Using videos in Classroom Is a good idea and it will make the lessons very intersting for the students.But in my case(Kosova)it still doesnt function because of the lack of technology in primary schools. But maybe in future, hopefully, it will function!

For sure it will be like that.
How about using a DVD player to show videos?

Hi everyone!
I can´t watch the YouTube videos you´ve posted in the blog :-(
In any case, I think they are a great reource for teachers. It allows many possibilities to the language classroom and students love them. Furthermore, with the Internet they are available to everybody so we don´t have to worry anymore about lack of audiovisual material!Great.
dublinro (Dara Rodríguez)
PS: I posted comment nº5 in the "goals and objectives" discussion but forgot to sign it!

I totally agree with Dara. Videos are a great resource for teachers and a great motivation for students!

By the way, links to the videos can be found in the different weekly plans posted in our session wiki.
;)

If you have access to video in your classroom I think it's a wonderful tool. Watching a video in its entirety is one possibility but not the only and probably not the best. A short section of video can be used to introduce a topic, drill new language, tie up a lesson or give examples of language in context. The important thing is how the teacher uses the video to meet the aim.
Both videos posted for Week 2 were interesting and provided food for thought. As teachers I think it's important that we put ourselves in our students' places and think not only about what we want them to achieve but what they want to achieve. If we let the students become more involved in their learning process, they are more likely to stay motivated.

That last comment (number 5) was mine by the way. Forgot to sign it! Micaela

For me, planning is the attitude that a teacher takes to be successful in teaching. He/she looks at his/her students as the main reason of the situation. So, It matters the needs of the students and not the needs of the teacher or institution. Thanks.

Sorry,
The comment number 7 was written by Cleusa Bastos Cirqueira Sousa.
I've forgotten to mention my name.
Thanks.

"A Vision of Today's Students" was absolutely sobering! I have friends in their 20s who graduated from college recently, so I was aware of the shifts in classroom culture since I was at school (in the late 80s/early 90s). I have been thinking about many of these issues as my own children are 11 and 12 and living with all the issues the students in the video describe.
One comment: I notice how many of the students in the video are white. One thing that does not get discussed nearly enough, to my mind, is the growing technological divide (between the haves and the have-nots). How different is adulthood for those students who do NOT have the same access to technology as do the students in the video?
Gina

The message I got from the video clip was: We, the students, are overwhelmed by the amount of information we have to absorb daily - at school, from books, e-mails, Facwebook, work, etc. We don't sleep enough, we feel most of our teachers don't know us and don't care about our problems or what's relevant to our lives. Schools and universities are outdated - the system is exactly as it used to be in the 19th century, complete with chalkboards... School hasn't reached the 21st century. For example, we have laptops, but we don't work with them in class.

I agree with the message - I've felt like that for the last 10 years, but I don't see how I can make a change. There's very little use of advanced technology in Israeli classrooms because of annual budget cuts. It's very frustrating. At least we have whiteboards now...

Of course, video clips can create more interest in lessons and bring about social interaction. However, when there's only one TV + DVD per school, the logistics are too difficult. We do have a computer lab with 20 slow computers. Watching a clip there would be very frustrating, since the downloading time takes forever. Therefore, until the government allots more money to school equipment, I'll have to make do with the whiteboard and paper materials.

Message 10 is from Nira - forgot to sign.
By the way, I'm sorry if I sound so frustrated - I guess I'm quite burned out...

Re: The Selfless Teacher
I liked it very much. It has some special mood. Evokes emotions. I see my major tasks (as an English teacher) to: 1. broaden students background (they should understand the "variety" of the world so to say) 2. waken their inner necessity for self-study 3. help them to master their English (Interm -Advanced.).
Sorry for typos.

Olga (olga_tyuleneva)

Hi there,
I managed to locate the videos. I am so proud of myself!! Learning by doing, eh?
The film about today's students in a vast lecture hall makes me happy that my school is 'hands on', where our students work in our 'hotel' kitchen, in dining room service, experience cleaning procedures as well as doing classroom theory learning.

