The idea for my dream project is inspired by my boyfriend’s hobby. He likes to create homepages for restaurants and companies and he is even paid for it.
I would like to do a project where my pupils create a homepage together in class. I think it is a good opportunity to get them used to New Media. In addition it is a very creative and fresh way of using English as a foreign language. The most challenging aspect of this project for me is to show my pupils how to create a homepage in the first place. After the creative part I have to make sure that they can deal with the technical part of a homepage. Here I have two possibilities. The first one would be to let my boyfriend explain it to me and then I would try to explain it to my pupils. The second possibility would be to let my boyfriend or another expert on homepages come to class and explain it to my pupils in a kind of expert talk or interview. I think that could even add excitement to the whole project because of the involvement of foreign people. I think pupils like that.
Possible schedule:
- brainstorming in class about “what would you put on the homepage?”
- collecting ideas on the blackboard
- possibly adding some ideas, i.e. class diary, characteristics of every pupil, descriptions of class trips ect.
- pupils have to get together in groups of three, then the topics are arranged
- the pupils now have to write their parts of the homepage and collect pictures, videos or songs they maybe want to add
- after this preparation work I would invite the expert to start the actual homepage with his help
- now the pupils insert their parts into the homepage and we have a homepage about “our class”
But that is not it. Of course our homepage has to be up-to-date. So every time there is any news in class or another trip to an interesting place the pupils have to write something about it for the homepage. They can add a guest book to get in contact with their readers. That way the pupils stay interested in the project because there is a certain timeliness and communication involved in it.
Now I am very curious to read about your opinions. What do you think of my dream project? Feel free to comment!
hey there,
i think, your idea constitutes a good and interesting introduction to new media projects, especially for pupils who haven’t done a homepage before. however, i’m not quite sure, whether pupils will not lose their interest in keeping it up-to-date. so, despite the fact that you want to let them writing on news of the class, it seems to be the biggest challenge to maintain motivation. but nevertheless, i really like your thoughts about this project.
cheers pierre
Hey Valentina!
I like your idea of creating a homepage with your pupils. I can imagine that this is a very interesting and motivating task for pupils. Besides the work with the new media the chosen topic might also strengthen the atmosphere in class because the pupils are supposed to work together in order to get a good result.
From my point of view, you should be the expert. I think it is important when leading a project, that the teacher is familiar with the topic and that he/she is able to get the most important aspects of creating a homepage across. Thus, you should learn from your boyfriend how to create a homepage and not let somebody else do this for you. Therewith, you can impress your students