Digital Video

vickycuartin55@gmail.
com 13 May 2018
DIGITAL VIDEO -
A MANUAL FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS
THE DIGITAL CLASSROOMS

SERIES
BY NIK PEACHEY
vickycuartin55@gmail.com 13 May 2018
DIGITAL VIDEO
The digital classrooms series
By Nik Peachey
Published by Peachey Publications
http://peacheypublications.com/
ISBN: 978-0-9933031-2-8
Copyright © Nik Peachey 2015
The text of this book and the video content are the property of
Nik Peachey.
1
DEDICATION
Many people have had a hand in making this book a reality, but
none more than my wife and two daughters.
I'd like to thank my wife Maria for always believing in me (even

when I didn't believe in myself) and for putting up with me
'working on the book' when we could have been spending time
together.
I'd like to thank my daughters Isabella and Molly for constantly

inspiring me with the joy of their learning and allowing me the
privilege of being part of that experience.
ii
FOREWORD
I feel honored to write the foreword to Nik Peachey’s book Digital this book is the incredible number of practical ideas that Nik
Video. Firstly, because Nik has been an inspiration to me for many outlines.
years since I first started reading his blog back in 2007, literally from
Learning to use technologies can be difficult but thinking of
the day he started it. Secondly, It deals with a topic that is very close
creative ideas to really exploit the affordances of video is equally
to my own interests and one that can offer so much to language
challenging. I think Nik does a great job of that with clear step by
teachers and language learners.
step instructions on how to set up and execute his ideas. The
The book is packed with ideas for how to use video in our teaching ideas put language learning at the heart of everything he
and learning as well as guides, tips and learning material to help suggests we do with video and you will see that throughout the
teachers get their heads around the technology. What I particularly book.
like is the way he has managed to link the uses of technology to a
A huge amount of work has gone into this book and it will be an
whole range of approaches to learning and learning theories.
excellent resource for any teacher or trainer hoping to learn more
Whether it is Task Based Learning, CLIL or even the Flipped
about the video technologies that are available to us and the
Classroom, he has done an excellent job of outlining different
ways that we can exploit them. I have already noted down a few
approaches and demonstrating how video can play a role.
new ideas and technologies.
Looking through the pages, you will see that Nik deals with a whole
Russell Stannard
range of video technologies. Whether you are using a mobile, a tablet
or a computer, there is a whole range of technologies that you can Educational Director www.teachertrainingvideos.com
dip into. It has always amazed me how in-depth Nik’s knowledge of
technology is and I have picked his brains on many occasions when
looking for new technologies. However, what really strikes me about
iii
PIRACY
This book is not the product of a large company. I depend on the

proceeds from the book so that I can produce more work like this and
so that I can feed my family and send my daughters to college.
When you download or share this book illegally without paying for it
you are stealing from me and my family.
If you have downloaded this book illegally and haven’t paid for it,
please do the right thing and go buy a copy at iBook Store: https://
itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1025275485 or https://www.scribd.com/
doc/276137280/Digital-Video-A-manual-for-language-teachers
If you can’t afford or are unable to buy it then read on in peace and I
hope that it helps you and your students.
Thanks
Nik Peachey
iv
INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives a brief introduction to the book and
how you can use it to develop the way you exploit
digital video both inside and outside the classroom.
In the book I aim to share ways, tools, tips

and ideas to help teachers capture the power
of digital video both inside the
classroom,online and in blended contexts
VIDEO IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
When I first started teaching, more than 20 years ago, access to their own channel on the internet within moments with just their
English language video in most ELT classrooms was extremely mobile phone and a few free apps.
rare, especially for those outside an English speaking country.
Increasing bandwidths and internet connectivity have given
Even less likely was the ability to work with students to produce
teachers and students access to vast online resources of film
video. Video production required expensive cameras,
and video, much of which is available for free. YouTube has now
microphones, a video editing suite and all sorts of equipment
become the biggest video library in human history.
that most schools could only dream of being able to afford.
Access to various free desktop and mobile applications has
Today the situation is very different. Most teenagers carry round
made synchronous and asynchronous face-to-face video
with them in their pocket the ability to create, edit and broadcast
communication across continents possible for many people and
high quality video, mix it with images and text and publish it to
6
these kinds of applications are becoming a staple of business and even alarming and disturbing images and videos is never
communications within large international companies. far away. Just a few quick clicks on the wrong part of the
computer screen can take our students to gross images of a
All of these innovations have fundamentally changed the way
sexual or violent nature.
we communicate, create and consume digital media and have
opened up new opportunities for educational development. In These facts, disturbing as they may be are not reasons to
fact I would go further and say that they have created new remove access to the tools of video creation and consumption
necessities for our students’ educational development, because from the educational space. Quite the opposite. It is this
they have redefined what it means to be a literate citizen in the complex, contradictory and potentially dangerous nature of
modern world. online video that makes it so important that we educate our
students to use it in ways that are educationally enhancing,
Video also has a unique place in the language classroom in that
responsible and empowering.
it has the power to situate language within its natural context
and show students a far greater range of factors which It is for this reason that I have created this book. In the book I
interrelate with communication and impact on it beyond the aim to share ways, tools, tips and ideas to help teachers
actual words that we say. capture the power of digital video both inside the classroom,
online and in blended contexts and to use it to help develop
Of course there are the negative sides to this revolution. We are
students’ communication skills and media literacies so that we
almost constantly under surveillance, not only from the ominous
can help students to realize the full scope of their potential.
powers of government, but from each other. At almost any
moment we can be photographed or filmed and those images
can be shared online and once they are online they can be
almost impossible to remove. Sharing an image or video online
is like throwing feathers in the wind, worse, because each of
those images can be multiplied by the people who view them
and shared and stored in many more places. The potential to
capture images which can be used to embarrass, bully, harass
and humiliate others has never been higher.
This isn’t the only negative aspect of online video, especially for
younger students. The potential to be exposed to unsuitable
7
WHAT'S IN THE BOOK
What's in the book • Chapter 5 Comprehension Activities is a collection of ideas

and suggestions for activities that you can use with your
This book contains ten chapters in addition to this introductory
students to develop their listening and viewing
chapter. The chapters deal with a range of topics related to the
comprehension. Each activity has step by step procedure
exploitation of video for teaching purposes.
outlining how you use the activity with your students as well as
• Chapter 2 Video & Task Design deals with some of the issues suggestions for how to follow up the activities.
involved with selecting an appropriate video to use with your
• Chapter 6 Video as Communication looks at the role of video
students and looks at how you can design tasks and activities
in enabling synchronous and asynchronous online
to encourage your students to engage with the content and
communication. It includes tips and advice on how to make
learn from it.
video communication work effectively.
• Chapter 3 Video Tutorials has a collection of video tutorials to
• Chapter 7 Creating Video looks at some of the approaches to
help you deal with some of the more technical aspects of
getting students to create video and how this can be used to
using video. These tutorials cover a range of subjects from
enhance their language and digital skills.
editing video to creating QR codes and slideshows.
• Chapter 8 Creation Activities is a collection of activities
• Chapter 4 Approaches to Learning takes a look at how you
based around video creation. The activities include step by
can combine the use of video tasks into a more strategic
step procedure and materials that you can use with your
approach to the exploitation of video. It outlines a number of
students and suggestions for follow up activities.
theoretical models and paradigms to help decide how to
structure your course or syllabus.
8
• Chapter 9 Cool Tools & Tips is a collection of video tools with What do you want to do?
illustrated step by step tutorials and suggestions outlining
You can use this guide to quickly navigate the book and find the
ways to use the tools to create language learning activities.
part that you need.
The chapter also contains video tutorials to show you how the
tools work and suggestions for how you can start to make the • I want to learn how to edit video.
tools a part of your regular teaching practice. Go to chapter 3 and look through the tutorials
• Chapter 10 Application Reviews is a collection of short • I want to get my students to create video with their mobile
reviews of other online or mobile based video tools that you phones.
can download or use online for free. The tools enable you to Go to chapter 7 and learn about creating video with your
do a range of tasks from video editing to creating video based students then look at chapter 8 to get some ideas for
quizzes and learning activities. activities.
• Chapter 11 Resource Reviews is a collection of links and • I want to build a task around a video I have found.
reviews of websites where you can find video clips to use in
Go to chapter 2 and look at the tips for designing video
your teaching. These resources are separated into various
tasks, then go to chapter 9 and find a suitable tool to do
categories to make the relevant content easier to find.
this.
• I want to find a good video clip to use with my students.
Go to chapter 11 and browse the various sites that host
reusable video content.
• I want to start using web based video tools in my teaching
Go to chapter 9 and browse the tools and video tutorials.
• I want to create video content for my students.
Go to chapter 7 and look at the tips for creating video
content.
• I want to use video to build an engaging course.
9
Go to chapter 4 and look at the different approaches to How the videos tutorials work
building courses and how you can integrate video into
Two chapters of the book contain video content. These chapters
these.
are Chapter 3 Video Tutorials and Chapter 9 Cool Tools and
• I want some ideas for activities I can use with my Tips.
students.
Although this version of the book is delivered in PDF form you
Go to chapter 5 and browse through the ideas for using can still access the videos that accompany the text. You can do
video with your students. this in two ways:
• You can scan the QR codes on any mobile device that
supports video and watch and listen to them whilst reading.
These video files have been optimized for fast mobile
download.
• You can click the link below the QR code and watch the
videos on the same device that you are using to read the
book. These videos will be delivered in high-definition and so
may take longer to load.
To view the video content you must have an active internet
connection.
10
VIDEO & TASK

DESIGN
This chapter contains information and tips to help you
choose appropriate clips and design tasks around
them.
Finding the right clip and designing activities that will

help students engage with and learn from the content
is fundamental to the exploitation of video materials
CHOOSING A CLIP
One of the first things you need to know to start using video with 2. You can decide what aim you would like to achieve and then
your students is how to choose the right clip or clips to base try to find a clip that will help your students to realize that aim.
your activities around.
Either approach is valid, though the first can be easier,
especially if you know your students well and you know what
Approaches to selecting a clip interests them.
There are two different ways of approaching the selection of an
appropriate clip: Finding a clip that suits your aims can be more complex and
time consuming, but in the longer run you may have a lesson
1. You can select a clip that you think your students would be that you can use with more classes.
interested in, then analyze it and decide on the best way to
exploit it with them.
12
Criteria for selecting a clip Contemporary vs historical - Contemporary clips of modern

life in the target language culture are likely to carry more visually
Here are some tips that you should consider when selecting the
and culturally exploitable value for the students than historical
clip.
dramas. Students are usually learning the language to use it in
Choose interesting content - Choosing a clip because it has the contemporary world. There is though a strong argument for
the right vocabulary or language point may have its value, but using more historical types of video content if students are
your students are much more likely to be engaged if they find studying literature as this can really make literature study come
the content interesting, so finding something that has engaging alive for the students, particularly if they have a different cultural
content can help lead to a far more motivating and successful background.
lesson. Of course if you can find a clip that can do both, so
Humor - Humorous content is great for students, particularly if
much the better.
the humor is visual, but where the humor relies on verbal jokes
Keep it short - It’s better to edit the clip into a number of shorter and cultural references, this can be really challenging for
clips for more lessons and activities than have a long clip that students and can be very demotivating if you constantly have to
may overwhelm the students. Try to keep the length down to stop and explain the joke. So if you want to use humorous
less than 3 minutes unless you have higher level classes who content try to focus on visual humor.
are able to cope with more language input.
Cultural references - Content that contains references to
The visual - The real power of video is in what it can show people, places or things which are specific to the target culture
students and how the visual can be used to contextualize and can be very challenging for students. You cannot assume that
help convey the meaning of language. Keep this in mind when someone who is famous within the target culture is also know to
you select a clip and look for clips that are visually rich in your students. Theses kinds of cultural references can though
contextual information. A talking head shot might give context be very informative, but you have to be aware of the level of
for a lesson on news reporting, but it does little to support the challenge and orientate your tasks towards helping students
students’ understanding of the content, whereas an on the spot deal with these cultural areas.
interview from the scene is much more likely to ‘show’ students
Slang - The authentic nature of language in video clips can
what the clip is about and help them understand the content.
really benefit students, but can also raise the level of challenge,
The visual aspect can also be stimulation for language
particularly if the clips contain a lot of slang and colloquial
exchange and discussion, so your activities don’t just have to
language use. Think carefully about how useful this language
be about listening comprehension.
will be for your students before selecting this kind of clip, and if
Quality - Try to choose a clip that has good visual and audio you do choose something that’s rich in slang, be sure to keep
quality. Students need to be able to see and hear what’s the clip short and the context clear.
happening and blurred visual and audio can be demotivating
Accents - Video offers a great opportunity to broaden our
for them.
students’ exposure to a greater range of voices and accents,
13
but again, this can be very challenging for lower levels. It’s
worth considering how useful exposure to specific accents can
be. In some cases, such as students going to study, live or work
abroad it can be enormously beneficial to expose them to
accents from the area they will be visiting, but in the case of
other accents more specific to smaller regions, this might be
less useful. It’s also worth considering exposing students to
other non native speaker accents as the majority of people who
use English day to day are not native speakers.
14
TASK DESIGN
Most students find video a deeply engaging medium and it is Task setting
increasingly becoming the preferred medium of communication
In the case of video based tasks, it is especially important to
on the internet. Particularly, our younger students and teens are
ensure students have read and understood tasks before they
generally more comfortable extracting information from video
start. If they are trying to read the task while watching then their
than from text. This does not however mean that watching video
attention will be taken away from the visual of the content.
should be interpreted as a task in and of itself. If you really want
Equally, if you set the task after the students watch the video
students to engage with and learn from viewing video you need
clip then they will have no reason to watch and the resulting
to give them tasks which guide, develop and support their
task will be a test of memory rather than understanding, so be
understanding of the content.
sure to assign the task first, make sure students have read and
understood the task and then let them watch the video.
Grading tasks
Even when using short authentic clips with higher levels, it can Pre-viewing tasks
take time for students to process what they are seeing and
There is a range of pre-viewing tasks you can use with students.
adjust to the sounds and range of different accents that the clip
These can range from language work, pre-teaching some of the
may include, so it is wise to have a number of graded tasks,
vocabulary or structures the students might hear in the audio, to
usually 2 - 3 that require the students to watch the clip more
predicting possible content based on images or titles or
times. These tasks can also help to guide them towards a more
learning about the cultural background to the clip.
gradual understanding of the content and provide a structured
approach. Personally, I have mixed feelings about pre-teaching linguistic
items as I feel it detracts from the authenticity of the viewing
experience (You wouldn’t look up all the new words in a film
script before you went to see the film) and undermines the
power of video to convey meaning through context.
15
I generally find that dealing with the linguistic content of the clip framework for understanding linguistic elements in later
is better done as a post-viewing follow up task once the viewings.
students have had the opportunity to firmly establish the context
Tick lists - Providing tick lists as first viewing tasks can be
for the use of the language, hypothesize and attempt to deduce
helpful in that just reading through the list can give students
meaning for themselves.
some ideas about what the structure will be and what will be
Pre-viewing tasks should ideally raise expectations about the happening before they even view the clip. These can be simple
clip and help to activate schemata so that students watch the statements about visual events that students need to confirm. If
clip with some kind of awareness of what they might see. This you use statements in this way then be sure to list them in the
gives them the ability to link it to something similar within their order they appear in the clip. This will make referring back to
first language culture. For example, if students know they are the list while students watch much easier.
going to watch a news report, then they will naturally assume it
will contain certain elements because news clips follow a Second viewing tasks
certain generic structure regardless of language.
Second viewing tasks are an opportunity to dig more deeply
into the language and start to identify deeper meanings and
First viewing tasks establish a deeper level of comprehension.
Generally, first viewing tasks should focus on understanding of
Comprehension questions - Questions are the most commonly
context and ‘gist’. Some possible first viewing tasks could be:
used form of comprehension check and there’s nothing wrong
Silent viewing - This allows students to process the visual with them, but be aware that in most cases the questions are
aspects of the video and hypothesize about a number of factors ‘testing’ comprehension rather than helping to develop it. You
such as relationships, why people are interacting, what they are could think about redesigning your comprehension check
feeling. It also establishes context very clearly and helps questions and trying to make them more reflective. For example,
students to activate their existing knowledge about the kinds of instead of asking, “Did the chicken cross the road?” You could
interactions and language used in such situations. try “Why do you think the chicken crossed the road?” This not
only guides the viewer, but also asks them to think more deeply
Identifying genre - This allows students to create a framework
about causes, etc than simple facts.
for understanding the content. Most genre of video clip have
elements that are common both in terms of content and the way Student generated questions - Getting students to write
they are structured, so building an understanding of this during questions based on their first viewing of the clip can be a really
first viewing tasks can help students predict linguistic content useful task. It helps you and the students to identify what they
and enable them to better understand target items of language. have already understood and what gaps they identify for
themselves.
Ordering events - Having a simple list of visual events which
students put into the correct order can help them to get a clear Graphs and visuals - Asking students to take information from
understanding of the structure of a clip and use this as a a clip and use it to complete some kind of visual can be a useful
16
way of helping to develop comprehension. This could be creating this kind of activity to think about the speed of the
completing a graph of some information, adding events to a dialogue and how long it will take students to write in missing
time line, completing a sketch or even creating their own ‘free’ words. Don’t make too many gaps or put the gaps too close to
sketch. The information in the graphic gives the students each other. Also be aware that in creating the gap you are
something to base their comprehension on and some directing students attention, so it may be better to gap the
impression of what they need to listen for, before they watch the difficult part of an expression, or to use the gap to focus
clip. They can then complete the graphic while or after they students on an item that commonly collocates with a word rather
watch. than the word itself.
Summarizing - Getting students to correct or complete a Differentiation - Activities that get students to differentiate
summary can be a useful comprehension check. The summary between two possible models and decide which one they heard
itself can provide students with a structure to build on and can be useful in helping to focus students on form. This
develop their comprehension. With stronger students you could supports their listening comprehension with a written model and
ask them to take notes and create their own summary of the clip can help to focus them on listening for specific problem areas.
(This could be done in their first language as the focus here isn’t
Correction - Using scripts that contain errors and getting
on the writing skill). You could give them headings to take notes
students to listen and correct errors can help to get them
under first as a way to scaffold this. Getting students to create
listening and making the connection between sounds and
their own summary can be a really useful comprehension
words. Be sure not to add too many errors. A maximum of
check. Often when we create tasks we ‘test’ to see if students
around ten will be enough and space them a reasonable
have understood what we think is significant within the clip, but
distance apart. As with gap fill activities, think carefully about
getting students to create their own summary shows you what
how you use the errors to focus the students’ attention and build
they have understood and what they have decided is significant
their awareness of various linguistic features.
within the clip.
Post viewing follow up tasks
Focus on form
It’s important that any viewing and comprehension work
A third viewing task can be used to focus on form and help
students do is followed by some form of activity to help them
students to identify some specific linguistic features of the
embed what they have learned. Ideally any follow up activities
discourse in the clip and understand how they are used to
you use with students should have one or all of the following
communicate meaning.
characteristics:
Gap fill - This is probably one of the most commonly used types
Personalization - If you have been using the video to introduce
of activity in language teaching and it can be used very
new language then get the students to use the language
productively to focus students on particular language items. If
learned to talk about themselves in some way.
you create a script from the clip, you can easily remove words
from the script to create a gap fill activity. Be careful when
17
If the focus of the activity has been on comprehension of Reading and writing tasks for video
content then get the students share their own experiences of the
In all viewing tasks try to reduce the amount of reading and
topic.
writing the students need to do, especially if the task is being
Reflection - Get the students to share what they learned from done in the classroom where the teacher controls the video
the clip. player.
Ask students what they want to remember from the lesson and Reading and writing take up a lot of students’ attention and it’s
how they intend to ensure that they remember it. particularly hard for students to write at the same time they are
watching. So, if your task involves reading or writing, then make
Get students to discus how useful the learning was to them and
sure they do this between viewings rather than during. The
think about how they can use what they learned in their lives.
exception to this would be EAP students who need to be able to
Extension - If the clip was drama of some sort, you can ask take notes during lectures. However, if this is the case you
students to add additional scene(s) to what they watched. should choose lecture type video materials where the focus on
the visual is very much reduced.
You can ask students to add additional information to what they
discovered in the clip. This could be from their imagination if Also, if the students are working alone and have control of the
this is some kind of drama or if the clip was factual they could pause and play controls on the video, then writing tasks such as
do further research online to discover more about the topic. as note-taking, dictation, scripting or text correction would be
more appropriate because the student will be able to pause or
You can ask students to create imaginary dialogues between rewind the video while they do the tasks.
characters in the video clip. These could be dialogues
discussing what happened and how they felt about it.
Designing online video tasks
Re-contextualization - If your students have been extracting Creating online video tasks, especially if you want to sequence
linguistic items from a clip, give them an activity which requires tasks, can be much more challenging. It’s much harder to
them to use the language in different context. This way they control how students move through the tasks and dealing with
start to understand how broad the use of the linguistic items can student problems and feedback can be more complex. Here
be. If they have been watching a scene in a cafe you then get are some things you need to consider when creating online
them to write a scene in a bank and see how much of the video based tasks.
language is transferable.
Support - When you use activities in the classroom you can
Ask students to use what they have learned in a different give students feedback and support after each task so they
medium. If they watched a news broadcast you could ask them know they have understood and completed one task correctly
to write a newspaper report conveying the same or similar before they move on to the next. When students access the
information. If they watched a dramatic scene from a film you activities online you need to consider how and whether it is
could ask them to write what they saw as a chapter from a book. possible to deliver this same level of support. If you have
18
access to some form of interactive tools for creating questions Pace and control - Once the video is online students can
that give constructive feedback, then it may be possible to add control it, decide when they need to stop and rewind and watch
guidance through the feedback even when students get the again. They have control of the pace of the material and can
answers wrong. adjust it to their needs. This is particularly useful for weaker
students who may struggle to keep up in the classroom.
Control - In the classroom you can control how students move
through the tasks and activities you design, but online this can Support tools - When students are in control of the video they
be more difficult to control. If you don’t have complex authoring can stop to check things and research background information
software it can be hard to stop students from simply clicking using tools such as online dictionaries, Wikipedia or search
through all the tasks and activities without really reading or engines.
engaging with them, so it’s important that at least one of your
Note taking - Students can also take notes much more easily if
tasks requires students to produce something based on their
they are able to stop the video. There are also some great tools
response to the clip.
for note taking on video which you will see later in the book.
Evaluation - If your tasks aren’t built into some form of LMS, it
Review - Students can have access to the video at a later time
can be very difficult to know how well students have done the
and refer back to the video weeks or even months later.
tasks, especially if they compete tasks online for homework. It
can also be difficult to know if they did the tasks themselves or Student autonomy - All of these advantages help the students
whether they had help. This may not be a problem for course to act independently of the teacher, as they help to provide the
materials, but if you are designing an online test it becomes skills they need to take control of their own learning.
much more important.
Distraction - Especially if you are using open content that you
have found rather than content you have created it may be hard
to control elements such as advertising which may appear on or
around the video you want to use. These advertisements are
potentially distracting for students, so if you can find an embed
code and copy it into your own materials this can help to reduce
the potential for distraction. Using an embed code can mask the
advertisements and other distractions around the video.
Some advantages of online tasks

Taking video tasks from the classroom and putting them online
may have some challenges and disadvantages, but there are
also some huge benefits for the student.
19
CULTURE IN VIDEO
One of the major challenges of mastering any language is to things are a part of our communication culture which we can
understand its relationship to the cultural group that uses the often take for granted. Especially for students coming from very
language. Video is a very useful tool for making students aware different cultures, it is very important to be aware of many of
of the target language culture. these factors and video can be one of the most effective means
of teaching this. Silent viewing tasks can be particularly
The three Cs of culture effective for focusing students on these cultural elements.
There are three levels at which teachers should be aware of the
relationship between video and culture: Culture as shared experience - Many films and TV series are
also a part of the target culture and form an element of day to
Portrayals of culture - Although there is a significant difference day discourse within the target language community. Many
between fiction and reality even in the most realistic of television people talk about characters and events within popular soap
dramas, video shows students the target culture in a way that opera as if they were real people, so having a knowledge of this
no other materials can. Watching films and series set within kind of material can help students understand and integrate into
contemporary culture can give students some insights into the the target culture and be a part of the conversations they are
way people relate to and communicate with each other in that likely to hear each day. Designing activities in which students
culture and carry a myriad of insights in to social norms and recount what they have seen in video clips and give their
acceptable behavior. Things as simple as how close together opinions about the characters’ behavior can help students to
people sit when they talk, whether people kiss when they meet, learn this kind of cultural behavior.
the kinds of gestures they make when they speak. All of these
20
References to culture - Many films and TV series contain

references to popular culture within the script, knowledge of
which is essential to fully understand the implications of the text.
As a native British English speaker I can still find some
references within North American films and TV that I don’t
understand, despite growing up with exposure to this kind of
material my whole life. References to and the significance of
things like brand names, famous people or even the lyrics of a
popular song can be very difficult for students to decode.
When designing tasks and choosing clips, teachers need to be

aware of these different ways video and culture interface with
language and cultural knowledge and think about how they can
help students negotiate understanding of these various
elements.
Designing tasks and activities that help students to understand

and giving then greater exposure to cultural elements can be
hugely beneficial, but there are also times when you have to
decide that some clips are just too complex or the level of
explanation demanded is just too much for those clips to make
a useful contribution to our students’ learning.
21
VIDEO TUTORIALS
This chapter contains some tips and basic video
tutorials which show you how to perform a number of
useful technical tasks. Knowing how to do these tasks
should enable you to use the rest of the book in a more
productive way and create engaging video activities
for your students.
HOSTING VIDEO ONLINE
Uploading a video to a hosting service Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer.
MOVIE 3.1 Uploading a video
This video shows you how to upload a video to YouTube. Having a
place where you and your students can upload and share the
videos you create can be incredibly useful.
•It makes it much easier to group and share the videos you use
with your students in one place.
•By having your own hosting service and adding videos there you
can be sure they won’t suddenly disappear.
•You can use this for students to upload their school related
videos and save them from having to find their own hosting.
•You can keep track of and control who accesses the videos.
Rationale for choosing a video hosting service

• Cost - Probably the first thing you are going to think about when
choosing a hosting service for your videos is the price. Most
teachers will be looking for something that is free. That’s perfectly
reasonable, but it may be worth considering paying a small
subscription fee, particularly if you are going to be using your
23
videos in courses on a more commercial model. It may be worth an example video before you start uploading your complete
talking to your school director and seeing if the school will pay for collection.
a hosting service. There are many benefits for the school to
• Sharing features - Find out if and in what form you can share
having a reliable ad-free service where they can brand videos.
your video once it has been uploaded. Check that the site
The school could also use it for promotional purposes to attract
produces an embed code and to what extent you can control
more students.
and customize the embed code. You will need an embed code if
• Ads - If you do decide to go for a free service it’s likely to carry you want to add your video to other web based materials, such
advertisements. Make sure that these aren’t ones that are as courses or digital books.
unsuitable or offensive to your students.
• Access - This in many ways is quite straight forward but very
• Upload and download speeds - Some free services can be important. Check that your students can access the platform you
very slow and uploading a video can take hours, especially if they use. In many countries and schools platforms like YouTube are
also offer a premium service. Create an account and try to blocked, so if you are creating an online course, you need to
upload a video or two before you make a decision about ensure that your students will be able to access the video
choosing your hosting service. You should also check the materials from their country.
download speed.
Video hosting websites include:
• Editing features - Some hosting services like YouTube have a
whole range of features including some built-in editing • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/
functionality. Features can include the ability to trim a clip, add
• TeacherTube: http://www.teachertube.com/
voice over narration and insert images and text. If you want to do
some simple editing and don’t want to have to learn to use a • Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/
more complex editing software, this kind of functionality can be
very useful so it’s worth considering what each site has to offer. • Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/
• Veoh: http://www.veoh.com/
• Privacy controls - Controlling the privacy and who can access
and reuse the content you upload is extremely important, • SchoolTube: http://www.schooltube.com/
especially if you are working with younger learners. Most sites
give you some control over privacy, but the flexibility of these
controls can vary considerably. If you want to limit who your
videos are shared with, then check the privacy controls out with
24
DOWNLOADING VIDEOS
Downloading videos
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
MOVIE 3.2 Downloading a video with KeepVid this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer.
This video shows you how to download a web based video to your
hard drive using a free web based application called KeepVid.
25
Deciding whether to download video

MOVIE 3.3 Downloading a video clip with Peggo
There are many advantages to downloading the videos you want
to use and saving them to your hard drive, especially if you want to
use them in the classroom.
• Connectivity - If you have the video file on your hard drive you
don’t need to worry about the connection in your classroom
dropping during your lesson, so you can be sure the lesson you
have prepared will be useable. The viewing experience of the clip
is also likely to be better as it won’t need to buffer as it
downloads.
• Moving files - Video files on the Internet may well move or

disappear. This can be really annoying, especially if you have
spent a lot of time developing materials around a particular clip. If
it’s on your hard drive you don’t have to worry about this.
• Copyright issues - There are of course copyright issues with

downloading a clip. Strictly speaking, downloading a clip that
doesn’t belong to you is stealing. It may not seem like it,
because the clip is freely available for anyone to watch online,
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click but by taking a clip away from the original page, it’s possible that
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. the creator is loosing revenue from advertising or just loosing the
click through visits to their site which help them to gain financial
This video shows you how you can download a specific segment
support to justify the site’s existence. So think very carefully
of a web based video and save it to your hard drive using Peggo.
before you download a video. If the video is shared under a
Creative Common license, then you may be able to download it
without infringing on the rights of the creator.  
 
This downloading issue also becomes more serious if you then
upload the video to your own server and start using it as part of
26
your course materials. If you plan to do this then it would be wise

to ask for permission. Most people are more than happy to grant
permission for their work to be used in an educational context,
and a simple letter asking for permission can save a lot of
potential bad feeling and possible legal action at a later stage.
Other applications for downloading videos are:
• iDesktop.tv: http://www.idesktop.tv/index.html
• All Video Downloader:http://all-video-

downloader.en.softonic.com/
• Ant: http://www.ant.com/video-downloader
• ClipConverter: http://www.clipconverter.cc/
• MacTubes: http://mactubes.en.softonic.com/mac/
download
• Video Blend: http://www.videoblend.org/mac/
27
EMBEDDING VIDEO
Embedding video Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
MOVIE 3.4 Embedding a video into a blog or webpage
This tutorial show you how to embed an online video into your own
web-based course, blog or webpage.
Using embed codes

Whenever you find an online video that you would like to use with
students, it is always worth trying to find the embed code. Having
an embed code for a video makes it much more useful and
useable.
• Adding an embed code to your materials - An embed code

is a small piece of computer readable code which allows you to
add the video to your own online digital materials. You simply
copy the code and add it to the code of your own page. Using
this code you can add videos to your own online courses and
then build activities around them in the page. It also saves having
to send students to the original page where you found the
videos. This can help keep students on task, stop them from
wandering onto other sites and getting distracted and also stop
28
them from being exposed to any advertising that may appear on

the original site.
• Copyright - Using an embed code helps you to overcome

copyright issues, as it allows you to add the video to your own
online materials without downloading it or taking it from its
original creator. The code enables the video to remain on and
play from its original location whilst still appearing within your
own page.
• Moving files - Using an embed code does not, however,

overcome the problem of files being moved or deleted from their
original location. The embed code doesn’t save the video into
your page, it just sends a command from the user’s computer to
play the video from its original destination, so if the original
version is moved, then your embed code stops working.
• Blocking - Unfortunately if the video you want to embed into

your materials is on a service that is blocked in your school,
embedding the video is unlikely to help with this, as any
reasonably sophisticated blocking system will detect the source
of the clip.
29
MUTING AUDIO
Muting Audio Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
MOVIE 3.5 How to mute the audio track of an online video.
This tutorial shows you how to mute the audio track on a video
clip.
Rationale for muting audio

Muting the audio track on a video can be a very simple way to help
students focus on the visual aspects such as, paralinguistic,
cultural and contextual clues that they can see.
• Conceptual framework - Watching the visual before listening

comprehension activities can provide students with a conceptual
framework to base their listening on. While watching they will be
hypothesizing about what the characters may be saying and
what their relationships might be. When we follow the silent
viewing task with a listening task the cognitive processing they
have to do will be reduced because they will have already
processed some of the information from the visual.
30
SUBTITLES AND ANNOTATIONS
Adding subtitles Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
MOVIE 3.6 Adding subtitles with YouTube
This tutorial shows you how to use the YouTube editor to add
subtitles to your videos.
31
MOVIE 3.7 Adding annotations to a YouTube video • Transcription - You may want to add a transcription of the
script to help support your learners’ listening skills. This may help
them to connect what they are hearing to the actual words.
Especially for lower level learners, speech may just seem like a
continuous stream of sound, but seeing the words may help
them to establish word boundaries and to start separating the
stream of sound into identifiable words. You can also get your
higher level students to transcribe the audio script themselves as
a form of dictation. This can be really challenging, but provides
students with a very goal orientated listening task.
• Subtitles - Having subtitles on a video which translate it into

your learners’ first language can help lower level students to
understand higher level content, but it is questionable as to
whether this really helps them to understand the language.
Reading the subtitles can take the focus away from the actual
sound of the words. If, however, the goal of your activity is to
focus students on some visual or cultural aspect of the video
content and your intention isn’t listening comprehension, then
adding subtitles might make the process more rewarding and
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click engaging for students. As with transcription, giving higher level
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. students the task of listening and translating the script from a
video clip can be very motivating and can make for interesting
This tutorial shows you how to use the YouTube editor to add
discussion when students start to compare different translations.
captions to your videos.
• Annotations - Adding annotations to video clips can enable you
to produce a wide range of different tasks and activities. You can
Rationale for adding subtitles and annotations use them to add a kind of narrative or commentary to a clip, or
you could use them to add the characters’ unspoken thoughts
There are many reasons why you might want to add annotations
and feelings. You could also use the captions to direct students
or subtitles to videos.
attention to particular features of what they are seeing.
32
Other applications for adding subtitles are:
• DotSub: https://dotsub.com/
• Amara: http://www.amara.org
• Subtitle Creator: http://subtitlecreator.sourceforge.net/

SubtitleCreatorHomepage.html
• MySubtitle: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mysubtitle-add-
subtitles-to/id578914169
33
CREATING QR CODES
Creating a QR code for your video Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
MOVIE 3.8 Linking a video to a QR code
This video shows you how to create a QR code for any video
which will enable your students to scan it directly onto their mobile
device.
Rationale for creating QR codes

Creating QR codes for your videos makes them much more
accessible and enables students to get the videos onto their
mobile devices quickly. In order to access the videos your students
will need a QR code scanner. There is a variety of scanners
available for free from the AppStore, Google Play or whatever
platform your students’ mobile device may use. QR codes are
platform independent, so whatever type of device your students
use, the same QR code will still work with any scanner.
• Adding video to paper - If you produce paper based

worksheets that your students print up and work on, then you
can add the QR code to them and students can scan it and
watch the video on their mobile device while they complete the
34
paper based worksheet. This is a great way to create a multi

media learning zone with only paper worksheets and a small
amount of space.
• Adding video to walls - You can put a QR code anywhere

around your school on any wall or poster. This turns your whole
school into a learning opportunity and enables you to link videos
to specific locations around the school. You can use these for
information treasure hunts and location specific learning.
Here are some applications you can use to create and scan
QR codes.
• https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/
• http://www.visualead.com/
• http://www.tapmedia.co.uk/more-apps.htm
• http://www.scanlife.com/get-the-app
35
VIDEO SLIDESHOWS
Creating a video slideshow Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click
MOVIE 3.9 Creating a video slideshow with YouTube
This tutorial show you how to use YouTube to create a video
slideshow from your images.
Rationale for creating slideshows

Turning your students’ images into video slideshows can make
them more engaging and offer you the opportunity to add
additional media and link the images together into a narrative.
Once the images have been collected together you can add
transitions to them and overlay a narrative as well as adding text
explanations. You can get students to do the work and use their
own images to create the narrative slideshows and this provides a
great opportunity for your students to use English in a creative and
personalized way.
36
Other applications for creating video slideshows:
• Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/
• Mooklet: https://www.facebook.com/mooklet
• VoiceThread: https://voicethread.com/
37
APPROACHES TO
LEARNING
This chapter explores some paradigms on which to
base your integration of video into the classroom and
the creation of online courses.
There are many ways to build video into your courses and structure
courses in a way that supports your students’ learning.
VIDEO & BLENDED LEARNING