On the other hand, it seems that technology has taken on the role of entertainment in the learning environment. I sas the students using Facebook/computer games/ mobile phones and whatever else during lectures. They take all their gear to school knowing that they are not going to use it in class, except as a distraction. If we were to remove all this hardware and focus on the lecturer, might the lessons not be more interesting? Is it schools or is it students that make learning dull?

I personally learned by writing up notes made in class, asking questions, getting answers, gathering extra information (I don't mean by swallowing 8 huge volumes in one term) and linking the information in my mind to make one big picture of the subject.

The other film, The Selfless Teacher seems to suggest that personal contact and interaction is the way forward. This
kind of teacher picks up the class atmosphere and reacts to it by using different teaching methods.

I hate to tell you all, but my half-century is behind me.... doubtlessly, I am hopelessly old-fashioned, but I can't help but think that we tend to rely on modern technology too much these days. We - teachers and students - need to go back to our roots. This is rich, coming from someone trying to do an online course, but it is in my spare time and is not interfering with my participation in a classroom.

To sum up: the films seem to suggest that learning is not necessarly having access to expensive equipment in class, but to have a motivated, sympathetic, interested person to motivate and guide.

I sincerely hope that I fulfil the criteria otherwise I have wasted a good part of my half century.

Regards,

Alison

Hi there,
I managed to locate the videos. I am so proud of myself!! Learning by doing, eh?
The film about today's students in a vast lecture hall makes me happy that my school is 'hands on', where our students work in our 'hotel' kitchen, in dining room service, experience cleaning procedures as well as doing classroom theory learning.

On the other hand, it seems that technology has taken on the role of entertainment in the learning environment. I saw the students using Facebook/computer games/ mobile phones and whatever else during lectures. They take all their gear to school knowing that they are not going to use it in class, except as a distraction. If we were to remove all this hardware and focus on the lecturer, might the lessons not be more interesting? Is it schools or is it students that make learning dull?

I personally learned by writing up notes made in class, asking questions, getting answers, gathering extra information (I don't mean by swallowing 8 huge volumes in one term) and linking the information in my mind to make one big picture of the subject.

The other film, The Selfless Teacher seems to suggest that personal contact and interaction is the way forward. This
kind of teacher picks up the class atmosphere and reacts to it by using different teaching methods.

I hate to tell you all, but my half-century is behind me.... doubtlessly, I am hopelessly old-fashioned, but I can't help but think that we tend to rely on modern technology too much these days. We - teachers and students - need to go back to our roots. This is rich, coming from someone trying to do an online course, but it is in my spare time and is not interfering with my participation in a classroom.

To sum up: the films seem to suggest that learning is not necessarly having access to expensive equipment in class, but to have a motivated, sympathetic, interested person to motivate and guide.

I sincerely hope that I fulfil the criteria otherwise I have wasted a good part of my half century.

Regards,

Alison

ooops, (quote Britney Spears) I did it again; sorry, managed to post my message not just once but twice.

Alison

I agree with Alison in that we focus too much on the technology sometimes and not enough on the learning aspect. It's good to try new approaches to learning and finding out more effective ways to use technology is wonderful but a balance is needed. Students should be learning how to learn and appreciating knowledge for its own sake, not just for the entertainment value.

Has anyone heard of the 'Dogme movement' going on in EFL? It seems that there are teachers going back to basics, using paper and pen in their lessons in order to take the focus off technology and put it back on learning. The name comes from a series of films that use very few special effects.

About the first video with the comments made by University students. Gina mentioned that most of them are white. As I was watching the video, I noticed that as well. I also think that their comments are valid for a specific group and can't readily be applied to students all over the world. Most of the world doesn't bring a laptop to class with them.
Although the video is directed towards the needs of a certain group, I think its general message is important in that students' needs often go unnoticed as they are overshadowed by the needs of Administration, the teacher and even society. Something to think about as we plan our lessons...
Micaela

Hi everbody
The first video may be about a special group but I think it tells an important message which that 21century are different. there is a technological gap between us and our students.I feel this in the way I see my student using their mobiles I use mine just for talking and sending messages but they do amazing things with theirs. Introducing videos in my teaching is going to make my student very motivated and less critical.
hala salih

