Applying project based learning in teaching unit 15, english text book 12, education publishing house

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HOANG HOA 4 HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

APPLYING PROJECT BASED LEARNING IN
TEACHING UNIT 15, ENGLISH TEXT BOOK 12,
EDUCATION PUBLISHING HOUSE

Author: Dang Thi Hoai Thu
Position: Teacher
Subject: English


THANH HOA, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
I- INTRODUCTION
1.Rationale
2. Aims of the study
3. Objects of the study
4. Methods of the study
II- CONTENTS OF THE STUDY
1. Theoretical basis
2. Practical basis
3. Applying PBL in teaching unit 15
4. Results of applying method
III- CONCLUSION AND RESOLUTION
Reference books

Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6

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I- INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
For many years, it has been said that teaching and learning English is
considered by a lot of teachers as teaching and learning a set of isolated skills
such as reading, listening, speaking, writing skill as well as teaching grammar
items in language focus. Teaching English, indeed, was viewed as a mastery of
these skills. Many teachers have been trying hard to apply suitable methods of
learning and teaching with a view to helping students understand the lessons

better and better. Nevertheless, it is a matter of fact that the present English
textbook curriculum designed over 10 years ago and used in teaching in many
high schools throughout Viet Nam does not meet the demand of learning as
presented in the UNESCO International Commission on Education for the 21st
Century in 1996, that is : learning to live together, learning to know, learning to
do and learning to be. Language teachers; therefore, should find out the most
suitable methods– from the curricula, pedagogies, school environment and
settings, assessments and extra-curricular activities to concretely bridge theories
and practices.
Basing on these facts, I forcefully chose and applied Project based learning
(PBL) in teaching many units in English textbook, Education Publishing House,
with the aim of enabling my students to “experience what they are learning
about and the opportunity to relect on those activities” (Silberman, 2007:8),
since “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through
transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984).
In what follows I shall concentrate on the application of PBL in teaching
unit 15, English textbook 12, Education Publishing House, but many of the
points apply to other languages too.
2. Aims of the study
My theme focuses on making clear about some issues below:
- What is PBL?
- Why is PBL?
- How is PBL applied?
3. Objects of the study
The objects chosen for my study and application are 12 th grade students in
classes 12B3, 12B5, 12B10 in Hoang Hoa 4 High school, Thanh Hoa province.
The students are in the last year of high school, tending to focus only in their
main subjects in the National Examination and English is not really their

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interest; therefore, they complete the tasks in their English text book in a
passive way.
4. Methods of the study
My study is conducted by qualitative methods in order to collect a
number of information, compare, and then, analyse data. By using the
combination of these methods, my theme will make clear the questions in this
topic, and reach effectively the targets of the essay.
II- CONTENTS OF THE STUDY
1. Theoretical background
According to Wikipedia, Project-based learning (PBL) is a studentcentered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which
students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world
challenges and problems.[1] Students learn about a subject by working for an
extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question,
challenge, or problem.[2] It is a style of active learning and inquiry-based
learning.
The experience of thousands of teachers across all grade levels and subject
areas, backed by research, confirms that PBL is an effective and enjoyable way
to learn - and develop deeper learning competencies required for success in
college, career, and civic life. Why are so many educators around the
world interested in this teaching method? The answer is a combination of
timeless reasons and recent developments.
•

PBL makes school more engaging for students. Today’s students, more
than ever, often find school to be boring and meaningless. In PBL, students
are active, not passive; a project engages their hearts and minds, and
provides real-world relevance for learning.

