Like English songs, English videos can be used for an assorted number of language teaching and learning activities. The main difference lies in the fact that you see and hear. Television is however a lazy medium, providing little challenges for the mind, by spoon-feeding the mind with sounds and sights, thereby providing little room for one’s imagination to thrive. So how do we make this lazy medium a useful classroom tool? Lots of ideas come to mind. How about turning of sound and asking students to create the dialogue from a scene? Or how about, getting one part of the class to watch and describe to the others? Yes! How about simply using a freeze frame technique where you watch and pause when it gets very interesting, then ask your students a number of questions about what happens next?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Thoughts on video in education 1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting point about television being a lazy medium: it doesn't allow for the interaction with the viewer. I hadn't really thought of it that way! You also offer really great ideas about how to make it more interactive for language learners. I teach high school Spanish, and really like the idea of having students articulate a scene for more spontaneous, on the spot language use. Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Brenda
Thank you for your super nice comment on my blog. I love your idea of shutting off the sound on the tv and having the students write their own dialogue. I love new ideas it keeps teaching fresh and interesting for the students and for me.
ReplyDeleteI loved your project of module 5. The idea of watching the movie and saying the lines is a really good way to practice spoken language.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that you analyzed different formats of media from their degrees of interactivity. It is probably true that every media has its advantages and drawbacks. Maybe in addition to how to use it, we also need to take into consideration when to use it?
ReplyDeleteGaoming