Country Brochure Research Project
Students Create Tri-fold Brochure from Research and Response Letters
Jul 6, 2007
When teaching middle school students how to research, students enjoy turning their research papers into brochures. By allowing students to research a foreign country of interest, they can find out information for future trips and make interesting and colorful brochures.
Send a letter to get interesting facts!
Teachers can have students send a business letter to the country to ask for general information about it. Teach students how to properly include all part of a business letter using the block format. Make sure students check on the postage. Additional postage is required for letters going to some countries. It is fun to see what countries respond and what students receive. Many countries will send a flag if asked. A few students will receive nothing, so the grade should be given for writing the letter properly and not for receiving responses. However, sharing the information in class is great fun. Teachers can display a map of the world and stick pushpins from the places where the students receive letters.
Start researching those countries
First, teach the proper format. At the middle school level, MLA is generally taught. Use a resource book such as Write Source to help your students write the paper and/or go citationmachine to help students create a Works Cited page. After students learn how to cite work properly, have them research the following sections for their paper.
Details to include in paper
A map of the country
Include a minimum of five areas:
- famous poets
- famous artists
- famous architecture
- types of transportation used--This could include the types of vehicles manufactured, typical means of transportation, and/or the best that the country has to offer.
- religious traditions--This section should tell about the main religious sects and some of the basic traditions.
- traditional music and current music
- leisure/recreational activities--This could include sports, family activities, bird watching, etc.
- Areas of interest to visit--This could includes beaches, ski resorts, museums, zoos, hiking trails, historical monuments, etc.
Make the brochure
After the students write the research paper in the proper MLA format, have students create a brochure with the information they have written in their papers. It can be a tri-fold with colorful pictures and graphics. Part of this learning process is for students to learn how to be concise with their words. There is only so much room on a brochure.
If students are computer savvy, they can make the entire brochure on the computer. If the students do not have access to computers, they can cut and paste information. It helps to use construction paper or tag board as a base for this process.
To assess the brochure, use a rubric to grade completeness, grammar, neatness, creativity, and use of color and graphics.
Additional activities
Another nice addition to this research project is to have student try to find poems, short stories or novels from authors from their country. They can write a separate analysis of the piece or just share it with the class.
Instead of a brochure, students could make a power point presentation. Or, students could put together a notebook that includes more detail from the country.
