Special Didactics for Secondary School and Modalities

Developing your Materials Design Project

Del Proyecto Final

Para la regularización y/o promoción de la asignatura, los alumnos deberán desarrollar un trabajo
final integrador que evidencie la comprensión y la implementación de conceptos y principios
metodológicos trabajados durante el cursado. Para el proyecto final, los alumnos de forma
individual deberán:
- Elegir una modalidad y contenidos correspondientes a la escuela secundaria (humanística,
artística o técnica)
- Seleccionar un tema eje para luego realizar la propuesta del tema a la docente de la
cátedra para su correspondiente autorización
- Diseñar actividades para el desarrollo de cada una de las macro habilidades (reading
/writing/ listening/ speaking), actividades de vocabulario y gramática nucleados bajo un
mismo tópico (Ej: Modalidad: Humanidades – Tema: Derechos Humanos)
- Diseñar un proyecto final que integre los contenidos trabajados

Steps to follow to complete your Materials Design Project:

Steps Guiding Questions Check your

Progress
Step 1: Choose a a- Which modality would you like to design materials
Modality for?

Step 2: Choose a b- Check the Provincial Curriculum Design and choose

content from the
Modality
Step 3: Look for
materials (authentic
reading and
listening materials)
Step 4:
Analyze materials
a content or topic you would like to develop
c- What are the aims and objectives of the modality?
d- State aims and objectives for your project
e- Look for reading, listening and audiovisual
resources
(include link of the sources in the project)
f- Analyze resources:
Discourse features: purpose
Linguistic features: vocabulary, grammar structures,
functions
Sociolinguistic features: formal/informal language
g- Adapt or simplify materials if necessary

Step 5: Design skills h- Design activities for the chosen text:

and language - Pre-reading/while-reading/post-reading activities
development - Use graphic organizers
i- Design activities for the listening resource
activities
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(video/audio)
- Pre-listening/while – listening / post-listening
j- Design communicative speaking activities:
Information – gap / role-plays /debates
k- Design activities to develop writing
l- Design grammar (use inductive or deductive
approaches) and vocabulary activities
m- Integrate the use of ICT’s
Step 6: Self – n- Self – evaluate your project
evaluate your
project

Step 1: Secondary School Modalities

- Social Sciences and Humanities

- Natural Sciences
- Economy and Management
- Tourism
- Information Technology (Computing)
- Arts
- Agronomy and Environment

Technical School Modalities:

- Construction
- Electromechanics
- Automobile Industry
- Electronics
- Chemistry
- Farming and Agriculture Production
- Aeronautics
- Management of Organizations

Avoid the following topics: (if you are interested in one of these topics, your proposal should have
a distinctive focus and perspective). Check the final projects inventory here.

- Music
- Tourism
- Environmental problems (natural disasters, pollution, climate change etc.)
- Movies
- The Internet
- Hazards at the workplace

Step 3: Suggested sites for source materials

In these sites you will find articles on a varied range of topics:

https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources-0
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http://www.ehow.com/ehow-mom/
http://pbskids.org/
http://www.pbs.org/#
http://www.voanews.com/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
http://www.nourishinteractive.com/nutrition-education-printables/846-kids-healthy-lunch-fun-
nutrition-worksheet-energize-brain-learning-food-characters

Computing
http://www.english4it.com/activities?submit=Go+back+to+Activities+Menu&action=ReadingComple
te

Engineering
https://www.teachengineering.org/index.php
http://tryengineering.org/lesson-plans

Agriculture

https://blog.agrihomegh.com/agricultural-tools-implements-machinery/
https://www.thelexicon.org/films/
https://scienceofagriculture.org/

Audiovisual resources

Free licensed pictures: https://search.creativecommons.org/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/461-how-smell-works-video.htm
http://edutube.org/
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/media/all/english-in-a-minute/latest.html?z=3619
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/programindex.html
http://www.schooltube.com/video/4825ce20dee54c409664/Environment%20and%20Pollution
http://www.ted.com/
https://ed.ted.com/
http://www.gapminder.org/videos/#.VFlgmMvwt6o

Criteria for selecting reading texts:

1- Suitability of content: material that students will find interesting, enjoyable , challenging
and appropriate for their goals in learning English
2- Exploitability: a text that facilitates the achievement of certain language and content goals,
that is exploitable for instructional tasks and techniques, and that can be integrated with
other skills
3- Readability: a text with lexical and structural difficulty that will challenge students without
overwhelming them

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Guiding questions

1- Which genres are appropriate for the modality that you chose? Which genres will target
learners encounter at their future workplaces?
2- Which reading, audio or audiovisual materials may be relevant to your target learners?