•

PBL improves learning. After completing a project, students understand
content more deeply, remember what they learn and retain it longer than is
often the case with traditional instruction. Because of this, students who gain
content knowledge with PBL are better able to apply what they know and
can do to new situations.
PBL builds success skills for college, career, and life. In the 21st century
workplace and in college, success requires more than basic knowledge and
skills. In a project, students learn how to take initiative and responsibility,
build their confidence, solve problems, work in teams, communicate ideas,
and manage themselves more effectively.
PBL helps address standards. The Common Core and other present-day
standards emphasize real-world application of knowledge and skills, and the

•

•

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•

•

•

development of success skills such as critical thinking/problem solving,
collaboration, communication in a variety of media, and speaking and

presentation skills. PBL is an effective way to meet these goals.
PBL provides opportunities for students to use technology. Students are
familiar with and enjoy using a variety of tech tools that are a perfect fit with
PBL. With technology, teachers and students can not only find resources and
information and create products, but also collaborate more effectively, and
connect with experts, partners, and audiences around the world.
PBL makes teaching more enjoyable and rewarding. Projects allow
teachers to work more closely with active, engaged students doing highquality, meaningful work, and in many cases to rediscover the joy of
learning alongside their students.
PBL connects students and schools with communities and the real
world. Projects provide students with empowering opportunities to make a
difference, by solving real problems and addressing real issues. Students
learn how to interact with adults and organizations, are exposed to
workplaces and adult jobs, and can develop career interests. Parents and
community members can be involved in projects.

2. Practical background
It is a matter of fact that the present English textbook, used in many
Vietnamese high schools, was a theme- based design, including 16 units and 6
test yourself units. Each unit is relevant to a certain topic and is divided into
reading, speaking, listening, writing skills and languague focus lesson.
Many teachers have been trying hard to find suitable teaching methods and,
to a certain extent, these methods can fulfil the aim of helping students
understand and know thoroughly the contents of the lessons. Nonetheless, how
will the class be if these methods are applied in all the lessons? Will the students
find it interesting to learn whereas they can find the exact answers for the tasks
in many reference books? Will the completing tasks in the text book help
students learn how to take initiative and responsibility, build their
confidence, solve problems, work in teams, communicate ideas, and manage
themselves more effectively? Will the students have chance to build important

skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication
in a variety of media, and speaking as well as presentation skill? More
important, will the students be connected with comunities and the real world
while studying in textbook only?
PBL bearing many good points as mentioned above can bring to a new
change in teaching process. I therefore forcedly implemented PBL in teaching
many units, of which Unit 15, English text book 12, Education Publishing

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House brought my students as well as my teaching much joyful experience and
core value.
3. Applying PBL in teaching Unit 15, English text book 12, Education
Publishing House .
The process of PBL can be varied, depending on the real situation in
terms of students’ ability and the content of each unit. By my experience in
learning and teaching English, instead of teaching lessons in each units; that
means teaching Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing skills and language focus
in turns traditionally, I have forcefully and successfully applied PBL in
teaching unit 15, English text book 12, Education Publishing House in the
following stages.
English 12, Unit 15: Women in society, P. 162
Project: WOMEN IN SOCIETY
1. Throughout history, unrooted cultural beliefs allowed women only
limited roles in society. However, there have been many considerable
contributions of women to society from the past to the present day and
women in most parts of the world have gained significant legal rights. Work
in group
- Discuss the role of women at home, at work

- Find out pictures or photos of famous women with their contribution and
status in the past and in the world
- Write the slogan and the core value of your project.
2. Prepare and give presentation to your class.
3. Time: 10 days

3.1. Stage 1: Discovering real situation related to the content of the lesson.
Many students find schoolwork meaningless because they do not
perceive “a need to know” what they are being taught. They are unmotivated
when told they will need it later in life or simply because “it’s going to be on the
test.”. With a compelling student project, the reason for learning relevant
material becomes clear: I need to know this to meet the challenge I have
accepted.
In this stage, as a classroom teacher, I could powerfully activate my
students’ need to know content by launching a unit in a way that engages
interest and inititates questioning. This could take the form of a lively
discussion.

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Also, in this stage, I gave out many driving questions to my students.
Good driving questions capture the heart of the project in clear, compelling
language, giving students a sense of purpose and challenge. The question should
be provocative, open-ended, complex, and linked to the core value of what you
want students to learn. It could be abstract (What are characteristics of modern
women?/ to what extent the life of a city woman is better than that of a country
woman?); concrete (Are women treated equally to men nowadays?); or focused
on solving a problem (How can we change the attitude of the world to women?)
3.2. Stage 2: Negotiating the Criteria for Evaluation

I and my students decided that the projects should be assessed by
fullfiling the questions in rubrics including self assessment rubric, peer
assessment rubric and teacher assessment rubric (See Appendix 6) and
checklist.(See Appendix 4)
Once the criteria were clearly defined, the students realized that they
might have to be modified in the future.
3.3. Stage 3: Deploying projects
- Dividing groups
In the first place, I divided my class in to groups of eight, and appointed
the leader of each group.

