'Design-a-country' afterschool project - input please!

[summerthyme]

I've started designing a project based around the "design-a-country" lesson plans I've seen on the forum.  My project would be for my afterschool middle grade 3 class, which has 12 students (but could easily be adapted for other levels).  Students would be working in groups of 2, 3 or 4.

Students would be required to produce 2 things:  a country "fact sheet," which describes the size, geography, government, economy, etc., and a travel poster, which would have pictures of country and explain why people should visit.

Attached to this post is a file that includes:
* project goals
* student's assignment sheet
* questions to get them thinking
* country vocabulary list
* sample fact sheet

I'm also going to work on a quick mini-poster to use as an example.  If anyone would take a look at what I've got so far and give me some constructive criticism I'd really appreciate the feedback!  This is my first plan for a multi-class project.

[GreenFloyd]

Hi Summer! My name is Danny Matson and I think you may be one of the new Epik folk, right? I've seen your name on the facebook group a few times .

I really like your project idea! I have been trying to think of a project I could do for my after-school class for a while now and this one looks awesome. I find it hard to think of new things to do everyday in that class so a project that filled an entire week (or longer) would be a really ideal thing.

I read through your project outline and I think it looks great ! I'm wondering if you've started implementing it yet and how it's going? I think the way I would try to do this is make individual lessons based around the vocabulary and topics within the project.. possibly stretch this into a week of lessons for the afterschool class, and then introduce the project the following week where they have to put everything together. HOw were you going to teach it? Or were you going to introduce the project right away and then teach vocabulary and such as you go along? How long were you going to make this project last for your students?

The only think I am worried about is my low-level students. There are about 5 or 6 1st graders in my class who have a considerably lower level of English than the rest of the students. They tend to retreat to the back and get involved less because I think they feel intimidated. I think what I would do to fix this is assign groups so that they are mixed in with the higher level students.

Hmmm I wish I could say some constructive things to help you out, but it looks really good to me! Let me know how it goes if you start doing it soon or you revise your outline. I'd really like to follow this. All the best 

[sheila]

Try looking at the Exploring Our World camp curriculum on here.  http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,1400.0.html It has a lot of valuable resources to get the students thinking.  Also, you could check out the exploring your world worksheets (about the sixth post down).  You can use this for students to talk about their own cities or make up this stuff about a city that they create in their new country.  Good luck with everything!

[goulash]

Google Earth would be a great tool as an intro to this as well.
You can design and save "tours" of places around earth and show photos & 3D images etc for each place you go.

Just a quick thought.  Hope the classes go well for you.

[summerthyme]

Danny - No, I have not started using this lesson yet.  I'm going to start doing it in two weeks (we have midterms this week and then school field trips next week).  I was going to go ahead and introduce the project first, and then go about teaching students about the vocabulary. 

I really like what you said about breaking down the lesson into parts.  I only see my afterschool classes once a week, so I plan on having this project last at least three or four.  I want them to do the actual writing and brainstorming within our class, and then possibly work on the way the poster looks outside of class/the last class.

Also, Sheila - thank you for the link to the other thread!

I love the idea about using google earth.  The classroom I teach in *usually* has its internet working.

[AC_in_Korea]

I just briefly looked through the file - and it looks great.  One more idea - have the students design a flag for the country, and they must explain the flag to the class.

You could even tie a few lessons together - ie. The Korean Flag lesson.

I use making flags as an ice breaker - having the students design their own, and then explain it to the class - telling us something about themselves.

Just an idea! 

[mrobinett]

Hi Summer, this project looks great! I am planning on using it in my afterschool class in the very near future. How did it work out for you? Did the students enjoy it? What would you do differently? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[delia218]

This is a great idea for an after-school class. I did something similar in my winter camps.

I taught the basic vocabulary about a country (with lots of example photos).  I can't download your file to look at what you've done already, but what I used was:
Leader (president, king, queen, etc.)
Geography
Flag
Major Cities and Landmarks
Most popular Sports & Hobbies
Popular food
Language
Major Holidays
Laws

The most interesting one was the Laws... they were shocked to find out that the law says in the US, you can choose to join the army or not. They came up with some pretty funny and thoughtful ones on their own.

[thejoker024]

Playing with Google Maps/Earth is also a fun way to kill a little time and let your kids see your area from home. When I showed them my area they were amazed by how much empty space there was.

[juskajo]

A fun addition to this is to "design" the wildlife found in their countries. 

Have each student fills out the attached worksheet of animal body parts using these picture cards.  I usually write them on the board as we go along; the students get a kick out of the foreigner writing in hanguel, and angrily shouting at my mistakes.

Students then create/draw/label an animal that has ten of these body parts.  the abominations of nature they come up with are always interesting. 

The groups can then make "local fuana" or "endangered species" posters to go along with their countries.

(some of the korean translations on my answer key are approximations/not 100% accurate, but they should get the point across)

[shauna0622]

This is a great lesson plan.  I added a power point to the lesson to show the students exactly what some of the terms mean.  I also added a few more things to the list of stuff for the students to put in their country. 

[teacherteacherteacher]

for juskajo, I found several TED talks useful for discussing endangered species at www.TED.com you can search for almost any topic as well, many talks have subtitles in Korean. Thanks again for the animal lesson plan idea, hope it goes over well with my hard to please students!

[B-ri]

Incorporating this into my English club, thank you for the sharing.