Module 4: Collaborative writing

 

In this task we focused on the study of different tools to promote collaborative writing in the foreign language classroom. The tools I implemented to do collaborative writing were on the one hand "Google presentations" and on the other one "google document". The reason why I used these is because students are most familiarised with the Google interface and I wanted them to focus more on content rather than the form. 

Task 1: Google presentations (click here to acces it)

With this activity I wanted students to put into practice the vocabulary and structures in a creative way. First of all, they are expected to repeat vocabulary related to family by saying the name of the characters on the main page. Then I have used the potential of a comic stripe to retell a story. Here they can be creative. Those who know the series very well, will be able to relate to the original story and others will go for a more open version of the story (which is also more interesting). 

Ideally, this activity should be presented in the classroom so that students get their questions answer in advance. It is also important to orientate their writing towards the vocabulary and structures you are studying. The potential of this type of activity is that it's multilevel and can be applied to many contents. 

As far as the evaluation is concerned, one could either do it with a learning target with the following criteria: Communication (Does the message fit the comic stripe?), Use of English (Has the focus grammar and vocabulary been actively used?), Spelling (Have I checked for typos?), Originality ( Did I keep it very simple or did you dare to be creative?) 

Task 2: Writing a collaborative script with google documents. (See moodle platform)

As students already know this tool very well, I have decided to let them work with it. The idea is to create the final product of a unit, which is making a commercial in German to sell something using imperatives, adjectives and modal verbs, which happens to be the contents we have worked on throughout the last lesson. I am gonna submit an example of a video with students selling a product from another year. 

This task was corrected following an evaluation rubric with the following items: Task fulfillment, Use of English, Interaction and Fluency and Pronunciation and Paralinguistic resources.