Project Guidelines

Project “Countries and Cultures”

1. Aim of the project: Analyze cultural identity of English-speaking countries and its reflection in the language.

2. Structure of the project (topics):

1) The process of accumulation of cultural information in a word. Language and literature masterpieces.

2) Cultural component of phraseology.

3) National worldviews.

4) Main cultural concepts depicted in national worldviews.

5) Ethnic mentality. National stereotypes.

6) Basics of intercultural communication.

3. Activities:

- small groups:

1) Great Britain and Ireland;

2) The US and Canada;

3) Australia and New Zealand.

- structuring an e-group at Blogger.com 

4. Project requirements:

- using authentic material;

- analytical thinking;

- no plagiarism.

5. Assessment and preparing the final product:

- writing an essay on the completion of every topic and posting it on the wall;

- evaluating every stage (topic) of the Project according to an individual evaluation form;

- preparing a final summarizing essay on the chosen topic;

- grading the Project according to the Grading policies.

Individual Evaluation Form

1. Describe the task of the topic.

2. What have you learned?

3. What techniques have you used throughout the task?

4. Are the techniques and materials you have used appropriate and effective?

5. Recall the skills you have used. What are they?

6. Have the questions been successfully answered? If so how? If not why?

7. Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the task.

8. What problems have you encountered and how have you solved them?

Grading Policies

(things I am looking for in presentations and essays):

1. Creativity

Were you able to apply a computer tool to a new kind of problem, or to an old problem in a new way? Or were you just plugging and chugging and spitting out data?

2. Clarity

Are the reasons for (a) the work, (b) the method, and (c) the results presented in a concise, easy to follow manner that illustrates the main points? Or is the presentation a information dump, leaving the audience to puzzle over the meaning?

3. Presentation

Was the presentation (both oral and written) done in a neat, professional manner that is self-consistent? Was the presentation informative and rehearsed, rather than nerve-racking?

To help me assign grades, please fill out the accompanying form.

Project Evaluation Form

Name _________________________________

I spent approximately _____________ hours on this project, including the presentations and essays.

I think that my partner(s) deserves equal (100%) / less (______%) / more (_____%) credit than I get on this project. (circle one answer).

I learned the following from this project (above and beyond the wealth of knowledge that I already possess):

If I ever taught this class in the future, I would change this project assignment in the following way to make this a better class:

I feel I deserve the following grade on this project: A, B, C, D _________ (other).