Kieran

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  • Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,,

    Thanks very much for your great application of the 3-step model.

    Pre-viewing: I would use 4 screenshots from the film – without showing any hint about the organisation – and I would ask my students what the film is about and what they expect from it.

    The use of screenshots to get students predicting the content of the video would be excellent.

    Alternatively, I would use the logo “Mary’s meal” and I would involve my students in a guessing procedure about it.

    Yes, the use of the logo to get students predicting and speculating would also be great.

    While-viewing: I would ask pronominal questions about the characters such as who is this girl? where does she live? what does she typically do to find food? what else does she do? etc.

    Pronominal questions would very well with this video.

    I would also them to pay attention to the image and answer true false questions related to different resources such as clothes, facial expressions, colours and so on and I would draw upon some cultural aspects that might interest my students.

    A True/False activity would work well here to draw students attention to things such as colours and cultural points.

    Post-viewing: I would ask my students to work in groups, use a software program such as Canva and create a digital poster which would aim at promoting the actions and goals of the organisation “Mary’s meals” in their community.

    I love this post-viewing activity! It promotes digital literacy visually representing and empathy.

    In relation to the Final Project, I have thought of working on some videos that have been suggested by a colleague for an eTwinning project in which I am participating this year. She has suggested5 shorts films on our topic “Life Below Water”, goal 14 of the Agenda for the environment 2030. It is quite challenging for me to find interesting and appropriate ways of using these films with upper primary school students. So my aim is to try to figure out how I could use them and share my worksheets with my european partners to help them benefit more from viewing the films as well.

    I really like your ideas for the Final Project. I’ve already looked at your Final project and have to say it’s great. I’ll give you detailed feedback on it early next week.

    Thanks again for your great evaluation, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the short video for Mary’s Meals.

    If I were to use one of the short films, I would prefer “Mary’s meals”.

    I think this is a very good choice.

    It is an appropriate choice for my A1-A2 level students in terms of all 4 criteria

    Yes, it’s definitely an appropriate choice for this level.

    Language: The language is appropriate fro their level. It is written, so students have more time to process and undertand the input of the short film. They would benefit from learning a couple of new words like “forage” in a context where they would understand almost everything.

    Yes, the rich visual support and written text make it much more comprehensible.

    The pace of the film may be a bit quicker than what students need. In that case, I would provide them with the opportunity to watch parts of it or the whole film more than once.

    You make a very good point about the video perhaps being too fast for your students. Breaking the video into a number of parts is an excellent idea as is showing it a number of time.

    Another way of helping students is to alter the Playback Speed on youTube to make it slower and easier for students to understand.

    Length: The short film falls within the recommended length of 2 to 5 minutes.

    Yes, at 4:18 length, it’s ideal.

    Relevance and interest: The short film would arouse my students’ interest as it tells a story from a quite different perspective from what they are used to approach reality. It is something new to them, something that they may have never thought of before. They could feeel empathy towards Grace and all the children that experience similar problems. The would learn more about values, such as offering to others who are in need, never quitting, working hard as well as the value of appreciating what they have and not taking it for granted – because this is not the case for everyone in the world.

    Absolutely. Students could reflect on values and learn to develop their empathy with this video.

    The short film could be played more than once and could be used in different ways with different foci.
    Yes, the video does have huge task potential.

    It could stimulate discussion about values.

    I like the idea of using the video to focus on values.

    Students could be asked to write or say what they would ask Grace if they had a dialogue with her.

    This is a lovely activity which helps students develop their empathy.

    Or they could be asked to prepare a poster advertising Mary’s meal in order to promote the work of the organisation to their community (e.g., to their schoolmates).

    This is a great activity which gets students developing the skill of Visually Representing.

    Thanks again for your great evaluation, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for commenting on the film-making framework.

    The Framework could guide my students and help them to create their own film.

    I’m happy to hear you think the framework would help your students create their own films.

    I cannot foresee any problems, apart from technical ones such as familiarity with the device and digital skills.

    Yes, it’s important to consider the possible technical and digital obstacles especially when working with very young learners.

    Thanks again for your comments, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the film-making activities.

    the suggested activities are adaptable and applicable with students of different levels.