Blended learning has become a very common term, but it can Ways of blending learning
be used to describe a wide range of quite different approaches
Three of the more common ways of configuring blended
to organizing learning.
learning are:
At its most basic, blended learning can be defined as any form
of delivery which combines an online and a face-to-face
learning element. There are however many different ways this
combination can be configured and the relationship between
what and how much is delivered online can have a significant
impact on the way the course works.
Supplemental - In this mode of delivery the main core content
of the syllabus is delivered in the face-to-face component of the
39
course and online task and materials are set as homework for Emporium - In this mode of delivery the main core of the course
students to do outside of the classroom. This is probably the content may be delivered in a computer room or lab where
most common form of blended learning and one that most students work independently and the face to face element could
teachers have probably adopted. be delivered in break-off groups with tutors.
Replacement - In this mode of delivery the main core content of

the syllabus is delivered online and when the students come to
the face-to-face classes they do associated tasks which they
either find more difficult to do online or which may help to
consolidate the online work.
40
Blending considerations challenges of ‘tone’ which can be hard to establish through text
alone.
Although these models appear quite simple they still allow for
infinite variations in the way courses can be designed and Peer interaction - The degree to which students can interact
content can be delivered. These are some of the factors that with and work with each other is also a significant feature of the
can vary from course to course and which you need to consider course design that needs to be considered. Again, using
when thinking about how to design your course. synchronous or asynchronous video or audio can really help to
facilitate this kind of interaction, but it needs to be structured
Tutor moderation - The issue of moderation and how and even
and purposeful to be learning productive. There is however a
if students interact with their tutor in the online part of the course
strong case for the inclusion of more socially orientated tasks
can have a huge impact on the development and success of
and activities for those students who prefer some sense of
the course. The form this moderation takes can vary, from being
community, but as with tutor interaction, the amount of this you
purely text based using forums, chat rooms and simply getting
need to include will also vary depending on how much face-to-
teachers to respond to students’ submitted work or it can
face contact time there is in the course blend.
include synchronous or asynchronous video or audio
communication and live online classes.   Deadlines - The online part of the materials can be scheduled
From a student's perspective knowing that there is some form of so that students have access to the content only for a specific
online support from a moderator can positively impact their amount of time to ensure that they complete one unit of work
motivation and reduce the rates of student drop out. It can also before moving on to the next or the course can be designed to
enable the teacher to develop a much more supportive rapport be totally open access so that the students can do whichever
with the students.  parts of the course as a when they please.  
From a teacher’s point of view though, online moderation can be There are advantages to an open course as it gives students
very time consuming as you tend to build a one-to-one the option to work at their own pace and schedule their work
relationship with each of your students and they can get the when it’s most convenient. If your course depends on peer
sense that you are available 24/7. This can become very interaction though, it is better to lock the students together as
demanding if not managed appropriately.  they progress through the course as this will ensure they have
The use of synchronous or asynchronous video can have a other students working on the same tasks at the same time.
significant impact on helping teachers or moderators to build a Ordering and paradigms - It’s important to remember that
sense of presence in an online course and help to overcome blended learning isn’t a methodology, it’s simply a way to
organize how and when students access their learning. You still
41
need to consider how you order and design your materials to to assess your students learning as well as the effectiveness of
ensure that they accomplish pedagogical goals. As with the the materials to deliver that learning.  
delivery of classroom based learning, the order in which you Of course there is also a simpler option in that you can build
arrange the stages of your lesson will impact on the way you tests within your platform that check students understanding of
develop the online part of your course and how it relates to the the content. These are easy to administer and in most cases the
face-to-face element. You could, for example, have a video response data can be easy to collect analyze and compare.
recording of a presentation which students could watch before
class and then you can do follow up work and discussion with
students in the classroom. Or you could input new information
during the classroom time and have a quiz or test online for
students to use as remedial work. These are just two examples,
but the different possibilities and paradigms are infinite. The
things to keep in mind though when planning how you will
deliver the materials are, what will work best for the students’
learning and how you can make best use of the time you have
in the classroom with the students.
Skills work - Some skills lend themselves more obviously to
online development. Reading and writing, for example, are
activities which increasingly take place on a computer. The
individual usually works alone, so it seems more obvious to
develop these skills through the online part of your course,
though following up reading and writing work with discussion
and peer support either in the face-to-face classroom or online
will also benefit the learning process.
Assessment - If you are using some form of LMS you will
probably find that it is making available a substantial amount of
data about the activities of your students as they interact with
the online materials. If analyzed carefully, this data can help you
42
VIDEO & FLIPPED LEARNING
The flipped classroom or flipped approach has become marking homework assignments, the teacher chooses or creates
increasingly popular in recent years, particularly in mainstream and an instructional video and then works with the students in class to
higher education where lectures are the predominant form of help them with their projects and guide their research. An example
instruction. Many educators see flipped learning as a way to use of this could be that two groups of students are asked to watch
the internet to reform and improve education, whilst many short lectures or documentary videos on different aspects of the
educational establishments see it as an opportunity to cut the cost same historical event, then in the classroom they debate the event
of delivering classes. and defend heir position from the point of view of the video they
watched. They could follow this up with an essay describing the
Flipped learning different standpoints.
Flipped learning is a method of delivering learning which reverses
the common relationship between classwork and homework and Flipped learning in ELT
in so doing also reverses the relationship between tutor and Although this mode of lecture based teaching may be something
student. Flipped learning also shifts more of the responsibility for we in ELT have gratefully moved away from, the actual paradigm
learning onto the student. and shift of responsibility is one that we could exploit.
The popular manifestation of flipped learning in main stream Here’s an example of how this could be applied in the English
education is that classroom lectures are replaced by video lectures language classroom:
that students watch at home before coming to class. Then when • The teacher gives the students a link to a video clip to watch.
they arrive in class they do more practical work like collaborative The video is of man walking into a hotel and booking a room for
projects and research assignments. This enables the tutor to also the night.
change his or her role. Instead of delivering the lecture and then
43
• The students are set the tasks to watch the videos and they are The advantages of flipped learning
given some comprehension and language analysis tasks to go
As we can see from the example above, flipped learning does
with it.
have a number of advantages:
• They watch the video at home and do the tasks.
Shifting responsibility - Responsibility for learning is shifted quite
• In the next class the teacher gives the students some role cards significantly onto the students and this in turn frees up class time
and puts them into groups to role play booking a hotel room. for the teacher to really listen to the students, assess their
• The role cards have different aims and requirements from those progress and offer support that addresses their individual needs.
of the man they watched in the video, so students are forced to Homework based input - Shifting the information ‘input’ time
modify and improvise with the language they studied. from the classroom to homework also means that there is more
• The teacher monitors and makes notes of any good expressions time for speaking, discussion and more social and collaborative
and vocabulary the students use to accomplish the task and also work in the classroom, so students are able to develop some
some areas where students lack the linguistic knowledge to important team working skills.
communicate what they need effectively.
Self-paced learning - Delivering recorded lectures and
• The teacher then does remedial work with students, either using instructional videos to students at home online enables students to
the original video or based around the strengths and watch at their own pace, pause and rewind when there are things
weaknesses that were identified in the role play. they are unsure about and to listen as many times as they need to
to extract more information.
44
Some problems with flipped learning Making flipped more engaging

There are however, some very obvious potential problems with There are a number or tools and approaches we can take in order
employing this method: to create effective flipped learning and to overcome some of the
Students unprepared - One of the most obvious problems is that problems.
this method pushes a lot of responsibility onto the the students, so • Use online tools to ensure that there are activities that encourage
what happens when some students don’t do their homework and students to engage with the content as they view it.
come to class totally unprepared? • Teach students how to use digital note taking tools so that they
Transmission model - Another popular criticism of flipped can take notes as they watch the video.
learning is that it doesn’t overcome one of the core problems of • Use videos which are visually rich and ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’
education which is the lack of interaction and engagement in many students about the content.
lectures. Simply putting the lecture on video doesn’t make it a
• Encourage students to research, find and evaluate their own
good lecture and it remains a passive ‘transmission’ form of
sources of video input.
learning for the student.
• Have a space in the classroom where students who are
Lack of engagement - Although the student might have watched
unprepared can go and watch the video input on their own. This
the video we can’t be sure how engaged they were with it and
stops them disrupting other students and excludes them from
how much of it they understood.
the more socially interactive tasks.
45
VIDEO IN TASK BASED LEARNING
Task based learning (TBL) is an approach which uses as a basis

real life ‘communication tasks’ that people need to be able to do in
their everyday lives and builds a syllabus and learning activities
around these tasks.
The TBL cycle
TBL uses a sequence of activities known as a ‘task cycle’ which

builds students’ ability to understand the linguistic needs of a task
and to complete that task. It does this through engaging students
in analyzing their own linguistic performance of the task as well as
looking at how proficient language speakers fulfill the same task.
This is a brief overview of the task cycle.
Pre task - In the pre task stage the teacher introduces the task.
The suggestions for the task could come from the students or
from a needs analysis. The teacher may also decide to input some Task stage - In the task stage students try to do the task for
useful language and this could be drawn from an analysis of an
themselves while the teacher monitors. This is followed by
example model of someone completing the task.
students analyzing what they did and how they achieved the task.
46
This is followed by students reporting back to the class and telling Video in TBL
them what they learned.
Video can play a very supportive role in the implementation of a
Language focus - The final stage involves an analysis of an TBL approach.
example text or recording of people doing the same task and
There are a number places within this cycle where video can
finishes with some practice of any new language that has emerged
enhance the effectiveness of the approach:
from the students’ analysis of the example task and their own
attempts to complete the task.
• You can ask students to video record their initial efforts to do the
tasks. This can help to make their analysis and reflections of their
own performance far more effective as they can actually watch
and reflect on how well they did and decide what they need to
improve.
• You can use video models of target tasks so that students can
compare their own attempts at the tasks to these models. The
use of video to exemplify the tasks can also broaden the range of
factors the students can be encouraged to notice and improve
and can make work on less tangible factors such as body
language and other paralinguistic features much more effective.
• You can ask students to video record their revised version of the
task as a final product to be included in some from of digital
portfolio. This should encourage them to focus more carefully on
accuracy and give them a reason to improve their performance
when they repeat the task.
47
VIDEO IN CLIL
Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is based Video as content medium
around the concept of driving language learning by first
Video can provide the ideal content medium for this form of
exposing students to useful and engaging content in the target
approach and can be particularly effective in supporting subject
language. The exploitation of the content for language learning
specialists who feel their English is not sufficiently strong to
aims is secondary to the aim of developing students'
teach in the language. There are many sources where teachers
understanding of the content knowledge and any language
can find video clips to supplement or replace their own content
work is dictated by the content of the input rather than the input
input.
being devised to demonstrate the use of specific linguistic
content or structures.
It's important though to ensure that if you are adopting this
approach you still build comprehension and understanding of
CLIL is becoming increasingly common in mainstream
content through graded tasks and additional viewings rather
education where there is a move towards bilingualism in many
than expecting students to understand the content in a single
schools. These schools are increasingly using English as the
viewing. This is where online video tasks can be particularly
medium of education across the syllabus. This produces many
beneficial as they allow learners to work at their own pace,
challenges as many subject specific teachers may not feel
pause and repeat clips and listen as many times as they feel
confident teaching their subject in English and many have no
they need to and even do extra work from home.
training in language teaching so they may struggle to extract
and teach the necessary language items their students need to
understand the content.
48
CLIL lesson structure practical work in the classroom is very similar to the flipped
learning approach and it seems that a flipped learning model
A typical structure for a CLIL lesson might look something like
could fit very well with CLIL.
this.
This chapter was sponsored by Lake School of English.

• The teacher prepares some key vocabulary input work which
will help students understand the content.
• The students then watch some form of video content and fulfill
some kind of task based around their understanding of the
content. This could be something like completing a graph,
diagram or picture based on information they extract from the
video.
• Students compare their graphs and share information.
• Students watch the video again and see if they can extract
more information from the video and clarify anything they may
have missed the first time.
• Students prepare a short written or oral report based on the
information from their graph.
• Students present or share their information with their peers
while the teacher monitors.
• The teacher then does remedial language work based around
the content and the students reports.
• Students could also be asked to apply the knowledge they
have learned in some form of project or output of their own.
The viewing step in this procedure could be done by the

students working alone at home with the video content being
delivered through an online platform. Such a model with the
students working on the video at home and then doing the more
49
COMPREHENSION
ACTIVITIES
This chapter contains a collection of activities which
exploit video clips as a means of generating language
production and comprehension skills.
ACTING OUT My thanks to Ken Wilson, Author, Trainer, Conference Presenter and
all round inspiration for his support and sponsorship of this project
and chapter.
Introduction Language focus

In this activity students perform a video clip they have watched. The primary aim of this activity is to develop the students’ range
of emotional expressions and greater understanding of the
Rationale
related features of pronunciation.
This activity focuses students on listening for attitude and
Preparation
speaking more expressively. By watching and listening to the
video clip the students get a model for their language Try to find a clip that has 2 - 4 people having some form of
production and by acting out the clip they have the opportunity emotional or animated discourse. This could be an argument or
to express and practice a wider range of emotions than is something quite happy or funny. The clip should be quite short
normal in the language classroom.
though, no more than 1 - 3 minutes.
Context
Transcribe the script and make a copy for each student, also
This activity works best in the classroom, though students can make a second copy with the lines of the script in the wrong
do the preparation part online at home. order. You can cut them into strips if you prefer as these are
You could do the performance part of the activity in the easier for students to order while watching, or print them on a
synchronous classroom using a video conferencing chatroom. worksheet or website for students to order online.
51
Procedure • Give the students time to practice and rehearse. If it is

possible for each student to have independent access to the
• Play the video and ask the students to watch and find out what
clip on a tablet or PC, give them some time to listen
the characters are discussing.
independently and try to prepare their lines. It may even be
• Once they have watched once, give them a few minutes to beneficial to get them to do this for homework and save the
compare their answers and then give out the jumbled script. ‘performance’ for the next class.
• Get the students to work in pairs and see if they can arrange • When the students are ready, you can either get them to
the lines from the script before they watch again. perform in front of the class or they could use a video camera
• Play the video clip again and get them to check the order of or smart phone to record their performance as they work in
the lines. their groups.
• Give them some time once they have watched again to make • If you don’t have space for them to act or if some students are
any adjustments. uncomfortable with acting, they could just read out the parts,
• If necessary, play the clip again. but they should still try to perform them as much as possible
and focus on expressing the emotion.
• Now give out the correct complete script and ask the students
to draw small faces in the margin at the beginning of the line or Follow up
above the lines to indicate how the person is feeling when they You could get your groups of students to select another clip
say the line. Ask them to also put arrows going either up or that they like and prepare it to perform in front of the class.
down to indicate the direction of the intonation, i.e. rise, rise
Find a video clip from a play and get students to prepare it
fall, fall or fall rise.
for a school performance.
• If necessary, play the clip again so the students can watch the
expressions.
• Now put the students into groups so that there are the same
number of students in each group as there are characters in
the clip. Assign a role to each of the students and tell them
they are going to perform the clip. Tell the students that they
should try to imitate the emotions being expressed by the
characters in the clip.
52
Related links
You can find TV and film scripts on this site.

•Drew’s Sript-O-Rama: http://www.script-o-rama.com/
oldindex.shtml
You can find a tool to help you re-order sentences on

this site.
•Paragraphy:http://www.byrdseed.com/paragraphy/
53
BEYOND CHARACTER

In this activity students create peer viewing and listening tasks The primary linguistic aim of this activity is to encourage
by watching a clip silently and then writing questions about students to create questions and practice a wide range of
things they would like to know about the people in the clip. question forms.
These questions can extend beyond what is portrayed in the Preparation
actual clip, for example they could ask things like ‘Does X have
a brother?’ or ‘Can Y play the piano?’ etc. Select a short clip that features three or more people. The clip
This activity is a variation on one I learned from ‘Once Upon a could come from a film that the students haven’t seen or could
Time’ by Mario Rinvolucri and John Morgan - CUP be from a TV drama or sit-com.
Rationale As a way of encouraging students to think more creatively you

could use two clips and prepare your own set of questions
This activity taps in to students’ curiosity and encourages them
to be more observant. It also encourages them to be more about the first clip as a model and get the students to create the
imaginative and to think beyond what they can see and hear in questions for the second clip.
the video. The questions should focus beyond what is actually in the
Context content of the clip though.
The viewing part of this activity can be done either in the There are some example questions in the worksheet at the end
classroom or the students could watch the video at home. They of this activity.
could post their questions about the video to each other online.
54
Procedure Example worksheet

• Play the students the first clip without the sound and ask them
Watch the clip and then try to answer these questions.
to try to guess what is happening.
• What will [x] do tomorrow?
• Once you have done this, ask the students who the characters
• What time does [x] usually get up?
in the clip are and what the relationship between them is.
• Does [x] like to drink tea?
• Give them time to watch again if they need to and establish
names for each character. • Who is [x]’s best friend?
• Then give the students your questions and ask them to try to • Which is [x]’s favorite sport?
answer the questions using their imagination. • What other languages does [x] speak?
• Give them some time to work on their answers. • What is [x]’s sister’s name?
• Once they have answered the questions you can get them to • What are [x]’s favorite foods?
mingle and compare their answers with other students. • What does [x] usually do at the weekend?
• Next, give them another clip to work with either at home or in • What did [x] study at school?
the classroom. Ask them to watch it and prepare questions.
• Do think [x] studied English?
Give them quite a high target number of questions to produce
as this will push them to be more imaginative. • Would [x] make a good English teacher?
• Once they have prepared their questions they can exchange • What kind of films do you think [x] likes?
them with a partner, either online or in class and the partner • If you met [x] do you think you would become friends?
can watch and try to answer the questions. • Do you think [x] had a happy childhood?
Follow up • Where do you think [x] likes to go for their holidays?
Get the students to write up the answers to their questions in • Do you think [x] prefers dogs or cats?
a short summary text of the video clip. • Do you think [x] likes to go to art galleries?
• If [x] has a child do you think they would prefer a boy or a girl?
• What kind of restaurants do you think [x] prefers?
55
CAREER SEARCH
Introduction be done as a blended learning activity with students doing the

web-based part of the research work at home.
This activity is designed around the CareerPlayer site at http://
www.careerplayer.com/ and is suitable for intermediate or Alternatively it can be constructed as an online activity that
higher level students and particularly suitable for business students work through independently.
English students.
It’s based around a collection of videos of people answering Language focus
questions about their work. Students will imagine they have one The primary aim of this activity is to develop students’ listening
of the jobs and try to anticipate the answers to a collection of skills through prediction, but there is a secondary aim of helping
generic questions. They will then listen and find the true them to develop and understand question forms.
answers to the questions.
Preparation
Rationale
Go to the CareerPlayer site at: http://www.careerplayer.com/
This activity encourages students to think about different jobs and select some jobs that your students may be interested in.
and careers and what they involve. It also encourages them to
Watch the videos for these jobs and make a note of some of the
predict what they are going to hear as part of developing their
listening strategies. questions. The questions tend to be generic and so they are
very similar for most jobs. Also make a note of the links to the
Context
videos you want the students to watch.
This activity can be used in a classroom where students can
access the internet through computers or mobile devices or can
56
Procedure Follow up
• Present your students with a list of jobs and ask them which Evaluate the students’ presentations and give them some
ones they would like to do and why? feedback on their work.
• You can put them in pairs to discuss this. Ask them to select another job and listen to the interview,
• Next, give the students the list of questions and assign them a then make a presentation about the job for the class without
job. Ask them to imagine that they do that job and to think mentioning the job. See if other students in the class can
about their answers to the questions. guess what the job is.
• Once they have had some thinking time, put them in pairs to
interview each other about their fictional job.
• Once they have finished interviewing each other, give them the
link to the video of the person with their job. Ask them to watch
the interview and see which questions they answered in a
similar way. They can do this at home online if they can’t
access the clips in the classroom.
• Ask them to watch the video again and make notes about the
job and prepare a short presentation about the job. Again they
can do this at home.
• In class or online they can share their presentations.
57
CELL PHONES IN CLASS
This activity was submitted by Vicky Papageorgiou ΒΑ,

PG Cert. in Teach.Adults, ΜΑ, Μ.Ed Αdvanced Dipl. in
TESOL
Introduction or small groups. It can also be used as a blended

learning activity and you can ask students to post their
In this activity students will make evaluations and
videos online and hold the discussion in class. They can
judgments about using cell phones in class. Students
also post online the arguments they will come up with.
will be divided in two teams and each will have to find
videos on YouTube which present opposing views on the Language focus
topic, share them with other students and come up with Possible vocabulary students might need for the
an agreement on the topic. discussion includes:
Rationale Words for conveying a positive judgement/argument
The activity encourages students to enrich their (appropriate, powerful , challenging, effective, rigorous ,
knowledge about a current and controversial matter, to comprehensive, successful, etc.)
take part in a discussion where they are going to present Words for conveying a negative judgement/argument
the opposing views and reach a consensus with the (inadequate, unsatisfactory, weak, ineffective,
opposite team. The main aim of this activity is to inappropriate, etc.)
encourage students to research and come up with
Some possible structures about agreeing and
arguments about the use of cell phones in class.
disagreeing with an opinion might also need to be
Context taught, such as:
This activity can be used either online or in the This idea is absolutely/partially right, I couldn't agree
classroom, if students have access to computers in pairs more on this, I share your view, I have no objection…
58
I think this idea cannot be implemented, I am not sure I • You should set up the day the discussion will take place
agree with this idea, I think this idea is possible but…, I (either online or in a physical class). You should moderate the
think otherwise… discussion.
Preparation • Remind everybody that they should reach an agreement in the

end and perhaps even specify a solution.
You should spend some time choosing videos that
present opposing arguments or depict opposing sides. • At the end of the class, the students will present their decision.
2 - 4 videos for each side should be enough but make Follow up
sure their duration is not over 15 minutes in total.
Ask the students to write their decision on the matter.
Procedure
They can also research on the internet what happens in other
• Tell your students that you have noticed that people of their countries and write about it. Are cell phones allowed in class
age are very dependent on their cell phones. So, you thought in any country?
it was time they discussed the use of cell phones in class.
Ask students to go online and find the most interesting/
• Tell them that to be able to form a well rounded opinion about intriguing way that teachers in other schools/countries have
the topic, they have to find videos on YouTube that support or found for their students to use their cell phones in class and
condemn their use. ask them to write about it.
• Explain to them they are going to be divided in 2 teams
(either in a physical or an online classroom).
• Both teams are going to watch videos about the use of cells in
the class. The first team is going to watch videos that support
the use of them in class and team number two will view videos
against their use.
• Tell the students they should note all of the arguments used.
• After doing so, they can share the videos online and they can
also add the arguments they have come up with.
• Once each team have decided about their arguments, they
should also rank them in terms of validity.
59
CULTURE SPOT

In this activity students watch a video clip without the sound and
look for cultural clues and information. The linguistic aim of the activity is to get students practicing
Rationale different types of comparative forms and comparing and
contrasting.
This activity focuses students on the cultural content and
information that is embedded in the visual of the video clips. Preparation
This can help to make them more aware of cultural differences Find a simple clip that shows everyday lives and events.
and stereotypes and generally more observant. It can also
Contemporary soap operas or sit-coms from the target culture
serve as a good pre-listening task and should provide
‘scaffolding’ for students’ understanding of the audio part of the can be very useful for this activity. Either remove the soundtrack
clip. if you are using the video online or mute it for use in class.
Context See tutorial: How to mute the sound track
If you are doing this activity online then it is better to remove the
audio track from the video you use. You can then post it online
where students can watch it.
60
Procedure Follow up
• Start by asking the students to watch the clip and try to decide Use the clip for listening comprehension. Students should
which country the action takes place in. already have an idea of how the clip is structured and this will
• Once they have watched it give them a chance to discuss and make it easer for them to understand.
compare their answers in pairs. Get students to write a short piece about cultural differences
• Once they have had time to do this, ask the students to work between their own culture and the culture they are learning
together and find as many cultural differences as they can about. This could take the form of advice for visitors to their
between the video and their own cultural surroundings. Tell country or friends going abroad.
them you will award points for each one. Use the clip as the basis for a role play with pairs of students
• Let them watch once more to help with this and give them time pretending to be a person from each country and giving their
to make notes afterwards. partner some advice about visiting the country.
• Once they have completed their notes, ask them to think about Re-enact and film the clip and get students to act it out and
how the clip they watched would be different if it was filmed in film it, but adapting it to their own culture.
their own country.
• Once they have had some time to work on this get them to tell
you their differences and you can discuss these as a class.
61
DESERT ISLAND MUSIC VIDEOS

In this activity students select music videos that they would like The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to talk
to take with them if they were stranded on a desert island. about music and their taste in music.
Students have to find the videos on YouTube, share them with Possible structures students might need to do the activity are:
other students and explain why they would take those specific
videos and what significance they have for them. • [ It / this song] reminds me of …
• When I hear / see this video I think of ...
Rationale
• [It this song] makes me feel ...
This activity is a useful one for helping students get to know
each other better and for encouraging them to share and talk Preparation
about their taste in music. Find a selection of music videos which you would want to take
Context with you if you were going to be stranded alone on a desert
This activity can be used either online or in the classroom, if island. You could choose anything from 3 - 10 clips depending
students have access to computers in pairs or small groups. on how long you want the activity to take.
You could also use it as a blended learning activity and ask

students to post their videos online and then talk about them
and explain their choices when they come to class.
62
Procedure Follow up
• Tell your students to try to imagine that they are going to be Get the students to explore each others’ choices and try to
stranded alone on a desert island. find the person who has the most similar taste to their own.
• Tell them that when they go to the desert island they can only Get students to post follow up questions to find out more
take (3 - 10) music videos with them and this will be the only about each others’ choice of videos.
music they can listen to. Ask students to choose just one of the videos from all of the
• Ask them to find the clips on YouTube or somewhere else ones they selected and explain why that ones is more
online and share the links with the rest of the class. significant.
• Either in the physical or online classroom, put students into Discuss how well they think they could survive alone on a
pairs or groups and get them to explain why they chose each desert island.
one and what special significance it has for them. You could
actually do this first yourself as an example.
• If you are working completely asynchronously online you could
get the students to write a short explanation for each video
and post it in a forum or a blog along with a link to the clip.
63
GETTING INSIDE THE CHARACTER
Introduction It should also enable them to practice the use of narrative

tenses.
In this activity students have to imagine they are one of the
characters or people they see in a video clip. After watching the Context
clip they have to re-tell what happened from the perspective of This activity works well in the face-to-face classroom, but it can
the character they chose. also be done online with students watching the clip first and
Rationale then writing a summary or delivering their report in the
synchronous online classroom.
In many cases when video is used and the teacher sets
comprehension questions about the video, we are deciding Preparation
what the students should understand after watching it. This Choose a short clip ( 2 - 3 mins) that has a number of people in
activity is a good way of finding out what the students have
(2 - 5) and which shows them interacting.
understood and how they have processed and interpreted the
information. You could use this activity with any clip from a drama or sitcom
By encouraging students to understand what is happening in a which involves a number of people. It would be particularly
video clip from the point of view of the people involved, it also suitable if the clip contains some form of conflict, tension or
helps students to develop a sense of empathy with others. argument.
Language focus
This can be either a written or spoken activity depending on
which skill you want students to practice and develop.
The linguistic aim of the activity is to develop students’ ability to
use reporting verbs for reported speech and reporting thoughts.
64
Procedure Follow up
• Show the students the clip without any sound and get them to Watch all the students’ clips and give them some feedback
watch it and try to decide what the relationship is between on their performance.
each of the people. Get the students to change to a different character and do
• Once they have watched the clip, give them a few moments to the same thing from that characters’ perspective.
work in pairs and compare their impressions. Get the students to watch another clip and choose which
• Before letting them watch again, assign one of the characters character they want to be. They can create a report in the
from the clip to each student in the class. Tell them to watch same way and other students have to watch or read and
and listen to that person and try to decide what s/he is thinking decide which character is reporting.
and feeling during the clip.
• You could pause the clip at specific points to give students
time to make notes, or just give them a number of stills from
the video clip once they have watched and they can use these
as reminders. If you are doing the activity online, students will
be able to pause and make notes at their own speed.
• Put the students who were assigned to the same character into
groups and ask them to compare their impressions.
• Now ask them to imagine they are that person and they have
to tell someone else what happened using first person ‘I’. You
can also ask students to write this or they could use a video
camera, webcam or mobile phone and record their report.
• They can then share their reports with the class and compare
the differences in perspective between the various characters.
65
HE SAID SHE SAID
Introduction Preparation
In this activity students watch a video clip and then use Before you do this activity you should pre-teach any reporting
reporting verbs to tell about what the people in the clip said. verbs and the grammatical changes in structure students need
Rationale to use when reporting speech.
Using a clip like this to develop students’ ability to use reported Find a short appropriate clip with a number of people having a
speech helps to reinforce the concept and make a dull discussion.
grammar point a little more lively.
Transcribe and make copies of the script from the clip to help
Context the weaker students and cut the script into strips.
This activity can be done either online or in the classroom.
Language focus
The primary aim of this activity is developing students’ listening
skills and help them to report what people have said.
The linguistic aim is to help students develop the ability to use a
range of reporting verbs and to understand the necessary
grammatical changes and shifts in verb tense.
66
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students the names of the people in the clip. Give the students a written version of the reported
• Play the clip through silently and ask the students to watch and conversation and get them to compare with their own and
try to decide what’s happening and which name goes with correct it.
each person. Give the students some feedback on their work and make
• Once they have had time to compare their impressions, give sure they know which parts of the text they have reported
them the parts of the script and get them to read through it and correctly and which they need help with.
try to put the script in order. Give them additional videos to transcribe and report.
• Play the video clip with the sound on now and give the
students the chance to check and correct the order.
• Now put them in pairs and ask them to take it in turns to report
what was said in the clip.
• To finish you could play back the clip and pause after each
sentence and get someone in the class to report what was
said.
• If you are doing this activity online it may be better to split the
class in half and give each half a different clip to watch. This
creates an information gap, then when they report about what
they saw they can report to someone who watched a different
clip.
• You can also ask students to record their report of the clip
using the webcam or a camera phone and give it to a partner
to check.
67
HEAR THE WORDS

In this activity students do research into the pronunciation of The focus here is on developing receptive pronunciation of
different words and then watch and listen to a video to try to individual words and minimal pairs and then trying to identify
hear the words used. the correct words within a stream of speech.
Rationale Preparation
This activity encourages students to use web-based tools to find You can either choose a video which has examples of some of
out how vocabulary is pronounced. It also helps them to try to the words you want students to focus on, or you could choose
hear the words in a stream of speech. the video first and then select which words from it you want
Context them to research.
This activity is best done by students working online as it will Prepare your list or words and add words that sound similar,
push them to work more independently. You could do the such as minimal pairs, that students may confuse them with.
research online and then the listening and viewing of the video
in the classroom.
68
Procedure Follow up
• Give students a list or words you want them to research. They Get the students to do more intensive comprehension work
can use sites like http://www.forvo.com/ or http://howjsay.com/ on the video clip.
to research the pronunciation of the words. Get the students to produce example sentences using the
• Give the student the link to the video you want them to watch words which weren’t included in the video. They can record
and ask them to watch and listen and tick the words from their these using http://vocaroo.com/ and send them to you.
list which are included in the video clip.
• Ask the students to share the list of words they think are
included and see which words they had problems hearing
accurately.
69
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
In this activity students look at stills from a video clip and then Find a short clip with some action and events in. It doesn’t have
use various tenses to describe what happened before and after to be anything complex just so long as there is a simple
the still. narrative within the clip.
Rationale Create a number of (4 -5) stills from the clip. You can do this
This activity helps students to understand time relationships and using free screen capture software
how we express them. The use of stills and video should help to
make the time relationships more tangible to the students.
Context
The activity can either be delivered online or in the classroom.
Language focus
The primary linguistic aim of this activity is to develop students’
understanding and use of present continuous, present perfect
and ‘going to’ for future.
70
Procedure highlight the form and contrast the different forms and their
uses.
• Give or show the students the stills from the clip and ask them
what they think is happening in each clip. Follow up
• They can discuss this in pairs. Play through another video clip and pause it. Get the
• Get some answers and make sure that the students are using students to tell you what’s happening, what just happened
the present continuous tense where appropriate. and what they think is going to happen.
• You may want to write up some of the sentences they produce Related links
and highlight the form for them.
Here are some links to free screen capture apps and
• Now show the students the video clip and ask them to put the
images into the correct order.
web-based tools.
•Skitch: http://evernote.com/skitch/
• After playing the clip give the students a couple of minutes to
check the order in pairs. •Jing: http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html
•ScreenCapturer: http://screencapturer.com/
• Now show the students the first of the still images and ask
them what happened immediately before this.
• Try to elicit a complete sentence including ‘just’ e.g “S/He has
just …”
• Once you have one correct example sentence show the
students the other stills and try to get similar examples about
those.
• Put up some of the example sentences and highlight the form.
• Now show the students the first still again and ask what is
about to happen. Try to elicit an example sentence e.g. “S/He
is going to …”
• Again, show the students the other stills and elicit more
sentences and put some up on the board. You could also
71
PEER QUESTIONS
In this activity students create peer viewing and listening tasks Select a short clip that features three or more people. The clip
by watching a clip silently and then writing questions about could come from a film that the students haven’t seen or could
things they would like to know about people and events in the be from a TV drama or sit-com.
clip.
Rationale
This activity taps into students’ curiosity and encourages them
to be observant and try to take clues from visual information.
Context
The viewing part of this activity can be done either in the
classroom or the student could watch the video at home online.
They could post their questions about the video to each other
online.
Language focus
The linguistic aim is to encourage students to create questions
and practice a wide range of question forms.
72
Procedure Follow up
• Ask the students to watch the clip silently and try to guess Take in the questions sheets and check them for errors.
what is happening. Try to repeat the process with another video.
• Once they have seen the clip give them some time to compare
their impressions and ask them to prepare a short verbal
summary of what they saw.
• Now, alone or with the students in pairs or small groups, ask
the students to think of questions to ask about the clip, to find
out more about what is happening.
• Ask the students to try to write 5 - 10 questions, depending on
their level and the length of the clip.
• Once they have had time to write the questions, ask them to
exchange their questions with a different pair.
• Now play the clip with the volume on and ask them to try to
answer the questions.
• Play another time if they need to watch again.
• Once they have answered the questions, ask them to give the
questions and answers back and play the clip once more to
give the original writers of the questions time to check the
answers and see if they are correct.
• Finish by having a group plenary and clearing up any
unanswered or confusing questions.
73
PICK A VIDEO

In this activity students choose a funny or interesting video The primary aim of this activity is to get students talking about,
which they can share with the class and tell them about. sharing and describing videos.
Rationale You could also use it to get students practicing the use of
‘might’ ‘would’ and ‘wouldn’t’ e.g. “I wouldn’t post that on
Sharing amusing videos on social media sites has become a Facebook.”
very common pass time and each person has a particular type
of video that they will choose to share. Preparation
This activity gets students watching and enjoying videos and Either use a video that you like or go to http://www.wimp.com/
acquiring language from them and it uses them as a talking and find a video that you like and you can show to your
point to develop language skills. students.
Context
This activity can be done in the classroom or online. The
discussion part is more likely to work in the face-to-face
classroom though you could also do it as a synchronous
speaking activity using a web conferencing app.
74
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students you are going to show them a video you like Discuss with the students - What does the choice of video tell
and tell them what it is about. you about the person?
• Show them the video, give them time to watch it and then put Discuss internet privacy and the significance of digital
them into pairs to discuss what they liked and didn’t like about footprint for their future lives.
it.
Related links
• Show the students the site where you found the video: http://
www.wimp.com/ and show them the different categories. You can find a large collection of viral type videos
• Tell them to go to the site and find a video clip that they like here.
and would like to share. Give the students some time on the •Wimp:http://www.wimp.com/
computers or their mobile devices to watch some clips and
find something to share.
• When they have had enough time to find a clip, put the
students into groups and get them to tell the other students
about the clip. Once all of the students have described their
clips let them show the clips to the group.
• After all the students have shown their clips to their group, get
them to discuss the clips and decide which ones they liked /
didn’t like and decide whether they would share them with their
friends on their own social media profiles. Try to get them to
justify and explain why/not.
75
SCRIPTING