(Students worked in groups of 8)
- Assigning tasks

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The group’s leaders assigned the task for each members. In terms of
making a project feel more meaningful to students, the more voice and choice,
the better. The leaders should assign the tasks depending on each member’s
ability. On one end of the scale, groups’ members should also discuss on how to
design, create, and present products. In the middle, I might provide a limited
menu of options for creative products to prevent students from becoming
overwhemed by choices. On the other end of the scale, students could decide
what products they will creat, what resources they will use, and how they will
structure their time. Students could even choose a project’s topic and driving
questions. Basing on the topic in units 15, women in Society, my students chose
posters to be their final products. During this stage, students in each group use
the check list (See Appendix 4) and Project team work plan (See Appendix 1)
and Assessment for group work skill (See Appendix 5) to check the work and

the duty of each member .

(Groups’ leader distributed work to members)
3.4. Stage 4: Conducting the project.
A project should give students opportunities to build such 21st century
skills as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of
technology, which will serve them well in the workplace and life. This exposure
to authentic skills meets the second criterion for meaningful work—an

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important purpose. A teacher in a project-based learning environment explicitly
teaches and assesses these skills and provides frequent opportunities for
students to assess themselves.
Being given the Guidelines for poster layout (See Appendix 3), the
students in each group worked on preliminary sketches until they decided on a
final design. Besides, students gathered information from many resourses such
as websites, newspapers and their real lives. They then compiled imformation,
deciding on what pictures and information to paste on the posters. Finally, they
decided on how and where to put information and pictures on the posters.
During this stage, Check list for poster (See Appendix 4) was also used to check
the tasks of all the members.

(Students gathered information and pictures)

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(Students compiled information and pictures)

(Students drew their poster)

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During this stage, I served as coach, moving from group to group to
guide the students' work. As I did so, I asked myself the following coaching
questions :
•
•
•
•
•

Do the students have a clear understanding of the task?
Does each student have ownership of her role within the group?
Are the students attentive and working together cooperatively?
Are the resources that students use geared to their comprehensive level of
understanding?
Are any groups stumbling in a way that is blocking their work due
to heightened emotions?
My role as coach obtained a clarity of purpose throughout this process.
Prompted by the coaching questions and the checklist, the students used their
own intellects to solve problems while attaining a higher level of learning.
3.5. Stage 5: Presenting the project
In this stage, students became aware of the ways their presentations meet
the criteria of assessment. The teacher-coach using Teacher’s assessment (See
Appendix 6), observed how engaged they were in presenting their projects.
Each group in my class showcased its poster to the class, explaining how the

product was achieved as well as presenting the content, the core value of the
project. Not one student was absent on the day of the competition.

“A beautiful woman pleases the eyes, a good woman pleases the hearts. The
first one is jewel, the second is treasure”(Group 1 with their project and
presentation)

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“Women make happy homes”(Group 2 with their project and presentation)

“Women‘s rights is the human rights”( (Group 3 with their project and
presentation)

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“Good education and being self-confident make women beautiful in
modern society” (Group 4 with their project and presentation)
3.6.Stage 6: Reflecting on the Process and Evaluating the Process
In this simulation, the students discussed what they enjoyed about
working in their groups, and how one student's idea would spawn another
student's idea. They discussed what they liked about the materials and what they
found to be frustrating. Students shared their reflections to note what they had
in common and what was special to each group or to each individual personally.
They reviewed the criteria of assessment and discussed how well they met
them.
The teacher assessed students’ posters basing on the criteria discussed
before. I used my assessment rubric(see Appendix 6), combining with students’

self assessment rubric and peer assessment rubric(see Appendix 4 ans 6), to
evaluate student’s work, gave them comments as well as compliments.

