Teaching with video

Focus for = Viewing

A Engage students’ viewing attention by having them watch for specific

information.

B Give students a task to be completed during or aft= er the video segment

is shown.

C Check to see if students completed the task succes= sfully.

III. Viewi= ng Activities

A Keep lights on and watch the program with your students.

B Segment the viewing of the program. Stop the video= and ask key

questions to stimulate on-the-spot discussions and critical

thinking. Example: Based on what you have seen so far, what do

you think will happen next?

C Consider showing the video without sound. Narrate = the program

or ask a student to do so.

D Darken the screen and use only the audio component= .

E Show brief clips. Only a 30-second image might be necessary.

IV. Post-V= iewing Activities

A Discuss the program.

B Recognize diverse reactions. Help students relate = the program to

their own feelings and experiences.=

C Connect the program to prior or anticipated classwork.

D Introduce extension activities, such as:

• the Internet (World Wide We= b, e-mail, etc.) to research, communicate,

collaborate, download resources, and publish

• creative writing=

• long-term projects

• role-playing

• art projects

• video productions

• visits from experts

Teaching with video: Some Techniques

>Silent viewing activities

Silent viewing means turni= ng off the sound on the TV or monitor and making use of the visuals on their own. This is most easily accomplished with the MUTE control (see above). Silent viewing will be a PREDICTION technique when students are viewing for the first time, and a REPRODUCTION technique when they have already seen and heard the section being used for silent viewing.

a) Prediction

Students can talk about EV= ENTS ( What's happening on the screen?) or DIALOGUE (What are they saying?)=

They will be able to predi= ct dialogue, i.e. guess what people are saying, throughout the course.<= /o:p>

b) Reproduction

Reproduction (or ‘retelling’) can also be divided into REPRODUCTION OF DIALOGUE and REPRODUCTION OF EVENTS. Reproduction of dialogue might be most effect= ive where there are useful formulas, fixed expressions and points of intonati= on or pronunciation. Reproduction of events tends to focus on narrative tens= es, and on sequences.

c) Random sound down (Close listening)

This may be done at any ti= me, but is particularly suitable when viewing the whole episode again. Turn the s= ound down or mute the sound at random intervals asking students to fill in the missing dialogue.

>Sound only activities

You can play a section of = one of the videos with the picture turned off so that they hear the dialogue but= are unable to see the action. This can be done by using the brightness contro= ls on the television, by unplugging the picture connectors (BNC or yellow phono leads, on sets where sound and picture have separate leads) or most simply by placing something in front of the scree= n, such as a jacket or a sheet of cardboard.

Students can be asked eith= er to predict what is happening visually, or to use the dialogue as a memory sp= ur to recall what happened visually.

See 'Random Sound Down' ab= ove. A parallel activity can also be done by obscuring the picture with card at random intervals.

>Freeze framing (still picture) activities

Freeze framing means stopp= ing the picture, using the FREEZE FRAME, STILL or PAUSE (II or > I &= lt;) control.

FRAME ADVANCE or STILL ADV= ANCE is a very useful control found on some modern machines, moving the still pic= ture forward one frame at a time. It can be used to explore the nuances of an event or of a facial reaction.

a) Prediction (What next?)

Prediction occurs when fre= eze framing is used during the initial viewing of a section. You can freeze f= rame and ask about either EVENTS (What's going to happen?) or DIALOGUE = (What are they saying? / What are they going to say next? ). See Silent Vie= wing above.

b) Reproduction

When students have already= seen a section, they will be using memory to reproduce either what is being said= , or to describe what is happening, or what has just happened.

c) Using the background

Video contains 25 pictures= per second (or 30 in NTSC areas), and there is a wealth of detail in the background of the pictures which can be exploited by freeze framing. Teachers can often find something new even when they have done a particular lesson many times. The background also gives access to material about British life and culture.<= o:p>

One of the main differences between videos designed for educational broadcast and videos designed for classroom use lies in the presumption of the teacher's ability to use fre= eze frame to explore and exploit background detail. The camera does not need = to linger on things in the background, they can always be singled out later = with the freeze frame control.

d) Thoughts and emotions

Video gives us an addition= al dimension of information about characters' body language, facial expressi= ons, gesture, stance, reaction and response. This information can be exploited= in the classroom. Freeze frame and ask about feelings and emotions. In some activities Students can deduce further information about the characters, based on what they have picked up from the video, but requiring the use of their imagination.

>Paired Viewing Activities

Paired activities take mor= e effort in setting up, but the results justify the trouble.

a) Description

In this activity one stude= nt in each pair turns their back to the screen. The other student faces the scr= een, and the video is played silently. The student who can see the screen describes what they can see to their partner.

Both students will wish to= hear the dialogue later.

The 'passive' student in e= ach pair will be motivated to see what they have missed as well! It is worth making sure that the partners swop roles, or that the activity is done twice, with different sections so that each partner gets= a chance to perform the 'active' role.

b) Narration=

This is more difficult to organise, as it involves sending half the class out of the room while the remaining half watch a section of a video. When they return they are told about the video in pairs by those who saw it. (See the note above about <= span class=3DSpellE>swopping roles.) In school situations, this can be = done by team teaching, and working with two parallel classes at the same time.=

c) Split class: Description / Narration

Half the class is sent out= . The remainder watch a section silently. Then the two halves swop places. The ones that were outside now listen to the same section with the picture covered (see: Sound only, above.) The students are then paired of= f. One student in each pair has SEEN the video, but hasn't heard the dialogu= e. The other student has only HEARD the dialogue. They work together to piece the story together.

In all of these activities= , the sixth page of each video unit, Tell the Story, can be used as a prompt.

>Role plays

Students can be asked to r= ole play sequences they have seen in any videos.

We have found it more inte= resting to get them to role play things which are NOT seen in the video, but which they can guess from having seen the video.

>The video classroom

We have found that m= ost video equipment in schools is linked to TV sets or monitors by the simple= st method, using the aerial sockets. This is a pity when most modern equipme= nt has either separate video (BNC or YELLOW PHONO) and audio sockets (RED AND WHITE PHONO or DIN), or in much of Europe, a 21 pin SCART connector, or (with Hi-Band machines, such as S-VHS machines) special S-VHS connectors for picture.

The use of these connectio= ns should almost always bring about a significant improvement in both picture and audio quality, try it! See the manufacturer's handbooks for your equipment. A copy of these should be kept with the equipment in case of problems. Incidentally, the most common difficulty we have found is that = many of the latest TV sets revert to Channel 1 when they are switched off, oft= en making it necessary to reselect the video channel. This does not matter w= hen the VCR is connected by means of a SCART connector.

Another common irritation = is noise, and white lines on the blank screen when the VCR is stopped. This = can be eliminated by selecting LINE or AV on the VCR rather than TUNER. There wi= ll then be no need to switch the television off between activities.

<= o:p>