Job Discussion Forums

[dog8food]

So I just showed some students this humorous song about colors MOD EDIT and it quickly became a hit. I know some people are against implementing too much entertainment as a teaching method, but if students are motivated and eager to learn something, it can be highly effective.

How much media do you mix into your lesson plans?

[spiral78]

I often incorporate short youtube clips into materials.
I think it adds some life and interest to a course and it can offer good (or bad, depending on goals) models for a range of different things.

My personal take on the use of media is that long stuff (movies/films) seems to be usually less useful than shorter clips - too much action, plot, special effects, etc that make up an actual film. I think it's too dense - too much distraction - to support any clear learning goals in most cases.

I also don't particularly like using songs in the classroom, with a few exceptions. Deciphering the lyrics of songs isn't always easy even for native speakers and I think it can be demotivating for students when it's difficult to understand the words. Not to mention the fact that correct grammar isn't often a criteria for most popular songs:-)

Caveat: the above ideas are simply my own personal take on the matter - I'm not invested in trying to convince others to agree with me. I know there are teachers around who really love to use music and films in class. I guess that in an environment where a teacher has to convince young people that English is cool, movies and songs might help support at least this one goal.... shock:

[smithrn1983]

I try to use clips of TV shows and movies when possible. Students usually find this more interesting than the listening that they have to do out of the book. Like Spiral, though, I try to keep these things short. The trick is to focus on what is pedagogically useful, and not on what is interesting or fills time. For instance, when I'm teaching negotiating, I often use clips of the American show "Pawn Stars" to help students become more familiar with numbers. I'm not concerned with whether they understand everything said, but just that they catch all of the numbers mentioned. With higher level groups I incorporate TedTalks, and even try to work in The Simpsons where applicable.

[Glenski]

In my listening course, it's practically a given to put some form of media into the lesson. Most textbooks I have found are pretty bad, usually too high level and/or very unnatural speech (scripted).

VOA (Voice of America) is not bad, although even in its slowed-down reports, it can be too fast for some people (and it's scripted news, so you have to make students aware of that).

YouTube is good if you can find the right stuff. Doing that takes an enormous amount of time, I have found. As others have said, the key is brevity. I have provided my class with a large number of YouTube vids from 1 to 3 minutes long, but they can access them as they please, and they are not for homework. Tried to group them (more time for me) into categories that make it easier for them to choose, and according to their majors or career interests.

Do you count Moodle as media? I would, and it's an excellent tool.

So, what kind of media are you talking about, and for what sort of course? Reading, writing, speaking/pronunciation, listening, etc.?

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Dog8food

Sorry, I'm a little confused: are you asking for advice and resources, or are you just asking how much media people use in their classes?

I do not use much, to be honest. Very often I find lessons with multi-media tend to become an end in themselves. Lots of bells and whistles, but not too much to aid learning. In addition, I have a morbid fear of all the tech breaking down, which it is nearly always guaranteed to do when I want to use it : (

The most I do would be something simple. For example, the learners may listen to an extract of music, and then describe the feelings it provokes, or the images it conjures. More developed lessons using a music clip may involve imagining the music is a soundtrack to a film, and then groups decide on what type of film, when it is set, where, the main hero etc. (An MP3 of 'Last of the Mohicans' or something similarly cinematic does nicely.) Depends on how it fits into the main lessons. However, it is the learners own creativity that is exploited in the lesson, not the technology.

Similarly, some random images can be printed off and stuck in a whiteboard. (No powerpoint projectors needed for any of this!) The learning task is to create a story which incorporates 3 or 4 of the images. Simple and low-tech. Never breaks down!

Not quite a Dogme approach to media, but almost...

[nomad soul]

There's always the issue of songs and video clips being age and/or culturally appropriate. And they're definitely not allowed in classrooms in some conservative, Middle Eastern countries.