    Yes, the activities are designed to be adaptable and used at various levels.

    With my primary school students I would prefer starting with really short films that would not even need editing.

    This makes perfect sense. Really short videos work well with this young age group.

    If I see that they get familiar with making videos and excited about the process, I would ask them to prepare a How to video.

    This is a good approach: firstly, try video making out and see if it works and your students like it; secondly, if they like it, move on to more ambitious video making projects.

    Thanks again for your great evaluation, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your excellent answers.

    I like the categorization of short films according to specific genres.

    I’m happy you like the genre categorization!

    I also like Maria Luisa’s activity. Very interesting and creative!

    Maria Luisa’s activity is great , isn’t it?

    I have used mostly documentary shorts.

    Short documentaries work really well in the language classroom.

    Another genre (if it is different from branded films) is the promotional video.

    Yes, this is another genre.

    Another genre is fan video – a kind of video made by fans of a particular music band, artist, movie etc.

    Yes, this is another very popular genre and very relevant for younger learners.

    Thanks again for your excellent answers, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your excellent answers.

    I have sometimes used videos on environmental topics for our projects, though. I have employed them as a stimulus for vocabulary learning, especially to inductively make meaning of new words with the aid of the image.

    Yes. Film and video does work well for helping students to inductively make meaning of new words.

    I am impressed with the genuine ideas on activities for vocabulary learning. They need minimum preparation and can keep students to the video throughout.

    The generic nature of the activities is an advantage as this reduces teacher preparation/creation/production time.

    I will definitely check and select the one that I could implement every time I want to use a film or a video from now on.

    I’m delighted to know you’re enthusiastic about using these activities.

    Thank you, Kieran. Amazing work.

    Thank you for your kind words 🙂

    Thanks again for your excellent answers, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your great analysis of the short video.

    I would like to comment on the videos by referring to one of them in particular that impressed me for its effectiveness; “We’re the Superhumans”.

    This is a good choice!

    The way shots change, the alternation of scenes, the bright colours and most importantly the background music and the lyrics that reiterate “Yes, I can”, all contribute to viewers’ meaning-making.

    This is an excellent analysis of how the combination of the various modes impact the viewer/listener.

    The viewer never feels that people who have some kind of difficulty because of an accident or some kind of genetic disorder are unable to do anything. The strength, the strong will and power of these people render them “superhumans” through a film that celebrates their abilities and talents instead of showing any kind of difficulty they may face.

    Yes, the video does convey this positive message very effectively, doesn’t it?

    Thanks again for your great analysis, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your great answers!

    this lesson reminds us of something really important in education. Schooling -and education in general- should not only aim at the development of literacies and knowledge on different subjects. It is also about the development of emotional intelligence and the evolution of values that make students socially literate.

    Great answer! I completely agree with you that education should not only aim at the development of literacies and knowledge of different subjects but also focus on the development of emotional and social literacy and intelligence.

    I especially like the short film “success” because I totally agree with life-long learning and with the idea that age is only a number, as one of my 11-year-old students pointed out yesterday in an in-class discussion!

    ‘Success’ is an excellent short video. I love your 11-year-old student’s comment that age is only a number!

    Thanks again for your excellent responses, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks so much for your thoughtful response to the questions.

    I agree with Maria Luisa that all the activities are great applicable ideas.

    Great to know that you’re so enthusiastic about the activities.

    Thank you Kieran for all these fantastic ideas!

    It’s a pleasure to share these activities with you.

    What I actually thought as I was studying the material was that from now on I feel prepared to incorporate the teaching of films and videos into my lessons. I feel like having a readily-availbale repertoire of idess to draw upon and make the most of watching films and videos, rather than devoting some time for in-class discussion or introducing a topic.

    It’s great for me to hear that you feel better prepared to incorporate film and video into your classes. Having a readily-available repertoire of ideas and activities to draw upon is vital to this.

    So far, I have used the title of a film and I have asked my students to write what is next in groups.

    Using the title for prediction and speculation is such a simple but effective technique to use with a short film or video.

    I like Maria Luisa’s work on trailers with her students.

    I’m delighted to hear you like Maria LuĂ­sa’s work on trailers. Trailers are such a great resource in the language classroom.