In this activity students watch a video clip without the sound and You can use the activity to get students practicing modal verbs
try to imagine what the characters are saying to each other. for probability such as may, might, could, must be, etc.
Rationale e.g. He might be asking for a drink.
This activity focuses students on interpreting and understanding Preparation

the silent aspects of non-verbal communication which are so For lower levels, try to find a clip that has quite a strong context,
often neglected when teaching a language, such as facial
such as someone entering a hotel or restaurant, this will help to
expression, gesture pauses and body language.
make the language prediction a little more obvious for them.
The activity is also a good way to prepare students for a more
detailed listening comprehension activity as it provides them For higher levels, try to select a clip that has a number of
with a framework and some preconceptions about the content people in a social context. Look for clips where characters give
before they listen. strong reactions. Sitcoms usually provide the ideal content for
Context these kinds of activities.
You can do this activity online or in the face-to-face classroom. If you intend to use the clip for online students then you’ll need
If you are going to do this activity online then you’ll need to to remove the sound track. See tutorial: How to mute the sound
remove the audio track from the video you use. track.
76
Procedure • Now each pair should have a short script to go with the video.
Give them some time to make any corrections and then ask the
• If you are using the activity in class, start by asking the
pairs to compare their short scripts and decide which one they
students to watch and try to decide what is happening in the
like best.
clip and what the relationships are between the people.
• You could then follow this up by playing the video again and
• Once they have watched once, let the students compare their
asking one pair of students to add the voices by reading their
answers in small groups or pairs.
script.
• Next ask them to give each of the people in the clip a name. It
• Finally, play the clip with audio and let them compare their own
doesn’t matter what the name is, they just need to know how to
script to the original and see how close they were.
refer to each person.
• Now tell them to watch again and write the order in which each Follow up
person speaks. You could get them to use a number for each Put the students in groups and ask them to act out some of
person to make this easier. their scripts. Get them to pay particular attention to the
• Give them time to watch the video again and note down the gestures, facial expressions and body language.
order in which each person speaks. Again, give them a few Ask the students to use an online tool such as http://
moments to compare. amara.org/en/ or http://dotsub.com/ to add their subtitles to
• Now they should have a list of names on their page of notes. the silent clip.
• Put the students into pairs, play the video once more and Get the students to add their own voice over using https://
pause it each time a person speaks and ask the students to try edpuzzle.com/.
to guess what the person said and write it down next to the
name.
• Work through the video stopping each time someone speaks
and give the pairs time to discuss and write down what the
person said. Work through the video clip this way until the end.
If students have computers or mobile device in the classroom
they can watch on these and control the pace at which they
work.
77
SOUND TO VISION
In this activity students watch some silent video clips and try to Find a collection of about 4 - 6 short video clips. The more
match them to the appropriate audio clip. similar they are, the more difficult it will be for your students. If
Rationale you are working with a lower level choose clips that have more
This activity pushes students to make the connection between significant differences.
what they are seeing and what they hear. It helps them to You will need to mute the audio on the clips and create a
interpret visual clues to support their listening comprehension. separate audio clip with only the sound.
This is a useful activity to do before doing deeper listening
comprehension with one of the clips.
Context
This activity can be done in the classroom but can work better
online where the student has control of the media and can
watch and listen to the clips as many times as they need to.
Language focus
The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to use
visual clues to support their listening comprehension.
78
Procedure watch and listen to them and try to match the correct ones
together.
• Tell the students that you are going to show them a number of
video clips. • Once they have posted you their answer, you can send them
the links to the videos with the audio on and they can check
• Ask them to watch and try to decide what is happening in
their answers.
each of the clips.
• Play each clip (without the sound) and leave time after each Follow up
one for students to jot down notes if they need to. Use one or two of the clips for listening comprehension.
• Once you have played all the clips get your students to Give the students the script from each clip to look at and
compare what they saw and what they think was happening in read through.
each clip. Get the students to act out one of the clips.
• Now, tell the students you are going to play some audio clips
and they should listen and try to decide which video goes with
each of the audio clips.
• Play each of the audio clips and pause after each one to give
the students time to compare their impressions.
• When you have played all of the audios ask the students if they
need to listen again or if they would like to watch the videos
again.
• Now play the clips once more and stop after each one and ask
the students to tell you which video it is from. Make sure they
justify and explain why.
• Lastly, play through the videos with the audio on so they can
check their own answers.
• If you do this activity online, just post the muted video clips
and the audio clips to a single page and ask the students to
79
SOUND TO VISION SPLIT

In this activity students watch some silent video clips and try to The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students speak
match them to the appropriate audio clip. This is a variation on and describe what they can see or hear.
the previous Sound to vision activity, but in this version two The linguistic aims could include encouraging students to use
groups of students see different clips and audios and then have ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ and also ‘I saw’ or ‘I heard’.
to discuss them with a partner to match them to the
corresponding video and audio clips. Preparation
Rationale Find a collection of about 4 - 6 short video clips. The more

similar they are, the more difficult it will be for your students. If
This activity makes use of the information gap between what the
different students are seeing and hearing as the motivation for you are working with a lower level choose clips that have more
discussion and communication. significant differences.
Context You will need to mute the audio on the clips and also create a
This activity can be done in the classroom but can work better separate audio clip with only the sound.
online where the student has control of the media and can
watch and listen to the clips as many times as they need to.
80
Procedure Follow up
• Put the students into two groups. Send the students the links to the videos with the audio so
• Give each group a selection of videos and audios to watch they can check their answers.
and listen to. To make things easier you could give one group
the audio and the other the videos.
• Give them time to watch/listen and try to decide what’s
happening in the clips.
• Once they have had some time to make a few notes about
each of the clips, pair the students with one person from each
of the two groups. Ask them to discuss what they saw and
heard and try to match the correct video to its corresponding
audio file.
• Once they have decided which audio and video go together,
play them the original version of the clips with audio and video
and get let them to check their answers.
• If you do this online:
• Send one group the links to the audio and send the links to the
video to the second group. Give them time to study and make
notes of what they are hearing and seeing.
• Put the students into pairs with one student from each group
and ask them to work together and describe what they saw
and heard so that they can match the audio to the correct
video.
• They can work in pairs online using a synchronous video
chatroom.
81
SPOT THE VOCAB
Introduction The activity also encourages students to use prepositions of

place to explain where in the video the things from the word list
This activity is a basic observation exercise for lower level appear.
learners. They simply have to watch a video and see if they can
find a list of vocabulary items in it. They then make sentences Preparation
about the video which include these words. Try to find a video clip which contains images of vocabulary
Rationale your students have learned or are learning.
This is a simple activity that uses the video as a prompt for Create a list of the vocabulary words and add a some
language use and vocabulary revision. distractors which don’t appear in the video.
Context
This activity can be done in the face-to-face or online classroom
equally well.
Language focus
The primary aim of this activity is to develop the students’
vocabulary and encourage them to use the words they are
learning in sentences.
82
Procedure asking them to read their sentences and award points for
them. You can add extra points for sentences with more words
• Give the students the list of vocabulary words and tell them
and deduct points for errors in grammar or use.
that you are going to test them.
• Give them some time working alone or in pairs to revise the Follow up
words and check they can remember what they mean. Collect all the sentences and collect all the errors. In the next
• When they are ready, show them the video and tell them to class give the students the sentences with the errors in and
watch and tick all the things that appear in the video clip. ask them to try to correct them.
• Once you have played the clip through once give them time to
compare in pairs or small groups.
• If you think it’s necessary play the video through a second time
so they can spot a few more of the things in the video.
• Once you have finished, have a plenary session and get the
students to tell you which of the things on their word list
appeared in the video. Try to get them to justify their answers
by making complete sentences and explaining where in the
video it appeared.
• Once you have clarified which of the things from the word list
appeared in the video, ask the students to work together and
make sentences about the clip using words from the list.
• Tell them they must include at least two words from the list in
each sentence they make and if they can include more than
two words in a sentence they will get extra marks.
• Give the students time to work on their sentences in pairs or
small groups.
• Once they have finished ask them to either send the sentences
to you for marking, or if you have time go round the class
83
SUMMARY CORRECTION
In this activity students watch a video and compare what Find a clip with a reasonable amount of action in it as well as
happens to a written summary. They have to find and correct some dialogue. Write a short model summary of what is
the errors in the written summary. happening in the clip. From the first summary create a second
Rationale one by changing it and adding in some errors - 8 to 10 is
This activity uses video to encourage the development of usually enough. The errors can include mistakes in the way
reading and writing skills. It also gives students a model for visual aspects are described as well as errors in the way the
summarizing video content. audio is reported.
Context
This activity can be done either online or in the face-to-face
classroom.
Language focus
The primary aim of this activity is to develop reading and writing
skills as well as viewing and listening skills. The more difficult
part of the task for the students is likely to be the re-wording of
the summary.
84
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students they are going to watch a short clip, but Give the students another clip to watch and ask them to write
before they watch they should read a text about it. their own summary. They could also share their summaries
• Give them time to read the text and help them with any and peer correct them.
vocabulary they may not have understood. Get students to choose their own clips and write a summary.
• Now play the clip and ask the students to watch and check for They can then exchange these and correct each others
any differences between the clip and the text. summary.
• After they have watched once, put the students in pairs to see
if they can find any errors in the text.
• Ask the students how many errors they found. If they have
found less than 10, play the clip again and ask the students to
try to find more of the errors.
• Once they have had time to watch again, ask them to try to
correct the text. This will be easier to do if you give them a
digital version to work on.
• Once they have had time to correct the errors, ask the pairs to
change texts with a different pair and check their version to
see if it is now correct. At this point they may wish to watch the
clip again to cross check.
• Give the pairs some time to correct each other and when you
think they have a correct version of the text, show them your
own original version.
• Remember that their version may not be exactly the same as
your own, but may still be correct as they may have expressed
some things differently.
• Collect in their final texts and check them and give feedback.
85
WHO SAID IT
In this activity students have a collection of quotes from the Select a short clip that features two or more people having a
script of a video clip and they have to watch the muted video conversation. The clip could come from a film that the students
and try to decide who said each one. They then check their haven’t seen or could be from a TV drama or sitcom. Create a
answers by watching the clip with the sound on.
muted version of the clip.
Rationale
Find or transcribe the script from the clip. Choose 5 - 6 short
This activity helps to develop students’ ability to focus on visual sentences or expressions from the clip and put them on a
clues to support their understanding of dialogues.
worksheet for students to read.
Context
This activity can be done in the classroom or can be posted
online. You will need to create a version of the clip without the
audio track though.
Language focus
The primary aim of this activity is to help students to use visual
clues such as gestures and facial expressions to support their
listening comprehension.
86
Procedure Follow up
• Give the students the sentences that you have extracted from You could follow this up with a more detailed listening
the script. comprehension activity.
• Check they understand what the sentences mean.
• Now play the video clip without the sound and tell the students
to watch and try to decide which of the people in the clip said
each of the sentences.
• They may need to watch again to do this. You could play
through the video and get the students to shout stop if they
think someone in the clip is saying one of the sentences.
• Once the students think they have the sentences in the correct
order, play the clip with the audio and ask them to listen and
check.
• Give the students the rest of the script and let them listen and
read through it.
87
THE WITNESS

In this activity students try to imagine they are a witness at the The primary aim of this activity is getting students speaking.
scene of a some kind of crime. The students watch a video clip Some of the linguistic items they may need to include:
and then role play interviews with each other to find out what
they saw. • Narrative tenses to retell events
• Language to describe people
Rationale
• Language to describe clothes
This activity focuses students on the visual aspects of what
• Reported speech
actually happens and so requires less from them in terms of
listening comprehension and focuses more on their ability to Preparation
describe what they saw.
Try to find two or three different clips of crimes scenes from TV
Context shows or films. It would be useful if the scenes are quite similar.
The viewing part of this activity can be done either in the Also try to grab an image from the video of the criminal in each
classroom or the students could watch the video at home and scene and if the actor is quite famous try to find some other
the speaking part can be done in class. images of the actor in different roles on Google Images. Use the
You could also use a video chatroom to get students to do the images to create an identity parade.
interviews online.
88
Procedure Follow up
• Put the students into pairs or small groups and ask them to Ask the students to write up a report of the crime that was
think about the kinds of a questions a police officer might ask described to them.
the witness at a crime scene.
Example worksheet
• If they struggle to think of any questions you could use the
ones on the sample worksheet. Crime scene questions
• Split the students into two groups and give each group a • Can you describe what happened?
different crime scene to watch. This will be easier to do if they
are working online and watching the videos at home. • What were you doing when the crime took place?
• After they have watched the crime scene put the students into • Can you describe the criminal(s)?
pairs with one student from each group and ask them to take it
in turns to interview their partner about the crime they saw. The • What were they wearing?
one acting as the policemen and asking questions should
listen and make notes.
• After they have each described the crime to their partner,
share the images of the criminals and see if they can select the
criminal that was described by their partner.
89
WEBCAM DICTATION

In this activity students listen to a dictated text, write it down and The primary aim of this activity is to work on students receptive
then try to read it themselves. and productive pronunciation.
Rationale The linguistic aim depends on the text you use. You could
choose a text with whatever grammar point or vocabulary you
Using a video recording for this activity gives students the want students to work on or you could focus on specific sounds
opportunity to replay the video as many times as they need to that students find challenging.
while listening. Also getting students to record themselves
saying the text gives them the chance to watch and evaluate Preparation
their own speaking ability and encourages them to work harder Select an appropriate text and then use your webcam to record
to produce a better final recording.
yourself dictating the text. Try to make your reading as natural
Having a recording of your students saying the text also helps as possible.
you to identify where they are having problems with
pronunciation. This is something that you don’t often have the
opportunity to do in a crowded classroom.
Context
This activity is best done online rather than in the physical
classroom. If you have a computer lab of some kind in your
school you could get students to do the activity there, but they
are more likely to be disturbed by background noise.
90
Procedure Follow up
• Send your students a link to your recorded dictation. Listen to your students recordings and send them some
• Ask them to listen and write down what they hear. feedback using your webcam. Focus the feedback on the
sounds which they are having problems with and give good
• Tell them they can listen as many times as they need to.
clear models of how the words should be pronounced.
• Once they have finished writing down the text, ask them to
You could send them the original text that you used for the
record themselves saying the text and then send the clip back
recording and they can compare with their own copy of the text.
to you.
Related links
This site has an interesting text which includes all of

the sounds of the English language.
•The Speech Accent Archive: http://accent.gmu.edu/
91
VIDEO AS
COMMUNICATION
This chapter contains information about using video as
a communication tool to enhance learning.
Video communication is becoming a part of everyday life for many

people. We need to help our students understand and communicate
effectively within this medium.
VIDEO COMMUNICATION
Recent increases in availability of bandwidth and improvements in Some tools are capable of both of these modes of communication,
computer power, coupled with improvements in free or low cost Skype for example is usually used for synchronous live
VOIP technologies have made video communications over the communication, but is also capable of leaving video messages for
internet a reality for a great many internet users around the world. people to listen to and watch later.
Types of video communication Benefits of video communication
Video communications generally fit into one of two categories: Using video communication particularly in online courses can add
huge benefits for the students.
• Synchronous in which the communication happens in real time
Speaking skills - Video communication gives students the
• Asynchronous, in which the video message is recorded and sent
opportunity to work on their speaking skills. This is particularly
to the interlocutor to watch at a later time.
important for online courses in which students don’t have the
opportunity to come into the classroom and do speaking activities.
93
It may be there only opportunity to use their speaking skills in a Benefits of asynchronous video 
communicative way. Asynchronous communications can be much easier to enable
Rapport building - Using video communication tools can help than synchronous communication and can have additional
you to build rapport and develop a closer relationship with your benefits for both the learner and teacher.
students. They will be able to see you, hear your voice, hear the One to one time - It’s very unusual that in the classroom we have
tones in your voice, see you smile, etc. All of these things will help time to really carefully listen to just one student during speaking
both you and the students to get a sense of who you are as a activities. When students are doing speaking activities the
person. This is especially important for 100% online courses when classroom can be noisy. Getting the time to listen to all of the
your students might never meet you or their peers face-to-face students can be really challenging. This isn’t the case though with
and where the sense of learning in isolation can be more profound. asynchronous video. Once you have the video clip of your student
If you can get this kind of online face contact and build a working talking you can listen and focus on just that student without any
relationship with students as early as possible in your course it distractions or background noise and have repeat listenings. This
may well help to reduce student drop out and increase their also makes giving feedback to students about their speaking more
motivation and commitment to the course. effective as you can give them exact time references to
Visual communication skills - Video can help students to work accompany your feedback so they can listen to the exact part you
on and understand visual communication. This aspect of language are referring to and see and hear themselves.
learning is difficult to teach and so often neglected, but the camera Watch multiple times - Because it is recorded, asynchronous
is a perfect tool to focus students on some of the aspects of visual video enables students to watch multiple times. This can enable
communication, such as eye contact, gesture, posture, facial them to work harder at processing and understanding the content.
expression, and other paralinguistic features which are so often
neglected. Reflection - Because students have the opportunity to watch and
listen to themselves speaking before they send the clip, they have
Digital literacy - Video communication is becoming increasingly the chance to reflect on their own abilities and make changes and
common in everyday personal and professional life and is a improvements to their video recordings. This can help you to shift
valuable digital literacy for students to develop. Feeling confident in speaking activities from being fluency practice to focus on
this communication genre, especially in a second language, takes accuracy.
practice, just as it does with using the telephone or sending an
email, so it’s important that students have guidance and practice Thinking time - Students get time to think about and prepare
to help them develop this ability. what they are going to say, before they have to record it. This can
encourage them to focus more deeply on accuracy and getting
things right. You should be careful that they don’t ‘script’ their
94
videos as this can make them seem very wooden and emotionless Challenges of video communication
and make any kind of eye contact impossible.
Using video as communication though isn't without its problems.
Portfolio - Video interactions can be kept and form a record of Here are some things you should consider before you use video
student progress both for the teacher and the student. Actually communications with your students.
seeing their own progress over time can be far more powerful than
Privacy and protection - If you are using any form of video
being told about it by a teacher.
communication with your students it’s very important that you
Reusable - If you have kept your recorded video messages to protect yourself and your students. 
students as you have worked through a course, you may be able
to reuse these videos on future courses and this can save you a lot
Protecting yourself involves making your school and, if your
of time. A good example of this would be messages you create as
students are younger learners or teens, the students’ parents
examples of tasks.
aware of what you are doing and why. In some cases this may
Reduced frustration - Synchronous video communication for involve getting written permission from parents. This is very
those with poor connectivity can be very frustrating as the important for you so that you are protected from any accusations
connection can drop or there can be bad lag that can reduce the of inappropriacy.
sound quality and leave students feeling very frustrated. This isn’t
 
the case with asynchronous tools as they usually record onto the
You should also agree in advance with the students and parents,
users computer first and then upload.
who is allowed to see the videos and how they will be used. Again
Learner corpus - You can save the videos your students create this is particularly important if you want to include videos of your
and use these as a corpus of learner English. This can be really students in any projects that may appear on public display. 
useful for research and to build a profile of your learners  
development. It can also help you to study persistent and common It’s also a good idea to create guidelines for students on what is
problems that your students have. and is not acceptable behavior and make them aware of what the
consequences could be if they misuse the medium. 
 
Be particularly careful with services like Skype which enable users
to request contact with each other and which add users to an
open contacts database. Make sure that your students know who
they should add as contacts and how to ignore, block or report
the wrong kinds of contact requests.
95
Self consciousness - Many teachers as well as students can particularly mobile phones so using these can reduce the problem,
become very self conscious when they see themselves on video. If but students who don’t have access to reasonable quality
you want your students to appear on video, then you should be recording may be demotivated and think that the problem is the
prepared to lead the way and do this yourself. If students are quality of their speaking.
particularly self conscious and particularly if their culture forbids Lighting quality - The quality of the lighting in the room where the
this, then you should avoid pushing them and allow them to turn video is created can have an impact on how students see
the camera off. There are some alternatives you can try though like themselves in the video. It’s worth giving them a few pointers on
wearing a costume or disguise, dark glasses, big hats or even how to improve this. See the following section on ‘How to look
getting students to use a puppet in front of the camera while they good on a webcam’ for tips that you can share with students.
speak. As a last resort, just drawing a face on your finger and
holding it close to the camera can work really well.
Nerves - Even if there is nobody else around, speaking and
recording themselves in front of a camera can make some people
nervous and may not show them at their best. With time most
students can overcome this and become accustomed to using a
webcam as a communication tool, but be aware of students who
struggle with nerves and try not to penalize them because of it.
Over preparing - Because they have time to think and prepare
before they speak, some students have a tendency to go too far.
Some may try to speak from notes or worse, prepare a written
script which they memorize or read. This tends to make their
communication very wooden and makes eye contact difficult, so
try to discourage your students from doing this.
Audio quality - In some cases students don’t have particularly
good audio equipment on their computer, particularly if they are
using a cheap headset or the built in microphone on their laptop. If
you and your students can afford it, it’s usually better to buy a
microphone and headset that connects using a USB plug. Mobile
devices tend to have much better quality microphones and
96
SYNCHRONOUS VIDEO COMMUNICATION
Synchronous video communication can be a great way to develop long lag. Longer lag can in turn cause more problems with turn-
students communication skills, but it can be quite demanding on taking and speakers accidentally interrupting each other and
the computer and your internet connection. talking over each other or worse, some users loosing their
connection and dropping out of the conference.
Challenges specific to synchronous video
communication Sounds quality - The sound quality in any synchronous
conference is dependent on all participants using good quality
There are some problems that are specific to live - synchronous
equipment. If one participant is using a poor quality headset or
communication and you should consider these before choosing
speakers rather than headphones, this can cause echo and
the type of communication you want to use with your students.
interference for everyone. This can make communication difficult
Scheduling - Trying to arrange times when all of your students are and make the experience more frustrating for students.
available, especially if you are teaching internationally across time
Turn taking - The behaviors that govern turn taking in
zones, can be very problematic. The more students you have, the
conversation, such as; knowing when one person has finished
more difficult it will be to arrange a time when everyone is available.
speaking, knowing how to avoid interrupting someone, knowing
Also confusion over different time zones and what the time
how to signal that you want to enter the conversation, are much
differences are between them can take a lot of managing,
more complex and difficult to manage in synchronous online
especially when times change at different parts of the year.
communication. The gestures that we subconsciously use are
Connectivity - Synchronous communication can be much more much more difficult to detect via webcam. This can be made more
demanding and dependent on good broadband connectivity. If difficult if poor connectivity is causing a time lag in the
some of your students don’t have good connectivity, this will communication and this can make natural conversation quite
impact on everyone’s experience and will be more likely to cause difficult.
97
Teacher focus - Because synchronous online communication your computer is having to do and help to avoid potential
only allows one person to speak at a time with any degree of interruptions.
clarity, this can mean that the teacher tends to control and Reboot - Rebooting your computer before you start any form of
dominate the communication and most of the communication video communication can help to clear your computers memory
tends to go through the teacher. Setting up pair work and student and free up additional space.
talking tasks can be much more challenging, though many webinar
Background tasks and programs - Many programs run in the
type synchronous platforms can accommodate pair and group
background on your computer and can be using up connectivity
work through the use of ‘breakout rooms’. The teacher is able to
and processing power without you realizing. Check for programs
create these breakout rooms and move students into them to do
like DropBox or GoogleDrive and either pause or better still quit
pair or small group speaking activities. The teacher can then move
these programs.
between the various rooms and monitor students’ interaction.
Cable connection - Using a cable to connect to the internet
Reduced student talking time - The direct consequence of the
rather than wifi during live communication sessions can help to
increased teacher focus is that there is less time left for students to
ensure a more stable and reliable connection and reduce the
speak and most speaking is open class monologue which passes
processing work your computer needs to do.
through the teacher, rather than dialogue. This tends to undermine
the potential benefits of online communication in that students Other users - Particularly if you are connecting from home where
tend to get less opportunity to develop their speaking in a other people are using the same internet connection, it is worth
synchronous online class. politely asking them not to do tasks such as streaming audio or
video content while you are having your live session as this will
Tips for getting a good connection
reduce the bandwidth available for you and slow down your
Here are a few tips to help you and your students get the best connection.
experience possible while communicating online and to help avoid
Headset - If you are using a computer with built in speakers and
excessive lag, poor sound and picture quality and dropped
microphone it’s possible that these can cause feedback, echo and
connections.
other kinds of audio interference, such as keyboard sounds, etc.
Close other programs - If you have other programs running on This can be distracting for you and for the people you are speaking
your computer such as email, Twitter, Facebook or other too. It’s much better to use a proper headset with a microphone
messaging applications that send you notifications, these will be attached. Headsets that connect using a USB connector rather
using up your bandwidth and some percentage of your computer’s than pin plugs usually give better quality sound too.
processing ability. Closing these will minimize the additional work
98
HOW TO LOOK GOOD ON A WEBCAM
Both teachers and students can be very reluctant to place you have your first live session, be sure to experiment with different
themselves in front of a video camera, especially when they can camera and light positions.
actually see themselves as they talk. People can become very self
conscious and the angle of most webcams which look up at you Background - Be aware of your background and the kind of
from below can be very unflattering. Learning to communicate impression it conveys and how it contrasts with your clothes.
effectively and confidently with your webcam can be a challenge, Having a dark background and wearing black clothes can make
but it’s a challenge that’s important to master, especially if you you look like a floating head. You may want to have books in the
intend to teach online. Of course there are some things you can do background to make the setting look more professional or you
to make yourself look your best and feel more confident and could use some kind of backdrop like a plain sheet or wall.
comfortable. Clothes - In the physical classroom the clothes you wear convey
something about who you are and of course this also applies to
Tips for looking good on a webcam the clothes you wear during your on-camera session. Just
because you may be at home and you can do the session in your
Lighting - Getting the lighting right is quite important. You should pajamas, doesn’t mean that you should. Making the effort to dress
have a front light rather than back light. If you have strong lighting well can add to the impression you give on camera and help you
behind you, then your viewer will just see a silhouette and won’t be to feel more confident. Try to avoid pinstripes or small check
able to see any facial expression. The light you use shouldn’t be patterns though as these can have a strange effect on the camera.
too bright though as you don’t want to be squinting or
uncomfortable. Try to use natural light if possible, but if not then Posture - Be aware of your posture while you are on camera. It’s
use a light with some form of shade so the light is defused. easy to forget that people are watching you and that your posture
can communicate attitude. Be sure to sit up straight and face the
Camera position - Generally it’s better to have the camera at camera. If you start to slouch or move around too much you could
around your eye-level or slightly higher, so that you are looking up give the impression that you are bored or not listening.
slightly. Looking down at the camera won’t give a very flattering
view and can make you look like you have double chins. Before
99
Eye-contact - Making eye-contact is an important part of good

face-to-face communication. Avoiding eye-contact can give the
impression that you are not confident or worse still that you are
dishonest or lying. Making eye-contact with the webcam can be
difficult though as the natural tendency when using video
conferencing tools is to look at the computer screen, either at
yourself or the person you’re talking to. Try to be aware of this and
lift your gaze so that you are speaking to and looking at the
camera, or slightly above it rather than the computer screen.
Facial expression - Remember that the people you are speaking
with can see your face so try to smile and look friendly and more
importantly don’t grimace or make faces while others are
speaking. Try to look engaged so that they know you are listening.
Distractions - It is easy to become distracted while in
conferencing sessions. The distractions could come from other
people around you, the telephone or from the computer itself. Try
to minimize this as much as possible by finding a quiet private
place for your conference. Switch off your phone and of course
don’t be tempted to check your emails or social networks. The
people you are in conference with will be able to see that your
eyes are down on the computer and will assume you aren’t
listening, even if you are.
Water - It’s a good idea to have water or something to drink close
at hand, especially if you are nervous as your voice may dry up. If
possible have this in a glass rather than a bottle as it will look
better. Before you drink be sure to excuse yourself, explain and try
to mute the microphone so that people don’t have to listen to the
sound of you drinking.
100
CREATING VIDEO
This chapter contains tips and advice to help you get
started creating video with your students.
Putting video making tools into the

hands of students can enable them to
use their language skills in a way that
is both meaningful and creative.
CREATING VIDEO
The popularization and increased functionality of mobile phones Video making skills
and digital cameras has made it possible for almost anyone to
Making video can be incredibly motivating for students and can
produce, edit and publish some form of video content. In fact
also help them to develop some useful linguistic and ‘real life’
many of our students, even those younger than their teens already
skills.
do so in their free time. It would be absurd for us as teachers not
to look for ways in which we can exploit this possibility in language Script writing - Writing dialogue is very different from other forms
learning. of writing and really pushes students to think about how people
communicate, interact culturally and how ideas and emotions are
expressed. Giving students the chance to use the spoken
language items they are learning in a creative way like this can
really help to embed language more deeply into students’ learning.
102
Understanding of lighting and sound - Although these aren’t Challenges

linguistic skills, an understanding of how sound and light work with
There are many challenges to creating video in the language
video can be very useful especially if video communication is going
classroom, particularly with monolingual classes.
to play any part in the students’ work.
First language use - When the focus of the lesson shifts to
Camera angles and diﬀerent types of shot - Again these aren’t
producing something rather than explicit language practice,
connected to linguistic skills but they are important elements of
students can tend to slip back into their L1. To avoid this you need
understanding media literacy as they play an important role in how
to ensure that you are constantly monitoring and reminding
a film maker tells a story and how the camera can be used, for
students that they should be using English. You should also ensure
example, to create empathy or alienation from various characters.
that you still give them some feedback on the English they are
Understanding how film producers use these various techniques
using and input new and useful language items and vocabulary at
can help students to understand how their response to particular
regular intervals to support their communication and team
media can be manipulated.
working. You could also make students aware that their use of
Storyboarding and scene planning - The process of English will be part of what you assess at the end of the activity.
storyboarding and planning various scenes within a video are again
Group dynamics - A video based activity may well require a
not linguistic skills, but the process of deconstruction of various
range of different roles which may include acting in front of the
video genre can really help students to look at digital media in a
camera, being the camera person, editing, prop-making, scripting
more critical way. Planning their own storyboard of a video clip or
and many more. You will need to consider these roles when
narrative can also help students to think about how they convey a
organizing groups to do the activity. Your groups will need to have
message.
a range of different personality types to cover these roles. You also
Video editing - The ability to edit, trim and move parts around, need to consider whether the groups should organize themselves
change and add sound effects, etc can again give some insight to assign roles or whether you would prefer to tell the students in
into how images can be manipulated and can also be very useful the group what their role should be.
skills in the commercial job market.
Classroom time - Creating and editing video can take up quite a
Collaboration - Apart from the language skills necessary to lot of time over a number of classes. This can be problematic if you
create the content of the video, students will also need to learn have to fit it around a busy syllabus. Mapping the learning
how to work collaboratively, assign roles, negotiate aims, meet outcomes around your existing syllabus can help to reduce the
deadlines. These are all valuable skills to learn and they should problem, but that isn’t always possible. You could get students to
also be doing all of this in the target language, so these are all do some of the editing and technical work at home or possibly
opportunities for genuine communicative language use. start using video creation as an extra curricular activity.
103
Sharing outputs - You or your students may well want to share Video creation activities
the videos you have produced either online or simply by sending
In the next chapter I’ll go into much more detail and outline a
them to others. If this is the case, then you must make sure you
number of video creation activities, here are a number of quick
have written permission from all students or their parents and that
ideas you can use with your students. Choosing the right type of
the contents of the video don’t disclose the students’ personal
activity will depend a lot on the level and interests of your students
information.
and the language items and structures you have been studying or
Sharing outtakes - When creating video there are bound to be want to study with them.
times when things go wrong and people make mistakes. These
News reports - These can be quite simple to create and can be
can be very humorous or quite embarrassing. Be aware that there
done with a mix of genuine clips that students can download or
is potential for students to ‘leak’ this kind of material onto the
edit online and their own narration and talking head presenter
internet or share it with friends outside of the class. This can lead
recorded on the webcam on a laptop. The kind of language items
to the embarrassment of students and even teachers, so make
that would help students in this kind of project would be narrative
sure that you have a clear policy with your students on how this
tenses to talk about the details of what happened and present
will be dealt with and that they are aware that this kind of behavior
perfect tenses to give headlines.
is not acceptable.
Advertisements - Students can create short advertisements quite
easily with a minimum of props and a mobile phone. They just
need a product to advertise and their imagination. Superlatives
and comparatives are often used in the language of advertising.
Music videos - Creating a music video may involve less language
production, but it may well be something that students find really
motivating and can be done quite simply. At the simplest level
students can use drawings to illustrate a song they like. This is a
good way to show that they understand the lyrics, though you may
need to be careful in your choice of song.
Creating a soap opera - This kind of project is likely to be more
complex but could involve far more and varied linguistic output
from the students. To create a soap opera you are more likely to
need students who are willing to act in front of the camera and it’s
likely to need more editing. The range of language items students
104
use in a soap opera though can be much more varied and it can
be an ongoing project that you can keep adding to and
developing.
Documentary - Creating a documentary doesn’t have to require
lots of resources. The project could be edited together from
images or video found online with a narrative added. This kind of
project allows for the use of more formal language items and more
topic specific vocabulary. Documentaries could be based around
wildlife or history facts and could require students to do research
and fact checking.
Language lesson - Many people say that the best way to learn
anything is by teaching it, so getting your students to create a
video grammar lesson could be a great project. Here the linguistic
benefit would come from the research students would need to do
to better understand the grammar point, as well as the
collaboration involved in creating the video. 
105
DIGITAL NARRATIVE
Video is a great tool for creating digital narrative. The ability to • Many of today’s teenagers are regular creators of digital narrative,
create digital narrative to tell their own stories or the stories of their though they may not see it as such, as they document and share
culture can be incredibly empowering and can provide very their everyday life experiences together through various social
motivating language production tasks for students. media.
The simplest definition of digital narrative is that it is the telling of • Narrative and story telling was the birthplace of education, so as
stories through digital media. This can include and combine digital a teacher, the ability to create engaging digital narrative is a great
text, audio, images, video or 3D models. skill that can enable you to create motivating materials for your
students.
How digital narrative is used
Digital narrative is more than a classroom activity. It has many uses Digital narrative skills
in the real world outside the classroom: Creating effective digital narrative can be challenging because it
• News reporting is increasingly moving towards internet based can involve so many digital and analogue sub-skills such as:
delivery and mixed media resources. Contemporary journalists Creating engaging text - Crafting the actual story that students
are constantly involved in the creation of digital narrative as a create their digital narrative around gives students the chance to
method of delivering news online and engaging with new use language in a creative way.
audiences.
Sourcing and editing digital media - The skills associated with
• Business and marketing people are increasingly using forms of image, video and audio editing are becoming increasingly valuable
digital narrative to effectively communicate their message in an in the work place and the process of doing this collaboratively in a
engaging and informative way. group can help build some useful language skills for negotiating.
106
Learning appropriate tools - As tools change and new ones grabs your students’ interest and imagination and something that
emerge, the ability to continually and quickly learn and master new they feel some personal connection to.
tools and applications is becoming one of the most important Collecting the assets - Assets are the individual pieces of media
digital literacies. which make up the story. This could be video clips, audio , images
Selecting and managing appropriate tools - Choosing the or text. They could be assets that your students create or things
right tools to deliver a project is again very important. that they find online or in the physical world and scan.
Managing and responding to user comments - One of the Arrange and sequence - Once your students have collected
great advantages of online media is the opportunity it affords to together various digital assets they need to start thinking about the
interact with the viewer. This requires some knowledge of the order they will use them. At this point it can be useful to create a
linguistic conventions that govern this type of interaction. storyboard of simple sketches that show how the narrative will be
structured.
Organizing materials - The storyboarding and sequencing of
materials helps to develop visualization and planning skills as they Write a connecting narrative - Writing the narrative that links the
work together to consider how the narrative will unfold for the assets together is one of the key language activities so this is
viewer. where you can provide a strong focus on language input.
Managing digital assets - Managing and making sure the various Decide on a medium for the parts or your narrative - You or
parts of the digital narrative can be located and modified if your students will need to decide whether the narrative is driven by
necessary is an important organizational and project management text, whether it is more oral or whether the images are strong
skill. enough to communicate the narrative on their own. It could also
Although this list may seem a little daunting, with modern be a mixture of these.
technology and the appropriate tools and applications, these tasks Choose the right tool - You will need to decide which tool or
have never been easier. tools you use to construct the narrative.
Decide on your platform for delivery - You will need to decide
A framework for creating digital narrative how you and your students will publish the work and make it
Here is a basic framework for creating a digital narrative which you accessible to others. It could be on a blog, a school website or
might find useful as a starting point for working with your students. within a virtual learning environment.
Identify the theme - This is probably the most difficult part. The Construct the narrative - Once these things have been decided
story could be fictional or factual, but it has to be something that your students will actually need to construct the narrative and put
all the parts together.
107
View and revise - Try to get the students to peer review, revise Some themes for creating digital narrative
and edit the narrative and look for ways to improve it.
Here are some possible digital narrative themes you could choose
Publish - Get the students to publish the finished narrative. from.
As you can see from the basic structure above, creating a digital • A news story or documentary about something happening in
narrative can take time and be quite a complex process, so digital your community
narrative is ideal for project based learning and the process of
• The story of someone in your family
creating the narrative can be broken down into different stages
and developed over the space of a number of lessons. • A short story from literature using contemporary images
• A biography of a famous person
• A trip you went on
• Your learning journey
• The story of a band you like
• The story of a town, city or country
• A celebration or special day
• Your autobiography
108
CREATION
ACTIVITIES
This chapter contains activities which involve students
in video creation.
BOOK REVIEW
My thanks to Bita Rezaei, Teacher, CELTA Trainer, DOS, mother and all
round inspiration for her support and sponsorship of this project and
chapter.