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(Students joined the walk art and assessed peer’s work)

(Teacher evaluated, commented, and gave marks)

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4. Results of applying PBL in teaching unit 15, English text book 12,
Education publishing house.
In order to assess the effectiveness of applying this method to teaching
unit 15, I have compared my work with many classes (12 B1, 12 B7, 12 B8
school year 2012-2013, 12 B3, 12 B5, 12 B10 school year 2015-2016) for many
years. Before using this method, most of my students could traditionally
complete all the taks in the text book, with the help of their teacher. However,
they easily forgot the vocabularies, the topic as well as the contents of the unit.
To a certain extent, after each lesson, students seemed to know the floating part
in an “ice berg”, not really understand the deeplysinked part in the unit, in other
words, it is the core value of the lesson.

It is a matter of fact that when applying applying PBL in teaching in
general and teaching unite 15 in particular, my students enjoyed working
together to creat their groups’ outcomes, they seemed to be very eager for each
unit because they like dealing new challenges. Here, I enclosed a video clip
made by my student before their presentation [3]

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Here, I felt the sense that schoolwork is more meaningful when it is not
done only for the teacher or the test. When students presented their work to real
audience, they cared more about its quality. Once again, it is the more, the better
when it comes to authenticity and even more important than any other things,
all the students could find out the core value of their projects; that is: “Women
is half of the world in terms of their contribution and roles and we need to
highly appreciate and love them” . Additionally, all the students in my class
also had the chance to understand more some sayings about women such as:
“women‘s rights is the human rights”(Group 2); “Women make happy
homes”(Group 3); “Good education and being self-confident make women
beautiful in modern society(Group 4); “A beautiful woman pleases the eyes, a
good woman pleases the heart, the first is a jewel, the second is a treasure”
(Group 1).
III- CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion
Teaching method is a product connecting theory and practice in order to
help students acquire knowledge, practice their skills and solve the problems.
Changing teaching method, according to me, firstly is changing the phylosophy
of teaching. By the end of the lesson, students can find out the core value of the
problem and apply them in to their real life. Besides, changes is also shown as
the role of the teacher from the provider into a consultant; students will fulfil
the demand of knowledge themselves. It is clearly that in my class, with PBL,
each unit indeed is appealling to students because they are solving their realproblem in their life. When students practice decision making and deductive
reasoning and are exposed to examples from real life, they are able to expand
their skills, evaluate their options, and think critically. The activities in this
section help students visualize how events actually unfold by having students

conduct research, discuss and write about the material, collect or draw
illustrations, and reflect on their work. Students learn from each other by
analyzing and synthesizing material, reinforcing main points, and moving

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information from short- to long-term memory. Most importantly, students
content- basedly talk and write for a purpose, because their work is often
presented in front of their peers.
I myself find it is relaxing to be a facilitator, an adviser, a coach, a co-learner
instead of being a translator and a leader , for all the activities in the classroom.
PBL is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore realworld problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning,
students are insprired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they’re
studying. When designing or planning projects the work or task is meaningful
if it fulfills two criteria. First, students must perceive the work as personally
meaningful, as a task that they want to do well. Second, a meaningful project
fulfills an educational purpose.
2. Suggestion
Basing on practical teaching English text book 10, 11, 12 Education
Publishing House, I suggest that there should be no multiple choice question in
eaxminations in order to assess the real ability of students and to avoid
students’ laziness.
This is my little experience in finding methods to help students find
learning is acquiring actively by themselves. I hope that you will use these
hands-on, interactive strategies to motivate and engage your students, and to
foster an environment that makes learning fun. I hope to receive your reading
and comments as well as contribution to make this theme more perfect so that it
can be applied widely.
Thanks for your reading!

THE CONFIRMATION OF
THE HEAD MASTER

Thanh Hoa, May 30th 2016.
I hearby assure this is my experience
initative, without copying the contents of
other people.

