Using Videos In The Classroom

Using Video In The Classroom
An Activity Guide

Why Video?
Video is a powerful tool in today’s classroom. It provides strong context through which to teach English. Meaning comes alive and it brings the outside world into the classroom and gives your teaching “reality”. Video also provides all the paralinguistic features of language that audio only can’t. Nowadays, students are very muchvisual learners. Further, with the quick spread of broadband internet access, is making the use of video in the classroom much more reliable. Video is a medium which is replacing print – Chris Anderson of TED goes as far as suggesting it is a “revolution” transcending that of the Gutenberg revolution. It is changing both the way we learn and the way we interact with each other.

Without a doubt,video is the future for all of us involved in education. Gone are the days where it took a high degree of technical know how and hours of set up to bring video into the classroom. Now the classroom is wired and connected. It’s an exciting time to be both a teacher and a student. The world is our classroom.

Some Tips For Using Video In Class
view the flash presentation

Keep the Video Short(2-4 minutes) - attention spans are limited when watching visual content. Chunk up and divide up videos with focused activities.

Watch the whole video first. - students need to “have a try” first and watch to get the “big picture”. This provides students with the chance to deal with the “ambiguity” of language. Give students one simple task while watching the whole video – to keep them focused.Always preview the video. - Be sure to watch the whole video yourself before using it in class. You never know what content might be inappropriate or hurtful to your students. You, the teacher, know your students best. Best to be safe!

Make it available outside the classroom. - provide students with a webpage or link so they can watch the video and practice outside of classroom time. Manystudents learn better independently and this is a great opportunity to foster student independence.

Use videos your students want. - this may seem obvious but many teachers forget to survey their students and show video content they definitely know their students will be “into”. However, use your best judgement and find a balance between videos that highly motivate and those that are stronglyeducational. Many times you can do both!

3 Approaches To Using Video In The Classroom
1. Using only video and online learning (the Flipped classroom) In the flipped classroom, students study and learn independently (in groups or individually). The teacher sets up the content and learning environment and then consults with students as they learn the video content. Students could learn onEnglishCentral and the teacher could use class time to review their progress, check and evaluate. Also consult with the students to make sure they are making progress and on task. Teachers set up the curriculum, show students how to access and the video content and then become pure facilitators. Teachers might also use print materials made specifically for the videos (like these EnglishCentral examplebooks).

2. Blending video into the existing curriculum and course. This option allows a teacher to choose video content that compliments the objectives of their course. Videos are chosen for each unit and they are used in conjunction with course book. Thus, the teacher is blending the learning – combining traditional print (textbooks) with the power of video. Videos are blended into and part of theofficial course curriculum.

3. Using video as a supplement for engagement or re-inforcement. Here, videos are used only at the beginning of a lesson (to provide context and prompt student schema/background knowledge) or as supplemental material for the lesson (either inclass or as homework). The teacher brings in video that will supplement the existing course curriculum and provide context...