    I have also used trailers. Yesterday, I used the trailer of “Toy story” with my 7-year-old students to introduce the topic of toys and trigger discussion on their favourite character and toy. They are pre-A1 level, no writing or reading yet.

    I really like the way you’ve used this trailer with your young learners.

    Thanks again for such a insightful response to the Activity, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    in reply to: Lesson 3 – Topic 2 – ‘Using silent short films’ #11051
    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your great answers!

    I also think that all activities are easily applicable and enjoyable.

    I’m delighted to hear you think the activities are applicable and enjoyable!

    I am sure that I could use them with my Primary School students but also with my University students. They would all get stimulated by them.

    The fact the activities can be used with very different student profiles is a great advantage.

    I especially like the idea of focusing on one mode first (moving image only or sound only) and involve students in groupwork.

    Excellent point. Focusing on just one mode to start with has the advantage of getting students focused and not overloading them with having to analyse many things at the same time.

    After students discuss with their peers, share ideas and do the activity, they make even more meanings by watching the short film as a multimodal ensemble and immediately learn in an experiential way that all modes are involved in an interplay of meaning-making.

    Very well expressed. Students are actively involved in meaning-making while watching the short film as a multimodal ensemble, aren’t they? I like the way you highlight that all modes are involved in an interplay of meaning-making.

    Thank you, Kieran, for all these exciting ideas.

    It’s a pleasure to share these activities with you 🙂

    Thanks again for your excellent responses, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Stella,

    Thanks very much for your great answers and evaluation of the generic worksheets.

    I agree that short films constitute a great vehicle using moving image in the language classroom because of their accessibility and creativity that arouses students’ interest. Especially when the films talk about an issue that interests students, their implementation in activities can be effective and valuable.

    Absolutely. When the topic of the film is relevant to students it is often easier to effectively implement activities.

    I also like all the generic activity sheets because they provide different approaches to implementing the teaching of films. They have different foci and could be adapted for different levels, as you have already noted.

    Yes. The fact that the generic activities can be adapted for different levels is important.

    The “setting-the-scene” worksheet especially attracted my attention and made me think I could easily use it with my students.

    I’m happy to hear you could easily adapt this worksheet for your younger students.

    We have started a European project on sustainability and I could use screenshots of the videos on our topic to make them reflect on them and share ideas.

    Your European project on sustainability sounds interesting. I think the use of screenshots to get students to activate their background schemata, predict and reflect is really effective and powerful.

    Thanks again for your great evaluation, Stella.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi MarĂ­a LuĂ­sa,

    You’re very welcome. It’s always a pleasure to read your activities and comment on them. I appreciate how bust y you are and am happy the deadline extension helps you.

    I’m looking forward to reading your Final Project.

    With best wishes,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Maria LuĂ­sa,

    Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the short film “We’ve all been there”.

    Goals: – activate students’ schemata; expand vocabulary/language; learn about other cultural environments; give opportunities to improve writing skills; foster values such empathy and kindness, never forgetting the idea that no matter who you are we may all need the help of another human being and that “what goes around comes around”.

    Your goals are very clear. It’s great that in addition to the essential linguistic goals, you’ve also incorporated goals related to raising awareness of values.

    I would use this short video with my B2 and B2+ students.

    The short film is appropriate for this level.

    1.Pre-viewing activites to activate students’ schemata: I would tell them we were going to watch a short film;
    write the word “Boomerang” on the board and elicit what they might know about it; then I would also write “We’ve all been there”, organize the students in pairs and ask what they thought the film would be about; I would ask them to register/list their ideas.

    These activities are excellent for activating students’ background schemata.

    I would show the first part of the film and ask pronominal questions about the characters: who is the lady? where is she coming from and where is she going? why has she stopped? who is the young man and what does he want? who is the young pregnant woman?

    Showing the first part of the film and asking pronominal questions makes perfect sense here.

    I would ask them to write 3 short paragraphs telling the story of these three people.

    This writing activity is great!

    Then I would have students watch the short film and compare their stories.

    Getting the students to write their own stories gets them engaged in the film and its narrative and gets them motivated to watch the rest of the film.

