stated that it was difficult for them to manage the deadlines for
submission of their work as they were overloaded during the semester and spent
extensive time and effort on their own projects. They also claimed that they
could not maintain their motivation level throughout the project.

5.2 Crafting questions.
According to a study on integrating PBL into science classrooms (Marx,
Blumenfeld, Krajcik & Soloway, as cited in Thomas, 2000), students had difficulty
creating important scientific questions because their experience in and concept
of crafting questions was limited. Additionally, analysing and assessing data and
developing reasons to support the data and the conclusions were mentioned as
problems.
5.3 Keeping focus.
In a study of ESL students and their use of PBL (Beckett, Moulton & Holmes, as
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cited in Beckett & Slater, 2005), it was revealed that 57% of students felt that the
project work took their attention away from their learning. As the students had
enrolled in an English language course, they expected English grammar and
vocabulary which they believed could improve their language learning. They
felt unhappy to produce non-linguistic assignments.
5.4 Concerns of teachers.
Teachers sometimes have difficulty selecting topics for the study that
match the curriculum plans to the needs of the students (Marx, Blumenfeld,
Krajcik, and Soloway, as cited in Curtis, 2002). In addition, the same study found
that time limitations can also be a problem with in-depth exploration of
projects often requiring more time than expected. Teachers were concerned
regarding the role of the teacher in setting task requirements, scaffolding
activities, creating rubrics, and assessing students’ projects. Similarly, the study
of integrating PBL in social studies by Okolo and Ferretti (2001) found that
some teachers are not well-practised in managing the goals and needs of
student groups engaging in individual learning activities, which can lead to
chaotic and negative student behaviour.
6. Authentic sample

The project was conducted in their own school by the writers last year with the aim of
raising their students’ awareness of protecting the environment of their hometown, Ninh
Binh. In the project, the knowledge of many subjects were applied and shown in the short
dramas in English about the three kinds of serious pollution, namely soil, water and air
pollution. By working in groups, producing dramas, students explored the real life,
considering the need for protecting the environment without the feeling of being
imposed.
The project was carried out during 4 weeks with 4 official meetings. In the first week,
students were divided into different groups, find and select materials under the guidance
and counsel of the writers. Students made plans in the form of mind map about causes,
consequences and solutions to each kind of pollution which was later used for drama
content in the following week. The third week was spent on the completion of the drama
plans, the casting and the preparation for props. All the dramas were played at class in the
fourth week and assessed by the group members and the other groups. Most students
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reported their improvement in studying skills and positive attitudes towards learning.
They also expressed their desire to participate in the future projects.
The project was submitted to the Board of Examiners in the “Inter-subject Teaching
Contest” at national level in 2014 and was awarded the third prize. On the next pages are
the lesson plan of the project in English and the details of the long project in Vietnamese,
which the writers feel that will be easier to be followed.
.

LESSON PLAN
NATURE IN DANGER
SPEAKING
I. Objectives: By the end of the lesson, Ss will get…
1. Knowledge:

- Apply knowledge acquired in lessons of Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Biology, and
Technology to identify causes, consequences and solutions to hometown pollution
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- Language: role-play
- New words: words related to nature in danger
2. Skills:
- collect and analyze information
- apply inter-subject knowledge
- group work, presentation and role-play
II. Method: integrated, mainly communicative, role-play
III. Teaching aids: projectors, pictures, handouts
IV. Procedure:
Time
Session 1
Date
15/12/2014

Teacher’s activities
-

Introduce

Ss

Students’ activities

“Project-based -

learning”

Acquiring

knowledge

about

“Project-based learning”

- Guide Ss to discuss the project - Discuss smaller topics with T’s
“Problems of pollution in Ninh guide.
Binh now”, build up smaller topics - Determine the outline
(tasks) which are 3 notable kinds of - Vote for the group leader and divide
pollution in Ninh Binh.

tasks among group members

- Group Ss and assign tasks based on - Approve the time plan:
the same interests and equality Duration: 4 weeks
among groups

Week

1:

Group 1: Air pollution

information

Group 2: Water pollution

Week

Group 3: Soil pollution

information, submit scenario

2:

Research
Analyze

and
and

collect
process

- Supervise Ss to determine the Week 3: Set the play
outline with 3 main parts – causes, Week 4: Role-play
consequences and solutions
- Provide Ss with some information
resources:

library,

Internet,

observation in real life, interview…

Session 2
Date
22/12/2014

- Give Ss help with the project - Group members discuss, exchange
content.

collected information and images

- Approve checking criteria

- Build up the outline in the form of a

-

Check

Ss’

information,
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give mind-map

about

the

causes,