Digital Video Sample 2
Digital Video-Sample 2 This document contains two sample activities from Chapter 5 of Digital Video. These are two of the 20 Video Comprehension Activities contained in the complete book. The complete book deals with a wide range of video related areas as well as containing more than 40 step by step lesson plans guiding you through video based classroom activities. For more information or to buy the complete book go to: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/digital-video/id1025275485 These sample materials are the copyright property of Nik Peachey and permission is hereby granted to print, store, share and redistribute them freely.
1
GETTING INSIDE THE CHARACTER
Introduction In this activity students have to imagine they are one of the characters or people they see in a video clip. After watching the clip they have to re-tell what happened from the perspective of the character they chose. Rationale In many cases when video is used and the teacher sets comprehension questions about the video, we are deciding what the students should understand after watching it. This activity is a good way of finding out what the students have understood and how they have processed and interpreted the information. By encouraging students to understand what is happening in a video clip from the point of view of the people involved, it also helps students to develop a sense of empathy with others.
It should also enable them to practice the use of narrative tenses. Context This activity works well in the face-to-face classroom, but it can also be done online with students watching the clip first and then writing a summary or delivering their report in the synchronous online classroom. Preparation Choose a short clip ( 2 - 3 mins) that has a number of people in (2 - 5) and which shows them interacting. You could use this activity with any clip from a drama or sitcom which involves a number of people. It would be particularly suitable if the clip contains some form of conflict, tension or argument.
Language focus This can be either a written or spoken activity depending on which skill you want students to practice and develop. The linguistic aim of the activity is to develop students’ ability to use reporting verbs for reported speech and reporting thoughts. 2
Procedure • Show the students the clip without any sound and get them to watch it and try to decide what the relationship is between each of the people. • Once they have watched the clip, give them a few moments to work in pairs and compare their impressions. • Before letting them watch again, assign one of the characters from the clip to each student in the class. Tell them to watch and listen to that person and try to decide what s/he is thinking and feeling during the clip.
Follow up Watch all the students’ clips and give them some feedback on their performance. Get the students to change to a different character and do the same thing from that characters’ perspective. Get the students to watch another clip and choose which character they want to be. They can create a report in the same way and other students have to watch or read and decide which character is reporting.
• You could pause the clip at specific points to give students time to make notes, or just give them a number of stills from the video clip once they have watched and they can use these as reminders. If you are doing the activity online, students will be able to pause and make notes at their own speed. • Put the students who were assigned to the same character into groups and ask them to compare their impressions. • Now ask them to imagine they are that person and they have to tell someone else what happened using first person ‘I’. You can also ask students to write this or they could use a video camera, webcam or mobile phone and record their report. • They can then share their reports with the class and compare the differences in perspective between the various characters.
3
WEBCAM DICTATION
Introduction
Language focus
In this activity students listen to a dictated text, write it down and then try to read it themselves.
The primary aim of this activity is to work on students receptive and productive pronunciation.
Rationale
The linguistic aim depends on the text you use. You could choose a text with whatever grammar point or vocabulary you want students to work on or you could focus on specific sounds that students find challenging.
Using a video recording for this activity gives students the opportunity to replay the video as many times as they need to while listening. Also getting students to record themselves saying the text gives them the chance to watch and evaluate their own speaking ability and encourages them to work harder to produce a better final recording. Having a recording of your students saying the text also helps you to identify where they are having problems with pronunciation. This is something that you don’t often have the opportunity to do in a crowded classroom.
Preparation Select an appropriate text and then use your webcam to record yourself dictating the text. Try to make your reading as natural as possible.
Context This activity is best done online rather than in the physical classroom. If you have a computer lab of some kind in your school you could get students to do the activity there, but they are more likely to be disturbed by background noise. 4
Procedure
Follow up
• Send your students a link to your recorded dictation.
Listen to your students recordings and send them some feedback using your webcam. Focus the feedback on the sounds which they are having problems with and give good clear models of how the words should be pronounced.
• Ask them to listen and write down what they hear. • Tell them they can listen as many times as they need to. • Once they have finished writing down the text, ask them to record themselves saying the text and then send the clip back to you.
You could send them the original text that you used for the recording and they can compare with their own copy of the text. Related links
This site has an interesting text which includes all of the sounds of the English language. •The Speech Accent Archive: http://accent.gmu.edu/
5