In this activity students analyze a video book review and then The primary aim of this activity is to develop students’ ability to
create their own based around a book they like. talk about books and exchange their opinions and impressions
of them.
Rationale
The linguistic aim is to encourage the students to use the
Video book reviewing has become very popular on the internet present tense to relate story narrative.
and this is a great way to get students talking about books and
sharing their views. Preparation
Recording a video can also be a much more enjoyable and Either find or create your own model book review. There are lots
expressive way of presenting a book report. of video book reviews on YouTube, though these vary in quality
Context and some are quite long.
You can do this activity either in the physical or the virtual It can be more motivating for younger students to see people
classroom. their own age publishing reviews, so finding a review done by
In the physical classroom you can do the review analysis during someone the same age as your students is recommended.
class time, but get the students to do their own reviews at home Prepare a list of things that you would expect to be included in a
where there is less background noise and distraction. book review like the Example worksheet and make a copy of
this for your students.
110
Procedure language the speaker uses to describe the various aspects of

the book.
• Put the students into small groups. Tell them they are going to
watch a review of a book. • Now tell the students to think about a book they like that they
have read.
• Before the students watch ask them to quickly make a list of
the things they expect the reviewer to mention. To make this • Put the students into pairs and tell them to tell their partner
more motivating you could tell them you want to see which about the book and try to include information about all of the
group can think of the most things. items on the list.
• Once the students have had some time to work on their list, • Once they have exchanged information, tell the students that
find out which group has made the longest list and then ask you want them to create their own video of a book review. This
them to read out their suggestions so that the other students can either be the book they just talked about or another book
hear them. they like.
• Ask if any of the other students can add to the list. • They can use either their mobile camera or a webcam to
create the review.
• At this point you could provide your own or the example
worksheet list if your students haven’t thought of very much. • They should do the review at home where they have the book
and can show it and where they can re-record their review a
• Now tell the students to watch the video book review and see
number of times until they are happy with it.
how many of the things they suggested have been included.
• Once you have played the review give the students a few Follow up
moments to discuss their answers and see if they need to Show the reviews in class or post them online so that
watch again. students can watch each others’ reviews and comment on
• Next, ask the students to watch again and make notes of any them.
information given about the different aspects of the book.
• Again, give the students a few moments to compare their
answers.
• At this point you could play through the clip again and pause it
for them to check their answers or you could give the students
a transcription of the script so that they can look at the
111
Example worksheet
Which of these things are mentioned in the review?
• The author.
• Other books by the same author.
• The name of the book.
• The name of the publisher.
• The price of the book.
• The kind of reader the book is aimed at.
• What happens in the story.
• Who the main characters are.
• Where the story takes place.
• What the reader liked about the book.
• What the reader didn’t like about the book.
• A recommendation, rating or evaluation of the

book.
112
COLLABORATIVE STORY CREATION
Introduction The linguistic aim is to enable students to use a range of

narrative tenses and sequence events in the past.
In this activity students create a story collaboratively by taking it
in turns to add to the story line by line. Preparation
Rationale This activity doesn’t require much preparation, you just need to
think of a good opening line for a story.
This is a common classroom activity which has been adapted to
work online. It is a great way to get the students using their One of the most common I have used is “It was a dark stormy
imagination and listening and speaking to each other. night and [add suitable name] was walking home along the
The advantage of doing this through asynchronous video quiet road when suddenly …..” In Related links you can find
conferencing online is that students have more time to think sites with more story prompts.
about their contribution to the story and they can try to be more
expressive to the camera. They also have more opportunity to You will also need to decide whether:
listen to the previous lines of the story and make a better a.) You will build a separate story collaboratively with each
contribution to the story.
student, which is probably better the first time you try the
Context activity,
This activity has been adapted to be used online with the aid of b.) You would prefer to start the story and then each student will
asynchronous video communication tools. add to it. This is harder to organize and manage, but less work
Language focus for you.
The primary aim of this activity is to develop students’ listening If you go for option a.) you just record your first sentence and
and speaking skills send it to all of your students.
113
If you go for option b. you will need to let students know who • Once you have finished you could get your students to watch
they send the story on to after they have added their part. You the different parts of the story and try to find out where you
could put them in groups for this rather than making the story go corrected him/her and why.
round the entire class. • If you are building the story with a group, make sure you send
Procedure the story around the group more than once so the students
have more opportunity to listen and contribute.
• Record the opening line of your story using your webcam and
an appropriate asynchronous video communication app. Follow up
• Send the clip to all of your students. Ask them to listen to your Get your students to build up stories in pairs, then send you
sentence and complete the sentence and then add another the clips when they have finished.
sentence to the story. You can collect all the final versions of the stories and share
• They should do this by first recording themselves saying your them among the class or on a blog or website.
part of the story and then adding their own part. Warn the
students that they should never finish the story.
• When they have done this, they should send the video
recording back to you or to the next student.
• When you receive the clip with the two parts of the story, you
listen and then record yourself telling the story from the
beginning and add the next part or sentence of the story.
• If your student has made any mistakes in their part of the story,
correct these in your version, but don’t point out the errors or
corrections to your student. Then you send it back to your
student again.
• Keep repeating this process until you have built up a short
story.
114
Related links
You can use these links to find more story writing

prompts.
•The Story Starter: http://thestorystarter.com/
•Scholastic Story Starters: http://www.scholastic.com/
teachers/story-starters/
•Creative Writing Now: http://www.creative-writing-
now.com/story-ideas.html
115
FILM REVIEW

In this activity students watch short example film reviews, then The primary aim of this activity is to get students thinking about
use the webcam or mobile camera to produce a video review of the different elements of a film and to speak confidently about
a film they have seen. them.
Rationale The linguistic aims could include:
Films are a very common part of our everyday social exchange • Vocabulary related to films.
and being able to talk about a film can help students to cope • Ways of expressing likes dislikes.
with social situations and share their taste in films. • The present tense for describing plot scenarios.
Context Preparation
This activity can be done either online or in the classroom, Find or create your own video film review for students to watch
though it’s best to get students to record their reviews at home and analyze. There are suggestions for sources of film reviews
where they can rehearse, revise and record them without in the related links.
background noise or distractions.
116
Procedure Follow up
• Tell your students to think about the last film they saw. Get the links to the reviews and share them so that the
• Then put them in pairs to tell their partner about the film. students can watch each others’ reviews. Ask them to watch
the reviews and decide which of the films they would like to
• Now ask the students to brainstorm the aspects of a film which
see. If they have already seen the films, you could also ask
are usually included in a film review.
them to decide which of the reviews they agreed with.
• Get them to compare their lists together or compare with the
Related links
Example worksheet below and see if they can add to it.
• Now play the students the film review you have chosen and Use these links to find example film reviews.
ask them to see which of the things the review includes.
•Take 2: http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/video/
• Give students a chance to discus and compare their answers.
take2/
• Next, play the review again and ask them to try to remember
what the reviewer said about each of the things on the list. •BBC Film Review: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
• Give the students a chance to compare again, then do some entertainment-arts-24404882
feedback and clarify their answers.
•Chris Stuckmann: https://www.youtube.com/user/
• Now tell the students to think of a film they have seen and
ChrisStuckmann
make notes about the different aspects of the film.
• Next, ask them to use their notes to produce a review of the •Jeremy Jahns: https://www.youtube.com/user/
film they saw using their webcam or mobile camera. JeremyJahns
• They can do this at home where there are less distractions and •One Minute Reviews: http://
background noise.
www.oneminutereview.com/
117
Example worksheet
Which of these things are included in a film review?
• Name of the film.
• The genre of the film.
• The actors’ names.
• The director’s name.
• The main characters in the film and which actor

plays them.
• What the reviewer expected before seeing the film.
• A brief summary of the plot.
• How the reviewer felt about the film.
• The best things about the film.
• Things the reviewer didn’t like.
• An overall recommendation.
118
GOT AN OPINION

In this activity students have to think of and record an argument The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to
for or against a debate topic. The teacher gives the specific express opinions and to formulate rebuttals to arguments.
topic and tells the students to be ‘for’ or ‘against’ the topic. The linguistic aims of this activity include:
Rationale • Ways of expressing opinion.
This activity focuses students on exploring and expressing • Ways agreeing and disagreeing.
opinions about important topics or issues.
Preparation
The teacher initially decides whether the students formulate an
argument ‘for’ or ‘against’ the topic, so students personal Try to decide on an interesting debate topic. If you need some
opinions are more protected. inspiration look at the sites in the Related links. These sites
This also encourages students to explore more sides of an have lots of suggestions for debate topics and also some
argument. suggestions for arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’.
Context
This activity can work either completely online or in a blended
learning course.
In the blended learning mode students could record and post
their opinions online and then have a follow up discussion in
class.
119
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students what the debate topic is and tell half of the Watch all the videos and find good examples of well
class they are ‘for’ and the other half they are ‘against’ the formulated and expressed arguments and well structured
proposal. rebuttals. Get the students to watch these and identify the
• Give the students some time to research the topic and then tell strengths. They could then take what they have learned from
them that they must record an oral argument using their the strong videos and re-record their own or new arguments.
webcam and post the video online. Alternatively you could record some models of well
• Once they have posted their arguments, assign each one to a formulated arguments and rebuttals and students could use
partner on the opposite side of the argument, and ask them to these as models for their improved version.
watch the video and post a rebuttal to the student’s argument. Have another debate about a topic the students select and
• Once they have posted these, you could ask the students to ask them to produce videos expressing their genuine
watch all the various clips and then vote ‘for’ or ‘against’ the opinions.
argument. This time though they can express their genuine Related links
opinion.
• If you are teaching on a blended learning course you could get These sites have suggestions for debate topics
the students to come to class and have a final debate and •IDEA - Debatabase:http://idebate.org/debatabase
vote. •ProCon: http://www.procon.org/debate-topics.php
•Debate.org: http://www.debate.org/opinions/
120
I'VE JUST

In this activity students use the video camera or webcam to The primary aim of this activity is to develop students
keep a micro blog about their activities. understanding of how to use present perfect to describe
something that has happened in the very recent past and is
Rationale
news. They also practice using past simple to relate the details
Personalization is an important part of language learning. If and background to the event.
students apply the language they are learning to their own lives
Preparation
as quickly as possible they are much more likely to understand
and retain it. You will need to pre-teach your students the use of the present
In this activity they use the language in a genuine way to relate perfect tense to talk about personal news.
real events in their lives. You could also use the activity as a test to see if students can
Context recognize the structure you are using and pick up how to use it
This is an online activity, though you can ask your students to do before you teach it.
it for homework as a way of reinforcing the language you have Record some example video clips of yourself at different times
studied in the classroom. during your day, telling students about something you have just
done and giving them some background details. These should
be very short clips of less than a minute.
121
Procedure Follow up
• Show the students your own videos either in the classroom or Watch the videos and evaluate the students’ speaking, then
online. give them some feedback and support.
• Tell them that you made these videos to share small items of
personal news during your week.
• You could compare them to a social media status update as
this might help students understand the concept and context.
• Tell your students that you want them to create similar videos
of their week and share them immediately each time they
create one.
• Ask them to try to produce at least ten during the week.
• At the end of the week ask the students to watch the videos
from their classmates and decide; who had the best week,
who had the most exciting week, who had the worst week and
whose week they would like to swap with.
• If your students are sufficiently mature you could use a web-
based video journal site like https://www.keek.com/ and get
your students to create a profile and follow each other on the
site. There is a mobile app for the site so this will make adding
their videos much simpler.
122
INTRODUCTIONS

In this activity students introduce themselves to the rest of the The primary aim of this activity is to help students get to know
class by recording a short video clip. each other a bit better and to give the teacher the opportunity to
assess their speaking ability.
Rationale
The linguistic aim of the activity is to enable students to talk
Particularly in online classes, it can be difficult to get a sense of about themselves.
who the tutor is and what the other participants are like as
people just through text based interaction. Preparation
Getting students to record their own introduction at the Record your own introduction to share with the students. This
beginning of the course can help to develop a better sense of generally acts as a model on which students base their own
rapport and a more positive dynamic within the class. introductions.
Using this activity can also give you an example of your
students’ speaking to listen to and so help you to assess their You could also give a short bullet point list of things you want
ability and their needs. your students to include in their introduction. The Example
worksheet has a list, but you may need to edit it for appropriacy
Context
and the level of your students.
This activity is best suited to online classes, though there is no
reason why you can’t get students in physical classrooms to do
it too and share their introduction clips online.
123
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students to watch your introductory video and then You could keep the questions and answers going for some
post any questions they would like to ask you about the things time using an asynchronous video tool.
you mention in your video. Watch the videos and make notes about the strengths and
• Once you have the questions, answer them and then ask the weaknesses of their language production.
students to post a similar video introducing themselves.
Example worksheet
• Give them the list of points to include if you think it will help.
• Get the students to post and share their videos online. Record your introduction. Tell other students:
• Who you are.
• Ask them to watch each others’ videos and send at least one
question to each of the people in the group to find out more • What you do.
about them. • How long you have been studying English and why
you study.
• What you like doing in your free time.
• Some of your favorite things.
• A little about your family.
• Some of the things you do and don’t like.
• Something that not many people know about you.
• A special place you like.
• Your favorite, books, films and music.
• A person you admire.
• Your hopes for the future.
124
MY HOW TO

In this activity students record a ‘How to’ video showing how to The primary aim of this activity is to develop students’ ability to
do something. This could be anything from how to put on make describe and show sequences of action and processes using
up to how to play an instrument, paint a picture or cook a imperatives and sequencers.
favorite dish.
Preparation
Rationale
This activity doesn’t necessarily need any preparation though
‘How to’ videos are very popular on the internet and a good you could prepare a demonstration video of yourself showing
resource for learning practical skills. how to make or do something.
Being able to explain how to do something is also a useful and
challenging skill for students to learn. You could find a video from one of the many ‘HowTo’ sites in the
Related links and use that as an example.
Context
This is something that students can work on in groups within the
the physical classroom or they could do it alone at home as an
online assignment.
You could also do it using a blended mode and get students to
prepare in class and then record and share from home.
125
Procedure You could get students to make a whole series of videos

based around their hobby or topic.
• Ask students to think about something they can make or do
well. This could be anything from cooking to playing a musical Watch and evaluate the videos and make notes of ways you
instrument, some kind of hobby or even how to put on make can help students to improve their language production.
up. Related links
• Put the students into small groups and ask them to tell the
others about their ‘thing’ and to try to explain how they do it. Here are some sites where you can find example
• Monitor while the students discuss and feed in any vocabulary ‘How to’ videos.
or expressions they need help with. •MonkeySee: http://www.monkeysee.com/
• Ask the students to follow this up at home by finding a ‘how to’
video that gives more information about their chosen topic. •HowCast: http://www.howcast.com/
• Ask the students to watch the video and then try to make their •VideoJug: http://www.videojug.com/
own version of a ‘how to’ video.
•e-How: http://www.ehow.com/videos.html
• Students can then share their own videos online or in the
classroom.
• If you do this activity completely online, then send some videos
to the students that show them how to do something and ask
them to learn how to do it.
• You should ask them to post you a picture to prove they have
completed the task.
• Then ask them to select their own skill and record their own
videos to share.
• Once they have posted the videos online they could watch
each others’ videos and see if they are able to learn how to do
those things.
Follow up
126
POEM READING

In this activity students listen to and reconstruct a poem. They The primary aim of this activity is to get students to develop their
then make a video recording of themselves reciting the poem pronunciation by confidently reciting a poem.
using images as prompts.
Preparation
Rationale
Find a short poem that you think your students will like and
This activity can help to enhance students enjoyment and which is rich in visual metaphors.
understanding of poetry and also help them to read and speak
in a more expressive way. Find or make a recording of the poem.
Reciting poetry can also help students to develop their Make a copy of the text of the poem and mix up the lines.
pronunciation.
I have included an Example worksheet based around
Using the images of some of the words also helps them to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130.
remember the poem and helps to make the video more visual.
You can find recordings of many popular poems on YouTube or
Context
other video sharing sites.
This activity works best in the classroom, though the students
can do their recordings at home and upload them online.
You can also get online students recording themselves reading
and illustrating poems based on your own examples, but they
won’t have the in-classroom support.
127
Procedure each line of the poem they should show their image to the
camera to illustrate it.
• Start by giving students some of the key imagery words from
the text. Ideally there should be at least one word from each • If students are working in groups they could do this as a group
line. In the case of our Shakespeare poem these could be; reading so that they only memorize a few lines rather than the
heaven, lips, sun, roses, eyes, hair, cheeks, music, coral, etc. entire poem.
• Check the students understand the words and give them some • If you really want each student to remember the poem, ask
paper. them to do the recording at home where they can practice and
where there is less distraction and background noise.
• Ask them to draw pictures of the words on each sheet of
paper. They could work in small groups to do this as it may Follow up
save time and paper. Look more closely at possible meanings of the poem.
• Once the students have their pictures, either read or play a Get the students to choose their own favorite poems and
recording of the poem and ask the students to listen and put illustrate and record them in the same way.
the images into the order they hear them in the poem.
Collect together the poem recordings and put them onto a
• Once they have had time to listen and order the pictures, give school blog or website.
the students the lines from the poem and ask them to use their
images to help them put the lines in the correct order.
• Give the students time to order the lines and then let them
listen to the recording again and check their order.
• Now that they have the lines in the correct order, ask them to
practice reading the poem.
• Ask the students to try to memorize the lines that go with each
of the images.
• They can practice by gradually taking the lines away and just
using the images to help them remember.
• Now ask the students to use either the webcam or video
camera to record themselves reciting the poem. As they say
128
Related links Example worksheet
Here are some links that may help with this lesson. Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare
•Video recording of the poem: http://youtu.be/ Listen and arrange the lines into the correct order.
xP06F0yynic • If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
•The poem text: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ • I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
my-mistress-eyes-are-nothing-sun-sonnet-130 • If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
You can find more poems on these sites. • I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
•PoemHunter: http://www.poemhunter.com/ • And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she
belied with false compare.
•Poetry Archive: http://www.poetryarchive.org/
• My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
You can use this site to quickly mix up the lines of a
poem. • My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
•Paragraphy: http://www.byrdseed.com/paragraphy/ • I grant I never saw a goddess go;

index.php • Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
• And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the

breath that from my mistress reeks
• That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
• But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
129
PRODUCT REVIEW

In this activity students create a product review. They first watch This activity focuses on developing speaking skills and
a model review and then select a product and record confidence in front of a camera.
themselves reviewing it. The linguistic aim is to help students develop their ability to
Rationale describe objects.
Product review videos have become very popular online, Preparation

particularly tech reviews and reviews of make-up and beauty Either create or find an example video which students can
products, and some people even make money from reviewing
analyze to get an idea of what they should create.
products.
This activity should encourage students to speak to the camera There are links to product review sites in the Related links.
as if it were a person and so build on their ability to
communicate confidently in front of the camera.
Context
This activity works best online, though you could do the
preparation for it in the face-to-face classroom.
130
Procedure • Tell the students to first make a list of the features of the
product they want to talk about. Once they have done this they
• First tell the students they are going to watch someone
can use a webcam or camera to record their review.
reviewing a product.
• They can do the review at home using a mobile camera or
• Tell them what the product is and then get them to try to
web-based asynchronous video tool or you could put them in
predict the features of the product that the reviewer will talk
pairs to do it in class and they can take it in turns to film each
about.
other using a camera or smart phone.
• Next play the product review and ask the students to watch
• You are more likely to get a better quality review if students
and see if they were correct.
record at home where there is less background noise and they
• Give them some time after they watch to compare answers can watch and re-record if they make a mistake.
and check their predictions.
Follow up
• Now ask the students to watch again and add any of the
features they missed in their predictions. Get students to share and comment on each others’ videos.
• Once they have done this put the students in pairs or small They could watch them and decide which of the products
groups to see if they can remember any of the expressions the they would buy.
reviewer used when describing the product.
• Give the students the chance to listen again and make notes of
any useful expressions. If you are doing this in the classroom
you may need to pause the video and give students time to
write.
• Now tell the students that you want them to create their own
product review.
• You can either suggest the product yourself or you can ask the
students to choose their own product. The activity will work
best though if it is something they can actually hold while they
describe it.
131
Related links
You can find out more about product reviews on these

sites.
•ExpoTV: http://www.expotv.com/browse
•Karissa Pukas Fashion and Beauty: https://
www.youtube.com/channel/UC85jN0RMP-
uJTIzhAcMFitA
•BeautyCrush: https://www.youtube.com/channel/
UCooQN8b9yPeNQgUFa9S5xew
•How Product Reviews Work: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDMqf5PeGdQ
132
READING A BOOK
Introduction Context
In this activity students read from a book or short story and try This activity is ideal for the online classroom, but you could also
to make the reading entertaining and engaging. use it in a blended learning mode and do remedial
Rationale pronunciation work in class.
Reading out loud is something that many students are asked to Language focus
do in class. Many really dislike the experience of being forced
to do this in the front of their peers with no preparation. The primary aim of this activity is to develop students
confidence and ability to communicate using the webcam. It
In this activity students will record themselves reading a gives the students the opportunity to improve their speaking
passage from a book using the webcam. This will give them and pronunciation and to develop a wider range of vocal
time to prepare and the opportunity to listen to themselves and expression in the target language.
re-record. This should be more private and less stressful than
doing the activity in class. It also develops their reading skills and understanding of the
text. You need to have a good understanding of the meaning of
This is a great way to diagnose students’ pronunciation a text in order to read it expressively.
problems and look for areas where they may need more help. It
also gives them the opportunity to be more expressive in their Preparation
reading of the story and to try to introduce a greater range of Find a suitable text for the level of the students. Divide the text
expression.
into suitable length passages so that each student has their own
passage to read.
133
You could also find a good example video of a story reading to • Watch the recordings and give them some feedback and
use as a model for students to analyze or you could record one guidance on how to improve them. You can also use the
yourself. webcam to record your feedback.
Procedure • Get the students to try to improve their reading and then send
you a new version.
• Share a link to your example video and ask the students to
watch it and try to identify the way the reader makes the story Follow up
entertaining and engaging. Once you have all the recordings, you could put them all
• Possible points they could notice are: together in order so that the students can watch and listen to
• Changing voices for different characters the complete text.
• Making eye contact Related links

• Using facial expressions that emphasizes the characters’
You can find text and audio of short stories and fairytales
feelings
on these sites.
• Using regular pauses
•Andrew Wright’s Blog: http://
• Using vocal expression
andrewarticlesandstories.wordpress.com/
• Using hand gestures
•Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/
• Once they have watched and shared their opinions about the
way the reader makes the story engaging, give them their own •Lit2Go: http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/
text and ask them to make their own webcam recording of the
•Brothers Grimm: http://www.grimmstories.com/en/
text.
grimm_fairy-tales/index
• When you give the students their part of the text it’s a good
idea to include the rest of the chapter or short story, so that
they see their part of the text within the greater context of the
overall story.
• Give the students some time to do this and send you the
recordings.
134
STORY FROM QUESTIONS
In this activity students create a story based on some questions This activity can be done in the classroom or students can work
and then use a camera or webcam to record themselves telling alone online and create and record their story using a webcam.
the story.
I first learned about this activity from a wonderful book by John Language focus
Morgan & Mario Rinvolucri called 'Once upon a time’. Published The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to
by Cambridge University Press (1984). speak in front of the camera.
Rationale The linguistic aim of the activity is to give students spoken
practice using narrative tenses to tell a story.
This activity encourages students to think creatively and invent
their own story based around a set of comprehension questions. Preparation
This should make each students’ story both unique though Find a story that you think your students would like and create a
similar in some ways.
set of comprehension questions based around the story. (You
The use of the camera to record the story should encourage the
can use the Example worksheet ones if you prefer). Make a
students to be more accurate and should give them some
feeling of pride in the end product. They can add their copy of the questions for each student.
recordings to a digital portfolio or share them online.
135
Procedure to ask 4 - 5 questions to get more information about the story

as they listen.
• Put the students in pairs and give each pair a copy of the
questions. • Once both pairs have told their story, ask the students to
record the story using a webcam, video camera or phone
• Tell them the questions are from a story.
camera.
• Ask them to read through the questions and find out how many
• Tell the students to try to make the stories as expressive and
characters there are in the story. This should also enable you
descriptive as possible. You will probably get better results if
to check they understand the questions.
you ask them to do the recording at home where there is less
• Once they have read through the questions, ask the students distraction.
what kind of story they think the questions are about.
• Ask the students to upload the videos of their stories online.
• Now tell the students to try to imagine the answers to the
• Listen to the stories, assess them and send the students some
questions. Make sure they understand that there is no correct
feedback.
or incorrect answer, just get them to read through and note
down a quick answer.
• Once they have written the answers, tell the students that all
the questions are about a story, but you want them to work with
a partner and create the story using their answers.
• Give the students time to create their story. Make sure they do
it orally rather than writing it down. This will push them to try to
internalise and remember the story so that when they record it
they aren’t reading it.
• Once they have had time to create the story, tell them that they
are going to tell the story.
• Give them some time to rehearse the story again to make sure
they can remember it.
• Next, ask one student from the pair to change partners and tell
the new partner their story. Ask the listener in each pair to try
136
Follow up Example worksheet

Get each student to create a set of questions based around a The old man with enormous wings
story that they like. Get them to exchange questions with
another student and then each student creates and records Read these questions and try to imagine what the answer
their own version of the story based around the questions. may be.
You can collect all their story recordings and post them onto • How long had it been raining?
a school website or blog for other students to enjoy.
• What was Paul doing when he first saw the old man?
Related links
• How did Paul feel when he saw the man had wings?
The example questions are based around the short • What did Paul’s wife say when he told her about the old
story. man with wings?
•‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ by Gabriel
• What did the people of their village do when they saw
Garcia Marquez: http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/ the old man with wings?
~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323/
• Why didn’t the priest believe he was an angel?
MarquezManwithWings.htm
• Where did Paul and his wife keep the old man?
• How much money did they charge people to see the

old man?
• How long did he stay with them?
• What was Paul’s wife doing when she saw the old man
fly away?
137
TELLING A JOKE

In this activity students learn to tell a joke in English and then The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to
record themselves telling the joke using the webcam or mobile deliver narrative in an expressive way. The activity also helps to
camera. develop their reading and speaking skills.
Rationale The linguistic aim is to encourage students to relate a sequence
of events.
It’s good to have a few jokes or funny stories that you can tell in
social situations. Preparation
Telling a joke in a foreign language though can be quite Try to find a video clip, on YouTube or some other video sharing
challenging and this activity helps students to understand how website, of someone telling a joke, or if you feel confident,
to tell a joke and gives them practice at ‘performing’ the joke for record yourself telling a joke.
the camera.
You could also collect some texts of jokes for your students to
Context
choose from using the related links, but it may be better to let
This activity can work online or in the classroom. them search the sites themselves if they are more mature.
138
Procedure • Once they have watched their partner’s video, they can then
try to re-record and improve their own.
• Show your students the example video of a joke and see if they
think it is funny. Follow up
• Ask them what they think is funny about the joke and what Once they have finished recording the joke video they can
kinds of jokes they like. send them to you for feedback and evaluation and you could
• Ask the students if they think the joke was well told. Then ask also share all the jokes among the other students and they
them if they can tell you what makes a good teller of jokes. You can decide which they think is the funniest joke and which
could get them to brainstorm a list of things for example; they think was told best.
timing, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses, etc. Related links
• Once they have thought of some suggestions show them the
HowCast video (http://www.howcast.com/videos/2407-How-to- Use these sites to help students find a text for their
Tell-a-Joke) and ask them to compare their suggestions with jokes.
those in the video.
•Great Clean Jokes: http://www.greatcleanjokes.com/
• Once the students have watched the video ask them if they
think the video gives good advice and whether they could offer •Guy Sports: http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/
any other tips. stories/index_short.htm
• Now show them the joke sites or the collection of jokes you •Academic tips: http://academictips.org/blogs/funny-
have. Ask them to read through some of the jokes and try to
short-stories/
find one they think is funny.
• Once they have found one that they like, ask them to record •
themselves telling the joke using their webcam or mobile
camera.
• Assign each student a partner and ask them to send each
other their joke videos to watch and learn from. The focus of
this part of the activity should be on finding good aspects of
the other students’ video to try to take away and add to their
own style of delivery, not to criticize the other student.
139
TELLING AN ANECDOTE

In this activity students simply record themselves with a The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to
webcam or mobile camera telling a true story or anecdote about speak confidently about themselves and to develop their ability
themselves and share it with the class. to tell anecdotes.
Rationale The linguistic aim is to encourage the students to use a range of
narrative tenses.
Anecdotes play a large part in our day-to-day social interaction
so for students to be able to talk about themselves confidently Preparation
and tell a funny story will help them to build social connections. Prepare a video of yourself telling an anecdote or find a good
Context one on a video sharing site like YouTube or go to Google or
This activity can be done online or can be done by the students another search engine and type in “Video anecdotes”.
for homework as part of a blended class. Generally I think it is better to record your own anecdote though,
as it shows students that you are prepared to do the same
activity that you expect them to do.
140
Procedure Follow up
• Show the students your video anecdote and ask them to watch Ask the students to watch all the video anecdotes and find
and decide if they think it’s true. the one they think was the funniest.
• Next, ask the students to think about something funny that has Watch the videos and send students some feedback on their
happened to them. Give them a few moments to think about performance and tips for how they can improve it.
this. Use an example anecdote to analyze the structure of an
• Then put the students in pairs to ask and answer questions anecdote e.g. setting the scene, introducing the characters,
about the funny experience. Tell them that they should try to relating the narrative and delivering the finale to the story. Get
find out as much as they possibly can about their partner’s students to watch their own narrative and see if it fits that
experience. structure. They could then try to revise and rerecord it to
• Once they have done this ask the students to record their include any missing parts.
anecdote using a webcam or mobile camera. They can then
share their video anecdotes with the rest of the class online.
141
TWO TRUTHS ONE LIE
This is an activity that is commonly used in the language This activity can be delivered completely online using a video
classroom to practice and contrast past simple and present chatroom or in a blended mode by combining some online
perfect when talking about experiences and details. preparation with face-to-face classroom time.
In this version of the activity students record themselves talking Language focus
about the their experiences using a webcam and then interview
The primary aim of this activity is to get students speaking and
each other in an online video chatroom or in the face-to-face
listening to each other.
classroom.
The linguistic aim is to encourage students to use the present
Rationale perfect tense to share experiences and the past simple to relate
By using the webcam for students to prepare and share their the details of the experience. Students will also need to produce
truths and lies before the live class, students have the past tense questions to find out more about the experience.
opportunity to think and consider more deeply so they prepare
Preparation
and rehearse better stories and think of more questions to ask
about each others’ experiences. Prepare three video clips of yourself talking about your past
experiences and giving a few details. Two of the experiences
This should ensure that there is more language production and
you talk about should be true and one should be invented.
a much better balance between fluency and accuracy.
142
Share the video clips with your students before the live class Follow up
and ask them to watch and prepare questions to find out which
Ask students to extend their recorded stories and include
one of the three experiences is untrue.
more details to answer some of the questions they were
Procedure asked in class.
• When the students come to the live class, either face-to-face or Watch and evaluate the students video stories and give them
in the online video chatroom, tell them they can have a few some feedback.
minutes to ask you their questions and find out which of your Ask the students to record some new true stories telling
three stories is untrue. about some of the best experiences of their lives.
• Once they have finished asking all the questions get them to
make a choice and see how many of the students have
detected your lie.
• Next tell them you want them to record three stories just like
yours, with two true stories and one lie. They can prepare
these and share them before the next class.
• Once they have posted their own clips, they should watch the
other students’ clips and prepare questions to find out more
about the experiences they describe.
• Then in the synchronous classroom they can get into pairs or
small groups and ask each other questions to try to find out
more about the experiences.
• At the end of the activity, they can try to decide which stories
are true and which are invented.
143
VIDEO WHISPERS

This activity is a little like the game ‘Chinese whispers’ also The primary aim of this activity is to encourage students to listen
known as the ‘broken telephone’ but instead of sitting in a circle more carefully to each other, but it also focuses on clear
and whispering, students use asynchronous video messaging. pronunciation.
In this activity students have to listen to a short text, understand You can also include a linguistic focus by using a dictation text
it and then record their own version of it and send it to someone which includes the specific elements of grammar, vocabulary or
else. pronunciation you want to focus students on.
This activity encourages students to listen carefully to each Find a suitable short text of about 2 - 3 sentences. The text
other, something which they don’t often do in the language could be longer if you want to repeat the activity a number of
classroom. times.
Context Also make sure each student knows who they must send their
This activity is designed to work in the online classroom using recording to once they receive it.
asynchronous video.
144
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students that they are each going to receive a video You could focus the students on the areas of the message
message. which caused the most misunderstanding and do some
• When they receive it they listen to it carefully and write down remedial work.
what they hear.
• Then they make their own recording of the message and send
it to the next student.
• Record and send your message to the first student.
• Wait for the final message to come back to you from the last
student and see how close it is to your original message.
• You could also send multiple messages at regular intervals a
little like a circle drill. This would push students to produce
more.
• Post your original message and the final message to all the
students and ask them to compare them and see how similar /
different they are.
145
LOOK BACK
This activity is designed to exploit the Facebook ‘Look back' You can do this activity in the face-to-face classroom when
feature. This is a feature which enables Facebook user to create students have mobile devices and an internet connection or you
a short video which shows images and important events that can do it online if your students are friends on Facebook.
they have shared on Facebook.
Language focus
Rationale The primary aim of this activity is to get students talking about
Many of our students are Facebook users and some also spend themselves, asking questions about each other and using the
time in class using the site while we aren’t looking. This activity past tenses.
taps into students’ interest in social networks and can act as a
Preparation
good way for students to get to know each other a bit better. It
can also be a useful talking point, though I wouldn’t use this too If you have a Facebook profile yourself and you are willing to
early in the class as students will need to be comfortable with share it with your students, log in to Facebook and go to https://
each other first. www.facebook.com/lookback create your own Look Back
movie. The movie is generated automatically, but you can scroll
It may be that in some classes students are unwilling to show
down below it and select and deselect what the movie shows.
these videos to others in the class and if this is so, it’s better not
Have your movie prepared and ready to share with your
to try to force the issue. It’s also wise to show your own video
students.
first as a demonstration of how the activity works and to show
that you are willing to share personal information with the class.
146
Procedure Follow up
• Tell the students you are going to show and tell them a little You could follow up this activity with a discussion about
about yourself and that they can ask questions to find out more online privacy or digital footprints.
about you if they want to. Let them watch the movie and then You could use the activity as a lead in to discussing how
ask if they have any questions about what they saw. social media sites and mobile devices should be used in
• The students may be shy to ask about you, so you can start class and follow this by establishing some ground rules.
the movie again and go through it pausing and explaining who
Related links
the people are and what is happening in each image.
• Once you have done this, show the students how you created You can find out more about the Look Back feature
the movie and ask them to create their own on their computer here.
or mobile device. •Facebook help pages: https://www.facebook.com/
• When they have created their own movie, put the students into help/206982576163229
pairs or small groups and ask them to show their movies to the
group and tell them about the people in their images.
• Once the students have all shown their movies you could
regroup them or just ask them to feedback to you what they
discovered about the people in their group.
147
SCREENCAPTURE MARKING

