|
The Language Teacher | |
|
Versatile and popular, the use of video in the English Language Teaching (ELT)
classroom encompasses five major areas: In a simple activity, the sound of a particular scene can be turned off. Students
then form pairs or small groups to create their own script for the scene which is
later compared to the real dialogue. Teachers can prepare and reuse transcripts of
selected scenes for a variety of activities. One example is the use of transcripts
for topic focused cloze exercises which can be filled out as students watch the movie
or after viewing to practice recall. Members of the TESOL Video Interest Section
(VIS) can participate in a barter network, exchanging materials they have created.
If interested in this barter network, consider joining VIS as your primary TESOL
interest section. Student can engage in a cooperative, whole language experience by making a recruitment
video. Students discuss the plan for their video and write a script. Using multiple
locations, students can take turns acting, directing, and running the camera. This
experience gets students to use the language for authentic communication and practice
their listening skills by viewing each project. Students can also shoot skits they
have created or scenes they have adapted from novels or short stories. The viewing
of the final product could be followed with an academy-awards-type ceremony and a
public screening, complete with refreshments and invited guests. Students can be taped while being interviewed, graded by the interviewer and then
separate raters can watch the video and grade each student's performance by the same
criteria. The grades are averaged for the student's final grade. These interviews
can be used for entrance, exit, and ongoing assessment of communicative ability.
For student self-evaluation, students critique their own performances, focusing on
delivery (e.g., eye contact) and language. Critiques are especially effective when
they are followed up with a chance to repeat and revise the original performance. There are many commercial videos available. Many ELT publishers carry comprehensive
video programs usually packaged as a video with supplemental teaching materials.
Students watch the video and then work with texts to do different language learning
activities. In addition to these comprehensive programs, videos are available which
have a special focus, such as business-related language or pronunciation practice.
For less expensive videos, teachers may create their own materials. A classroom
activity based on counting the number of occurrences of an event or events and calculating
frequencies, ratios and proportions is well-suited for ELT students in math and sciences.
The teacher records a scene in which an event is occurring and shows a sufficient
number of the events to perform some calculations. For example, cars moving through
an intersection make a good subject. A window on an upper floor of a building overlooking
an intersection is an ideal vantage point. Although the concepts and the calculations
in this type of activity may be simple, the vocabulary and structures needed will
challenge ELT students.
Elisabeth Gareis teaches ESL, speech, and intercultural
communication at Baruch College/CUNY as well as TESOL methods at Long Island University.
She is the former editor of TESOL Video News, the newsletter of the TESOL
Video Interest Section. She can be reached at: Baruch College/CUNY, Dept. of Speech,
Box G-1326, 17 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10010. Tel (H): 914-524-7915; Fax (H):
914-524-7559; E-mail: <elgbb@cunyvm.cuny.edu>.
All articles at this
site are copyright © 1997 by their respective authors. |
