The British Isles
A WEBQUEST
Introduction |
Task
|
Resources |
Process |
Evaluation |
Conclusion
The project
involves gathering information on various countries in order to help
tourists
decide which
of the countries would be suitable for them to
visit.
This webquest has been developed with secondary level students in mind as part
of a course in English, but might as well be used at other levels.
Recently it
has been decided that a group of families
from
Ferreira do Alentejo
will be given
the chance to
visit
the British Isles. As they have very little prior knowledge of the British
Isles, the people who live there and their way of life, the
people
need assistance in making up their minds as to whether they will accept the
offer. In case they decide to
go
there, they will also be supposed to state their preferences as to which part of
the British Isles they would like to
visit.
VIEW IMAGES OF LONDON
The British
Isles are a group of islands in north-western Europe the biggest of which are
Great Britain and Ireland.
The United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland comprises England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland. The capital is London.
Ireland is an
island to the west of Great Britain divided into The Republic of Ireland or
Eire, which occupies four-fifths of Ireland with Dublin as the capital, and
Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom.
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Try to imagine the situation of the
people who are going to visit the British Isles for the first time and their expectations. Discuss the issue in
class for ten to fifteen minutes. You have three to four periods in class to
complete your final contribution to their assistance.
Choose one of the following five parts or regions of
the British Isles to work on and you will be placed in a group accordingly.
The regions are:
Browse through the resources and collect information that you believe to be the
most useful for the
families. Divide the work of browsing the sites equally
between the members of the group. Bookmark sites you find especially useful and
keep notes of the information in a Microsoft Word Document or a notebook as you
will need it for your presentation. You can do this either individually or in
pairs.
Share, compare and analyse the information you have found on various subjects
concerning your region. Using your notes, write a draft report of the group
bearing in mind what you think the expectations of the
families
are and send it to your English teacher by e-mail
or at school.
Revise your report and present it to other members of the class. There are
several ways to do this.
Finally each student writes an e-mail
or text
of about 100
words to the teacher explaining where in his or her opinion it would probably be
best for the
families
to
visit
based on the facts and the cultural content that you have
collected. The letter and the group presentations will be your contribution to
the efforts of
a good stay and enjoable holiday.
The web addresses provided below are just samples of what is available on the
Internet.
They have been classified into
seven
categories to make it easier for you to find information. The five groups will
be given separate links in order to find information on each region. Three
categories of other links are provided for all groups.
If you follow the links and read some of the data available at each, you will
have more than enough information to complete this assignment with ease. Feel
free to explore, also, some of the links you encounter as you read, if time
permits, or from home.
Avoid printing out page after page of material. Do the
background
work as you go.
Britannia
America’s Gateway to the British Isles
Panorama
Various kinds of information about British life
About Britain
Online resource on the British Isles
English online Materials
for learning English
Arts
Information about arts in Britain
Reuters
Reuters online news in Britain
The Telegraph
The homepage of The Telegraph
The Independent
The homepage of The Independent
The
United Kingdom:
Monarchs of Britain
A listing of British monarchs since 802 AD
Visit Britain 2002
The official site of the British Tourist Authority
Gateway to Britain
The official site of the American national tourist office
UK for Visitors
Various kinds of information on the UK
The British Council
The UK’s international organisation for cultural relations
Houses of Parliament
The United Kingdom Parliament’s homepage
English Heritage
The historic environment in England
Gateway to England
The site of the American national tourist office
Monarchs of England
A listing of British monarchs since 802 AD
Travel England An official guide
to information on events, attractions and places
The Church of England The
official site of the Church of England
Royal Palaces Historical Royal
Palaces in England
The Arts in England
The homepage of the Arts Council of England
The Beatles A French web page by
Coyote
Sport England The sports
development agency
Gateway to Scotland
A starting-point for information about Scotland
Gazetteer for Scotland
A source of information on places and people in Scotland
A comprehensive look at the country of Scotland
Featured links on: Immigration, Study Abroad…
The Scottish Executive The
official site of the new establishment in the government of
Scotland
Freedom Scotland Various kinds
of information about Scotland
Scottish Sports Entertainment Heritage Travel News
Scotland online
Soccernet Soccer in Scotland
Scottish Music,
Music and Dance in Scotland
Cymru
/ Wales
Information about the history and government of Wales
Search Wales
Cities and historical buildings
Data Wales
a website about local history
Stay in Wales
Maps, cities, accommodation and recreation
The
Wales Tourist Board
The official site with information about Wales
BBC Wales
The official site of the public broadcaster for Wales
The Castles of Wales
photographs and information on over 400 castles
The Prince of Wales
The official website of the HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales
Ireland
BBC News Country profiles
Local Ireland homepage A guide
to Irish culture and local information
The Irish Times Information on
the current events in Ireland
Classics Ireland
The Journal of the Classical Association of Ireland
Galway.net The homepage, various
kinds of information
Golf in Ireland
Information about Irish and European golf clubs
Killarney
A guide to the highlands and Lake District of Ireland
The search engines:
1.