The aim of this activity is to make the marking of written The primary aim of this activity is to develop writing skills by
homework more effective. The activity can be used with any enhancing your correction and feedback of written work and
digital text your students have produced. encouraging students to redraft their work based on your
You need to install either the Jing software on your computer or feedback.
use some other form of screencast software to record your Preparation
feedback on the students’ written work.
The only preparation necessary is that you have set your
Rationale students some form or writing tasks and that they will be
By using video with your audio narration when correcting their submitting a digital copy for you to mark on a computer. This
work students can find the marking and correction process could be a document of some kind of web or blog page.
more engaging and the video can provide a more accurate and
better record for them of the errors they have made and how You will also need to download the free Jing software or use
they can correct them. some other form of screencast software.
Context
This activity can be used with online or face-to-face classes.
148
Procedure Follow up
• Set your students a writing task and ask them to submit a Check through the work again and make sure the students
digital copy to you. have followed your instructions and understood the
• When your students send their homework to you, open it on corrections.
your computer and read through to it to evaluate it and decide Continue to use this technique on all your homework
what you like about it and how they could improve it. marking.
• Once you have read through it and have a clear idea of what Make sure students keep the links to the videos so they can
feedback you want to give, open the screencast software and use them for revision purposes and keep links yourself too.
drag the capture field around the text.
• Click to record your screen capture video and then start to Related links
work through the text showing where and how it needs to be
corrected. Also include feedback on what you think is good This article by Russell Stannard goes into more
about the text. depth about using screencast software for marking
• As you work through the text be sure to scroll so that the part written work.
of the text you are referring to is always kept in the capture •A New Direction in Feedback: http://
field.
www.hltmag.co.uk/dec08/mart04.htm
• Be sure to finish your feedback with a few positive remarks
and then save the video online.
• Share the link to the clip with your student and ask them to
watch the video, make the corrections and then send the
corrected work back to you again.
149
SUMMARISE THE NEWS
Introduction The students could watch the example video and do the
analysis of the sources before coming to class and then work in
In this activity students find news about a specific topic from a
number of different news sources and create their own summary groups in the classroom to create the script for their own
newscast about it. newscast and record the final product at home alone on their
The idea is based around the concept behind Newsy http:// webcam or in class on a mobile phone. The free TouchCast
www.newsy.com/ a video site that publishes news in a similar app is also ideal for creating the news broadcast and will add
way. The activity makes use of the site as a model for students an element of professionalism to the finished product.
to base their own videos on.
Language focus
Rationale
The primary aim of this activity is to develop students’ ability to
This activity focuses students on summarizing information from summarize information from multiple sources. It should also help
a collection of different sources. This is a valuable skill, to develop their speaking, listening, reading, and note taking
especially for students in the digital age when information is skills.
abundant and students have a tendency just to copy paste from
a single source without checking its validity. Preparation
Context Go to the Newsy site at: http://www.newsy.com/ and try to select
This activity can be either done online or in the face-to-face a video that is about the right level for your students and which
classroom. You could also blend the lesson and get the will engage their interest. Also make a note of the different
students to do part online and part face-to-face. sources used to compile the report.
150
When it’s time for the students to create their own report, you • Once the script is ready get the students to record their news
could either provide them with specific texts to take the reports either at home using their webcams or in the classroom
information from, or you could let students choose their own using mobile devices or video cameras.
story to research and just provide the research sites from the • The students can then post their video news reports online.
related links below.
• You could also show them an official video news report on the
You could also choose an alternative clip from Newsy and use same topic, either from Newsy or one of the other sites, then
the sources provided there. The students could then compare ask them to compare the information from the report with the
their own clip to the Newsy one after they have created it. information in their own news report.
Procedure Follow up
• Show the students the example clip and ask them to watch You could follow this up by getting the students to record a
and make notes of the key facts reported on the newscast. new version of their report based on your feedback.
They may need to watch more than once to do this.
You could discuss bias in the news and ask them if they
• If you are working in the classroom, get the students to found any contradicting views in the various reports.
compare and share their list of facts each time they watch.
Related links
• Once they have made notes of the facts show the students the
sources and ask them to check the sources and see where Here are some suitable news sites students could use
each of the reported facts came from.
for their research.
• Once the students have done this, tell them that they are going •BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
to produce a newscast in the same way. You could let the
•CNN http://edition.cnn.com
students choose their own news story to research and use
some of the links below or you could provide links that you
•Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/
have prepared for a specific story. •Sky News http://news.sky.com/
• Give the students time to research the story and make notes of
•Google News https://news.google.co.uk/
the key facts about it. They can work in groups to do this. •Aljazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/
• Once they have shared their facts together they can then
prepare a script for their own report.
151
WEBSITE RESEARCH TOUR

This activity encourages students to explore and evaluate The primary aim of this activity is to get students exploring and
language learning websites and enables them to share their sharing ideas about potential websites and developing their
recommendations and criticisms. The students review a website speaking.
and then use screencast software to record their review of its There is no specific linguistic aim, but students are likely to
features, strengths and weaknesses. They then share these include ways of expressing opinions, prepositions for describing
together as a class. placement around the screen and vocabulary related to
Rationale websites.
This activity encourages students to become more critically Preparation

aware of a range of websites they can use to support their own Prepare a list of websites which students could use to find
autonomous learning. It also encourages them to use
resources to improve their English. You can find a list of
screencast software to share and communicate their views.
possible sites for your students below.
Context
Use screencast software to record a video of yourself telling
This activity is best done by students at home online, though your students about one of the websites. The students can use
you could get them to do it in a computer room or self-access this as a model for creating their own reviews.
centre.
Your students will also need to know how to use screen casting
apps to create their site tour and review.
152
Procedure Follow up
• Either in class or online, show your students your screencast Watch the videos and see if you can suggest any
web tour of an English language learning site. Ask the improvements.
students to watch the video tour and make notes about the Ask students to make screencast tours of any other websites
strong features and negative features about the site and they have found useful and share them with the class.
decide whether they would use the site to improve their
Build up a library of best video reviews from your students to
English.
share with other classes.
• Once they have watched the video, give each of them the URL
of a site to investigate. Ask them to search through the site, Related links
find out what is useful about it, find any materials they like and
Here are some sites you can ask your students to
find any features they don’t like.
explore and evaluate.
• Once they have done this, show them how to use the
screencast software and tell them to make a video tour like the
one you made, telling other students about the site, how to •LyricsTraining: http://lyricstraining.com/
navigate it and where to find the useful materials, etc. •LearnEnglish: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/
• When they have finished the tutorial, they can share the link to en/
it with the rest of the class. They can then watch each others’ •LearnEnglishTeens: http://
web tour videos and decide which of the sites looks the most learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/
useful to support their learning. •BBC LearningEnglish: http://www.bbc.co.uk/
worldservice/learningenglish/
•Games to Learn English: http://
gamestolearnenglish.com/
•Lit2Go: http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/
•ELLLO: http://www.elllo.org/
153
GAME WALK THROUGH
Introduction The primary aim of this activity is to develop students’ listening,

speaking and reading skills.
In this activity students will create a video game walkthrough
showing someone how to play a simple video game The linguistic focus is imperatives for giving instructions.
successfully. This will involve them recording their voice and Preparation
computer screen using free screencast software.
Choose 2 appropriate problem solving computer games for the
Rationale two groups of students to play and find the walkthroughs for
This activity is a combined skills lesson which involves each of these games. It may be better to start by finding the
speaking, listening and reading. The activity uses as its walkthroughs so that you can be sure they exist before you
motivation a genre of computer games based around problem attempt to find the games. Here are two example games with
solving. In the activity students try to solve a computer game
problem, read a solution to the problem and then record their their walkthroughs.
own explanation of how to solve the problem. They then • Samorost: http://amanita-design.net/samorost-1/
exchange their video explanations with a partner and try to
follow them as they solve the problem. • Samorost walkthrough: http://walkthroughs.homeip.net/text/
samorost.aspx
Context
• Samorost 2: http://amanita-design.net/samorost-2/
This activity can be done for homework or can be done by
students in online courses. The activity will work best if staged • Samorost 2 walkthrough: http://walkthroughs.homeip.net/text/
over a number of classes. samorost2.aspx
You will also need to show your students how to use free
Language focus
screencast software.
154
Procedure Follow up
• Divide the students into two groups and give the students in Collect the links to the videos and watch and give the
each group a link to one of the games. Ask them to play the students some feedback on them.
game and try to solve the problem. Tell them they should make Ask students to find an new game and to create a
notes about what they do as they work through the game. walkthrough video explaining how to play it.
• Give them plenty of time to work on the game.
Related links
• Show the groups of students the relevant walkthrough for the
game they played and give them the chance to read through it You can find more escape games and puzzle games
and complete the game. using theses sites.
• Next show the students how to use the free screen capture
•Addicting Games: http://
software.
www.addictinggames.com/tag/escape-games.jsp
• Now tell them that you want them to record a video showing
and narrating how to play the game. •Games.com: http://www.games.com/room-escape-
• Give the students some time to do this. When they have games
finished assign them a partner from the group that played the
•EscapeFan: http://escapefan.com/
other game and ask them to exchange videos.
• They should then watch the video and see if they can use it as •New Escape Games: http://
a guide to help them through the game. www.newescapegames.com/
• They can then give each other feedback on how helpful the •Walkthrough King: http://walkthroughs.homeip.net/
guide was and on anything they may have missed.
You can use Google to find walkthroughs of the
games you want to use.
155
MAKING AN ADVERTISEMENT
Introduction classroom, so this is ideal for blended delivery, but it could also
be done totally in the classroom.
In this activity students will talk about the kinds of
advertisements they like and think about how the advertiser Language focus
makes the product appeal to the customer. They will then create The primary aim of the activity is the development of
their own advertisement. communication and team working skills.
The activity doesn’t need to be completed in one class and can Comparatives and superlatives as well as descriptive language
be split over a number of classes. items are likely to feature.
This activity uses a motivating authentic task which allows For this activity students will need some form of video camera
students to develop a better understanding of advertising and device. This could be a mobile phone or the video features on a
also helps them to use their language skills in a creative way. standard digital camera, or even a webcam from a laptop or
The lesson combines the development of listening and viewing desktop computer.
skills as well as speaking skills. They will also need access to video editing software. This could
Context be a free application such as Microsoft Movie Maker or Apple’s
iMovie or they could use an online or mobile app such as
The activity could easily be divided into tasks which can be
ShotClip, Loopster or Touchcast.
done at home online and ones that can be done in the
156
Find some good short example advertisements for students to Procedure

analyze and storyboard.
• Ask students to think about their favorite advertisements.
Create one storyboard yourself as an example to show
• Put them into pairs or small groups to tell each other about the
students.
advertisement. You could give them some basic prompts to
encourage them if they are lower level or less talkative.
Here are a few sites where you or your students can
find example advertisements: Describing and advertisement
Think about an advertisement you really like. Tell your
• http://www.tellyads.com/
partner about:
• http://www.ispot.tv/browse The product
What happens in the advertisement
• http://www.thinkbox.tv/tv-ad-galleries/
The target audience for the product
• http://www.classictvads.co.uk/homepage.html How the advertiser is appeals to the viewer
What the structure of the advertisement is
How the advertiser uses music or strap lines
Why you think the advertisement is memorable
Why you like it
• Bring the students back to open class and get a few

comments from them about the advertisements they like, or
even hate.
• At this point you could show the students some short
advertisements and get them to think about the structure of
them and how many scenes and shots each advertisement
has.
157
• Choose one advertisement and get students to try to • Once the students have had time to discuss these things ask
deconstruct it into a storyboard. Tell the students that most them to try to create a first draft of a storyboard for their
advertisers create a storyboard of an advertisement before advertisement.
they film it. • Once the first draft of the storyboard is complete, ask one
• You could prepare a series of sketched images for them to person from each group to stay with their storyboard and get
order as the main aim of this stage of the activity is to get them the other students to go and look at the other storyboards and
to understand the concept of storyboarding as a means of see if they can find any good ideas that they can bring back to
planning before creating the advertisement. their group.
• Now put your students into groups and give them a list of • While the students mingle and look at the other storyboards,
products. Ask them to think about who might be likely to buy the students who stayed with the storyboard can explain how
each of these products. the advertisement will work and answer questions.
• Once they have had time to discuss it, ask them to pick one of • Next give the students time to redraft their storyboard and add
the products they would like to sell. Tell them they will make an any ideas they may have gotten from other groups.
advertisement to sell the product. • Once the storyboard is complete, tell the students that they
• Once they have chosen the product they want to sell give need to decide how they will create the advertisement and
them the check list below to think about. what roles each person in the group will play in helping to
create the advertisement.
Advertiser checklist
Think about how you would sell the product. • Once they have decided this they can start filming each shot
from their storyboard. Depending on the resources you have
Who will use the product?
available you might want to get the students to bring in
Who will buy the product?
costumes or make backgrounds etc for their shots.
What kind of background music would help to sell
• Once the filming is complete, get the students to edit it using
the product? one of the applications suggested in the Technical section.
What strap line could you use?
• The students can then watch each others’ advertisements,
How could you appeal to the buyer? vote on which one they like the best and even give some
How could you make the advertisement feedback and advice on how to improve it.
memorable?
158
Follow up
You could get students use these criteria to get students to
evaluate their own or each other’s work
Collaboration - Did the student work well as a team
member and contribute to the product?
Output - What was the quality of the overall finished
product?
Outcome - What was the quality of the English language
component of the video the students made?
Interaction - What was the quality of the language used to
interact with other team members during the activity.
159
MAKING A CHARITY APPEAL
This activity is based around the concept of creating a charity The activity could easily be divided into tasks which can be
appeal video. These are becoming an ever more popular done at home online and ones that can be done in the
feature of the internet with many websites being used to raise classroom, so this is ideal for blended delivery, but it could also
funds for large or small independent charities. be done totally in the classroom.
The activity starts by looking at a number of charities and Language focus
analyzing their appeal videos and then goes on to analyze the
The primary aim of the activity is the development of
structure of these videos before getting students to create their
communication and team working skills.
own. The activity finishes with students showing their videos and
deciding which charities they would support. Modals of obligation and imperatives as well as some language
of persuasion are likely to be a feature of this activity.
Rationale
Preparation
This is an integrated skills lesson that combines reading and
viewing skills with speaking and writing. The activity centers For this activity students will need some kind of video camera
around an authentic task and viewing authentic materials. device. This could be a mobile phone or the video feature on a
standard digital camera, or even a webcam from a laptop or
desktop computer.
160
Students will also need access to video editing software. This Procedure
could be a free application such as Microsoft Movie Maker or
• Ask your students if they know the names of any charity
Apple’s iMovie or they could use an online app such as ShotClip
organizations.
or Loopster.
• Put them in groups and see which group can brainstorm the
Find some example charity appeal videos that you can show to
most. You could let them use the internet to research for a few
students.
minutes, but if you do that make it clear that you want to know
about the activities of the charity too, not just the name.
You can find a wide range of charity appeals on these
sites: • Once they have a reasonable number ask the students if they
ever contribute to any of these charities and which ones they
• http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk think would be the best ones to support.
• http://www.razoo.com/ • Next put the students into small groups and give each group
one charity to research. They should try to find out as much
• http://www.causevox.com/ information as possible about the charity, its work and the
people it helps.
• http://www.youtube.com/results?
• Get them to prepare a short presentation and report back to
the class.
• Next show the students some examples of charity appeal
videos. Be sure to be sensitive to your students age and
culture and don’t show them anything you think will upset
them.
• Alternatively, with higher level and more mature students, you
could send them to one of the suggested charity crowd
funding sites and ask them to explore and find a project they
think is work supporting.
• Ask the students to decide which of the videos they think were
more powerful and which they would be more likely to
contribute to.
161
• Ask the students if they can identify any generic features of a • Once they have decided on the cause get them to think again
charity appeal video. For lower levels you could give them this about the structure of the appeal video they watched and think
list of features to identify. about how they could structure their own video appeal.
Charity appeal checklist • Get the students to plan and script an appeal video. They
Which of these features were used in the video. could search for images and videos from the internet that they
could include in their appeal.
The use of a narrator or speaker who talks through
the appeal video. • Ask them to create a storyboard showing how they would
organize the materials for the video.
The use of still or video images of the place or
• Once all the groups have planned their video ask some of the
people that the charity supports
students to change groups so that they can compare their
Interviews with people who work for the charity
work and give each other some feedback on how to improve it
Interviews with people the charity helped or grab some additional ideas.
Facts and figures about the appeal
• Next get the students to go back to their group and work
A summary from the narrator together to create the clips for their own video. They can use a
Information about how to help phone or video camera to film the various parts.
A name and or logo of the charity • They may want to do this outside of the classroom as it could
Background music be too noisy to have lots of students recording at the same
Some kind of memorable strap line time.
Other?? • Once they have filmed all the parts of the video they can use
one of the video editing tools suggested in the Technical
• Next put the students into groups and ask them to think of a section to edit and create their video.
charity or cause they would like to support. At this point it
• Once the videos are edited and complete you could show
might be good to allow students to change groups so they
them all in class.
work with a group on the charity of their choice.
• Give each student an imaginary amount of money which they
• You could suggest the charities yourself or you could get your can use to support the appeals they think are most persuasive
students to think of a cause for which they could raise money.
(but not their own appeal).
162
Follow up
You could get students use these criteria to get students to
evaluate their own or each other’s work
Collaboration - Did the student work well as a team
member and contribute to the product?
Output - What was the quality of the overall finished
product?
Outcome - What was the quality of the English language
component of the video the students made?
Interaction - What was the quality of the language used to
interact with other team members during the activity.
Success - How much imaginary money did each video
collect from the students?
163
COOL TOOLS & TIPS

This chapter contains a collection of tools with more
detailed reviews. There are videos and images
showing you how to use the tools, tips for activities and
advice on how to start adding these tools to your
teaching repertoire.
Create synchronous video chatrooms for pair and

group work
APPEAR.IN
What it does Platform
Appear.in https://appear.in/ is a simple to use synchronous Appear.in works in the web-browser on most computers using
video conferencing tool for groups of up to 8 people. It creates either Firefox, Chrome or Opera, but not Internet Explorer. It
a kind of web-based chatroom. also works on iOS tablets or mobile phones. There may be an
app soon for Android, so it could be worth checking.
This is particularly simple to use because it doesn’t require any
registration, though if you want more security you can register If you use it on a computer, you’ll need a webcam and
and get students to sign up to the room in order to join. microphone and speakers.
165
How to use it Click on ‘Share Selected Devices’ to allow the site to access
your webcam and microphone. You will then be able to see
Go to: https://appear.in/. The page will instantly generate a room yourself on the screen.
name for you.
Click on ‘Copy link’ and share the link with whoever you want to
You can change the name by typing any unique combination of invite to the room.
letters and/or numbers into the field, then click on ‘Create’.
166
Once everyone is in the room you can click on ‘Lock room’ to The chat feature is useful for checking that people can hear you
stop anyone else from joining. or for sharing URLs and links to materials or websites for
students to discuss.
If you want a little more security, you can click on ‘Claim room’
and you can create a password so that only people with the You can also use it to type in vocabulary or short texts or to get
password will be able to come to the room. a typed response from students.
Now you can speak or use the text chat feature at the bottom to
type messages.
167
Video tutorial •Online tutorials 

You can use it to provide live support for online classes and
MOVIE 9.1 Creating a video chatroom with Appear.in have tutorials or for small group discussions with your
students.
•Connecting classrooms 
You can link up your class with students from another school or
country and you can easily sit in and observe any
conversations.
•Exploring online materials 
You can use the text chat to share links to websites and
reference materials that you want students to explore together.
•Guest speaker 
You can invite guests into the classroom and students can see
them on the projector and interview them.
•Online breakout rooms 
You can use it for pair or small group work if you are teaching
online. Just create enough rooms so that you have two - four
students in each room. Assign a task and then you can get the
students to do the work while you monitor by clicking round to
the different rooms in turn.
•Online debates 
Give your students a debate topic and ask them to discuss it in
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click groups while you monitor.
•Brainstorm vocabulary 
Put the students in groups to brainstorm vocabulary based
Activities around a theme. Ask them to type the vocabulary into the text
window as they peer teach each other the new words. You can
Appear.in is a useful tool for any kind of synchronous online
then monitor and check.
teaching and you can easily use it to do almost any pair or
group work tasks that you would do in the face-to-face •Show and tell 
classroom just by creating different rooms for the groups or Students can have show and tell sessions where they bring
pairs and then clicking round from group to group.
168
along an interesting object or image to show and tell the rest of

the group about.
Getting started
Try to create a room yourself and experiment with the tool.

Make sure that it works in your classroom and that your
school network isn’t blocking any of the functionality.
Invite another teacher to join you or just chat with another
member of your family in another town or country so that you
can get used to using the app with another person.
If you work in the face-to-face classroom, try to invite a guest
into your classroom using the tool so that your students can
see how it works and interview the person.
Try using the tool for small group tutorials with your students.
Try to arrange a meeting with another class in another
country for the whole class or for small groups of students.
If you are working online, set a task and create rooms so that
your students can work on the task together.
169
Use iPads to create personalized digital narrative

videos
ADOBE VOICE
Adobe Voice http://getvoice.adobe.com/ is a wonderful tool for Adobe Voice is at present only available for the iPad or iPhone.
creating various kinds of narrated presentations and converting
them to video. These could be digital narratives, instructional
videos, business introductions or tips, etc.
The app has lots of suggestions for how to use it in the ‘Get
inspiration’ section.
The app comes with a number of basic storyboard templates
and users can simply add their content and narrate over the
slides before choosing how they will share it.
170
How to use it Give your story a title and then click on ‘Next’.
First download the app from http://getvoice.adobe.com/
Once it is installed on the iPad open the app and click on the +
next to ‘Create a New Story’.
171
Select from one of the template suggestions or click ‘Make Up At the top of the screen you can select your ‘Layout’, ‘Theme’
My Own’ and click on ‘Pick this One’. This will create your and ‘Music’.
basic framework.
172
To add content to the first slide click on it and you will see three You can only choose one of these options for each slide, so you
options. These allow you to add an ‘Icon’, add a ‘Photo’ or add can’t add an image and text to the same slide.
‘Text’.
173
Images can come from a wide range of sources, such as To add the voice narration to your slide, hold down the ‘Record’
Dropbox, Facebook, Lightroom or from your iPad photos. You button and speak clearly.
can also use the search function to find an appropriate image.
174
To add the next slide, press on the small cross + at the end of To preview your video just click on the ‘Play’ button at the
the timeline in the bottom right corner of the screen. beginning of the timeline.
Now you can keep repeating this process and adding your
slides.
175
When you have finished your work click on ‘Share’. You can decide whether you want the video to be ‘Public’ or
‘Private’. If you select ‘Private’ only people you share the link
with will be able to watch the video.
There are a number of sharing options to choose from. You can

either share via email, Twitter or Facebook or just get a copy of
the link. To finish, click on ‘Upload’. You will need to ‘Sign up’ using
either your Facebook account details or you can sign up for an
Adobe ID.
Once this process is completed you’ll be able to share the link

to your video.
176
Video tutorial such as a story about a holiday they went on or a trip they
took.
MOVIE 9.2 Creating a video narrative with Adobe Voice
• Visual CV/resume 
They can use it to create a kind of visual CV telling a potential
employer about themselves and their experience or just
introducing themselves to the class.
• My family 
They can create a video to tell the story of their family and
where they came from, etc. They could collect together some
images and interview some of their older family members to
gather more information for the video.
• My city 
They can create a video about their town or city, showing and
telling about some of their favorite places and the things they
like to do there.
• The school trip 
You can get them to take pictures whilst on a school trip and
the use Voice to create a report of what they learned on the
trip.
• Greeting cards 
They can use it to create seasonal greetings videos at
culturally important parts of the year.
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. • Culture shot 
They can use it to create a report on some specific aspect of
Activities their religion or culture, such as a celebration or special day.
Voice is great for a wide range of activities. The most effective • Bedtime stories 
way to use the app though is to put it into the hands of your They can use it to recreate fairy tales or folk stories. They
students and get them to use it to create their own videos. would need to find some appropriate images and then tell the
story.
• True stories 
Students can use it to tell true stories using their own images,
177
• Instructional guides  Getting started

They could create short instructional guides showing how to
do some kind of task or make something such as cooking a Go to the Voice website at: http://getvoice.adobe.com/ and
dish. They would just need to take photographs of the stages look at some of the example videos that have been created.
and then add the images to Voice and record the instructions.
Download the app and install it on your iPad or iPhone.
• What I do 
Business students could create an introduction to their Try to select one of the ideas from the inspiration section and
company or a company they would like to work for. They could create it as an example.
research the background of the company first and find some
appropriate images. Share your example video with another teacher or colleague
and see what they think of it and see if they can suggest
improvements.
Show a colleague how to create a video using Voice and see

if they can follow your instructions.
Show your students how to create a video using Voice.
Try one of the activities yourself and create an example to

show your students, then get your students to do the activity.
Get your students’ feedback to find out how much they
learned from doing the it.
Collect together the videos they create and show them to the
other teachers in your school.
Prepare a conference session, teacher development session

or write a blog post based on what you have learned from
using the tool with your students.
178
Develop online learning lessons for blended

learning courses
BLENDSPACE
Blendspace https://www.blendspace.com is an online platform The platform is browser-based and will run in most modern web-
for creating blended learning based around video clips, text, browsers whether they are running on Mac or Windows based
images and interactive quizzes. machines.
Blendspace also has LMS properties so that can create classes Blendspace also works in the mobile browser so it should work
allocate activities and track and measure learning. on most tablet devices and phones, though phone screens
might be prohibitively small for creating activities.
Blendspace is particularly useful for creating longer lessons
based around multiple clips and text rather than single clips
and exercises.
179
How to use it Enter the name of your lesson by clicking on the field above the
lesson grid and then type in the lesson name.
Go to: https://www.blendspace.com register and create a
teacher account. This is free and there is no limitation on the
free account.
Once you have registered click on ‘+ New Lesson’ to start

creating your first lesson or activity. This will take you to the first
lesson template and editor.
180
Search for the media that you intend to base your lesson Preview the search results and drag and drop the videos you
around. Do this by using the search field on the right and want to use onto the part of the grid in the order you want the
selecting the source you want to search. materials to appear.
There is a wide range of sources to search through including Leave space on the grid between videos to add interactive
YouTube, and Google as well as Flickr and OpenEd. You can elements.
also upload media from Google Drive and DropBox or from
your hard drive as well as inserting web pages.
Students work through the materials one square of the grid at a

time, so if you drop your video into the second square of the
grid, you will be able to use the first square to add introduction
text or a basic task or quiz before students see the video.
181
To add a quiz to one of your grids, just click on the ‘Add Quiz’ When the quiz editor opens, type in your question and the
button in the square of the grid where you want the quiz to be. possible answer choices and distractors. You can add lots of
possible answers to your quiz, but only one of the answers can
be the correct one. You select the correct answer by clicking the
radio button on the left of the answer.
182
You can also add more quiz questions by clicking on ‘Add After you have added your questions, click on ‘Done’.
Question’.
If you add too many questions, put the cursor at the end of the
question and a cross will appear to enable you to delete the
question.
183
To preview your lesson click on ‘Play’ and you can scroll As you click through the screens of your lesson, you will see
through the resources and test out the questions to make sure that there is an area for leaving comments on the stages of the
they work. lesson. You can use this area either to set tasks for students,
create discussion or to direct their attention to a specific part of
the resource they are watching or the students can leave their
own comments there.
184
Above the lesson editor there are some buttons which allow you When the lesson is finished click on ‘Share’. You can add the
to change the look of the activity. You can click on ‘Themes’ to activity to Edmodo, Twitter or Facebook or get a link or embed
change the color of the resource labels and ‘Template’ to code to add the lesson to other materials.
change to a different grid format.
You can also get a QR code so that students with a mobile

Changing the grid has little impact on how the students
device can just scan the activity.
experience the contents as they will still click though them one
screen at a time.
185
To share the lesson and collaborate with another teacher, click If you create a ‘Class’, you can also share it directly to your
on ‘Collaborate’ and then add the names or email addresses of students.
your co-authors and click on ‘Add’.
To create a ‘Class’ go back to the homepage and click on the
‘Classes’ button on the left of the screen. Select the level of
your class, give it a name and click on ‘Add Class’.
186
Once you have created your class you will get a code for the When students have registered they just need to click on ‘Join
class. Give this to students so that when they register they can Class’ and enter the code and they will have access to the
join your class. materials you have assigned to that class.
187
If you go back to the homepage and click on ‘Gallery’ on the If you like a lesson you can click on ‘Copy’ and import the
left you can see some of the lessons that other teachers have lesson into your own account. You can then edit or adapt it or
created and click on them to view them. assign the lesson as it stands to one of your classes.
188
One final feature is the ‘Print’ feature. Click on print to print up a Video tutorial
paper summary of the activity. The students can use this for
MOVIE 9.3 Creating a video based online lesson with
note taking.
Blendspace
These also have a QR code on the top corner so students can

scan the code with their mobile device and work through the
activity while they take notes on the paper version.
Activities
The primary purpose of Blendspace is to enable teachers to

create their own online activities and deploy them as part of a
blended learning approach. There are a number of ways that
Blendspace can support this.
189
• Create a virtual self-access centre  Tips for creating Blendspace activities

You can use Blendspace to create materials for a virtual self-
access centre. You can do this by creating online activities for •Make sure you give students a reason to view or read content
students, then print up the lesson summaries with the QR rather then just presenting them with a collection of links to
codes on. You can have a folder in your library, self-access content without any reason to process the information.
centre or on any wall where students can find the lessons and
scan them with to do them on their mobile devices. •Remember to try to keep any clips that you use in your
• A flipped approach  activities quite short (2 - 3 mins) especially if you are using
You can create flipped learning by creating activities with multiple clips in the same lesson.
various video-based resources and adding quizzes to test and
develop students’ understanding of the content. Students can •Try to use the comments feature at the side to make students
then work through these materials before they come to class aware of what they should be looking out for in the clip.
and you can plan any remedial or developmental activities for
•Use the quizzes to get students to check their understanding
the classroom based on their results.
of what they have watched and give them some instant
• Curating resources  feedback. If they are working alone they’ll need some
You can use Blendspace to collect online resources for
students to use in research tasks, as the basis for essay reassurance that they are getting things right.
writing or for classroom or online oral presentations. •Try to give students a final task which involves creating
• Online learning objects  something as a result of their interaction with the content, so
You can use Blendspace in a more traditional way to create that they can assimilate and demonstrate what they’ve learned
learning elements for an online course. Once you have created
in a tangible way.
the learning objects you can embed them into your online
course and structure them within it. •Remember that you can add links to other tools from
Blendspace so you can combine it with speaking tools and get
students to send video messages from MailVu http://
mailvu.com/ or recordings from tools like Vocaroo http://
vocaroo.com/ or you can ask them to create a presentation to
summarize their learning.
190
Getting started Try to create another activity for the students and again
check the tracking to see how successfully they completed it.
Go to https://www.blendspace.com and create your account.
Show your activities to another teacher and show them how
Explore the Blendspace gallery and see if you can find any
you created the activities. See if they have any suggestions
lessons that you can use with your students.
for activities that they can share with you.
Think about the different aspects of the lesson that you did or
If you find the tool useful try to organize a training session for
didn’t like and how these could influence the construction of
other teachers at your school, so that you can work together
your own materials.
and share the activities you create.
Create your first lesson using a video clip that you have used
Write a blog post or prepare a conference presentation to
before with your students. Reconstruct the lesson as an
share what you have learned.
online learning activity.You’ll need to think about how you
need to change it to support independent learning.
Share the lesson with another teacher. Get their feedback

and find out what they thought the strengths and weaknesses
of the activity were. Try to improve the activity based on the
feedback.
Check the tracking for the activity and see how many of the
students completed it successfully.
Create a class on Blendspace and give the code to your

students so that they can join and access the materials. Add
your learning activity to the class and ask your student to try
it. Once they have completed the task, ask for their feedback
and see if they enjoyed the activity and find out if they had
any problems doing it or if they have any suggestions for
improving it.
191
Create video quiz games based around

online video clips
BLUBBR TV
BlubbrTV https://www.blubbr.tv is a browser-based tool for BlubbrTV only works in a web-browser that has the ‘Flash’
creating simple multiple choice quizzes based around online plugin installed.
video clips. You can use it to create a sequence of quiz
questions around different parts of a video clip or you can use
multiple clips in the quiz with a question about each clip.
Users watch a small portion of a video clip and the the clip
stops and they have to answer a question about what they have
seen.
192
How to When you have typed in the title, click on the white arrow at the
end of the title field.
Go to: https://www.blubbr.tv and ‘Sign up’.
Log in and click on ‘Create’ and type in the title of your quiz.
Your search results appear on the left of the page.
193
Click on the clip you want and it appears in the centre of the Drag the handles at the bottom of the video clip to select the
screen. beginning and end point of the segment you want students to
watch before the question.
194
Write your question in to the question field to the right of the Click on ‘Add question’. Your question will appear on the time
video clip. line under the video clip.
Add the correct answer followed by the distractors. You have to

include 3 distractors as well as the correct answer.
Select another part of the clip or a different clip for the next
question.
Continue adding multiple questions and using multiple clips.
195
Once your quiz is finished you can click on ‘Preview your Before you publish the quiz you will be able to add it to specific
game’ to check that everything works, or click on ‘I’m done’ to categories and add tags to make it easier to find. When you are
finish the quiz and publish it. ready just click on ‘Publish’.
196
Once the quiz is published you can click on ‘Share’ to get a link If you need to edit the quiz, go to your profile by clicking on your
to the quiz. Give the link to your students or use the embed name and then click on ‘My Trivs’ and then ‘Trivs I created’.
code to add the quiz to a course, website or blog page.
197
Video tutorial The questions only need to be vaguely related to the video
content or they could contain some kind of clue.
MOVIE 9.4 Creating a video quiz with Blubbr
• History quiz 
You could create general knowledge quizzes based around
video clips which relate to historical events. These could ask
about the year or location the events took place or they could
ask about significant related facts.
• Famous people 
You or your students could create a quiz based around a
famous person/people. This could start with some research
and then your students could create quizzes with various
videos about related facts to test each other.
• Comprehension check 
You can create multiple choice comprehension questions
based around the content of a clip to test students’
understanding of the script.
• Concept check 
You can select clips with dialogue that shows the use of
different verb tenses and use the quiz for the concept
checking questions or to get student to identify the structure.
• Prediction 
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click You can use the video and quiz questions to get students to
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. predict what will happen next and give them exposure to ‘will’
and ‘going to’ for prediction.
Activities • Grammar check 
You can create quiz questions with a number of sentences
BlubbrTV was designed for creating ‘trivia’ type quizzes based relating to the video and students have to choose the one
around video, but there are a number of ways you can use it to which is grammatically accurate in relation to what they see.
create activities for the classroom.
• What’s their relationship? 
• Triva quiz  You can create quiz questions which focus on the relationships
You can create trivia quizzes as intended by the site creators. between the people in the clip and other visual aspects.
198
• Peer created quizzes  Getting started

You can get the students to create quizzes to test each other.
These could be language or content related. Go to https://www.blubbr.tv/categories.php and explore some
of the quizzes in the different categories. Try some of the
• Music quizzes 
They could create quizzes based around a favorite band or quizzes to see what works well and try to find some that you
singer and then share them to test each other. The quiz could like.
have a collection of clips for other students to identify.
Find an existing quiz and get your students to try it for
• Geography quizzes  homework or embed it into an online course or blog. See
They can create quizzes about their city or different places
around the world or even superlative quizzes using the video what the students think of it and whether they enjoy it.
to give clues as to which is the adjective-est. Register on the site and try to create a quiz based around a
video you have used with your students in class.
Show your quiz to another teacher and get some feedback

and some suggestions on how to improve it.
Make some improvements to the quiz and then try it with your
students and see what they think.
Try to make a few more quizzes and share them with other
teachers where you work and get some feedback.
Try to show other teachers how to make the quizzes and see
if they can make something to share with you.
Try to get your students to make some quizzes. Show them

how you created the quiz and ask them to create a quiz to
test others in their class using some of the activities above.
199
Create complete video-based online courses

that you can sell
CURIOUS
What it does messages to the teacher which can contain text, images or
video clips.
Curious https://curious.com/ is an online platform for creating
your own video lessons and structuring them into courses that Platform
you can sell or give away for free.
Curious runs in the web-browser and you can also download a
To use Curious you need your own video files rather than ones free app for mobile browsing of lessons, though you will need to
you find online. You can then upload these to the site, structure log in using the web-browser on a computer to create lessons
them into courses and add interactive elements to each video and courses.
clip.
Students watching the lessons can interact with each other
through asynchronous text based discussion and they can send
200
How to Upload your video or videos from your hard drive. You can
upload multiple videos by clicking on ‘Bulk Upload’.
First register as a teacher at: https://curious.com/ .
Go to the ‘Teach’ section.
Click on ‘Lesson Builder’ to open the editor.
201
Upload videos individually by clicking on ‘Select Video’ in the You can upload any support materials such as worksheets,
lower part of the video editor. images, links to research information, etc by clicking on the
large paper clip icon and then ‘Add attachments’.
Once the video has uploaded, selected it and watch it in the

editor.
202
You can also add interactive test questions. Before you add the To add a question, click on the pen icon and then ‘Add
question play the video to the place you want to add it and click exercise to the current section’.
on the ‘Split’ icon. This will create a pause in the video while the
students answer the question.
Questions are simple multiple choice and must have a defined

correct answer.
203
Type in the questions, add a title and the possible answers. When you have finished adding questions, click on ‘Settings’
and write in a title and description for the lesson, then click on
Click the radio button to indicate which is the correct answer.
‘OK’.
You can also add some explanation text to reinforce the answer
and add a hint to help the user.
You can add as many questions as you like to your video clip,
but be sure to always split the clip first at the point where you
want your question to appear.
204
Once you have finished your lesson you can click on the eye Click on ‘Add new lesson’ to make more lessons for your
icon to preview it. course.
205
Once you have created all your lessons go to ‘Course To launch your course, click on the lesson names and then click
manager’. on ‘Publish’. Your course should then be live and anyone can
enroll on the course.
Click on ‘Create a new course’. You can then give the course a
name and a description and add the lessons to it.
206
Video tutorial concept checking questions and add audio notes to

demonstrate pronunciation features. You could also add some
MOVIE 9.5 Creating a video based course with Curious grammar worksheets that students could download and work
through.
• CLIL - subject specific courses 
You could also set up CLIL type courses using content rich
video clips based around a specific subject and structure the
questions to focus on comprehension of content. Students
could then download worksheets to revise the linguistic
content of the clips.
• Technology support 
You could create short technology tutorial videos and build a
course around them to introduce your students to the kind of
apps, websites and tech tools that you want them to use in
class.
Tips
•Try to keep the clips in each lesson quite short as attention

spans for online study tend to be short as does the amount of
time students feel comfortable studying online. It’s much better
to have multiple short lessons in a course than just a few longer
lessons.
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click •Make sure that your questions test understanding rather than
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. memory.
•Put in regular questions to make sure that students are keeping
Activities
up.
There are a number of types of course you can create using
Curious.
• Grammar courses 
This kind of platform may work well for simple grammar
presentations and reviews. You could use the ‘Test’ for
207
Getting started
Go to https://curious.com/ and try some of the free lessons.