    Debate: How did the video made them feel? Why?; How did the film related to the word “Boomerang” and the title of the video?; Values to be discussed here.

    A post viewing debate/discussion would work really well here.

    As homework or for the following class I would ask my students to write a summary of the film they had watched entitled “What goes around comes around”

    Writing a summary of the film’s narrative is an excellent homework activity.

    ind out whether we have equivalent saying(s) in Portuguese (which we do and they go more or less like so: “Não acontece só aos outros”; “Faz o bem, sem olhar a quem!”; “Que recebas no dobro o que deres ou desejares ao outro”; “Não faças aos outros o que não queres que te façam a ti”).

    I really like this! This translation activity is really interesting and motivating.

    Thanks again for your great evaluation, Maria LuĂ­sa.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Maria LuĂ­sa,

    Thanks very much for your in-depth evaluation of the short film you have chosen.

    I’ve chosen the short film about the very nice senior gentleman who has learnt to read motivated by his pride for his son’s success as a writer.

    I think is a great choice.

    Having carefully considered all the four hereby required aspects, and although the spoken or even the written/printed language isn’t difficult, there are lots of information we the viewers can infer from every camera shot, every detail, no matter how small, the music, the setting, even from the antecipation we sense of what is to come.

    You’re absolutely right that there’s very little language and a huge amount of rich visual support.

    I’d use this short video with my older students (aged between 18 and 20) who are will soon be finishing their vocational courses. In general they are above B1 or B1+ level and some are B2, B2+ and a few very close to C1, so I believe they would feel comfortable speaking, offering suggestions, answering questions or participating in the debates.

    The short film would very well with this age group and level.

    I’ve also chosen this short video, exactly because it’s very relevant for my students right now as we are talking and working round the subject of ethics and values, both on a personal and a professional perspective. So it couldn’t be more suitable and more interesting than that. All values such as, motivation, perseverance, resilience, empathy, friendship, teamwork, love, willingness, trust and also sense of belonging and pride.

    This makes perfect sense. The short film can easily be exploited for the teacher to work on values.

    And the huge potential: for one starting with predicting who the people are or what the students think will happen next, just by showing the first scene and ask; or what had led to that particular moment, what’s the story; or how would the life of that person might change (after students had seen the full short video). Then there are discussions, debates about how the video made them feel, who was telling us the story, through what means (using 3Cs and 3Ss frame).

    Yes, this short film does have huge task potential.

    The writing potential is also huge as I could ask students to: image the letter this older gentleman would write to his younger self telling about his new found happiness; or what would he say on a video he would record to motivate young people to study; a short multimodal video his now famous son would record to tell his family about their grandfather.

    I love these ideas for using the film as a prompt for writing activities. Excellent!

    Thanks again for your excellent comments, Maria LuĂ­sa.

    All the best,

    Kieran

    Kieran
    Keymaster

    Hi Maria LuĂ­sa,

    Thanks very much for your great analysis of the 7-Stage Film-making Framework.

    The 7-Stage Film-making Framework could totally work with my students.

    Great to know you think the framework would work with your students 🙂

    I’m especially thinking of my Arts and Theatre Class (B1, B1+, B2, B2+, C1) because they are very creative, imaginative and always looking forward to different activities.

    This profile of students would probably enjoy working with the framework.

    Having said that, I also believe that with proper guidance, according to the framework and following it to the ‘t’, I could also use it with my other students.

    I agree. I think the framework can be used with most student/group profiles.

    Probably the only problem I forsee (since the great majority of them know how to use the facilities of their devices or are very fast learners): my students are all attending a vocational course, which means they are long hours at school, having therefore not much time to dedicate to the project.
    This 7-stage framework is already very clear, per se.

    This is an excellent point. The biggest obstacle to implementing this framework is the amount of time it requires. However, I would argue that the benefits of the framework in terms of student comprehension and production of language are so great, the amount of time the implementation of the framework takes, is more than justified.

    However, I might set a time limit on the length of the film/video and also give a deadline for the work to be handed in.

    I really like this. I think this ‘limit’ and deadline are necessary for the success of the framework.

    Thanks again for your great analysis, Maria LuĂ­sa.

    All the best,

    Kieran

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