Author

Đặng Thị Hoài Thu

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REFERENCES
Bibliography:
1. Kolb,D.A.(1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of
Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
2. Silberman,M.(2007). The Handbook of Experiental Learning. San Fransisco:
Pfeiffer.
Webliography:
1. Project-Based Learning, Edutopia, March 14, 2016. Retrieved 2016-0315
2. What is PBL? Buck Institute for Education. Retrieved 2016-03-15
3. />fintea/pdf/press/confinteavi_statement_delors_en.pdf
4. />

APPENDIX 1 : PROJECT TEAM WORK PLAN
Project name
Team members

Product:
What need to be
done?

Who will do this
part?

Due:
By when?

Where?

APPENDIX 2: GUIDELINES FOR POSTER LAYOUT
Your PROJECT POSTER may follow the layout below (or may creat your own
layout)

NAME OF PROJECT:…………
FAMOUS
WOMEN
(pictures)

IN THE
PAST
(pictures)

WOMEN
(symbol)

AT HOME
(pictures)

AT WORK
(pictures)

SLOGAN:…………………………

GROUP MEMBERS:
1………………………………….
2……………………………….....
3………………………………….


APPENDIX 3: GUIDELINES FOR ORAL PRESENTATION
Name of the project:……………………………..
Names of the Group Members:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
I-

II-

IIIIV-

INTRODUCTION

1. Group members
2. Introducing name of project
3. Reasons for choosing this aspect of women
CONTENTS
1. Topic
2. Supporting ideas
3. proofs
CONCLUTION
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS


APPENDIX 4: CHECK LISTS FOR POSTER
MARKING CRITERIA
NAME OF THE Have you chosen one of aspects of
PROJECT
women?
Have you had a group leader?
Have your leader assign tasks to the
members?
Have you searched the information
PREPARATION
from magazines, newspapers, the
Internet, and liberies?
Have you taken your own photos of
the women?
Have you complied, evaluated, and
synthesized the relevant
information?
Have you discuss an aspects of
women in terms of:

DISCUSSION OF
Women in history?
THE ASPECTS
Women in the society?
RELATED
TO
Women at home?
WOMEN
Women at work?
Famous women?
Have you found some pictures/
photos to illustrate the aspects of
women in terms of:
Women in history?
Women in the society?
ILLUSTRATION
Women at home?
Women at work?
Famous women?
Have you had a clear, beautiful and
understandable illustration of each
aspects.
Have you made a poster including
the following:
Title of project
DESIGN
Name of group

YES(V)/
NO(X)

COMMENTS


Main contents with each aspects
Have you presented your contents in
a logical and understandable way?
APPENDIX 5 : ASSESSMENT FOR GROUPWORK SKILL
Group:…………………………………………………….
Class:……………………………………………………..
Skills
What we did
Always
Sometimes
Discussing
Our group discussed
the same content, each
member proved their
own answer.
Deciding
We made dicision
together.
Voting
We voted for each
decision.
Agreeing
We agreed with this
voting
Listening
We listened to each

members.
Sharing ideas We shared ideas
together.
Working
We worked in group
together
Concentrating We concentrated on
our task.
Solving
We solved our groups’
problem
problem.
Encouraging We encouraged one
another
Proving
We proved our answer
by concrete supporting
ideas.

Never


APPENDIX 6: TEACHER AND PEER’S ASSESSMENT
Group: ……………………………………………….
Criteria
Mark
Teacher’s
Peer’ s
assessment assessment
Fully research

10
Content
The content is fully 5
of
illustrated on the project
the
Fullfil the question in the 5
project
lesson
Real connection
10
MARK
30
Form
The lay out is clear and 5
of
reasonable
the
The letter are easy to read
5
project
Pictures,
graphics
are 5
beautiful, attractive
Writing Error
5
MARK
20
Presentation

Confident,
flexible, 10
attractive
Group has cooperation in 5
presentation time
Group know the content 10
well
Presentation is smooth
5
Time is not over 5 mins
5
Clarify the problem
5
Attractive
5
Presentation go with poster 5
MARK
50
TOTAL MARK
100
Clasification:
D: under 50 marks
C: 50-60 marks

B. 70-80 marks
A: 80-100 marks