I like using videos in the classroom. I especially use the videos that come with the textbook. They serve as introduction to topics or as reinforcement for listening and speaking. There are also several techniques that one can use to exploit the advantages of using videos in the classroom. For ex: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/resources/video_young2.shtml
It’s amazing how a video can trigger a debate in class, students get so involved and motivated.
As for the two videos in the wiki, well they strongly point out the importance of having in mind the students who we are going to teach. A good teacher then is also a good listener an observer. One who is paying attention to those signs students send, signs which can guide us on planning the next lesson.
Carolina Lapointe

I do agree with Caroline about the two features of a good teacher.
The students' video made me a little sad, reminding me of "We don't need no education..." slogans. I mean, the formal one, provided by institutions or in a more traditional way. I've been a teacher quite a long time and I like my job. But, frankly, I'm tired of ridiculing teachers and their methods everywhere.
The selfless teacher seems to be a remedy but what to do with our "selves" then? Should we leave them in the staff room before we go to the clasroom? Don't you remember teachers form your own school days that remained themselves and yet were effective, friendly, flexible, cooperative etc.?
Ewa Schramm

Hi to all,

I agree too with Carolina and Ewa about the importance of listening and observing.
In the”Vision of Students today”, I could observe that students profile and needs are changing. Besides the use of technology and their demand for personal attention, what caught my attention is their having to be multi-taskers and to be prepared for a job that doesn’t exist yet. I don’t believe it’s specific to their group, though: older managers now perform what used to be secretaries’ job, 20 years ago very few knew about nanotechnology, language teachers didn’t need to know about technology or what geography teachers were doing because multidisciplinarity wasn’t considered, and so on. Being a good observer is essential for us, teachers, to be able to anticipate what skills and competences they will need and, as the “Selfless Teacher” states it, to teach students how to learn and not just know, how to think and not just repeat.

However I disagree with the “forget about proven teaching methods”; on the contrary, we should learn from what was going wrong with them and remember what they were working for to build up new and eclectic strategies adapted to the multiplicity of the new learners. Just like teachers have been doing for a long long time if we recall this teacher from 1967 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQwGtJakBt0
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aSFoY3W3NM

About the use of videos in the classroom, it’s the old proverb: a picture is worth a thousand words.

Using videos in the classroom means bringing authentic language to our students, bringing a link with out-of-class life and the applications of what we are learning / teaching in-class, bringing cross-cultural references..

Whatever the support (DVD, YouTube, etc) and the type (movie, music video, PowerPoint, information, etc.) they are a great tool if they serve a purpose at any moment of the class. We just need to be careful that they serve the learners and are not just a gadget to please an audience.
Then again, we come to the great difference Gina mentioned between the haves and have-nots.

Looking forward to reading more from you.

Cheers,

Béatrice H. Alves

Beatrice, I agree with you. One picture does indeed say a thousand words, but the students in the lecture hall had a thousand pictures and not a word to say. They were all busy 'doing their own thing'. What conclusions can we draw from that? Had a film been running up front instead of a teacher, would they have paid more attention?
Alison R.

This is certainly a very interesting conversation. I LOVE the idea of using videos in class, but I do not do so very often. Actually, in my course there is a specific course for Audio Visual. I am occasionally dumbfounded at the way it is taught. (I have never observed a class) but it seems that basically it is a listening gapfill class with video added in. To me this, seems a bit like the use of technology is far beyond the use of sound teaching techniques.

I was especially interested in the "Vision of today's students" video. I am not saying that we need to conduct class on facebook, but I think that teachers can better utilize technology to help their students.

Micaela asked about the Dogme movement in ESL. I think there are definitely some interesting ideas there. There is a yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dogme/
They also tend to argue against lesson plans, which is food for thought as well.


BTW, Alison you cannot be too old fashioned if you are quoting Brittney Spears.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Mike

Hi everyone...moving right along, I see that the comments are of two directions, one, the use of video in the classroom and , two, comments about the videos presented. As for using video in the classroom, I think it can be a great resource, as others have pointed out.
As to the point of the videos given, I see that I am quite on the same wavelength as Alison...and the following i wrote BEFORE I read the comments above.
* * * *
I watched the two videos, and thought i'd like to comment.
The best thing about them was the music...especially the selfless teacher (Yani!!!) I will probably listen to it again, just to hear the music.

