Project's Design

THE BIG PICTURE

We have designed a 9-week long TEPBLL project involving middle school students in Barcelona (Spain) and Shanghai (China), who will tele-collaborate in order to create a “Tips & Tricks Guide” in the form of a website with the aim of providing their peers overseas with a tailor-made collection of information, suggestions and knacks to spend an exciting journey in Shanghai and Barcelona.

THE STRUCTURE

Age of participants: 12/13-years old.

Language of interaction: English as a Foreign Language.

Students’ Proficiency Level in English: B1 based on the CEFR.

Number of students: 2 classes of 25 students/each (Barcelona) and 1 class of 50 students (Shanghai).

Schedule:

*Session 1: a one-week introductory session.

*Session 2 & 3: a 2-week long session on "Means of Transport". This includes 2 in-class periods of 60 minutes/each , plus asynchronous tele-collaboration between the 1st and the 2nd in-class period.

*Session 4 & 5: a 2-week long session on "Food & Restaurants". This includes 2 in-class periods of 60 minutes/each, plus an online meeting between the 1st and the 2nd in-class period.

*Session 6 & 7: a 2-week long session on "Leisure Activities". This includes 2 in-class periods of 60 minutes/each, plus an online meeting between the 1st and the 2nd in-class period.

*Session 8 & 9: a 2-week wrap-up session. This includes 2 in-class periods of 60 minutes/each, plus an online meeting between the 1st and the 2nd in-class period.

Identified special needs of any students:

• Limited accessibility to technology.
• Students at lower levels who may need some extra help regarding language use.
• Students with disabilities that prevent them from performing certain activities (e.g. outdoor sports).
• In order to attain to all the needs of students which includes different learning styles they may have, we have developed a variety of activities. Then, students can feel more involved and comfortable in some points than in others but in the end we try to have activities for different modes of comprehension.

About IT tools: Since a few IT platforms and social media are unavailable in mainland China, students will use Microsoft OneDrive instead of Google Drive for sharing resources. This will be a good opportunity for Spanish students to discover and start using alternative IT options.

THE BIG IDEAS

The project aims to work with middle school teenagers who are learning English as a foreign language in China (Shanghai) and Spain (Barcelona). It will reinforce learners’ proficiency in the target language through meaningful communication, as well as their pluricultural awareness with respect to various personal and social aspects.

Interactions between the two countries are tele-collaboration-based, with both sides creating and sharing resources, suggestions, and feedback with each other interdependently. Ideally, each telecollaboration group will include 2 (max 3) Spanish + 2 (max 3) Chinese students. Within this framework, the tele-collaboration will serve as a context for cultural exchange, comparison and discussion, language negotiation and proficiency development, by fostering interaction in the TL and working with technological tools for both communicative and presentational purposes.

As a final outcome, each project group will produce a “Tips & Tricks guide” in the form of a website. By taking into account the interests of the students from the other country, all group members will cooperate to write a set of useful, meaningful and personalized suggestions and recommendations to help their tele-collaboration partners to organize a fabulous stay in their peers’ hometown. Topics include means of transportation, food & restaurants and leisure activities.

The project incorporates learning activities for students to develop both receptive (Reading & Listening) and production skills (Speaking & Writing). In class, linguistic instruction pertaining grammar, vocabulary and syntax related to the three topics will be provided. On the other hand, cultural understanding, exchange and discussion will be the main focus during the tele-collaboration. In this context, students will have the chance to build interactive skills through a range of technology-enhanced, task-based learning activities.