After the following three readings which are easy and found at Liberty Times Net, we will have a group project instead of a test:
I am hoping these first reading selections will challenge some of my students' assumptions on mental illness and happiness. K-pop culture is alive and well in my students' admirations of what is uber-cool. I hope it will make them think twice about what is happiness, ask themselves if they are happy, and why Korean students and young adults have poor life satisfaction despite living in a highly developed country. In many ways, the reasons for Korean dissatisfaction mirror their own, or Taiwanese society (similar education system and post-graduate job woes). Koreans may have high youth unemployment, but Taiwan's graduates have a low entry salary. We will get back to the issue of Happiness, at the end of this unit.
Group Work: We had group presentations prior to midterms, and for the most part, the majority of students were hardworking and thoughtful. However, I had two lower level classes that were just not emotionally mature to handle that kind of freedom, which meant they had poor time management and disappointing presentations. They were even asking for a traditional test assessment, which was disheartening. I am hoping to assess their grasp of the material "outside the box" and develop teamwork, verbal English skills and give them a break from the cycle of testing.
The idea for this group project is for the students to design a review game. They will have 2 classes to create the game, and 1 class to play it. Some games I am thinking of are board games, card games and crosswords. I'm hoping to learn some new games in the process!
GRADING RUBRIC will include:
Accurate content
Game can be played with written directions
Clear verbal directions
Ease of use
Teamwork
Creativity and neatness
20-25 Questions, or 20-25 Vocabulary Words used
Materials Needed:
Poster Board, blank cards
Students' markers, colored pencils
RESOURCES:
