Using short video clips from Youtube

[tobyU]

Hi,
I love using web streaming video for my esl classes! I use vidoe with my University students, and in 5-to-1 online tutoring sessions. I use short videos that I post on my own website at http://www.onlinetutoringworld.com/less ... ediate.htm, which are about 1-2 minutes in length that I copy from Youtube. I use them along with pictures and illustrations and I try to tie them to a topical lesson plan. The most popular videos are the funny ones such as Kermit the Frog, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and the Super Size me video clip.

For classroom teaching, I project the video for the class to watch. Generally a group of around 12 students is ideal. With my more advance students, I get them to do presentations using their own favorite videos clips as illustrations. With my online tutoring class, I generally text the students the url where they download and watch the video separately.

Do you have any examples of using short video clips from the web. Please share your own experience what works best . I would like to compile some more lesson plans from your ideas.

Thanks
- Toby

[Andrew Patterson]

Do you use social guidance movies, Toby?
If you did, how would you use them?

I love them but I'm not sure how I'd use them.

[tobyU]

Hi Andrew
What are social guidance movies? If you mean showing movie clips that have a moral message, or clips that try to persuade the audience to your point of view - yes I've used them. For me, those were the most memorable and fun teaching moments I can remember.

Language learning can become very tedious and boring- thats where using video helps to break away from the routine. When I notice that my class lacks energy, gets tardy or lacks team work, I sometimes make a mental note to address these issues by incorporating a video clip for the next classroom session. A film clip that the whole class can relate to, that is interesting, that is well presented, that directly relates to your lesson plan and that carries some kind of moral message or lesson is always a good thing.

I particularly like using short movie clips such as "Friday Night Lights", "Remember the Titans" and "Wall Street" from American Rhetoric Movie Speech http://www.americanrhetoric.com/moviespeeches.htm.

Remember two things: 1) Have a goal for the clips you're going to use. Use clips that not only relates to the subject you are teaching, but also something that addresses a classroom issue (if you have one), addresses the students personal interest or will inspire them in some way. 2) To get the most out of a discussion, don't be afraid to share your own insights, opinions and convictions about the subject.

I hope that helps and answers your question,

Toby

[Andrew Patterson]

Thanks for the link, Toby, I can use that. No, actually, I mean the type of film I described in the empty thread I started called "Post-war social guidance movies" (see that thread for more details.) Things like "Are you popular?" "Boys beware" "Girls beware" "Cindy goes to a party", etc. They are freely available on Google video and U tube, check them out. By the way, U tube has a great spoof one called "Popularity and you!" Not sure you could show that one in class or not. Search for "drugs popularity and you" or it won't come up.

[vcautin]

I sometimes use movie trailers.
My student really like them

[kathyfelts]

I propose we start a list of ways to use video clips. Since Google has bought YouTube, I think it is safe to say that we will have a source of free video clips for some time to come. In addtion to using the available clips, you can also produce your own video and upload it to the site. You can either make the video public, or you can send it to people on the contact list you create. www.spokenskills.com also offers a tool for teachers to use to upload video. It is much easier to use than YouTube and is an education-based site as opposed to one whose primary purpose is entertainment.

For the past several months, I have been playing around with different ways of using Internet-based video clips. Before I talk about some of the ways the clips can be used, I want to caution teachers about the YouTube site. You need to be careful about how you use the site. I have seen some video on the site that was very explicit. You certainly cannot direct students to the site with instructions to "find something interesting."

Using existing clips -

Teaching songs and pronunciation –

There are many clips in which young people lip-synch popular songs. Singing and lip-synching are great ways for students to practice English - especially pronunciation. I teach English in at our local community college in the Appalachian Mountains and have language minority students in all of my classes. These students are still working on their grammar of course, and what better way to do it than by concentrating on well-chosen song lyrics. Since many people in our area speak a distinct variety of English that doesn't include the same subject/verb agreement rules as academic grammar, the longtime local resident kids can also profit by studying video clips of carefully chosen songs. ( I was surprised at the kick the Hmong students got out of watching and singing along with a video produced by some Hmong boys in California. The boys had obviously spent a great deal of time recording and editing the video so that it was good for many viewings. Sometimes it is easy to forget how isolated from other students who share the same culture and identity are.)

Producing material that includes video content

Right now, I am in the process of producing some song teaching videos with a young teacher from our area. I have looked at many of the kids' song videos and one thing I noticed was that I couldn't find any vide clips that actually taught the songs, so that is what we are doing. I plan to make the videos available to the public for free, but my immediate use for them is to use in online teaching. I have been making videos of myself teaching songs for students and then emailing them to students, and while that method of delivery is OK, I really wanted to be able to offer students higher quality singing than I can produce, so I found a local singer who also has K-2 teaching experience.

Since my background is in TV, radio and print production, I naturally think along the line of what to produce. Several things that I have tried and like with YouTube include making a Chinese pronunciation practice video in which I give direct instruction of producing lip and tongue placement. Students say that the video is really helpful in ways that audio recordings alone are not because sometimes they cannot discriminate between similar sounds, and the visual aspect of the video help make the distinctions more clear. I don't just say "Form a cup with your tongue and place your cupped tongue up on your soft palate, I actually show how to do it, step-by-step.

Currently, I am working on with some Chinese university students on video and audio recordings of T'ang Dynasty poems. Many students of Mandarin find the mention of these poems very intimidating. What we have been doing is to audio and video record some of the very easiest of the poems with subtitles and Flash. I can already see that many interesting production and editing techniques can be used to make more effective use of the medium. In addition to the audio and video recordings, we also have made audio recordings that are looped to give students more opportunity to practice. Both recordings are downloadable to PDA's, micro video players, and mobile phones. We also have downloadable worksheets and are working on Flash-based games. I mention these other instructional activities because I think that a very important part of using video effectively is that it must be integrated with other media and the video must be used interactively. Students have to be engaged with the video for it to really be useful. Passive video viewing is not the best use we can make of video content. For those of you who are interested in seeing the basic design of the poetry site, you can check out our mock-up at

http://newstore2005.googlepages.com/index

-For those of you who are interested in putting up a site with vodeo clips - and keeping your students off sites like YouTube - googlepages offers the possibility of creating your own site that allows upload of many digital formats, includimg those for video. You can create your own site very easily at www.googlepages.com

In the case of the poetry website, we are still in the process of uploading the content, but the webpage shows how the whole thing is set up. I strongly suggest that folks who are interested in producing little screen teaching videos start with a view to including other print and audio content to go with their video. Since this kind of multimedia production takes a lot of work, I think it is essential to work with other people. I have started a discussion forum and include postings looking for folks who are interested in collaborating on projects at

http://www.eslwebcamforkids.com/forum/i ... 389201e613

One last note about collaborating on projects - Skype is great for have free online conferences. The group I am working with gets together on some Saturday mornings to talk about the projects we are working on. The university students get real world business experience by engaging in international web conferences, and it is a great way for them to practice their English skills.

I am always very interested in talking with folks who are using or thinking about producing web-based video. I am certainly not an expert, but I am always happy to share anything I do know.

Best regards,
Kathy
[email protected]

[cavez33]

Hello,
I think using Youtube for ESL teaching is a very good way to bring many different cultures to the class. It can be used for any level and give the students opportunities to hear other accents. It also provides real contexts for a English learning because most of the time, the videos published on Youtube are made by native english speakers and intend to address other native speakers so they represent an excellent sample of "real" english.

[Janisse]

Hello all,

I also like to present short clips in class to my students. Last September I was teaching to two advances ESL classes, and my students were constantly asking me to present short clips such as Youtube video. At first I did not want to use these kind of video with them, but after a serious discussion with the students, I finally agree. The students told me that they were tired of watching movies or TV shows years after years. So I agree to present them short clips to practice oral comprehension and after the watching of the clip we always conducted a class discussion to practice speaking interaction. Every time I did it, the students enjoyed it and were motivated to interact and to participate.
Since it was a real success, I took the habit to present a short clip every two classes and to have an approximately 15 minutes discussion with them. As I said earlier, this activity put into practice oral comprehension and interaction and since it is not boring for the young learners, they are motivated to get involve.
Do you have other creative ideas to have your students discuss in class? I do not mean for evaluation purpose, but simply strategies to interest your students to conduct a class discussion?

[Karenne]

Here are a few of my lessons incorporating videos to teach EFL!

(Lorikeet, all, hope this isn't a double posting)

Great sites for finding videos - big thinkers, CEOs, scientists and more:

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2009/04/be ... s-and.html

Using the Susan Boyle Saga as a language lesson

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2009/04/su ... esson.html

Interview with Taleb and Roubini (good 4 Financial students)

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2009/03/in ... b-esp.html

Motivation - where it comes from (cute video from Sundance)

http://kalinago.blogspot.com/2009/03/wh ... rt-of.html

Trust you enjoy these!

Karenne

[Ralph Sabio]

Great topic OP!

A couple of years ago, I published an article on this very topic in The English Connection, a quasi-academic journal given out quarterly by KOTESOL. Here is the complete article as it was in TEC:

Go to: www.ralphsesljunction.com

click on "publication originals and other stuff"

Then click on "Silence, Camera, English!"

This article was written after I used YouTube videos in the classroom numerous times. I found the parameters I came up with to be extremely useful. I hope you guys find the article helpful as well.

I can't post a lot now, but, I would like to show you guys how I make my worksheets for these videos. I will post up a couple of worksheets and links to videos to show you how I do mine. Hopefully, the info. will help you guys out.

Ralph

[Karenne]

Great article, do post up your tips as that'd be very interesting.

Have you thought about writing a guest-piece for Jamie Keddie (TEFLclips)'s blog? http://www.teflclips.com/

and if you've got some juicy business vids I'd be very happy to have you write a guest-piece for me on this subject.

Take care,
Karenne

[Ralph Sabio]

Great article, do post up your tips as that'd be very interesting.

Have you thought about writing a guest-piece for Jamie Keddie (TEFLclips)'s blog? http://www.teflclips.com/

and if you've got some juicy business vids I'd be very happy to have you write a guest-piece for me on this subject.

Take care,
Karenne

Okay, I have some time now. Here you guys go:

http://www.teachingenglishmadeeasy.com/ ... warmer.doc

That is a link that will show you a worksheet I use in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rdLu7wiZOE

Here is the link to the video that I downloaded and now use in my classes.

As you will see, the worksheet focuses on not only conversation, but vocabulary building and listening comprehension as well.

The definitions I give are really basic; sometimes it is hard to break definitions down into simple words for the students. I tend to go in detail with students in order to ensure that they do understand the words.

[Ralph Sabio]

Great article, do post up your tips as that'd be very interesting.

Have you thought about writing a guest-piece for Jamie Keddie (TEFLclips)'s blog? http://www.teflclips.com/

Wow! That website looks great! I'll have a looksee in a few.

[alexcase]

Here's my own first attempt at a lesson based on Youtube clips:

http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teaching/t ... s-of-prob/

Worked quite well, although more as a link between the worksheets mentioned on the post than as a stimulus for conversation in itself. If anyone tries it with a smaller class, I'd be interested to hear how it goes

[Eric18]

Like so many other English teachers here at Dave's ESLcafe, I have found YouTube videoclips to be a powerful classroom tool.

I've used YouTube to have students research job interview tips, stress patterns, pronunciation problems, and informational interviews. The results have been consistently positive as I have students write concise video reviews and email me their reviews for homework before the next class.

Then I slightly edit the reviews, watch the videos and add my own comments in blue ink, and combine the reviews into a single document that is emailed to all class members. "Use or lose" I say, but here are the reviews from your classmates. Result: almost every student watches every video recommended and spending far more time on the topic than I could allocate in class. It's both popular and quite effective.

As English teachers, we are truly blessed to be working in the YouTube era.