IES en Lenguas Vivas JRF Teacher Training Course

Materials Design Guided by Ma. Laura Garca

Assignment #8: Videotelling According to Jamie Kiddie, videotelling is a door to natural communication, essential to language acquisition. It is the means not to reach for the play button too soon. This technique is used when introducing a video clip to students, as a pre-watching stage, and it combines the narrative elements of storytelling with narrative details of the clip, prior to screening the extract. It is a way to engage the audience and to have the students develop some empathy with and some insight into the topic/situation/characters of the video. After watching Kiddie himself introducing a Dont drink and Drive campaign by using the technique of videotelling, Im not too sure if I would use this method in my lessons. At least, I would not be as thorough as he was when introducing this clip. Although it is an interesting dialogue and an enriching communicative experience the one he develops prior to screening the clip, it creates certain expectancy among the audience that is not fulfilled when watching the ad. He plunges into certain details that are somewhat irrelevant to the overall meaning of the clip as the clothes the main character is wearing-, and he anticipates too many details, bringing down all types of surprise at the time he creates false expectations. Whenever I have my students watch a video, there is a pre-watching stage in which certain aspects are anticipated and certain issues are previously dealt with. Vocabulary items necessary to understand the clip are revised, certain situations are exemplified in order to have the students develop some empathy with the characters, and prediction on what the video might be about is elicited. However, narrative details or the sequence of events are not usually tackled, so as not to give the video away! With very young learners or beginner students some narrative details might be provided beforehand, but I believe it is best to have them watch the clip first and work on the narrative together, letting them account for what they have understood. As a classmate mentioned last class, I would have some videotelling stage after watching the video, not before. If I had to use this technique as a pre-watching activity, I would work with videos in which, regardless the sequence of events or the events themselves, the message of the clip would allow for further reflection and discussing of ideas. That is to say that I would choose videos in which the plot itself is not a very complex or intricate one, but the message of the video is deep and profound i.e. a moral. If I had to think of my five-year-old students, I would choose fables and I would base the videotelling on describing the characters and certain feelings or situations in the story, so that the post-watching activity is based only on working on the moral rather than on the narrative description of the video (of course, I would still check understanding of the plot). As post-watching activities, there are some fun activities that can be adapted to any level of students. The top five activities I would work with are1: 1. Complete the timeline (p. 35): working on sequencing of events. 2. Eyewitness (p. 38): working on narrative description. 3. Hidden Meanings (p. 39): working on the moral of a story. 4. Images and Sounds (p. 41): working on feelings and reactions. 5. Point of View (p. 46): retelling the story from a different point of view/characters experience.
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Activities selected from the Oxford book Film, from the series Resource Books for Teacher. Authors: Susan Stempleski and Barry Tomalin.

Assignment #8

LEONARD, Paula Ma. (ID# 32151356)