Step 4: Analyze Materials

- Once you have selected the materials, carry out a mini – genre analysis of each of them
- This analysis will help you develop appropriate activities to exploit the materials

Purpose:
Linguistic content:
(functions, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation)
Sociolinguistic features:
(style: formal/informal language)
Strategic features:
(linguistic/non-linguistic features that may help
learners understand the reading or listening
materials)
Discourse features:
(organization of reading/listening text/ discourse
markers)
Cultural aspect of the text:

Step 5: Design skills and language development activities

Guiding questions
- How will you sequence skills-based activities?
- Which visual aids will you choose that would be catching and relevant to the activities?
(avoid using pictures with water marks)
- What type of interaction will you include? (individual – pair - group – whole class work)
- How will target learners integrate the knowledge and abilities learned along the unit?
(suggest final tasks, project works etc)
- How will you approach grammar? (inductively/ deductively)
- What type of contextualized activities will you design to make students practice grammar
structures?
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- What type of contextualized activities will you design for vocabulary practice? (check
“Lexical Approach Activities” – Lackman – Unit 1)
- How can you integrate ICT’s in the project?
- How would you cater for the development of metacognitive skills?
- Check this Reading Activities Inventory and this guide to design your reading and listening
activities.

Format Requirements:
- Cover: institution, subject, student’s name, modality, name of project, course, institution
logo, year
- Objectives of the unit (2nd page)
- Type your project in a Word document
- Page A4
- Font: Arial or any other that is clear and friendly to read (avoid Calibri)
- Include appropriate icons for each section
- Choose appropriate visuals
- Include any appendices if necessary
- Acknowledge sources (include links to audios/ videos or text sources)

Deadlines
Send proposal and drafts to: albacarolinari@gmail.com

- 1st step: send the topic proposal, modality, its place in the provincial curriculum and
students’ names
- Send your finished project at least 30 days before you plan to sit for the final exam (without
counting winter and summer holidays: January 1st to February 15th)
- You can send your project at any time during the academic year.
- Name your project in the following way: Final project - Last name, name - 1st Draft
- You will have to send the project as many times as it is suggested by the teacher to improve
it.

Step 6: Self – Evaluate your project

- Print your revised project and present it the day of the final exam
- Be prepared to support your project taking into account knowledge gained during the
attendance of the subject or from reading material
- Check the “How to support your final project” guideline here.
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EVALUATION CRITERIA MARK

The materials design includes activities which …. 10-9
a. have been designed according to criteria which match the students' level,
age, interests and context.
b. are coherent with the project objectives
d. have been logically sequenced.
e. address all skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking
f. are appropriate and relevant to foster interaction among learners
g. reflect either elaboration on the tutor's feedback or accurate
implementation of the knowledge gained during attendance of the subject or
from reading materials

Project format and visuals are fully appropriate.

The materials design includes activities which …. 8-7

a. have been designed according to criteria which partially match the students'
level, age, interests and context.
b. are fairly coherent with the project objectives
d. have been logically sequenced.
e. address some skills.
f. are partially appropriate to foster interaction among learners
g. reflect partial elaboration on the tutor's feedback or implementation of
the knowledge gained during attendance of the subject or from reading
materials

Project format and visuals are appropriate.

The materials design includes activities which …. 6-5-4

a. have been designed according to rather unclear criteria

b. are fairly coherent with the project objectives
d. are sequenced in a rather odd fashion
e. address one or two skills.
f. are partially appropriate to foster interaction among learners
g. reflect little elaboration on the tutor's feedback or implementation of the
knowledge gained during the attendance to the subject or from reading
materials

Project format and visuals are partly appropriate.

The final version of the activities needed a lot of re-writing due to the student's Below
failure to correct his/her work on the basis of the tutor's feedback or by using standard
information from the reading materials.
The materials design was carried out with no exploration of new possibilities
and sometimes late.

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Incoherent or not cohesive designs will not be acceptable.