Discuss the situation of the
families
and their expectations in class for ten to
fifteen minutes.
3.
Based on the class survey of the students’ preferences the teacher divides the
class into five groups each dealing with one of the regions mentioned above.
4.
Together as members of the group begin the assignment by brainstorming the kinds
of facts, information and impressions you will need to include in the
presentation of your region. For this you will have to consider what you think
the expectations of the
families
are. Keep careful notes of your ideas e.g. in a Microsoft Word
Document or a notebook.
Consider, for example, finding information on such items as the
following:
the size of the country
the population
the climate or weather
the most common religion
the culture and arts
the food
the way people dress and act
historical sites or places of interest
sports
entertainment
Add to this list as you continue brainstorming your own ideas.
5.
Browse through the resources and gather as much information as you can and you
believe to be the most useful for the
families. Divide the work of browsing
through the sites equally between the members of the group. You can either do
this part of the work individually or in pairs. Keep careful notes of the
information you find in a Microsoft Word Document or a notebook as you will need
it for your presentation.
6.
Share, compare and analyse the information and prepare a complete and clear
outline of your report and send it first to your English teacher by
email
or give it to him on paper at school.
Remember to name the websites you referred to. After receiving your teacher’s
comments you will revise your report and then meet with the other groups and
present it to the class. Presentations may include a ten to fifteen minute oral
report in front of the class or on cassette, a brochure or a written report, a
lecture or a slide show, a web page or a method of your choice.
7.
For your final assignment of writing an e-mail to your teacher don’t forget to
take good notes throughout the webquest and pay careful attention to the
presentations of the other groups in order to make up your mind on the best
option for the group of refugees.
The students’ reports and presentations as well as the e-mail letters written
or texts
by individual students will be evaluated as a part of the term mark. The mark
will be based on the content and reliability of information as well as both
written and oral presentations of the report, and the e-mail. The content of
information includes both facts and statistics as well as inferences made from
the various resources located.
In short, the webquest will be evaluated using the following criteria:
the content and reliability of information collected 30%
written and oral group presentations of the report 30%
the email
or text
40%
The main objective of this webquest is to provide content-based English language
instruction. You have searched for information about the British Isles and have
practised your written and oral skills in English at the same time.
You will have learnt a lot about British heritage and culture as well as various
cultural differences between nations and even regions within one country.
In addition to engaging you in independent study, the project also provides
experience in cooperative learning and encourages you to learn from your peers
as well as presenting your work with a team.
From the group presentations, the class will learn a lot about many different
aspects of the British Isles and understand how it is culturally diverse. You
will also have explored the important issue of the situation of
helping families
from a variety of perspectives and levels.
Finally, it gives experience in using the World Wide Web for research and
communication. You will also have a greater understanding of the personal,
social and
cultural
issues which are dealt with having realized that people have the same basic
needs all over the world and that they are met in a variety of ways.
©João
Jardim Fernandes
, 2002.
joaojardim@prof2000.pt
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