GETTING teenagers to speak English can be a challenge to many teachers. One way is to provide a context for real and meaningful communication. Deborah Bullock, an English teacher who works for The British Council in Ukraine, examines how a video recording project can stimulate students'motivation by providing such a context.
The project offers students many benefits: the opportunity for learners to communicate in a real and meaningful way about their interests; the opportunity to use a wide range of skills and language; a change from "routine" class work.
In Bullock's class, she divides the project into three stages: preparation, rehearsal and performance.
First, in small groups the students brainstorm different aspects of a specific topic, such as "Life in Ukraine". Bullock puts all these ideas on the board in the form of a spidergram. In pairs, students then choose the idea which interests them most and think about what they want to include in their presentation and make notes. The students then decide how they will present their information, as a question/answer session, for example, as a dialogue or simple presentation.
Second, the students rehearse in pairs and time themselves. Then they rehearse with different pairs and give each other feedback. Bullock monitors throughout and notes any hindrances to effective communication such as pronunciation difficulties, intonation and misuse of vocabulary or grammar.
Finally, Bullock sets up the video camera in a quiet room prior to the class. When she records the students in pairs, she tells them that she will only record them once. If they make a mistake they should just carry on. Naturally, the students want to watch themselves afterwards but Bullock encourages them to focus on the positive aspects.
There are some tips for a video recording project. Ensure audio quality and clarity. If the students cannot hear or understand each other, they become frustrated or uninterested. Encourage a variety of presentation techniques such as interview or role-play and the use of interesting props (since video is primarily a visual medium). Discourage the reading of texts while filming. Similarly, discourage memorization as this leads to unnatural speech.
