Christmas+Rich+Task

**CHRISTMAS RICH TASK CASE STUDY** **Introduction:** A survey handed out to the class prior to our first lesson indicated a strong interest to learn more about the backgrounds we come from (i.e., Scotland, Australia and Sweden), and in particular how Christmas is celebrated in these countries. Furthermore, students appeared to be interested in a variety of learning strategies such as group discussion, reading, listening, sport and music. We attempted to put these strategies and interests together to form a Christmas rich task.  **The task:** In groups of 5, students were to act out a self-directed and written play about Christmas in Australia, Sweden or Scotland.  **Class details:**  **The process:** __Lesson one__ In the first lesson we began by briefly explaining the task that is to follow and asked students to break up into groups of five. Shelly (Australia), Måns (Sweden) and Daryl (Scotland) each went to a group and spoke about Christmas in their country. We had previously made up a handout about Christmas in our countries that the students could follow during the discussions. This was so that they could read over the sheet at any time and be reminded of certain things when writing their scripts. After the discussion, the LS members discussed the task with their groups. Students were encouraged to be creative when writing their play, however they were also given a few suggestions about what their play could be. This included a play on an Australian Christmas, where some Czech people come to Australia and talk about the differences noted between Australia and the Czech Republic during the festive season. The learning strategies this lesson included were:
 * __Class size:__ 15 students
 * __Subject:__ English
 * __Age group:__ 13-14 years
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Reading
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Writing (scripts)
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Group discussion
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Listening
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Creative and critical planning[[image:2.JPG width="278" height="209" align="right"]]
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Time management
 * Students were told that they will have more time next lesson to work on their play, however this will be short, as time is needed for each group to perform the play.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__Lesson two__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">At the second lesson, which followed at the same time the next day, Shelly, Måns and Daryl were greeted by a class of motivated and excited students. Many of these students had brought in props from home to use during the play, and the students had already formed their groups and were keen to get into rehearsing before the lesson even began. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Students were giving 20 minutes at the beginning of the lesson to rehearse and touch up their play, and each had around 5 minutes to perform the play. This left 10 minutes at the end of the class for feedback and questions.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Personalisation:** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Firstly, we structured the lessons around the received by the students. Most students indicated an interest in learning about Christmas in another country, and most students appeared to be interested in sports and music, showing a common theme towards the arts and being active. However, of course not every student was exactly the same, so we could not create a task in the best interest of every student. As our lessons incorporated a plethora of learning strategies it was assumed that most students would come across a learning style that suited them and they would thus learn willingly and enthusiastically. In addition to this, as each LS member was only responsible for 5 students the size of the class was not a problem. Moreover, students were free to choose which group they were to go into and therefore were in an environment they were comfortable in. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Furthermore, the rich task was interdisciplinary, as it incorporated a variety of subjects including language, arts and creative writing. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The rich task also provided students with a global understanding of the world and helped them understand the large differences between something that is yet a common celebration across most countries. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Feedback:** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The vast majority of the feedback received from the students was positive, and most rated the lessons a 10 out of 10. A common criticism from the students was the lack of time, as they wished to have more time to write and rehearse their plays. The classes are only 45 minutes long in Gymnazium Zlin.