A interesting webquest- movie review

Website of the day : An great example of webquest ---                                                           Movie Presentation 

What is this?

It is a brilliant webquest suitable for pre-intermediate students to advanced students. The task is to have students present their favorite movie to the whole class in a catchy way, persuading other students to vote for it.


Why it is good for language learning?

• The webquest encourages students' autonomous learning since they can explore whatever they like under the broad category of movie. Besides, they can decide their own learning path and ways of presentation.
• The webquest requires collaboration among team members so that students will learn how to negotiate to reach an agreement and have more efficient communication. Language is not only regarded as a subject but also a communication tool.  
• Students can develop different language skills through the task such as speaking, writing, and reading.   
• Students are exposed to authentic English texts, in which they might learn the relevant vocabulary about movies in a more meaningful way.
• Student are expected to develop higher cognition like how to summarize, analyze a movie.   
• The topic is interesting, motivating, and easy to develop. It can build up students' confidence and sense of accomplishment.

Classroom use

• Teachers can either use the webquest as an extended activity after teaching a lesson related to movie or as a language task to encourage students' autonomy and self-learning.  
• Teachers explain what a webquest is and how to accomplish the task. Besides, teachers should inform students of the criteria of the evaluation to lower students' anxiety. Later teachers divide students into small groups composed of 3-4 people and assign each group at least 2 computers.
• While students work on their own project, teachers walk around to offer help for those who have problem understanding the task. In the meantime, teachers can also take notes on the common mistakes students make when speaking English.
• Students in different groups present their final work in turn and do the peer evaluation both in spoken and written form. Teachers also give each group comments and suggestions.
• Teachers have students evaluate the webquest and modify the webquest based on their responses.  

Limitations

• The webquest is suitable for students with better reading comprehension abilities since they have to surf the Internet and read much information of  their chosen movie.  
• The webquest fails in providing enough source for students. 
• Teachers have to remind students of the copyright issue since students might want to show the trailers/clips from the chosen movie or share with classmates the reviews they found online.
• Students might choose a movie which is inappropriate for their age and contains violence or sex. Teachers should make it clear that students cannot select R-rated film.