the activities can be modified to fit other subject areas.

The authors developed the 18 activities through their work with Hong Kong secondary schools, and stress that such students should be involved not just as participants in the activities but also as activity organizers. Indeed, the authors highlight the role of extra-curricular activities in developing students' sense of responsibility for their own learning and their own lives.

The issue of whether or not to use inter-group competition is a controversial area in cooperative learning. Many of the activities in this book involve competition, although the authors urge that competition not be overused. In general, the authors seem to agree with the view expressed in The Inner Game of Tennis (revised ed, W. Timothy Gallwey, New York: Random House, 1997) that our competitors push us to excel. One noteworthy twist on competition that the authors have tried has the winning group, in addition to receiving standard rewards such as trophies, also being given the "honour" of taking on a responsibility, such as straightening up the venue where the event was held.

This book provides ways to expand learning by involving students in out-of-class academic
activities. Such activities offer important scope for students to cooperate and, as the book's title says, to have fun. To purchase the book, contact Caves Bookstore (at Hong Kong Institute of Education): Caveswh@netvigator.com, Fax: (852) 2948 0268

Lee, M.M.T., Li, B.K.W., & Lee, I. K. B. (1999). Project work: Practical guidelines. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Institute of Education. ISBN 962-949-025-0. Pp. 172.

As Amy B. M. Tsui notes in the forward to this book, many teachers are familiar with project work and have had experience using projects with their students. Nevertheless, she states, many of these same teachers lack ideas on how to help students prepare for projects and carry out projects. As a result, the full potential of projects to promote learning is not realized. The same lament could be sounded about group activities in general, of which projects are a subset, although projects are less frequently done individually. Indeed, given the time span and complexity of projects, even greater skill is demanded of students and teachers. The current book, based on the authors' experience implementing project work in secondary school English classes in Hong Kong, therefore, fills an important need.

The book consists of six chapters. Chapter one is a brief overview of what projects are and why they should be done, including the value of projects for altering classroom power relations and encouraging collaboration among students. The authors use an acrostic to summarize the skills students practice whilst engaged in projects:

     Planning
     Reading
     Observing
     Judging
     Enquiring
     Collaborating
     Thinking

Chapter 2 provides an outline of the phases of a project--pre-project, while-project, and post-
project--and the steps involved in each phase. As they note, although projects are large tasks, they are composed of small steps. Chapter 3 details key practical considerations in conducting projects, such as scale, timing, themes, resources, allocation of work, and arrangements for when students need to go outside the school to collect data. The focus of Chapter 4 is on data collection, involving skills in design and implementing questionnaires and interviews. The chapters from Chapter 4 onwards are accompanied by a large supply of sample lessons, models, and other materials to help students prepare to collect their data, even including board games, e.g., one focusing on interview skills.