See which ones you do and don’t like and try to get some
idea of what works well on the platform.
Register on Curious then create a short video clip and
upload it. Try to split your video clip and add some interactive
questions. Preview the clip to see if and how the exercises
work.
Publish your lesson and get a fellow teacher to review it for
you. See if they can suggest ways for you to improve the
lesson.
Try to create a lesson for your students. Share it with them
and see how effective it is.
Try to create a sequence of lessons for your students. See
how well they work and get feedback from your students
about the things that they enjoyed or didn’t like. Try to use
their feedback to improve your lessons.
208
Create interactive video activities and projects for

students to do at home
EDPUZZLE
What it does This is a great tool to create flipped, blended learning or online
learning activities or hands-on student projects. It’s best used
Edpuzzle http://edpuzzle.com is a useful tool for creating by students at home where they have peace and quiet to listen
engaging activities and projects based around video clips. The and record though you could do the activities in a computer
video clips can be either uploaded from your hard drive or you room in your school if you have one.
can use EDpuzzle to find them on a wide range of video sharing
platforms. Platform
Once you have found a video clip you can build engagement EDpuzzle will work in most modern web-browsers whether you
around it in a number of ways including getting voiceover tracks are working on computers or tablets, but you will need a
and voice comments. EDpuzzle also has very good learner computer and web-browser to create course content.
management and tracking.
209
How to Hover the mouse over ‘Create’ and you will see a menu to either
‘Upload’ or search for an online video by clicking on ‘New
Go to: http://edpuzzle.com and register as a teacher. video’.
Go to ‘My content’.
210
Go to ‘New video’ and type the name or URL of the content you Once you have found a video you can preview it and if it is the
are looking for. Select the source you are searching and click on correct one then click on ‘Use it’.
search. EDpuzzle will search across a range of social-media
and popular learning sites as well as existing lessons.
211
You will see the editing interface where you create the activities. Click on the blue microphone icon at the top right of the video.
Edit and trim the clip to show the part you want your students to Now you can add audio narration to the clip. Click on the
see by clicking on the red handles below the video and setting microphone icon on the bottom left of the screen to start
them to the beginning and end point of the segment you want to recording. This narration will replace the original sound track,
use. but you have to record until the end of the clip.
212
Alternatively, click on the yellow speaker icon to add audio Click on the question mark icon to add text comments or poll
comments. First click the timeline at the spot where you want to questions. Click on the timeline where you want the them to
add the comment then, click on the yellow microphone icon to appear and then click on the green question mark icon.
add your comment or question. When the students view the
activity, the video will pause at the places where you add audio
comments.
You can add open questions, a test or a comment.
213
To add open ended questions, just type in your question and To add a test, click on ‘Test’ and write in the question, the
click on ‘Done’. If you have a number of questions to add click correct answer and then add a number of distractors.
on ‘Add next item’ and you can add another question.
214
To add comments, click on ‘Comment’ and write in your When you have finished your activity, click on the purple exit
comments. These can be short lines of text to help guide your icon and then save the activity or assign it directly to one of your
students and they can include images and links to other classes.
materials.
When you have added these, click on ‘Done’.
Wherever you add questions, the video pauses, so be sure to

put them at the precise point in the clip.
215
How to set up a project Complete the project instructions and add the project subject,
then click on ‘Save Project’.
To create a project for students, go to ‘My Content’, click on
‘Create’ then click on ‘New Project’.
216
Assign the project to a class and add a due date or click on ‘No To create a class go to ‘My Classes’ and click on ‘Add Class’.
Thanks’ and the project will be saved in ‘My Content’ and you
Give the class a name, subject and grade and then click on
can assign it later.
‘Save Class’.
217
Make a note of the ‘Class Code’ so that you can give it to To assign a project or activity to a class, go to ‘My Content’ and
students. They can use it to join your class when they register. click on the cog icon. Then click on ‘Assign Project’ or ‘Assign
Video’. Assign the activity to a class and set the due date, then
click on ‘Save’.
218
To monitor students’ work click on the class and then click on Video tutorial
the project or activity and you will see the tracking statistics.
MOVIE 9.6 Creating video tasks and assignments with EDpuzzle
Activities
The kinds of clips and activities you can use this tool to create
are limitless, but here are a few suggestions.
• Watch a film 
Find a film or TV series that your students would like. Divide it
into short clips of around 2 - 5 minutes and add questions,
219
comments and tests to each part. Give them one or two clips • Describing places 
to watch at home each week until they have watched the Find video clips of a tour of a house or garden or a place the
complete film. students would like to visit and add narration to it.
• Comprehension check  • Fashion show 
Find a clip of a lecture or ‘how to’ type of instructional video Find clips of fashion shows and get students to record a
and add quiz questions to make sure students can understand presenters’ narrative saying what each of the models is
it. Try not to add too many and try to start with questions which wearing.
require global or ‘gist’ understanding and work towards ones
which are more focused on the specific details. • Sports commentator 
Find some clips of sporting events and get your students to
• Grammar presentations  add the commentary to them.
Create your own grammar presentation videos and add
concept checking questions to see how much students have • Being a guide 
Ask students to find a short film clip from an old silent movie.
understood. You could use these before you work on the
Ask them to imagine that they have to describe what is
grammar point as a kind of diagnostic or as part of a flipped
happening in it to someone who is blind. Get them to record a
approach. You could also use them as tests after you have
narrative track for the movie.
taught the grammar point.
• Peer quiz 
• App tutorials 
Ask students to watch short videos of lectures or ‘how to’
Create or find software or app tutorials of the kinds of tools you
videos and add questions to check their peers understanding
want your students to learn how to use. Add questions,
of the content.
comments or even your own narrative to help them learn how
to use the tools.
Projects
Again, there are numerous types of project tasks you an get

your students to do as they could add narrative, comments or
questions to almost any clip, so these are just a few suggestions
to get started.
• Narrate a cartoon 
Select or ask students to select short clips from cartoons and
add their own narration telling the story.
220
Getting started
Go to: https://edpuzzle.com/media/new and try some of the

activities that have already been created on the site.
Find a video clip that you use regularly in class and see if you
can adapt it into an online activity using the EDpuzzle tools.
Work with another teacher and set up a class each and also
register as each others’ students. In this way you can create
and do each others’ activities. This will help you to get some
feedback on how well the activities work and also see how
the student tracking feature of the site works.
Create a class and add some activities to it, then register
your students and ask them to try the activities.
Show your students how to use the site to add narrative,
comments and questions, then assign a project to them.
Show other teachers at your school how to use the site and
some of the activities you and your students have created.
221
Use this mobile based interactive whiteboard

to record micro lessons and share them with
students
EDUCREATIONS
What it does This ables you to project your tablet screen onto your computer
and through the data projector with out any cables.
Educreations http://www.educreations.com/ is a whiteboard
app that can be used on the iPad to replace the functionality of Platform
an interactive whiteboard (IWB). It also has a record feature so
that your board-work can be recorded stored as video and Educreations only runs on iPad, but the videos it creates are all
shared with other teachers or your students. accessible on any web-browser on any device.
If you want to use the app as an interactive whiteboard in the
classroom, you’ll either need a cable to connect it to the
projector, or you can download the Reflector App from http://
www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/ and install it on your computer.
222
How to use it Open the app on your iPad. Select colors from the color palette
on the top menu. This enables you to use your finger to write or
Go to: http://www.educreations.com/, sign up and download the draw on the screen.
free app from the AppStore.
223
Drawing is quite simple, but writing with your finger tends to be To add text use the text tool. Click on the large ‘+’ and then click
a bit messy. on the large ‘A’ and click on the screen.
You can add typed text using either the keyboard or voice
recognition.
Each time you add a piece of text and click on ‘Done’ above
the keyboard, the text is added as an object.
224
Each text object can be moved around on the page using the Drawing can be cleaned using the large eraser button. Click
hand tool. and hold down on the eraser button for a few seconds and a
drop down menu opens. This gives you the option to clear the
entire page.
225
To add images to the page click on the image icon. There are a number of sources available for images. You can
take them directly from your iPad camera, import them from the
iPad library by clicking on ‘Photos’, or you can add them from
Dropbox, Google Drive or search for them using ‘Search’.
226
Using ‘Search’ you can accesses a number of images and Images can be resized and also dragged and moved around,
icons and these can easily be imported into your whiteboard so this is great for creating matching activities.
pages by clicking on them.
You can also lock images so they stay in the same place.
227
Educreations is like a flip chart so you can have multiple pages. The record button is on the top left. This small microphone
Click on the arrow on the bottom right to go to a new page. button enables you to record your screen activity and add voice
to the recordings.
You can pause the recording if there isn’t much activity on the
board. If you need to import images or add text using the text
tool, the recording pauses automatically.
You can then flip back and forth between pages.
228
When you have finished, click on the exit icon and you can Give the activity a title and a description and click on ‘Save’.
save your board activity as a draft or finished video.
The clip is then saved into you lessons.
229
To share the clip, click on ‘Select’ then click on the clip you You can share the clip in a number of ways. You can email it or
want to share and click on the share button. send it to your social network accounts or you can download the
clip to your device or get a link or embed code for it.
230
You can also share it with a ‘Class’. This controls who has To create a class, click on the ‘My Classes’ icon, then click on
access to the clip. the ‘+’ to create a new class.
231
Give the class a name and a description. You can also select To delete a clip or a lesson click on ‘Select’ on the top right of
the grade of the class. the screen, then click on the lesson and click on the rubbish bin
icon.
232
Video tutorial explain various aspects of grammar. These can be added to

online materials that students can watch before class as part
MOVIE 9.7 Creating flipped learning videos with Educreations of a ‘flipped’ approach to learning, or they can be sent to
students after class to remind them of the main learning points.
• Word order 
Create a jumbled sentence video. Add the words from each
sentence to the screen individually, then drag them and mix
them up (It’s a good idea to add one jumbled sentence per
page so they aren’t too confusing). Then go back to the first
page press the record button and say the first sentence. After
saying it, drag the word into the correct order and then repeat
the sentence. Go through the sentences repeating this
process, then save the video clip for your students to watch.
• Dialogue ordering 
You could do a similar activity to the one above using a short
text or dialogue. Enter the text for each line of the text as a
separate object. Start to record. Give the students some time
to look at the text and think about the proper order, then
record yourself saying the text. Wait a short while to give them
thinking time and then drag the sentences into the correct
order whilst saying them. Repeat the entire text at the end. This
can be useful for short dialogues similar to those you might
use in a shop role-play or for short texts like poems or haiku.
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click You could also get students to record their own short poems,
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. texts or dialogues in the same way.
• Concept checking 
Activities Timelines are a great way to clarify the concepts underlying
different verb tenses. Creating your own timeline movies to
This tool is mainly for use by the teacher rather than the student,
help clarify and help students remember these concepts can
although you could get your students to make short video clips
be very useful, and of course, once you have your collection of
as revision or for peer teaching.
timeline videos you can use them again with other classes.  
• Grammar presentations   
This is a really useful tool for creating small video clips which To create your timeline video, start by using the text tool to add
233
an example sentence to your screen. This is the sentence you Getting started
will use to base your timeline animation on.Then draw an arrow
on the screen and label the past, future and now.   Check out the Educreations site and see if you can find some
  video clips related to the subject you teach.
Use the image search to find images to illustrate your sentence
Watch the videos and try to find some that you like.
and add them to one side of the page. Now press the record
button and start to create your movie. Start by saying the Think about what makes some of the videos better than
sentence. Then drag the images onto the appropriate part of others. Is it the voice, use of graphics, the clarity of concept,
the timeline. You can then add concept checking questions the length, etc?
and draw or circle different areas to highlight the answers.
Try to use one of the ready made videos with your students,
• Highlighting sentence form  either in class or embed it into a blog or some online learning
Type in the various parts of speech which make up the form of materials so that they can access it outside of class.
the sentence and add a title at the top of the page with the
Observe your students’ reaction is to the video. Did they find
name of the verb tense. Type in a sentence (you can add
it helpful?
multiple sentences on different pages if you want to make the
point more clearly). Press on the record button, say the Register on the educreations site and download the app (It’s
sentence and then drag the different parts of speech to the free).
sentence to label the form. repeat this with some of the other
Try to create a few of your own video presentations and use
sentences. If possible, find a picture that illustrates the
them with students.
sentence.
Try to create some of the example activities from the activity
• Highlighting pronunciation 
section.
Use the text tool to add a number of example sentences to the
page. Press the record button and read the sentences. Then Show them to other teachers in your staff room and get some
work through each one saying them and highlighting the main feedback.
features of pronunciation. Save the video and share it with your
students. Start using the app live in class (better to do this after you
have had some practice creating your own videos as you’ll
feel more comfortable with it by then).
234
Create screen capture videos of your computer

screen and share them with students online
JING
What’s it for? Platform
Jing is a really useful software application that enables users to Jing will run on either a Mac or Windows computer. The videos
capture their computer screen either as an image or as a video it produces are in the Flash format so these can be viewed in
file. most computer web-browsers, but may not show on some
mobile devices such as Apple’s iOS deices as these don’t
Screen-captured images can be annotated with text, arrows and
generally have the Flash plugin installed.
shapes and saved to the computer hard drive or uploaded to an
online account.
Users creating screen-capture video can record spoken
narration as they record the screen and these videos can be
saved or uploaded to the screencast.com website and links to
the video clips can be shared with students.
235
How do you use it? The files are all stored at: http://screencast.com/.
Go to http://www.techsmith.com/download/jing/ and download

the application for your computer.
Launch the application and register for a free account. Be sure

to remember the username and password you create as you
can use these to find the files you create and share online.
236
When the application opens you will see part of a round yellow Click on the cross and crosshairs will appear on your computer
circle on one side of the computer screen. When you put the screen and move to wherever you place the cursor.
cursor over the circle three small balls will appear. One of these
three balls has a cross on.
237
Put the cursor at the top left of the screen, then click on the Release the mouse button when you get to the lower right side
mouse button and hold it down while you move the cursor down of the screen. You should now see a lighter rectangle across the
across the screen. computer screen and a small tool bar on the bottom left.
Click the first button on the left of the toolbar to capture an

image of part of the screen.
238
Click on the second button to start capturing a video of the Move the cursor around the computer screen, change sites and
screen. talk about and describe what you are doing.
Click on the stop button on the tool bar to finish.
239
Wait a few moments and you will be able to watch and listen to To save and share your video either click on the save button on
your screen-captured video. the toolbar or the share button. The save button will save the file
to your computer hard drive.
240
The share button will upload the file to the screencast.com As the video clip uploads you will see a window with a yellow
website. upload bar showing you the upload progress of the clip. This
can take some time depending on the length of your clip and
the amount of activity within it.
241
Once the clip is uploaded the window will disappear and a link Right click and paste into the address bar of your web-browser
is automatically added to your clipboard. and press enter and your clip online in the web-browser.
To share the clip with your students, copy the URL and send it
to them either by email or post it online in a blog or online
learning environment.
242
Video tutorial • Software tutorials 

Use Jing to create software and website tutorials for your
MOVIE 9.8 Capturing your screen using Jing students showing them how to use the applications you want
to include in your classes. You could also create tutorials for
students showing them how to navigate their way around your
website, blog or online course.
• Privacy lessons 
Create tutorials showing the students how to set their privacy
settings on various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter,
etc. This can raise awareness of e-safety and help your
students stay protected.
• Video feedback on written work 
You can use Jing to make your homework marking more
effective and engaging. Just open up the document that your
students submitted their homework on and then open Jing.
Now you can record your own voice while you go through the
document showing them what improvements they can make
and pointing out the strengths of their work. When you have
finished you can upload the video and send them the link to it.
Then they can watch and listen to your feedback and make
the corrections to their work before resending it to you.
• Online presentations 
If you have any short presentations that use PowerPoint or
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click something similar, you can open them and then use Jing to
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. record the presentation with your narration and then upload it
to the screencast.com site. This is a quick and easy way to
Activities get your presentations online and combine them into flipped
or blended learning modules of work.
There are a range of activities that screencast software can be
used for. I’ve split these here into two categories; teacher Student hands-on activities
hands-on activities and student hands-on activities.
• Computer game reviews 
Teacher hands-on activities If your students like computer games you can get them to use
Jing to record a review of a game they like. They can show the
243
main features of the game, how to navigate and play it and Getting started
some of their favorite characters and parts of the action.
Download and install the Jing software from http://
• Escape game walkthroughs 
There is a genre of online escape and problem solving www.techsmith.com/download/jing/.
computer games. There are also many sites with ‘walk- Register on the site and create a free account.
throughs’ that tell gamers how to solve the problems in the
games. You can give your students a problem game to work Try using the software to capture specific parts of your
through and then ask them to record their own walk-through screen either using images or video.
with narration to demonstrate how to solve the problem.
Try to make a short screencast showing a website or
• Website reviews 
Your students can review websites. These could be language application that you use. Upload the video screencast and
learning websites or just sites they like to use. They can create paste the link into the browser so that you can watch it online.
a video screencast showing the main features of the site and
Go to screencast.com and log in to your account and see if
the things they like about it.
you can find the video there and explore the sharing options.
• Sharing research 
You can ask your students to do some research to find online Share the screencast with another teacher and see if they
sources about a specific topic. This could be a person from can follow it.
history, an event in history, a person they like or admire or even
something related to a field of academic study. Once students Look at the other two of the three yellow balls on your Jing
have researched the area and found online resources that application. See if you can find the ‘history’ one. Open your
have information about the topic, you can ask them to record a history and try to open some of the other files you created.
screencast video showing and telling other students what sites
they found and what useful information they found on each Show another teacher at your school what Jing can do and
site. They can then share these videos online and learn from show them how to use it.
each other.
Record a simple screencast for your students to watch and
listen to at home.
Show your students how the software works and how to

download it.
Ask your students to create and share a screencast video

using one of the student hands-on tasks above.
244
Use video email to communicate with your students

and set speaking homework activities
MAILVU
What’s it for? It can be great for setting speaking homework assignments and
to add an element of blended learning to a face-to-face course.
Mailvu http://mailvu.com/ is a tool that enables asynchronous
video communication. Platform
It enables users to send and receive video messages via email
MailVu works in the web-browser without any downloads as long
without forcing users to upload and download video clips. as the Flash plugin is installed. There are also app versions for
It does this by recording the message onto the MailVu server mobile platforms including iOS and Android.
and then sending the recipient a link to the message.
To use MailVu on your computer, you will need a webcam and a
The files MailVu creates are relatively small and so the service is microphone and some headphones or speakers.
quite fast and more accessible for users with lower bandwidth.
245
How to While you are speaking you should be able to see the ‘Mic
Level’ moving.
Go to: http://mailvu.com/ and click on ‘Allow’ when the Adobe
Flash player prompt appears. This gives MailVu access to your
computer’s camera and microphone.
If the sound isn’t recording or video isn’t showing, click on the

small microphone icon and make sure you have the correct
microphone and camera selected.
Click on the ‘Record’ button and start speaking.
246
When you have finished speaking click on the ‘Stop’ button. When you have recorded your message, click on ‘Send’.
Click on the ‘Play’ button to watch and listen to your recording.

Enter your name, email address and the email address of the
recipient.
To record your clip again click on ‘Record’ and repeat the

process.
247
You can also add a subject and a short text-based message. The recipient will receive an email with a link to the video
message.
Click on ‘Submit’ to send your message.
Students can click on the link to view the message in their

browser.
248
They can then click the link ‘here to reply’ to use MailVu to Click on ‘Share’ to copy a direct link to the video clip.
reply to the message.
Then click on ‘Copy to Clipboard’. You can then paste the link
into your browser or share it with students.
249
Video tutorial Video learning diary 

Get students to create an interactive learning diary, they could
MOVIE 9.9 Sending video messages with MailVu email you their video summary of what they feel they have
learned after each lesson and you can then respond and
encourage them. The videos would form a good learning
record and students will be able to look back at them later and
see how they have improved - quite literally - and also hear the
improvements in their speaking ability. This is also a great way
to give your students one-to-one-time which can often be a
problem in a crowded classroom.
Video whispers 
Use the video email feature to record a short text. Send it to the
first of your students. Ask your student to write down the
message and then record it themselves and send it to the next
student. Each student should rerecord and send the message
on to another, until the last student sends it back to you. You
will then see how accurately the message matches to your
original text. Your students will need to know in advance who
they should send the message to, so you will need to organize
this in class before you do the activity. Make sure students
have each other’s email address or can post the message to
each other online.
Class survey - Action research 
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click Send a video message to your students with a class survey
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. question that they can respond to. This is a good way to carry
out classroom research, decide on learning goals and make
Activities sure that all students have a means to feedback to you
individually in private. They can also create their own
You can use MailVu for almost any kind of speaking assignment, questions and send them to each other, then feedback in class
but it’s best used by students outside of the classroom. Using it or use the information for a presentation.
in class can be frustrating for students as the microphone tends
The witness 
to pick up background noise.
Send your students a link to a video clip that includes a
number of people (Scenes from films with bank robberies,
250
where a number of people are involved are quite useful for Word of the day 
this). Then ask the students to imagine they are one of the Create a short video introducing a word and giving some
people in the film. Ask them to record a video statement giving dictionary type information about it. Send your students a new
their account of what happened. word everyday. Once they understand how the video entries
work, they can also start to share new words they have learned
Favorite poems or haiku 
and you can save and build these into a video dictionary.
Students can record themselves reading their favorite poem or
haiku, you can then link the videos into a web page or blog as News Reports 
a class poetry collection. Ask students to read the news, in English or their own first
language, and then produce a video news report on one of the
Text and video error correction  
main stories that interests them. They could also create their
Record yourself reading a text. Then add some errors to the
own local or school video news channel for other students to
text. Send your students the video and the text and ask them
watch.
to watch and listen and try to find and correct the errors in the
text. Present continuous  
Record video mimes to demonstrate present continuous
Create a collaborative story 
sentences, such as ‘I’m eating a banana’. Get the students to
Send students a video with the first line of a story and ask them
reply to you and record themselves saying the sentence and
to record your line of the story and add their own, then send it
miming the action. You can also get students to do the same
back to you. When you receive the clip, record what the
and mime their own present continuous actions or sentences
student has said, add your own line and send it back to the
for each other to guess.
student again. The students then repeats the recording
process and again adds another sentence. Keep repeating the Guess the object  
process until you have built up a short story. Record a description of an object and viewers have to listen
and guess what the object is. Getting students to create these
Tip of the week/day 
clips will help them to be concise and really identify the key
Send your students a learning tip each week/day by video
concepts behind describing objects and they can also use
email. These could be exam tips, study tips, recommended
gestures and hand movements to help convey what they
website etc.(The URL for the website would appear in the text
mean.
part of the message below the video.) You students can
respond with their feedback on the tip or website. Sales pitch  
Ask students to produce a video trying to convince users to
Video dictation 
buy a particular object. Give the students some fictional money
Send a video of yourself dictating a text and ask your students
and ask them to watch the videos and bid for the objects they
to watch, listen and write down the text. Once they have
would like to buy.
finished they can record the text themselves and send it back
to you.
251
Emotions  Getting started

You can create video clips of yourself or your students
expressing different emotions. This can help them to learn the Try to use MailVu to send a message to a friend or family
vocabulary of the emotions, but you could also use it to get member.
students to predict the cause of the mood ( and practice
Think about how to look your best on the camera and try
present perfect; "He's angry because he has just been made
different lighting and camera positioning.
redundant." etc.)
Practice exchanging messages with another teacher.
Anecdotes and short stories 
Ask your students to record anecdotes or short stories and Create your own examples of some of the activities with
send them to you. You should give them a subject each time another teacher to see what the potential problems are.
so they know what to talk about.
Try some of the activities with your students.
Show other teachers how you use MailVu with your students.
Run a teacher development session to show other teachers
how they can use this tool.
252
Transform your presentations into online learning

activities and make more time for group work in
class
MOVENOTE
Movenote http://www.movenote.com/ is a very simple free tool Movenote works in the browser on a computer and also has free
for creating online presentations. It enables you to upload your apps which you can download for iOS or Android mobile
presentation slides or images and then record yourself narrating devices. The mobile apps give the same functionality as the
the presentation using the webcam. browser-based app, so you can also view or produce your
presentations using your mobile device.
Movenote stores your presentations in your account or on
Google Drive and provides you with a unique link that you can
share through various social media sites or an embed code
which you can use to add your presentation to your website,
blog or course materials.
253
How to Give your presentation a name. Just type the name into the top
left of the screen.
Go to: http://www.movenote.com/ and register a new account or
sign in using a Google account. Using a Google account will
allow you to save your presentations onto Google Drive.
You can upload your presentation slides or images by clicking

on the + sign in the centre of the slide stage.
Sign in to Movenote and you will see the editing and creation
interface.
You can upload PDF, JPG or PNG images and slides either
individually or as a complete presentation deck in one click.
254
Click on ‘Record’ and start to add your narration.
Once your slide images are uploaded, click on ‘Allow’ to

enable the Flash recorder to access your microphone and
Click through your slides as you narrate.
camera.
255
When you have finished recording the narration click on ‘Save

& preview’.
Click on ‘Embed this movenote’ to get an embed code for your

presentation.
You will be able to see the presentation.
Or you can share it on a range of social media sites.

You can make changes by clicking on the options icon and
selecting ‘Edit slides’.
256
Click on the options icon again and you can see a range of
functions including deleting, renaming, re-editing and viewer
statistics.
Your presentation is saved into the ‘Archive’.
You can also download the presentation as a video file.
257
Video tutorial students have watched the presentation before coming to

class. 
MOVIE 9.10 Creating a web based presentations with Movenote  
Be sure to keep the presentation short though (about 5 mins
maximum) and if you have more to say, make a number of
shorter presentations rather than one long one.
• Teacher development 
Use it to create teacher development input sessions and put
them online. Convert your presentation and add your narration,
then share them with other teachers or create an online
teacher staffroom and share your presentations there.
• Student created presentations 
Get students to create their own presentations using the tool.
They can present statistics from some classroom research or
you could use an infographic and get them to create a
presentation about the infographic.
• Research presentations 
Ask your students to do some online research, such as
researching a company or product and then get them to create
a presentation about their research.
• Presenting your city 
Get students to take digital photographs of favorite places they
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click like around their city and the use these to create a presentation
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. to show the best of their city.
• Create a digital narrative 
Activities You could get some images and ask the students to create
and record a story based around the images.
• Flipped learning 
Movenote is a great tool for creating flipped learning and • Compare and contrast 
providing any kind of presentation input for students to watch Ask students to use the tool to record their attempts to
before coming to class. It has the added benefit of providing compare and contrast two images. This is good practice for
statistics about user views so that you know how many of your Cambridge oral exams.
258
Getting started
Go to the Movenote channel on YouTube at: https://

www.youtube.com/user/Movenote/videos look at some of the
video presentations that have been created using the app
and see what kinds of presentation work well.
Register on the site and experiment with the interface to see

how it works. You could start by just uploading a single
image and adding a narrative description of the image. Then
save it and find out how to share it.
Use the slides from a short presentation you have created.

Save them as PDF and upload them to Movenote and add
narration. Share the recording with a colleague and ask for
their feedback.
Create a presentation for your students to watch for

homework. Try to evaluate how effective the presentation is
and check to see how many of your students watch it. Get
their feedback on the presentation.
Show a fellow teacher how to use Movenote and see if they

can produce something with it.
Show your students how to use Movenote and set them a

homework task from one of the suggestions above.
Show other teachers what your students have created and

get some feedback.
Write a blog post or article about how you have used

Movenote with your students and publish it online.
259
Split the audio file from videos to create

engaging information gap activities
PEGGO
What does it do? Platform
Peggo http://peggo.co/ is a simple tool that enables you to Peggo works in the web-browser on any desktop or laptop
download a video clip or extract the audio track from any video computer.
on YouTube.
This is simple to use as it works in the browser, requires no
registration and saves the clip directly to your hard-drive as an
MP3 recording.
260
How to Choose the clip you want from the search results.
Go to: http://peggo.co/ and paste the URL or the name of the

video you want into the search field and click enter to search.
261
Drag the red squares on the timeline to the position of the Add a title and the name of the artist.
beginning and ending of the part of the clip you want.
262
To download the clip as audio, click on ‘Record MP3’ at the When the audio clip is ready you will see a pop up window
bottom of the page. asking where you would like to save the clip. Once the audio
clip has download you can save and play it.
263
Video tutorial audio and ask the students to arrange the images in the
correct order using the audio to help them.
MOVIE 9.11 Extracting an audio track using Peggo
• Audio ordering 
You can split the audio from the clip into three to four pieces,
then play the audio clips in random order and see if the
students can arrange them in the correct order. They can
watch the clip with the audio and visual together to check to
see if they are correct. You could also upload the audio clips to
a website or online course page so they could do the activity
online.
• Audio to video matching 
You can split the audio from a number of clips and then try to
get students to match the visual to the correct audio track.
• Audio to listening 
You can download specific parts of a clip and use the audio as
a listening activity or listening drill.
• Audio prediction 
You can get students to listen to the audio track alone and try
to predict what is happening, how many people are involved
and other information about the context.
Activities
Being able to split the audio from the visual track can enable
you to create some interesting information gap activities.
• Picture ordering 
You can makes some images from the video clip, then play the
264
Getting started
Find any video clip on YouTube and try to split and download
the audio. Then play the audio on your computer to see how
well it works.
Try dragging the red squares on the time line to download

the clip in separate sections.
Try one of the activities above with your students.
Show other teachers the activities you have created and get
some feedback from them.
265
Bring portrait images to life and make them

speak to your students
PHOTOSPEAK
PhotoSpeak http://www.motionportrait.com/en/apps/ PhotoSpeak is a mobile app that can be used on Android or

photospeak/ enables you to bring portrait images to life and iPhone or iPad.
add your own voice to them.
You can download the app for free from the AppStore if you are
These can be images of people that you take on your device or using an iOS device or if you are using an Android based
they can be images from the internet. You can also decorate the device then you can download it from Google Play, though for
images with things like mustache, glasses, hat, etc. if you some reason it’s not free for Android.
download additional packs.
Once you have added a voice to your images they can be
exported as video clips and shared online or in the classroom.
266
How do you use it? Choose from either taking a picture directly from the camera, or
choosing one from your image library.
Download the appropriate app from: http://
www.motionportrait.com/en/apps/photospeak/ or from the
AppStore. Open the app and click on the camera icon at the
bottom of the screen to choose an image for your video.
267
Select the image and scale it using two fingers, so that it is a Click on ‘Use’.
portrait shot.
268
The app will process your image. When the processing is When the image is processed, it will appear full size on your
finished you will see eyes and mouth targets. device screen and you will see the face moving and blinking.
Drag the targets and position them over the eyes and mouth of Click on the red record button and start speaking to record your
your portrait and them click on ‘Done’. monologue.
Stop recording and the sound will be processed.
269
Click the play button to listen to and watch your image speak. Click on the share icon on the bottom of the screen to save and
share your video.
270
Select ‘Video’ then choose how to save and share the clip. You can either save it on your device, email it to someone or
share it on YouTube or Facebook.
271
If you want to decorate your image with things like glasses, To add the decorations to your image after downloading them,
wigs, etc. click on the small shopping bag icon in the top right click on ‘My Items’ at the bottom of the screen and then select
of the screen. the decorations you want to add to your image.
You can download different packs of decorations and disguises

(many of these are not free).
272
The item will appear on your image. Video tutorial
MOVIE 9.12 Creating a talking picture with PhotoSpeak
Activities
• Introductions 
Students can take a picture of themselves and use the app to
record an introduction to themselves. They can then share
these in class or online. This can be really useful for online
classes as it helps students to get a sense of who their peers
are and to develop a positive classroom dynamic.
273
• Famous people  historical conflicts and use PhotoSpeak to record a text of

Ask your students to search online and find a portrait of a them talking about their perspective of the particular events of
famous person they like and save it to their image library history. These can then either be posted to a website or you
(Alternatively it could be a person from history that you would can upload them to a web-server and attach them to QR
like them to research). Then ask them to do some online codes. Students can then watch the videos on their mobile
research and see what facts they can find out about the device or online and and decide which character’s perspective
person. Next ask the students to import the image they found they most agree with.
into the PhotoSpeak app. Then ask them to record a text of the
• Whodunit 
person speaking and giving information. They can then share
You can create an information search or a ‘whodunit’ alibi
these in class or online.
mystery using a selection of images and adding voice to them.
• Voice from art  Students can then watch the videos online or download them
Get your students to find some famous art works with images through QR codes and decide who they think is lying and who
of people. These could be individuals or in groups. Ask them is guilty.
to select one of the people from the painting and try to imagine
a back story for that person e.g. Why are they in the image?,
What do they normally do?, What were they thinking?, How do
they feel about people still looking at them hundreds of years
later? etc. 
 