Anyways. 1) Describing our working situation.
What is the point of the video? My understanding is that the point is that frontal instruction is not relevant today to today's university students. But much of the time, i was thinking...what would be better? Are the students COMPLAINING that they are not being given the best that they can get? Yet they admit that they are lucky. They own laptops that cost more than the net income of many people in the world. WHy DO they bring their laptop to a lecture and then use it to FACEBOOK instead of listening to their professor? Why DO they spend 3.5 hours on the TV and only 2 hours studying? Who is to blame? The teacher? The system? Why don't the students TAKE the blame and smarten up and apply themselves to their lectures? Are they complaining that the classes are too large and impersonal? What is a better solution? Smaller universities? Perhaps. Except that then tuition fees will multiply!
One commented that when they graduate, they will get a job that isn't in existance today. But what about doctors, dentists, engineers, vets, and all the other professions that ARE and will be around. And what to they want, to be taught for a profession that isn't around yet? I don't get it...when they get to the job, they will learn what they have to. At least they are getting the background, if they would close the facebook and listen.

Enough for that one...I would be interested to know if others shared my opinion, or if I am perhaps totallly offbase.

As for the selfless teacher....ahhhhh....oh to be such a perfect teacher! All in all, it was inspiring, actually! I wonder: am I enthusiastic, passionate, fair 100% of the time, knowledgeable, warm , caring, approachable, well-prepared, with a sense of humor all the time? I can see it possible to those who teach privately and small groups. But, oh, to be able to have a classload of 35-40 kids, and to be able to design individual instruction and a personalized lesson plan for each and every one? To be able to become involved with each and every one of our students, and understand their needs, their fears, their problems, their hopes, their goals?
But a "selfless" teacher also has (perhaps) her own kids, her own husband/wife, parents, a house to keep, etc etc. It is an impossible goal...
"Selfless" is an ideal. And again..that music...great!

Linda

I think I agree with what the video presenter said at the end: that there are many ways of instructing but sometimes Direct Instruction seems more efficient. I have only two hours a week with my classes and in the Teens classes we have a lot of material to cover for the Tests. I try to vary the methods I use to keep them interested and motivated but I often use Direct Instruction, especially when dealing with new grammar topics. They seem comfortable with this method as it's the way they're taught at school and I'm comfortable introducing topics that way. Maybe it's old-fashioned but it seems to work. After introducing the topic I usually use a mixture of other methods- Cooperative, Brain-storming, Discussion, etc. It all depends on what we're doing that day or at that stage of the lesson. Micaela

Just to be clear- that last comment was about the Direct Instruction video series.
Micaela

Hello, Alison back again...
I have also watched the 2 week-5 videos. Direct teaching seems to me to be mainly common sense. I didn't know that common sense now had an official title.

The other video was the one about using the internet for teaching. it was only written screens, not a real 'video'. Yes, I'm back on my hobby-horse - old fashioned me, why do students need a screen when they can have a teacher, what is taught better electronically than personally etc etc.

Maybe, for other subjects (history, geography, politics, whatever) being taught to a mono-lingual class who have no problems understanding core information, instructions, related links etc. because they are all in their own language, then there is definitely a use; however, my students -many of whom are Chinese just now - have great trouble just following instructions, navigating the Western World's net, and what they really, really need, is spur-of-the-moment help and vocabulary, pronunciation patterns to help listening and speaking and the confidence to go and speak, and so I don't think I could offer all this on-line.

Then, as some of my lessons are only 45 minutes and none of our classrooms are (as yet) fitted with instant computer equipment, e.g. a beamer (what is that word in real English, by the way?) then by the time I have lugged everything to a classroom and set it all up I can get maybe 25 minutes use before the bell rings.

Their course book has a CD ROM which is really nice but they don't seem to want to use that, although they can, any time. ......

...sorry I wasn't finished when I ran out of page!

I just wanted to say that I feel that I, as a teacher, (and all of you reading this) am/are still irreplaceable, I /we fill a need and no screen is going to take that privilege away from me/us. Don't be lured into thinking that because it's on screen it must be better. Different yes, but not better.

ok. finished now. Thanks for bearing with me!

Cheers

Alison