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To state our objectives, we need to ask:

what will the children learn?
what will they be able to do upon completing the project?

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Why is it important they they are able to do that (or have learnt that)?
How does this fit into longer-term objectives (of the curriculum, of the school’s language policy, etc.)?

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Start from the end ...

What is the main LEARNING goal of the project? (obviously this will be related to output but it’s NOT the same thing).

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Focus on what pupils will learn

... NOT on what activities they will do

You will do this for both long-term planning and each activity that leads up to the final output
Don’t be too ambitious. Too many expectations per activity or project become unmanageable.
Try to 2 or 3 cross-curricular competences in your project (e.g. interpersonal, intercultural & language).

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Name your SWBATs

At the end of this project …. Students Will Be Able To ...

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Plan to share your objectives

Sharing objectives with students can be useful for them (to understand what is expected of them) and for you (for assessment purposes).

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Share your objectives

To do so, we need to phrase objectives and outcomes in language that pupils can understand and respond to. “Today, we will learn ...”

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At this point, we are ‘macro’

We are talking about the main objectives of the project.

When you are planning, you move from more general to more detailed.

Obviously you will have to make sure that each activity has a purpose but we are not calling these ‘objectives’ here.

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Things to keep in mind ...

Final output should match the stated objectives.

For instance, objectives of improving listening comprehension when the project output focuses on writing an e-book does not make much sense.

The objectives should consider learner diversity.

This is where learner styles are useful. Planning to have output that allows all learners to contribute can ensure equitable learning objectives.

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Things to keep in mind ...

The objectives must be reasonable for the level you are teaching.

When planning a project it is easy to get carried away with fantastic, creative ideas. This is OK but make sure that you always go back and think about whether the learning objectives can be reached by the students without complete stress of both teacher and students.

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Things to keep in mind ...

The objectives should match at least one or two competences that are stated in the curriculum.
The objectives have to be ‘measurable’ - you must be able to devise a way to assess whether the students have achieved the goals you have set.

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Finally ...

Can you write your objectives in one or two simple sentences?

If you need half a page of text just to explain what your students will learn you have complicated your life too much. Stating your SWBATs in simple language will help you, your partner and your students to know exactly WHERE YOU ARE GOING (remember the question we started with?).

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Your turn

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