using video

I have been doing a lot of what I call "sight and sound" stuff recently. Basically it involves playing part of a film to students (sound only, the screen is turned around or darkened) and asking them to guess what is happening. Then students watch the film (with sound and image) and talk about their guesses.

If a student has seen the film then they become the teacher and answer any of the questions the others have. Simple but fun.


Alternatively, half the class watch the extract (but with no sound) and the other half just listen (no image) and then in pairs student discuss what they think is happening. I think this works best with more obscure or older films that the students are less likely to have seen. I did it with a scene from the start of Before Sunrise.

As we don't have access to a tv and dvd/video in the classrooms I took my ibook and "appropriated" the speakers from the secretary's pc (she never uses them anyway).

Actually, these ideas come from Video by Richard Cooper, Mike Lavery and Mario Rinvolucri published by OUP. I just looked at the Amazon link and it's a pretty hefty price for a slim paperback. Just as well I managed to get a photocopied version. Still, it's got looks of ideas making videos in class as well. (see previous posts).