Next ask them to import the image into PhotoSpeak and focus
on the person they chose. They should then record a text in
first person of the image speaking and talking about him/
herself.
• Speaking noticeboard 
Many schools have a noticeboard with pictures of their
teaching staff on. You can get the staff to animate their images
and record a video using PhotoSpeak. Upload the videos to a
website and connect them to a QR code. You can add these
QR codes to the images on the noticeboard and students can
then scan them and find out more about the school staff
members.
• History perspectives 
You can find images of a number of opposing characters from
274
Getting started
Download the app to your mobile device.
Take a picture of yourself, add your voice and save it to your

device as a video.
Try to upload the video to a website or to YouTube.
Share your video with a friend or colleague and get their

feedback.
Show another teacher how to use the app and share some
ideas.
Create a video for your students to watch and then show

them how to use the app.
Try one of the example activities with your students and see
how it works.
Share your ideas with other teachers in your staffroom.
275
Create clearly staged video lessons around online

videos and encourage deeper thinking
TEDED
What’s it for? The lesson creator can also add additional information such as
text and images and links to external sites with related
TEDEd http://ed.ted.com allows users to create interactive web- materials.
based lessons using TED or any other video from YouTube.
In addition to creating lessons you can also take an existing
The site also has an LMS, so that students learning and lesson and adapt it or just use it as it is.
interaction with the lesson can be tracked by the teacher.
The site allows for a number of different types of interactivity Platform
from the simple multiple choice questions, to open questions TEDEd works in the web-browser across platforms. Both as a
that require student input and discussion forums based around lesson viewer for the students and a lesson creator.
topics.
It also works on tablets and mobile devices.
276
How do you use it? Type the title of the video into the search field and click on the
search icon.
Go to: http://ed.ted.com register and log in.
You will need to validate the email address you used to register.
Click on ‘Create a Lesson’ and you will see the instruction for
finding a video clip.
277
Select the clip you want from the search results and then click The lesson editor has five different stages of instruction. You can
on ‘Launch Lesson Editor’. include tasks at all of these levels or just click ‘Exclude’ if there
are any you don’t want to include.
278
The first level ‘Watch’ is the only one that must be included. At the ‘Think’ level add either an ‘Open’ or ‘Multiple Choice’
question.
Use the ‘Watch’ level to add introductory text and links and add
an initial viewing or ‘gist’ task to encourage the students to
watch the video clip. The ‘Watch’ task doesn’t require any kind
of interaction or input from the student.
279
To add an open question click on ‘Open Answer’. Type in the question and click on ‘Save’. The question will be
added. You can edit the question later by clicking on the small
red pen icon.
Type in your question. Open questions require the student to

type in their answer. Answers are collected in the LMS part of
the site.
280
To add another question click on ‘Create your own question’. Click on ‘Multiple Choice’ to add an interactive question and
You can add up to 15 questions at this level. type in the question.
You can also add a time code. The time code takes the students
to the specific part of the video clip that the question refers to.
This is used as a hint if students get the question wrong. You
can find the time code along the time line of the video when you
play it.
281
Click on ‘Add Answers’ to add the answer choices for your

multiple choice question.
If everything is okay click on ‘Save’ and you will be able to add

more questions.
Only one of the answers must be correct. Indicate the correct

answer by clicking the small round button at the end.
To see the question click on ‘Preview and Save’.
282
To change the order of the questions, click on ‘Sort’. Drag and At the ‘Dig Deeper’ level you can add text and links to
drop the questions into the order you want them to appear to background reading and other relevant websites that could
the learner. expand on or contrast the information given in the video clip
itself. Do this by using the simple editing interface.
283
At the ‘Discussion’ level you can set up discussion tasks for To see your discussion topics click on ‘Preview and Save’.
the students and allow them to post their own discussion topics.
Click on ‘Add New Discussions’ and type in the title of the

discussion, then add your discussion question in the field below
and click on ‘Add This Discussion’.
You can add multiple discussion topics and questions.
284
In the ‘And Finally..’ level can use a simple text editor and add To complete your lesson is to click on ‘Publish’.
up to 1000 characters of text with links and images. You can
Before you publish the lesson you can check through it by
use this space to provide a summary of points covered or to
clicking on ‘Preview’.
take students to further related links or activities to follow up
what they have learned from the lesson.
285
Decide whether you want your lesson listed publicly on the site Once the lesson is published you can find it by clicking on your
for others to use and whether you will allow others to copy and name at the top of the screen.
customize the lesson you have created.
Click on ‘Share’ to get various options for sharing the lesson
Both settings can be found above the activity. with your students.
286
Sharing options include the usual social media platforms as well To see your students’ responses to the activity, open it and then
as an option to email a link to students or to copy a link to share click on ‘Review Student Work’ at the top of the screen.
online.
You will see the students name and all their responses from the
various activities within the lesson. The students must register to
use the platform.
287
Video tutorial • Grammar presentation 

You could use it to create interaction around grammar
MOVIE 9.13 Creating a video lesson with TED Ed presentation videos and finish with a summary of the main
points.
• Creating online discussion 
You could create lessons based around news reports on
controversial topics and use the follow up discussion to
explore students’ views of some of the issues.
• Student created lessons 
You could get students to register and create lessons to
challenge and test each other based around videos that you
suggest.
• Understanding lectures 
You could create lessons based around short lectures or talks
and get students to extract the main content points and
discuss them.
Activities
This is a useful tool for creating longer online lessons, especially

as it takes the students through a developmental process of
understanding and responding to the content and creates peer
to peer interaction around it.
288
Getting started
Register on the TEDEd site.
Try some of the existing video lessons and see how the
activities work as a user. You can do this simply by clicking
on the ‘Lessons’ section of the site.
Copy one of the existing lesson to your profile and use it with
your students and see if they like it and what they learn from
it.
Try to ‘Customize’ an existing lesson to use with your

students.
Create your own lesson based around a video you use

regularly with your classes. Once you have created the
lesson get a fellow teacher to try the activities and give you
some feedback and advice.
Once you are confident that you have created a good lesson,
think about what preparation you need to do with the
students before they try the lesson and what you will do to
follow up the lesson.
Get your student to do the lesson at home. Ask your students

for feedback on the lesson and see if they found it engaging.
Show other teachers how to use the site and see if they have
any suggestions for lessons.
289
Get students expressing themselves and talking

about images using animated avatars
TELLAGAMI
What’s it for? Because it can be downloaded to mobile devices and carried
around by the students, they can use it at any time outside of
Tellagami https://tellagami.com/ is a free app which allows the class to take pictures and practice talking about them.
users to create short video clips using animated avatars to
speak about images. The use of avatars also helps to protect the students real
identity and reduces their self-consciousness in front of the
The voice of the avatar can be recorded by the user and then camera.
lip-synched onto the avatar along with a range of hand gestures
and emotions, or users can use text to speech to generate the Platform
audio monologue for the avatar.
Tellagami is a free app for iOS and Android mobile devices.
Once the monologue is complete, the videos can be exported,
downloaded or saved online.
290
How do you use it? You should see an avatar appear.
Go to https://tellagami.com/ and download the appropriate app Click on the ‘Character’ button to change the avatar. You can
for your device. Open the app and click on ‘Create’. modify a range of features, such as gender, clothes, facial
characteristics and hair.
291
Click on the ‘Emotion’ button and change the emotions of the Click on the ‘Background’ button to select a background.
character.
292
You can either use one of the many free backgrounds, take a Click on the ‘Back’ button to record the audio.
picture with the camera or click on ‘Library’ to upload an image
from your device.
293
Click on the ‘Message’ button, then click on either ‘Record’ or Click on ‘Record’ and start to speak. You can speak for up to
‘Text’ to add the narrative (Using text to speech requires an in- 30 seconds on the free version of the app.
app purchase or the purchase of an educational edition).
294
Click on ‘Preview’ to watch your recording. When you have finished your recording click on ‘Share’ and you
can choose how to share your video.
295
Click on ‘Save’ to keep it on your device. You can also share the video through Facebook, Twitter, email or
SMS text.
296
Video tutorial historical people or even famous pantings. Just take images
using your camera or download images to your mobile device
MOVIE 9.14 Creating an animated avatar with Tellagami from Google Images or some other image sharing site (The
ELTPics group on Flickr has a huge collection of images that
are suitable for teaching: https://www.flickr.com/photos/
eltpics ) then import the image into Tellagami and create your
video by recording a monologue about the image. You can
then use these in class or add them to online materials.
• New vocabulary 
Add an image as the background to support students
understanding and then use the audio to introduce the
pronunciation of the word and say how it is used. You can save
the videos as a kind of online vocabulary record.
• Modeling and drills 
Record models of new language items that you introduce.
Students can listen to these at home and use them for self-
drilling activities and to help them remember features of
connected speech etc.
• Characters for stories 
Create a number of characters and get them to introduce
themselves to the students. The students can then use what
they have discovered about the characters to create a short
story or soap opera about them. Each student could be one of
the characters and they can act out some of the scenes they
have written.
Activities • Talking portfolio 
Students can take pictures of any drawings or artwork they
Their are lots of ways you can use Tellagami to create engaging have created and use it as the background to a video. They
content and activities, especially for lower levels and for can use the avatar characters to talk about the pictures and
younger learners. explain how they created the pictures and what inspired them.
• People and places  • Show and tell 
Use the avatar to talk about images of special places, or Get students to use a picture or take a picture of something
297
that has particular significance for them. They can use the • My encyclopedia 
picture as the background and then record a monologue Students can use the app to create a video encyclopedia.
explaining what the object is and why they think it’s important. Each video clip could be a separate entry with an
accompanying image in the background and a monologue
• About animals 
explanation. You could collect all these entries into an online
Students can research particular animals online and then they
site or blog.
can use an image of the animal as the background and record
a short script talking about the animal. They can share these
videos online. You could also reuse these with other classes as Getting started
listening activities. Go to https://tellagami.com/ to download and install the
• Present perfect  appropriate app for your device.
Get students to use the app to practice the present perfect
and past simple tenses. They can do this by uploading images Open the app and watch the ‘How to’ section.
as backgrounds that relate to real or imaginary experiences,
Try to change the appearance of the avatar and then make a
e.g. a picture of the Eiffel Tower. They can then record a
monologue talking about the experience, e.g. “I’ve been to short recording and save the video to your device.
Paris three time. The first time I went there was in 2004 ....” Upload one of your own images and record a description of
• Personalities  it. Save the video to your device and show another teacher
Students can create imaginary personalities for the avatar what you have created.
characters and then record monologues of the avatars
introducing themselves. They can follow this up by getting the Show another teacher how you created the video and see if
avatars to talk about some of the different places in the image they have any ideas for activities.
pack.
Create some materials for your students using the app and
• My special place 
Students can take or download a picture of their favorite place some of the ideas above.
and record a monologue talking about why they like the place Show your students how you created the materials and how
and why it is special for them.
to use the app.
• My journal 
Students can use the app to create their own video journal and Use some of the ideas above to get your students to create
use one of the characters to record a short summary of videos.
anything interesting that happened to them that day.
Show the videos to other teachers at a teacher development
session and share some of the ideas.
298
Create socially interactive video tasks based

around online content
VIALOGUES
Vialogues https://vialogues.com is a useful tool for creating, The Vialogues you create work in most web-browsers including
socially interactive video-based tasks. mobile phones and other mobile devices, but creating the
activities is best done on a computer with a bigger screen.
Using the tool you can take videos from either YouTube, Vimeo
or your own hard drive and create a range of polls, quizzes and
discussion forums around the video content.
The activities you create can be shared with students,
embedded into online materials and user-interaction with the
materials can be tracked.
299
How to Add the title of the activity and some rubric instructions, e.g.
“Watch the video and answer the questions”.
Go to: https://vialogues.com and register on the site.
When you have registered click on ‘Create’ to make an activity.
Set the accessibility level to either ‘Public’ or ‘Selective’. If you

make the activity ‘Selective’ then only people with your
permission can comment on the activity and answer the
Either upload or add a link to the video that you want to use. questions you create.
Add a short title for the video and a description. If you are using
a video from YouTube the title and description will appear
automatically.
300
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Create Play the video and add questions and discussion points.
Vialogue’.
To add a discussion point, pause the video at the appropriate
place and then click in the field beneath the video and type in
your question or thinking/discussion point.
When you click in the box the time reference should appear. It
looks something like this @00:13. Type your questions just after
that, then click on ‘Post’.
301
When you click on ‘Post’ your comments and questions appear To add a poll or questionnaire, click on the ‘QA’ symbol below
on the right of the video. the video.
Choose between two simple types of poll questions, ‘Multiple
choice’ or ‘Check all that apply’.
302
‘Multiple choice’ has a number of possible answers and the In ‘Check all answers that apply’ type questions, the user can
user chooses only one. choose more than one option as the answer to the question.
To create this type of question, you write a question, then type
your list of answer choices below it.
You can add many potential answer choices, but it is better to
keep the number of options to a maximum of 4 for ‘Multiple
choice’ and up to 6 for ‘Check all answers that apply’, though
this can vary depending on the clip and the particular question
you are using.
Click on ‘Post’ and your question will be added to the right of
the video.
303
Ensure that you pause the video at the point where the question To delete your activity go to ‘View Profile’.
applies. This is important because it links the question to that
point in the video clip and by clicking on the time signature,
users will be taken to the specific point in the video that the
question applies to.
You can either share your task to a range of social media sites,
get an embed code, or get a link to send to your students.
304
Select your activity. Then click on ‘Delete’ you will then see options to delete the
comments or the complete activity.
305
Click on the ‘Polls’ tab to see all the answers to the questions Video tutorial
you create.
MOVIE 9.15 Creating socially interactive learning with
Vialogues.
Activities
Vialogues is capable of creating a wide variety of listening and

viewing tasks based around video.
• Flipped discussion tasks 
You can use Vialogues to get students thinking about the
306
issues that a video raises before asking them to discuss it or Getting started
do group work in class. Any video that has some kind of
controversial content could be appropriate for this. Creating Register on the https://vialogues.com website.
opinion polls that students answer before they come to class
Click on ‘Explore’ and look at some of the activities that have
can really get them thinking about the issues first and
already been created. See if you can find ones that have
preparing what they want to say. This can make classroom
good and engaging questions. Try to answer the questions
discussion much more rewarding and fluent.
and see how the activity works from a user’s perspective.
• Online discussion  See if you can find any examples that have a lot of interaction
You can set up discussion tasks that prompt students to
and see if the interaction creates discussion or is simply used
discuss the video content online and they can end with a poll.
to test.
This is a great way to get students expressing themselves in
writing, learning how to reference parts of the video and Try to copy an existing activity or make your own variation on
holding the thread of a text based discussion. This can be it to see how it was constructed.
quite challenging, but it’s also a valuable skill for your students
Create an activity using a video clip that you have used with
to develop. You should monitor the discussions to make sure
other groups of students. Perhaps one that you have used in
they don’t get too heated and once the discussion is finished
class. Think about how you would need to adapt your
you can focus on how well students referenced their
questions or tasks for online use rather than classroom use.
arguments to the video content and points made by their fellow
students. Create an activity for your students to do at home and show it
to another teacher before you use it. Get their feedback and
see if they can suggest ways for you to improve the activity.
Try the activity with your students. Check the tracking and
see how many of the students completed the activity. Monitor
the discussion and encourage the students to engage with
each other about the clip.
Ask the students whether they liked the way the activity was
structured. See if they can make you aware of any problems
or any ways you can improve the activity.
Try to create another activity based on their feedback.
307
Develop students’ digital note-taking skills

as they watch and make time-synced
notes on videos
VIDEONOT.ES
Videonot.es http://www.videonot.es/ is a web-based tool that Videonot.es will run in the web-browser on a computer or on a
enables users to watch and pause an online video and make tablet.
time-synced notes about it.
In order to use it you will need to be registered with Google and
have a Google Drive account, but that’s quick, easy and free to
set up and can also be very useful as a place to store work
online.
308
How to Click on play to watch the video. Pause the video and then click
on the grey line on the right to start typing your notes.
Go to: http://www.videonot.es/ and register/sign in.
Your notes will be synchronized to the specific parts of the
The site opens in the browser and has a field on the left where video.
you can add a link to a video and a workspace on the right
where you can make notes about the video.
To add a video, paste the URL into the field on the left and click
on ‘Load video’.
309
Click on ‘Untitled notes’ at the top of the page and type in a Click on ‘Share’ and you can share a link to your notes via email
title for your notes. and restrict who is able to see and access the notes, so your
students can share their work with you this way too.
Click on the ‘Save’ icon to save the notes.
You can save the notes either directly to Google Drive or to

Evernote and you can share them through the usual social
media channels such as Facebook, Google plus, LinkedIn,
etc.
310
You can also allow another person to edit your notes. When you return to Videonot.es, click on one of the time
references to go to the precise place in the video clip that the
note is referring to.
311
Video tutorial notes with you before the next class. They can include
questions in the notes about anything in the video they didn’t
MOVIE 9.16 Taking notes on videos using Videonot.es understand. You can be sure that they have watched the video
before the class and get some idea of what they understood
and what problems you need to deal with in the classroom.
• Making questions 
Ask the students to watch the video and to make questions
(you could give them a specific number of questions) about
the content of the video for you to answer in class. This
encourages students to think about the content and gives
them the opportunity to check their understanding with you.
When the students get to class you can get them to exchange
questions and try to answer each other’s questions. You could
also get the students to exchange notes online before class
and try to answer each other’s questions.
• Error correction 
Create your own notes or even include the script of the video
clip and include a number of mistakes. Then get the students
to watch the video and follow the notes to try to find and
correct the errors. Be sure though to tell the students the
number of errors to look for. This will encourage them to keep
looking and listening to the whole of the video until they find all
the mistakes.
Scan the code to watch the video on your mobile device or click • Thought bubbles 
this link to watch it in high-definition on your computer. Ask the students to watch a clip and use the notes to write
what the people in the clip are thinking at specific times in the
Activities video. You can specify at which points you want them to stop
and write, or you could just give them a number of times to
This is a great tool to use to create a ‘flipped’ approach to stop the video and add thought notes. This gets the students
learning. thinking more carefully about any unspoken communication
• Making lecture notes  that is happening in the clip and using visual clues to interpret
Share a short presentation or lecture and ask students to use meaning.
Videonot.es to make notes on the lecture. They can share the
312
• My thoughts  Getting started

Ask students to watch the video and stop it to add their own
thoughts and responses about what they are watching. Set up a free Google account if you don’t already have one
Emphasize that they should try to be as honest as possible in and add Google Drive https://drive.google.com to your
the way they respond to the video. You could tell them to do account.
this every 10 - 15 seconds depending on the length of the
Go to Videonot.es and register using your Google account
video. Make sure that they know there is no ‘correct’ answers
details.
that you expect from them. This is a great way to get some
insight into what your students are thinking about and to focus Try to import a short video clip from either YouTube or Vimeo
them a little on their own thoughts and responses and what and practice making notes.
prompts them.
Give your notes a title and save them. Close the browser and
• Transcription  then open it again and see if you can find your notes again.
Ask the students to use Videonot.es to transcribe the script for
Find a short video presentation or lecture to watch and make
a video. Once they have done it they can send the link to you
some notes about it. Share your notes with a colleague and
for checking or they can peer check and correct. This is a
see if they can open and read them.
great way for students to prepare scripts before adding
subtitles to a video using a tool like http://www.amara.org/ or Show a colleague how to use Videonot.es and see if they can
http://www.dotsub.com/. use it to make notes on a video. See if they have any ideas or
suggestions for how to use it with their students.
• Reported speech 
Instead of transcribing the script of the video, ask the students Show your students how to use Videonot.es and set a task for
to report it to practice reported speech. them. Ask them to share a link to their completed notes with
you and evaluate their use of the tool.
Write a blog post or prepare a teacher development session
to share what you have learned with other teachers.
313
314
Turn grammar presentations into animated

videos and get students creating animated
infographics
WIDEO
Wideo http://wideo.co/ is a free browser-based app for creating Wideo uses the Adobe Flash browser plugin, so it works in the
short animations. web-browser on any computer that has Flash installed. It
doesn’t work on Apple iOS devices as Flash doesn’t generally
The app runs in the browser and enables users to create a
work on these, but you can still play the videos that the
range of simple animated videos based around templates.
application creates on these devices.
These video animations can then be saved online, downloaded
and embedded into learning materials.
315
How to Either choose from one of the templates or click on ‘Start from
scratch’.
Go to: http://wideo.co/ create an account and log in.
In your profile click on ‘+ new wideo’ to open the selection of

templates.
316
The Wideo editor will open and you can start constructing the Click on ‘Back’ and select a background. This can either be a
first scene of your video. color or an image. The images are mainly patterned
backgrounds. Click on the one you want and it will appear on
the stage of your first scene.
317
Click on ‘Object’ to select objects to add to your video. In the Click on the pencil icon and you will be able to edit the object’s
objects menu you can search through the various types of brightness and opacity.
object to find the ones you need.
Objects vary from icons and shapes to small images of people.

Click on the ones you want and they will appear on your stage.
You can click on objects and drag them to the place you want.
You can also and resize them.
318
To make the object move, select it and then click on ‘Animate Then click on ‘Define Start’. Drag the object to the next position
object’. you want it to appear.
Click ‘Confirm Movement’.
You can drag it to another new position and again click

‘Confirm Movement’.
319
Click back on the stage and then click ‘Scene’ at the bottom left Click on the ‘Text’ icon to add text, then type your text into the
and watch your animation. field that appears on the stage.
You can add shapes and more objects and animate them in the Once you have added your text you can format it and change
same way. the font style, size and colors.
320
To change the size of the text, drag the handles to make the Click on ‘Animate object’ then ‘Define start’ and drag it to the
field bigger. You can also change the angle of the text by using new position you want it to move to.
the corner rotate points.
Then click on ‘Confirm movement’.
You can change the size and rotation while you do this. Again
click back on ‘Scene’ to see how your work will look in the
video.
321
To add sound to your video click on the ‘Sound’ icon. There is a To add your own images to the animation click on the ‘Upload’
selection of ready made sound files you can add or you can icon and add these to your scene.
upload ones that you have created yourself.
322
Add another scene by clicking on ‘+ Add’ on the right of the When the video is finished, click on ‘Save’.
screen. The new scene will automatically appear with the same
background by default.
Click on ‘Back’ to change it and add a different one.
You can add more scenes until your video is up to a maximum

of five minutes long.
323
Add a name and description to the video and it will be saved To share the video click on ‘Share’.
into your profile.
324
There are a number of sharing options. Video tutorial

You can get a link or embed code, or you can share the video MOVIE 9.17 Creating animated movies with Wideo
through Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. You can also download
the video to your hard drive.
You can go back to your profile and either delete the videos or
re-edit them.
Activities
• Animated grammar 
You can use Wideo to create different kinds of short grammar
videos.  
 
Create videos of timelines to illustrate the concepts behind
different verb tenses and sentences. You can also create
325
animated videos highlighting the form and structure of different form of advertisement for the company or for a company they
sentences.   want to work for. This is a useful addition to their digital
  portfolio and may even help them to get a job.
You can create videos to highlight the different features of
pronunciation and add audio support. These videos can be • Animated resume/CV 
Students can use the ‘Curriculum’ templates to create
used in online, blended or flipped learning classes.
animated videos introducing themselves. This would be a
• Animated stories  really useful activity, especially for online classes where it can
You or your students can create short animated stories. Just be hard for students to get a sense of who else is on the
show the students some of the characters available in Wideo course.
and then get them to create a short story about them and add
text and animation. • Product promotions 
Students can create product promotions outlining the features
• Animated greetings  of specific products. They can research the products online
Show your students the ‘Holidays’ section of the ‘Object’ first and then use the information they gather to structure the
menu and ask them to use some of the images from this folder video presentation.
to create their own animated greetings card videos. They can
then share them and send them to friends or parents. • Animated infographics 
Students can create animated versions of infographics. They
• Animated jokes  can take the information they use from articles or text books
Ask your students to animate a joke. They can add the text and they are reading and create visuals to support understanding
record themselves telling the joke and then use animated of the factual data. Or they can create an online or class
images to illustrate the joke. To add an audio of the text to the survey to gather information and use that for the infographic.
video students can use http://vocaroo.com/ and record each
line as a single audio file and then add each line to a different • Animated reading comprehension 
Students can create video summaries of a book or story they
scene and animate it.
have been reading. These can include scenes with information
• Video tutorials  about the characters and plot, as well as a time line of the
You or the students can use the iPhone or iPad apps template events that take place in the book.
to create short video tutorials by importing screenshots from
the iPad or iPhone and then adding audio explanations to the • Animated learning tips 
Students can create an animated video with their top ten tips
scenes of the video.
for learning English. Each tip could be presented in a separate
• Company advertisements  animated scene.
Students can research a company online and then create a
video about the company. This is an ideal task for a business
class and they can even produce a video presentation as a
326
Getting started Show your video to another teacher and ask for some
feedback. See if they can suggest ways to improve the video.
Go to http://www.wideo.co/ and register on the site.
Show another teacher how to use Wideo. See if they can
Click on ‘Create a new wideo’ and look through the
suggest ideas for other Wideos to create. See if you can
templates. Select one and load it in the editor. Then look
teach them how to use it to create their own Wideo.
through the various scenes in the template by clicking on
each scene in the menu. Create some Wideos to use as video content for activities
with your students. Get some feedback from your students
Choose ‘Create a wideo from scratch’ and add a
and see how they liked the clips and whether they felt they
background, some objects and text to the scene. Try to add
made their learning more effective or enjoyable.
some animations to the objects and text and then play the
scene. Show your students how to create a Wideo. See if they can
create a short animation.
Add a second scene to the Wideo and change the
background. Add more objects to this scene and animate Try some of the activities above and get students using
them. Wideo regularly to create projects.
Go back to the ‘my wideos’ section of your profile and delete

your test videos.
Go to the ‘Learn’ section of the site at: http://www.wideo.co/

html/learn and watch some of the video tutorials there.
Scroll down to the bottom of the ‘Learn’ section and find the
link to ‘Download Storyboard’ and download the storyboard
template.
Use the storyboard template to plan a short Wideo and then

try to make the Wideo. You can choose to create an example
of one of the activities suggested above. These examples are
good to use with your students to show them what you want
them to create.
327
10
APPLICATION
REVIEWS
This chapter contains short reviews of various
applications that can be used to create or modify
digital video.
CREATING ONLINE LEARNING
Present.me - https://present.me
This is a great tool for creating flipped learning.
This chapter was sponsored by Present.me. Present.me is a great Simple to use and a great way to get your
service for creating flipped learning. It enables you to upload and
presentations online.
narrate a presentation.
You can add a talking head video at the side if the slides and talk
your way through your presentations. this enables you to deliver
lecture style content online and use the classroom for the more
productive project work and discussion.
329
Blendspace - https://www.blendspace.com/ Students get immediate feedback as they click through the
materials and all their answers and scores are tracked into the
Blendspace is a free platform for creating blended learning
site’s LMS.
activities and lessons. You can search for and access a wide
range of media from inside the platform or upload your own
This is a really useful tool for creating basic
video content and images. You can then add these to different
sequences of activities based around video content
templates.
from one or more sources and tracking students’
interactions with these materials.
You can add text or interactive multiple choice questions to the

activities. You can then add classes of students and assign the
various lessons and activities you have created to different
classes.
Students can watch the video materials and use the quizzes to
check their understanding of the materials. The quizzes are
easy to create and you can add multiple questions to each quiz.
All question types are multiple choice and there has to be a
correct answer.
330
ClipChoose - http://clipchoose.com
You can have clips with different sides of an
ClipChoose is a simple tool for creating video based polls which argument and students watch and choose the one
involve watching 2 - 4 video clips and selecting one.
they agree with or you can have clips with
explanations of grammar points and students can
decide which is best. Students can also create their
When the users go to the site they see a question and below it
there can be either two or four video clips. The user then has to
choose a video clip to answer the question.
This activity is more like an opinion poll than a quiz or test as the
site doesn’t give the students any feedback as to whether they
are correct or not, but it does collect together all the results and
shows which clip has been selected the most times.
You can create your own polls by logging in and adding your
question and links to the videos. This is a useful tool to get
students watching multiple video clips and making decisions
about them.
331
EduCanon - http://www.educanon.com/
This is a good sound tool which enables teachers to
EduCanon is a browser-based tool for creating interactive create interactive learning based around online video
learning based around online video clips.
clips and assign these as student homework.
The tool enables teachers to add a variety of interactions to the

clip, these include multiple choice questions with customised
feedback, multiple select questions which enable more than
one correct answer and reflective pauses.
Premium users can also add fill in the blank activities as well as
open questions. Teachers are able to create groups and monitor
student responses, though some elements of this are also only
for premium users.
332
ESLVideo - http://www.eslvideo.com an embed code for each of the quizzes so you can embed them
into your own site or online course.
ESLVideo is a great source of interactive video quizzes created
by teachers. If you register on the site you can also create your own quizzes
based around any video clip which has an embed code.
These quizzes are a great way to get students

listening to and watching online video and they can
get some immediate feedback to see how much they
have understood. Very motivating for listening and
viewing.
The quizzes are based around online videos and are mainly
multiple choice type activities, but students can get some
feedback by clicking on ‘Submit’ once they have answered the
questions.
As the teacher you can also register on the site and create a
teacher code. If you give the code to your students they can
enter it once they have completed the quiz and send you their
results. All student results are tracked into the site’s LMS, so you
know which students have done their homework and what they
have understood.
The quizzes are all graded so it’s quite easy to find something
appropriate to the level of your students, but be sure to check it
for errors before you share the link with them. You can also find
333
Zaption - http://www.zaption.com/ Tours that are created on the site can be used by other teachers
and the responses from the questions and interactions added to
Zaption is a free browser-based tool for creating interactive
the clips are all tracked into the LMS. The different tours have a
learning activities based around online video clips.
unique URL and teachers can share the URL with their students.
Premium users can create groups or classes of students on the
site and this enables teachers to make sure the activity only
tracks the interactions of their students.
This is a good sound tool for creating video-based

online activities and tracking the learning of your
students. It has a good range of interactions which
are easily configured to create engaging interactive
learning.
The free version of the tool allows teachers to create a range of

different interactions which can be dropped into different parts
of the video. There is a polling tool which collects responses
from multiple choice questions as well as a multiple choice
question tool which can give custom feedback rather than just
telling students whether their answers are right or wrong.
The tool also enables you to drop in images and support texts to
help students understand the video, as well as clipping the
video and muting the sound (Muting the sound can be
particularly useful for developing students’ viewing abilities).
Each activity you create (These are referred to on the site as
‘Tours’) can have multiple video clips and any number of
different interactions dropped into them.
334
FUN AND GAMES
VizLingo - http://www.vizlingo.com/ Once the videos have been created you can send them to
people or post them to Facebook or Twitter.
VizLingo is an interesting tool which enables you to create video
compilations based around sentences. The tool works in the web-browser, but there is also a free app
for the iPhone.
This might be a novel way to create example

sentences to help students remember new
vocabulary or sentence structures, or it could be an
interesting way to get students communicating with
each other through video and developing their
sentence-level writing skills.
You just type in a sentence, click on create and the site will
compile a video sentence made up of clips to represent the
words of the sentence.
335
Storehouse - https://www.storehouse.co/
This is fantastic tool for getting students to create
Storehouse is a great tool for creating digital narrative that mixes their own personal stories using images, video and
video with text and images and presents the finished product as
text.
stylish scrolling web page.
The end product of this tool as you can see if you look at the
examples on the site is really impressive and this is a great tool
to get students producing personalised narratives about
themselves and the things they do in their life. It’s also a great
source of engaging reading material too.
You can view the Storehouse stories on any computer in the
web browser, but to create them you have to download the free
iPad app, so at present this is only available on iOS.
336
Vittle - http://www.qrayon.com/home/vittle/
This is a very easy way to create quite simple
Vittle is a whiteboard application that runs on the iPad. The learning videos which cover basic concepts. You can
great thing about Vittle though is that you can record your
use the video clips to present and reinforce
whiteboard activity and then share it with your students as a
video clip.
vocabulary grammar and create videos which
reinforce concepts.
You can move things around on the whiteboard and record your
own voice over so that your whiteboard work becomes a small
animated and narrated video clip. This is great for creating short
animated presentations of your board work. You can also import
images from you iPad and add animated labels with voice over
recordings.
337
PORTFOLIO TOOLS
Dropr - http://dropr.com/ The site works with a huge range of different media including a
wide variety of video, audio and even 3D object types.
Dropr is a free e-portfolio tool for producing publicly accessible
portfolios of work that include video. Once students have created a free account and added their
profile, they can easily edit their portfolio by adding project
spaces for any kind of work they want to add. They can then
upload their video clips or audio and write a description for
them. They can also follow other users, so this could be a good
way for you to follow the progress of your students’ portfolios as
they build and add to them.
This is a great tool for collecting your students’ work

together to display and assess it. Students can add
their video projects to the portfolio and show them off
to other students, parents or even prospective
employers.
The tool works in the browser on any desktop or mobile device
and enables students to collect together, write about and show
off their best works.
338
EasyPortfolio - http://thepegeekapps.com/portfolio/ it to take photographs or make videos of students’ work. The

students can also store and share links to any online work such
EasyPortfolio is a digital portfolio app for teachers and students
as video or blog posts they create and then share it through the
to help them collect and record learning objects and artifacts
app with their teacher, so the app also works as a tool for
including video.
teachers to access their students’ portfolios.
Teachers can also leave comments and observations on the
students work so this can also act as a tool for enabling
assessment and delivering feedback.
This is a really useful mobile-based digital portfolio

tool that enables students to track their own learning
and share digital artifacts with their teacher for
evaluation.
The app can be installed on either Android or iOS mobile

devices. You can use the app in a number of ways: You can use
339
SCREENCAST TOOLS
QuickCast - http://quickcast.io/ Once you have downloaded and installed the software you can
record your computer screen, webcam and voice and create
QuickCast is a free software program for Mac users that
screencast videos.
enables them to record their voice and screen activity and
upload it to the internet. The videos are downloaded to your computer and also hosted
online, so they are easy to share with students and embed into
webpages and course materials. You can use this software to
record video tutorials, website tours or even homework marking.
This is a great free and easy tool that enables Mac

users to create screencast tutorials and web tours
and share them with students online in minutes.
Students can use it to create their own screencasts
of video game walkthroughs or web tours.
340
ScreencastOmatic - http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ When you click ‘Done’ your recording will be saved in a new
window and you will be able to watch it before deciding whether
ScreencastOmatic is a free tool for creating screencasts of your
to publish it.
computer screen activity.
There are a number of options for publishing. You can save the
video to YouTube, download it to your hard drive in a number of
different sizes and formats or you can create a free account on
ScreencastOmatic and save the video there.
This is a really simple and quick browser-based tool

that enables any computer user to create screencast
tutorials with webcam narration and to save them
online or download them to a hard drive. It requires no
software downloads or registration.
The application is web-based and runs in the browser using a

Java applet, though you can download a small software
application if you prefer.
It’s really simple to use. You just go to the site and click on ‘Start
Recording’ and, after authorizing the applet to run on your
computer, you see a square appear on the screen with a tool
bar along the bottom. You go to the site or part of the screen
you want to record and drag the square over it, then just use the
controls on the toolbar to activate, stop and pause your
recording.
There is also an option to record from your webcam at the same
time so you can add a talking head narration to your video.
341
VIDEO COMMUNICATION
Gruveo - https://www.gruveo.com/ The conference room is quite sparse and only has a simple text
chat at the side. Once in the room you can open it full screen so
Gruveo is a really simple tool to enable group video or audio
there is plenty of space to see the other participants.
conferencing through the web-browser.
This is a simple to use free tool for synchronous

online communication and to connect students for
online group work or tutorials.
To set up the conference you just go to the site, agree on a

code and click on either ‘Voice call’ or ‘Video call’. You are then
connected and can share the link with other users so they can
join you in the same online room.
342
Kindoma - http://kindoma.com/
This is a great tool for getting guest readers into the
Kindoma is video conferencing with a difference. The app is very young learner classroom and to help get
designed to connect parents with children virtually, so that they
students learning to read from a very young age.
can read to their kids even when they are far away.
Kindoma works on iOS devices and the video conferencing

partners appear on-screen above a digital book. The parent can
then read the book and point to different words or images in the
book using the cursor.
343
Sifonr - http://www.sifonr.com/
This is a nice way to do tutorials with students or get
Sifonr is a free tool for creating synchronous video conferencing them into groups online to do collaborative tasks.
chat rooms.
You can use the document sharing feature to upload
tasks or texts for them to discuss.
All you have to do is go to the site, type in your topic and decide
whether it is public or private and then click on ‘Go’. You’ll need
to allow the site to access you microphone and webcam and
then you are ready to chat.
You can invite others to join you in the room either by email or by
sharing a link with them and you can also upload and share
documents with the other people in your room.
There’s no specific limit to the number of people who can enter
the room, but it will be dependent on the bandwidth of your
internet connection. The more people in the room, the more
likely it is that the communication will slow down.
344
Talky.io - https://talky.io
This is a great simple to use tool that allows web-
Talky.io is a very easy to use web-conferencing tool that runs in conferencing through the browser or on mobile. The
the web-browser on the computer or as a free app on mobile
picture seems clear and there is plenty of space for
devices.
multiple participants.
Simply go to the website enter a name for your web-

conferencing room and then share the link with the people you
want to meet with.
Talky.io has a few additional features such as screen sharing
and a game users can play while they wait for other people to
arrive in the room.
345
Wespeke - http://en-us.wespeke.com/
This is a great tool to give students the opportunity
Wespeke is a web-based community that enables language to really practice the language they are learning with
exchange through their video conferencing platform.
a native speaker. They also get the opportunity to
share their own language and culture at the same
time.
Students can register on the site, select their first language and
the language they want to learn and then find chat partners in
their target language.
The partners teach each other their language as they attempt to
communicate. The language exchange is done through the
site’s online video and audio conferencing platform and there
are a few tools such as text chat and buttons to request
clarification or to ask the interlocutor to slow down.
346
EyeJot - http://corp.eyejot.com/
This is a great tool for developing asynchronous
EyeJot is a useful tool for sending asynchronous video video communications and speaking skills with your
messages of up to five minutes.
students. You can use it to send them tasks and
worksheets or even feedback on their homework.
You’ll need to register and log in to use the tool. Once you have
logged in you simply click on ‘Compose New Message’ and
allow the site to access your webcam and microphone and then
you can start recording your message.
Once the message is complete you can add text notes and
attachments. You then add the email address of your recipient
and click on ‘Send Eyejot’.
The recipient will get an email with a link to the video clip, so
they won’t have to download anything to their hard drive. They
will be able to reply to the clip in the same way, as long as they
register on the site.
347
Gaze - https://letsgaze.com/
Gaze is a useful tool for building synchronous interaction
around video clips. You can show someone else a video clip
you are watching and synchronize it both on your own and their
computer.
The video clips can either be ones that you find online or you
can upload them from your computer. Once you have your
video uploaded you can share a link to your Gaze chatroom and
anyone with the link can join you and watch the video with you.
The video is synchronized for anyone watching so it plays and
pauses at the same time. You can pause the video then chat
about it using your webcam.
This is a great tool for building synchronous

interaction around video content. You and your
students will need good connectivity for this to work.
348
VIDEO CURATION
Toobbox - http://toobbox.com them all in the same place or perhaps you want to get students
to watch a series of short clips.
Toobbox is a useful tool if you want to compile a playlist of clips
for your students to watch. To create your playlist, just log in and then type the name of
your playlist into the search field and click on ‘Create New
Playlist’. The site will create a new list and search for content.
You can preview the content before you add then click on ‘Add
to Playlist’ if you like it. Once you have finished adding videos to
your playlist just copy the unique URL for the list and share it
with your students.
All of your playlists are kept in a playlist library and you can
return to the site and edit or delete them.
This is a great alternative to YouTube for creating

video playlists and sharing them with students.
Registration is free and simple so you can even get
students to use it to create and share their own
This can be useful if you have been using a number of clips
over the length of your course and you want students to review playlists.
349
YoouKids - http://www.yooukids.com/
YoouKids is a free tool for creating YouTube playlists that are
safe for young learners to watch on their mobile devices.
YoouKids is an app that the teacher and students install on their

iOS device (No Android version at time of writing). The app
enables the kids to watch pre-approved playlists of videos that
you have selected for them.
The app is a great way to enable young learners to

access YouTube in a safe and controlled way
without the risk that they may come across
something disturbing or unsuitable.
350
VIDEO DOWNLOADERS
BenderConverter - http://benderconverter.com/
Having a file that won’t play on your device can be
BenderConverter is a web based tool for converting media files very frustrating. You can use BenderConverter to
to different types of file and saving them as either video or
quickly convert files to a different format so the files
audio.
can be played on the device of your choice.
You simply upload the file from your hard drive and then select
the format you want to convert it to and click on ‘Convert’.
351
iDesktopTV - http://www.idesktop.tv/index.html
This is a great tool for finding and downloading
iDesktopTV is an online video downloader with a difference as it online video in a convenient format from a wide
will also search through a wide range of video sharing sites to
range of different sources.
find your clip.
Once you find the clip you want you can download it in the
format and quality of your choice.
You need to register to use iDesktopTV, but it can be a really
quick way to find and download the video clips you want without
having to search through individual sites.
There is a limit on the amount of clips you can download at one
time, but you can register for a premium service to download
more.
352
KeepVid - http://keepvid.com/
This is a great tool to use if you want to take video
KeepVid is a free video downloader that enables you to into your classroom, but the connection is slow and
download a copy of any YouTube video on to your hard drive.
unreliable or YouTube is blocked. This gives you the
ability to have a reserve copy on your hard drive just
in case things go wrong.
The tool is very simple to use. You just copy and paste the URL
of the video you want into the search field and then click on
download. The site uses a Java applet so you will need to have
Java installed and enabled on your computer. You may be
prompted to allow the applet to run.
You get a choice of file types and sizes that you can download
the clip in. Choose the one you want and download the clip onto
your computer.
353
WebVideoFetcher - http://webvideofetcher.com/
This is a really quick way to download media files
WebVideoFetcher is a web based tool for downloading online such as video and audio from the internet and save
video or audio from a very wide range of sources.
them so that they can be used in a classroom
without an internet connection.
It’s simple to use, runs within your web-browser and doesn’t

require you to download or install any software. Just copy and
paste the URL of the media you want to download into the
search bar at the top of the screen, then click on download.
Your browser may ask you to allow the Java plugin to access
your computer.
The file will then be converted and you can download it in your
choice of a range of formats. You can then save the file of your
choice onto your computer’s hard drive.
354
VIDEO EDITING
Loopster - http://www.loopster.com/ Basic use of the site is free, but you can pay for a premium
account if you require more storage and longer clips, but for
Loopster is a web-based video editing app that has all the usual
most student projects the basic free account should be fine.
functions of any regular video editing software.
Loopster works in the web-browser, but you can also download
a free app for iOS devices.
The editing tool is fairly simple to use, so this is a

good way to get your students started with video
projects and learning how to edit video on either
desktop or mobile.
You can upload your own clips, trim the clips, add sound and
sound effects, add transitions and images and finish your video
project off with some text and credits.
355
Magisto - http://www.magisto.com/
The functionality of the editing on this app is very
Magisto is a very basic video editing app which runs either in basic and it really just makes the videos look pretty
the web-browser or as a native app on iOS or Android mobile
and adds a soundtrack, but if you would like to
devices.
create a ‘feel good’ video compilation for the end of
a course or after an event then this is a useful easy
tool for that purpose.
It enables users to upload their own videos and put them into a
design template and add title and soundtrack. You can select
your soundtrack from the ones the site provides or upload your
own audio file.
The videos can be collected into albums and these albums can
be either private, public or even shared for collaborative
projects. If you invite another user to share your album then they
too can add their videos.
356
Mixbit - https://mixbit.com/
This is a useful tool for collecting together a number
Mixbit is a simple to use tool for creating online video. It’s of clips from your phone, computer or other mobile
designed for use on mobile devices though it does work in the
device and editing them together into a template
web-browser too on a laptop or desktop computer.
which gives a consistent look and feel to the
finished product.
You can upload a number of clips and add a template and

music or narration to them and then publish them either publicly
or privately on the Mixbit site. Once the videos are published
you can share them with a unique link or get an embed code to
embed the videos into your online materials or courses.
357
PopcornMaker - https://popcorn.webmaker.org/ Once you have finished adding events to the video you can
save and share it. Sharing can be done through Twitter or
PopcornMaker is an excellent online editor for editing and
Google+ or you can get a unique link for the video or an embed
enhancing online video clips.
code.
Students who view your video have the option to ‘remix’ their
own version of it by clicking on an icon and registering on the
PopcornMaker site.
This is a really useful tool to enhance online video

clips and add to their instructional value by adding
links and images to additional information and
adding text and comments to the video.
Once you have registered on the site you can type in the name
of a video or a keyword to search multiple video sharing sites
for the clip you want. You can then import one or multiple clips
into your project and edit the clips to only show the parts you
want users to see.
You can enhance the content by adding links to various
resources like Google maps or adding text or comment boxes
to the video. You can even overlay images onto the video.
These different enhancements are called ‘Events’ and you just
drag and drop the ones you want onto the timeline of the video
at the place you want them to appear. You can then configure
the various aspects of each event.
358
Shotcut - http://www.shotcutapp.com/
This is a good basic free video editing program
Shotcut is a free video editing software application that you can which works across a range of platforms. This could
download and install on your computer. It will work on Windows,
be a useful tool for basic student video projects and
Mac and Linux systems.
for getting students to learn the basics of video
editing.
The application allows you to do a range of basic tasks from

editing and encoding video clips and audio to adding image
filters, transitions and cropping the video.
359
VideoBlend - http://www.videoblend.org/mac/
VideoBlend is a great free multipurpose video
VideoBlend is an excellent free multipurpose video editing tool editing tool for the Mac and can help you to
for Mac users.
enhance video projects and tailor video clips for
VideoBlend is a software application so you need to download

and install it. You can use it to crop and split video files, change
the file format type, download and save online videos, add
effects, change or remove the audio, strip the audio file from the
video, add music and even rotate the video by 90 degrees.
You can use VideoBlend to convert a part of a video to an
animated GIF. This removes some of the frames of the video
and saves the remaining ones as an animated image. This is a
great way to make presentation slide images a little more
dynamic.
360
WeVideo - https://www.wevideo.com/schools The basic account is free and there is also a free app for iOS
and Android phones. If you need more storage and additional
WeVideo is a free web-based tool for creating and editing online
features beyond the 5GB limit you will have to pay for a
video, video that you upload from your hard drive or video that
premium account.
you record directly from your webcam.
This is a really elegant and easy to use tool to get

students working on video projects that incorporate
social media, either in the web-browser or on mobile
devices.
Like most video editing software you can edit and trim clips,
add audio, transitions, images and text, but with WeVideo you
can also import images and video from your social media and
cloud based accounts such as Facebook Instagram and
Dropbox as well as uploading it from your hard drive.
Once you have uploaded and imported the media you want to
use in your project, you just drag and drop the files onto the
video editor timeline.
WeVideo also allows you to download and export your finished
projects to a range of social media sites.
361
VIDEO JOURNALING
Keek - https://www.keek.com/ The tool works in the browser with a webcam or users can
download a mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows phone, so
Keek is a cross between video life journal and social network. It
that they can update their status using their phone or tablet.
allows users to upload short video clips of themselves and to
‘friend’ and ‘follow’ other users so that they keep up-to-date on This site has a very strong teen and under twenty-fives user
what they are doing. base and could be a good way of getting students to interact
with people from around the world using English.
Students could also use it as a learning journal or you could
assign them very short video tasks to do.
Like many teen dominated social networks, the kind

of content uploaded can be quite narcissistic and
exhibitionist so it may not be appropriate for
younger learners, but for more mature teens it could
to help motivate students to start using English in a
more social way and help to connect them with their
peers around the world.
362
Pheed - https://www.pheed.com/
This is a great tool to get video production and
Pheed is a mobile blogging platform that allows users to blog video blogging into the hands of students and to get
directly from their iOS or Android phone or mobile device as
them using language and mobile devices to create
well as from the laptop or desktop computer.
rather than consume video media.
The great thing about Pheed is that you can record or upload
video directly from your device, write about it and publish it in
minutes. This makes it a great tool for using with students to
create digital narrative or other video projects or tasks.
Pheed users can also ‘follow’ and ‘friend’ each other to keep up
to date with what other Pheed users are doing.
363
VideofyMe - http://www.videofy.me/
This is a useful tool to get students creating video
VideofyMe is a free mobile app which can be used on either iOS blogs as learning journals or more personal journals
or Android devices. The app enables students to create their
of their life experiences. You can then use these
own video blog and see the VideofyMe blogs of other users.
video blogs as talking points for conversation
activities during the class. Students in online
classes can also use the videos to find out more
about their fellow students.
The app has some editing functionality and filters to make the
videos look more attractive and users can also add soundtracks
to their videos.
There is also a widget available which enables users to show
their videos in part of a blog or website.
364
YOUTUBE EDITORS
Quietube - http://quietube.com/ Then when you find a video on YouTube that you want to use
with students you just click on the bookmarklet and it creates a
Quietube is a tool for masking some of the distractions that often
new page which masks all the surrounding content of the page.
appear around YouTube videos, such as advertisements,
You can then paste the URL in the address bar to access the
offensive comments and links to other video clips.
link to the video in your classroom and materials.
If you find the Quietube URL too long then you can shorten it
using a link shortener like http://tinyurl.com/
The site does carry it’s own advertisements, but these are just a
small banner at the bottom and much less distracting.
Using Quietube you can create a link that takes

students directly to your masked, distraction free
page. This makes putting links to YouTube into your
materials much safer because you know what
students are going to see.
Quietube is very simple to use. You just go to the Quietube

page and drag the bookmarklet to your browser’s favorites bar.
365
SafeShare.TV - http://safeshare.tv/ some form of prediction or viewing task and the title gives away
the answer.
SafeShare TV enables you to create a mask around the
advertising and other distractions of a YouTube clip and also To edit the clip, click on ‘Full’ the clip will open in a preview
enables you to specify the point in the clip where it begins to window. Start to play the clip and when it gets to the point where
play and where it stops. you want your students to start watching, click on ‘Beginning’.
You should see the time appear.
Keep watching the video until the point when you want it to stop
and click on ‘End’. Once again you should get the time in
minutes and seconds of the end point.
Now just click on ‘Ok’ and this will take you back to the
‘Customize’ window. Click on ‘Ok’ again and this will take you
back to the homepage. Now click on ‘Take me to the safe view’
and you will be able to see the specific part of the clip you
wanted with all the advertising and distractions masked.
Now you can just copy the URL from the address bar and use
that to share the clip with students or add it to any materials you
are creating.
This allows you to break down a longer clip into a number of
short clips and miss out any irrelevant parts of the clip. SafeShareTV enables you to select the specific part
of a YouTube clip you want your students to see and
First you copy the URL of the video clip you want to use and
paste the link into the SafeShare site. You then click on to mask the distractions. It runs in the browser or
‘Generate safe link’. You can then click on ‘Take me to the safe you can download an app for iOS mobile devices.
view’ and this will show you the video clip with the
advertisements masked.
If you click on ‘Customize video’ you will then be able to change
the name of the video clip. This can be useful if you want to do
366
TubeChop - http://www.tubechop.com/
This can be really useful for highlighting specific
TubeChop is a tool for clipping YouTube videos so that you only parts of a video clip and embedding the clip into
show students a specific part of the video clip.
your own materials.
It’s very simple to use. Just use the search engine to find the
clip you want then click on ‘Chop it’ and you’ll be able to drag
the start and end handle to the specific part of the video you
want to show. Click on ‘Chop it’ again and you’ll see just the
section of the video you selected.
You can get a unique link to share with students as well as an
embed code that allows you to embed the clip into any online
materials or courses you are creating.
367
Grammarly - https://www.grammarly.com
Grammarly is a fantastic tool that can help students to work
autonomously and develop their writing skills. It will check their
grammar and give advice on various aspects of syntax, spelling
and vocabulary.
Students can either upload text or copy and paste it into the
interface and Grammarly will search through for potential errors
and give them suggested fixes.
This is a great tool to use to build learner confidence

and autonomy and to push students to check and
correct their own work before submitting it.
368
11
RESOURCE REVIEWS
This chapter contains links and reviews of online
websites where you can find freely available content to
use in your own courses, tasks or activities.
ACADEMIC
CriticalPast - http://www.criticalpast.com/ This is great content for informing students about the past,
CriticalPast has a large collection of historical videos dating sparking debate about change or just prompting
back as far as 1890 and as recent as the 1990s. You can search discussion.
through these by theme, decade or year. But many of the clips, due to their age, aren’t very good
quality so you’ll have to be selective. There are also no
embed codes.
The main purpose of the site is to sell high resolution copies of

the content, but you can go to the site and watch all the clips
online, just click to make them full screen.
370
Explainia - http://www.explania.com/en The explanations are very clear and have great visual
Explainia has a large collection of short animated videos which support which can really help lower-level students to
explain various concepts from ‘How to use Twitter’ to understand the content.
‘Understanding the concept of corruption’. But there aren’t any ready made materials to go with the
videos. They should still be quite easy to exploit and
students could just use them to learn how to do various
tasks, especially the software and technology related ones.
The videos are sorted in to categories on the left hand side of

the site and you can either browse or search through them
using the search engine at the top of the site.
Each video can be shared through social media or you can
copy an embed code and add them to your site or online
course materials.
371
LearnersTV - http://www.learnerstv.com/index.php This is great content for ESP and EAP classes and for
LearnersTV has a huge collection of more than 30,000 video students at quite an advanced level.
lectures on all kinds of topics and subjects. The length of the But most of the clips are very long and so you need to
clips varies considerably from under five minutes to over an chunk them into shorter sections and design tasks to
hour. exploit them for language learning.
The site is easy to browse or you can use the search engine to
find something specific. There is a section on English language
learning where you may find some interesting content.
Each of the videos also has a QR code so you can scan and
watch them on a mobile device or use a link to download the
video to your hard drive. The lectures tend to be a bit long for
the average classroom and vary in quality tremendously
depending on the lecturer.
372
Mobento - http://www.mobento.com/ This is a great collection of high quality educational video

Mobento has a huge collection of short educational clips such from around the world.
as brief lectures, talks or explanations. The videos are collected But it’s mainly quite high level and there are no ready made
from all areas of education, from business to humanities activities for exploiting the materials.
subjects.
Each video has a summary of the content as well as a unique

URL and embed code so that you can add it to your own site or
online course. If students register they can also make notes
about each video. These videos are ideal for CLIL courses or
flipped learning though they do seem to be mainly high level.
373
Open Yale Courses - http://oyc.yale.edu/ VideoSci - http://videosci.com

This site has complete courses from Yale professors. You can As the name suggests, VideoSci is a collection of videos
choose a course or topic from the courses menu and then view connected with scientific concepts.
all of the lectures from the course. Many of the courses have as The videos are categorized on the right of the screen and you
many as 25 lectures of about an hour each. can either browse through them or use the search at the top of
the site. Each video has a unique link and there is also an
embed code which should make it easier to put the videos into
other learning materials such as a blog page or online course.
Although the lectures are long they have been split into
‘chapters’ which deal with specific themes in each lecture and
you can skip between the chapters. The videos also have close
captions so you can turn these on to help students understand. This kind of content is ideal for CLIL type lessons or for using in
There are also links which allow you to download the video or flipped learning classes.
audio of the lecture onto your hard-drive.
The majority of the videos are ideal in length for language
This is an amazing resource for any very serious high level learning (5 mins or less). The quality is mainly good and
EAP students. the concepts are clearly and reliably explained.
But the lectures are very long, very high level and aren’t No buts!
particularly visually engaging.
374
Webcast.Berkeley - http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
Webcast.Berkeley has a huge collection of lectures from
complete courses across a wide range of disciplines.
This is a great resource for students with high levels of English
and EAP students who want to practice listening to lectures and
making notes, etc.
For the average student this material would probably be to long,

(average lecture 45 - 60 mins) too difficult and have too much
topic specific vocabulary. There is no support material or
embed codes, but you can download the clips.
This is a useful resource for EAP and university preparation

courses.
But the lectures are very long and dry and the visuals
aren’t particularly helpful in supporting understanding.
375
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
BatLyrics - http://batlyrics.net/
The lyrics search function is great and there is a
BatLyrics has a huge collection of music videos with the huge collection of songs and lyrics.
corresponding lyrics for each song. This enables students to
find songs they like, listen to the music and follow the lyrics at But the site doesn’t offer any interactivity or
the same time.
exercises to go with the lyrics so it’s quite passive.
There is also an embed code so that you can take the video and
lyrics and embed them on your own website or online course.
If you are looking for a song that will reinforce a particular

grammatical point you can click on the lyrics search function
and type in an example of your structure to find a song which
contains it. This makes the song lyrics a little like a searchable
corpus.
376
Black and White Movies - http://www.bnwmovies.com/ Mazwai - http://mazwai.com

Black and White Movies has exactly that. A huge collection of This site has a growing collection of free to use hi-definition
complete films from the 1910s to the 1960s. You can either video clips. The clips are mostly artistic and without dialogue,
search through them by browsing the various genre or you can but they are great quality and fascinating to watch and you
search through them by decade. Once you have found the could easily use them at the beginning of the class to get
movie you can either watch the complete thing online or students talking and asking questions about the content.
download it to your hard drive in a range of formats.
Mazwai also makes it very simple to download and save the

clips to your hard-drive, so you can use them in classrooms
Many of the films are real classics and some of the silent ones
where the internet connection isn’t very reliable or upload them
are particularly ideal for language learning purposes.
to an online course if you need to.
This is a great collection of free materials that can be This site has really high quality artistic content that’s
hard to find elsewhere and which you can download free to download.
and edit for use in the classroom.
But you’ll need to create your own tasks to use with
But downloading and editing films to create your own these.
activities can be a very time consuming, though
rewarding process.
377
MovieClips - http://movieclips.com/ Wimp - http://www.wimp.com/

MovieClips is as the name suggests a collection of clips from Wimp is a great site for finding short and engaging classroom
popular Hollywood films. appropriate video clips. The site features the kind of viral videos
Most of the clips are quite short and the site allows you to trim that people like to share on YouTube and Facebook. You can
them to the part you want to use. You can get a unique URL or browse through categories like ‘Cute’, ‘Oops’ or ‘Love’ as well as
embed code for the part of the film you want to show. ‘Science’, ‘Technology’ or ‘Educational’.
Most of the clips are the ideal length for classroom or online
The collection of clips is quite huge and according to the search materials and each one has a unique URL and can be shared
engine you can search for particular film titles, actors or points directly through social media. You can download a mobile app
in the script where there is specific word or expression. for Wimp, but only for iOS.
This is great content that students are sure to enjoy. These are the kinds of video clips that students
The idea of being able to search for specific enjoy, so they make great learning materials. The
language items in the script could be really useful. site is also ‘family friendly’ so there shouldn’t be any
But there is some more ‘adult’ content on the site, so nasty surprises there.
if you are using it with younger learners or teens, be But there are no embed codes, though you can click
sure to create your own link or embed your clip into through to the original source on most videos and
your own web page or course. then find the embed code there.
378
BUSINESS
CareerPlayer - http://www.careerplayer.com/home questions appear on the right of the screen. If you click on one
of the questions the video player will go straight to the relevant
CareerPlayer provides tips and advice for graduates who are
answer. Most answers are under a minute long and quite
trying to decide what career to choose. The site has a collection
concise so they are ideal for developing listening skills. There’s
of video clips of working professionals talking about different
a really wide range of jobs from actress to investment surveyor
aspects of their job.
and most of the speakers are clear, articulate and enthusiastic
about what they do. Each interview has between 15 and 30
questions, but students don’t have to listen to them all. The site
provides a unique link for each video and many of the videos
also have transcripts and links to related materials that you can
access by clicking on ‘resource centre’ beneath the video clip.
This is great professional quality video that is easy to

divide into learning appropriate chunks. The material
is ideal for intermediate to higher level business
classes.
But some of the transcripts are missing and there are
The video interviews are based around questions. These no embed codes.
379
HSX - http://www.hsx.com/
This is a great way to get students watching film
HSX is a gaming site based around the concept of trading trailers and learning English as wells as learning
stocks and shares in movies.
about the business of trading stocks and shares. It’s
also a good way to get an element of gaming into
your classroom.
Users register and get $2,000,000 in fictional currency to start

trading and buy shares in various movies. The movies they
trade in are real and how well the movies do in the game is
based on their real impact on the market.
If a film does well it generates more money for the stock
holders, but if students buy bad films that aren’t successful,
they lose some of their fictional money. They can watch real
trailers for the films to decide which ones they will invest in.
380
Meet the Boss TV - http://www.meettheboss.tv/

For higher level business English students I’m sure
Meet the Boss TV has a large collection of business related this is really valuable content, not only for the
video clips most of which seem to be unique to the site. The
listening and comprehension practice but for the
clips are ideal for online viewing as they are mostly around ten
minutes long, though they are also native speaker level and
informative nature of the content too.
delivered quite quickly. But there are no embed codes, though links can be
shared through social media. You’ll also need to
create some viewing tasks too as there is nothing on
the site to encourage interaction and engagement
with the content.
There are a number of different ‘Channels’ which cover different

aspects of business and some very impressive business figures
have been included in many of the interviews.
The videos all have transcripts which should make them a little
more comprehensible for students who aren’t quite up to the
level.
381
CHILD FRIENDLY
National Geographic Kids - http:// The site also has games, such as quizzes, that can be used to
kids.nationalgeographic.com/videos/ reinforce what they have learned from the video, though these
can be hard to find and match up. Click on ’Go’ at the top of the
National Geographic Kids has a great collection of short clips,
site to access the navigation.
mainly about animals, which are ideal for younger learners.
Many of the video clips have visual reinforcement such as text
This site has a great collection of videos which
callouts to enhance the students’ understanding of the videos.
younger learners are sure to love.
But the videos open in a kind of ‘light-box’ window,
which seems a bit strange. The search engine
searches through all kinds of media, so you can’t just
search the videos.
382
ESL For Kids - http://videos.esl-for-kids.com/ Kideos - http://www.kideos.com/

This site has a collection of videos which are specifically Kideos has a collection of video clips from around the web.
designed for language learners. these have all been checked for suitability and arranged to age
The videos are sorted into the typical kinds of lexical groups appropriate bands from 0 -2 years all the way up to 8 -10 years.
and linguistic areas.
Most of the videos have been collected from YouTube and are
quite simple, a little like multimedia flashcards.
There are also lots of downloadable worksheets, but these don’t
seem to be connected to the videos.
There are no embed codes, but you can click through on the
You can also click on channels to browse the video by category.
video to the original source to get the code.
There are no embed codes provided by the site, but you can
This site provides a lot of low level video material click through to the original source of the videos and grab the
available in one place. code from there.
But the site is heavy on advertising and many of the This site has a great collection of age appropriate
videos it links to have been removed. videos and is a great place for kids to browse and
search safely.
But there are no tasks or materials to accompany any

of the video content.
383
TinyTube - http://www.tinytube.com/
This site has a collection of videos from around the internet, all
of which have been deemed appropriate for children.
The categories are a little strange e.g. ‘Funny animals’ and

‘Funny dancing kids’, but you can use the search instead if you
know what you are looking for.
Nice to have a reasonably secure service that kids

can browse on their own.
But a lot of the clips are film trailers and many carry
advertising which can’t be skipped. There are no
embed codes and the videos are at times very slow to
384
DOCUMENTARY
Documentary.Net - http://documentary.net/ On the navigation bar at the top of the site you can browse the
videos by length and there are many which are under ten
Documentary.Net has a huge collection of video documentaries
minutes.
collected from all around the internet. The documentaries are on
a really broad range of subjects from animals and nature to The quality of the videos is generally very good and there is a
business, politics and popular culture. lot of interesting and really informative content that is also very
visually rich and engaging.
Because the videos are collected from third party sites, not all of
them have embed codes and you have to click through to the
original source to find the embed code, but each one has a
brief summary telling what the documentary is about.
The site has some really interesting and engaging

materials which would be ideal for general English or
CLIL courses.
But some of the clips are quite long and you will have
to design your own tasks to exploit them for
language learning.
385
Explore - http://explore.org
I really like the live webcams and think these will be
Explore has a collection of videos, films and live webcams that particularly motivating for younger learners and
focus on different aspects of nature from around the world.
quite easy to use as prompts for writing and
The live webcams are particularly good and show a range of speaking activities.
wild animals, zoo animals and domestic animals such as kittens
and puppies. No buts!
There’s a nice snapshot feature on the live webcams so
students can grab images and download them while they watch
the live action.
Videos and live webcams also have an embed code so you can
embed these into your own site or online learning materials.
When the webcams are ‘off air’ they also broadcast some of the
highlights from the day.
386
Free Documentary TV - http://www.freedocumentary.tv/

The site has a very large variety of content on a
This site has a huge collection of both short and long range of topics and each video you click on has
documentaries and trailers on a really wide range of topics.  
recommendations for similar content.
You can browse the various categories from the top of the
screen or use the search to find a clip on a specific subject. But you have to click through to the clip to find out
how long it is and there isn’t any support material or
embed codes on the site.
Many of the videos are embedded from YouTube, so you need

to click through if you want to find the embed code.
This is a good sound source of content for flipped learning or
CLIL classes.
387
ELT SPECIFIC
Atama iiBooks - http://www.atama-ii.com/ The series follows an interactive game book format, in which the
reader takes on the role of the main character and makes plot
This chapter of the book was sponsored by the amazing Atama
choices at set points in the story. These choices lead to one of
iiBook. Atama-ii is a series of beginner level easy-English graded
eight different endings.
readers for all ages 11 and up.
Despite their simplicity, the Atama-ii titles are meant to be

interesting and engaging. Some are pure adventure, some are
funny, and some are more suspenseful. Some may give readers a
taste of history, or world events, or an aspect of science. However,
the stories are not silly or infantile; we believe that just because
someone happens to have a restricted vocabulary or reading
ability, they do not necessarily have restricted intelligence.
These books are a fantastic resource either for

classroom exploitation or to drive extensive reading.
388
BEhereBEthere - http://www.BEhereBEthere.com more use is made of narrated slides for vocabulary

development, and a quiz completes the course.
BEhereBEthere is a fun and free eLearning site for Business
English.
The site offer really well developed language and
business skills learning for students and makes
excellent use of authentic video and web-based
interactivity.
In the Talk Business section, you watch a video of a business

person being interviewed about their work. This is followed by
an analysis of the language used, and some vocabulary
development. All this is done using more video: in this case
audio-narrated slides. The slides are designed like a
whiteboard, and words appear on the board as the teacher
explains. This simulates the experience of a student in class
listening to a teacher. The course finishes with a quiz to check
progress.
In the Business Bites section there are bite-sized introductions
to key areas of business. The material is presented on video at
various language levels by an experienced teacher. On the
same video there is some pronunciation practice. After this,
389
Film English - http://film-english.com/

The site and materials look very professionally
Film English has collection of ready made EFL lesson plans and designed and the materials are very complete, so if
worksheets based around online video clips.
you want to get started using video with your
You can simply go to the site and download all the materials you students, this is a good place to find examples of best
need to do the lessons in your classroom.
practice.
But it’s hard to know how much material is available

on the site. It would be nice to have a site map to
You can use the search if you are looking for something specific
or you can browse the different categories.
All the worksheets and lesson plans are in pdf format and can
be photocopied for use in class.
390
Lessonstream - http://lessonstream.org/
The lesson plans and materials are really clearly
This site has a large collection of video based lessons complete written and they look very professional. Everything
with lesson plans, materials and links to the video clips. This is a
you need to deliver the lesson is there and it even
great place to go to either browse through or search for lesson
plans for language learners. You can search by level, topic,
tells you levels and how long the lesson should take.
types of activity or even by language aim just by clicking on the But it looks like the site isn’t being updated very
buttons along the top of the site.
regularly anymore, though that could just be a
temporary state.
When you find a lesson that you like, you can download a pdf
version of the plan and all the materials and then photocopy
them for use in class.
391
RealEnglish - http://www.real-english.com/ record and listen to themselves so that they can compare
themselves to a model.
Real English is a collection of genuine interviews with people on
the street in various English speaking countries. The interviews After watching the initial video the students are also able to
are collected on video and have exercises and activities watch a version with subtitles added.
designed around them. The interviews have been organised The site also runs well on mobile devices and doesn’t require
around various language points, so you can simply use the the download of a dedicated app.
search engine to quickly find the videos that are linked to a
grammar point you want to teach. RealEnglish is a great source of authentic listening
material that students can study at home or in the
classroom.
The interviews are spontaneous and so very authentic and they

offer students the opportunity to hear a wide range of accents of
real people of all ages. All of the videos are accompanied by
interactive exercises that range from quizzes and multiple
choice questions to speaking activities that allow the student to
392
Simple English Videos - http:// memorable. Rather than following a whiteboard lecture format,
www.simpleenglishvideos.com they transport viewers out of a classroom setting to demonstrate
features of English in real life contexts.
Simple English Videos is a terrific site for developing grammar,
vocabulary and listening skills, in blended and flipped
Simple English Videos is a great free tool for
classrooms, as well as face-to-face.
clearing up difficult features of English that learners
Its entertaining videos have been specially written for language
often find confusing.
learners and they all explore difficult features of English. They
come with clickable transcripts that play across all platforms
and allow students to control the videos with precision. There is
also a dictionary and translate tool.
The videos present language in context and use a variety of

scenarios, skits, stories and songs to make language
393
VocabAhead - have to copy the URL of each of the videos you want to share
with your students.
http://www.vocabahead.com/Videos/tabid/58/Default.aspx
VocabAhead has a collection of very short video clips that These videos are a nice way to approach learning
explain and demonstrate the concepts behind words. and reinforcing higher level vocabulary.
Most of the words are quite high level as the videos are But there are no embed codes and the words tend
designed for people doing SAT and GRE exams, but the words
to be a bit high level for most English language
are all defined and have example sentences as well as
classes.
explanations with visual reinforcement.
Each video also has a transcription of the narrator’s text, but

there are no embed codes and sharing is quite limited. You’ll
394
EnglishCentral - http://www.englishcentral.com/videos#
This is a great free tool to get students working
EnglishCentral is a wonderful tool that uses authentic video to independently on developing their listening and
get students developing their listening, speaking and
speaking skills and learning new words from
vocabulary.
The site is built around video from YouTube but it has a

sequence of developmental activities for each clip.
Students can listen to the video and follow a script and click on
words they don’t understand to get a definition. Next they can
try to learn the words by listening to the video and typing the
missing words into the script.
They can then try to record themselves saying the lines from the
script and their speaking is recorded and evaluated. They can
do quizzes to see which of the vocabulary words they have
remembered.
395
LyricsGaps - http://www.lyricsgaps.com/
This site is a good resource for motivating learners to
LyricsGaps has a collection of music videos with interactive do more independent listening development work at
activities that involve filling gaps to complete the lyrics.
home and helps to tap into students love for music
and songs.
Users can choose a song and then select an activity. The

activities range from karaoke to gap-filling and multiple choice.
Students can complete the activities online and get immediate
feedback.
There is quite a large collection of songs and activities available
in multiple languages, but the activities look a bit home made
and there is a lot of advertising on the site, which may be
distracting.
396
LyricsTraining - http://lyricstraining.com/ Students can skip words by clicking the tab key on their
keyboard if they find it too difficult and then the program will
LyricsTraining is an excellent site for helping to develop
enter the missing word. All skipped words are recorded and
students’ listening skills. The site consists of a collection of
student get a score at the end of the song, which they can save
music videos and each one has interactive activities at different
if they register.
levels.
If you register you can also create the song activities yourself
using videos from YouTube. To do this just log in, go to ‘My
Lyrics’ and click on ‘Add Lyrics’. Then you can add a link to the
video and type in the lyrics. This can take a little time, but once
you have created the activity everyone can benefit from it.
LyricsTraining is a great way to get students

motivated by the music they like and developing their
listening skills independently. The students get
instant feedback with a gaming element added on.
Students can select their level and then they listen to the video
and complete the lyrics. At the lowest level one word has been
taken out in every couple of lines, but at the hardest level all of
the words have been extracted and it is a like a dictation
activity.
When students start the activity they hear and watch the video
and when they get to a gap in the text, the video pauses and
waits for them to type in the missing word. The program only
accepts the correct letters and students have a time limit to
enter the words. If they get the word right the program proceeds
and plays them the next part of the song, but if they get it wrong
they run out of time and have to start again.
397
Voscreen - http://www.voscreen.com
This site uses translation and a gaming approach to
Voscreen is a simple translation based game which uses very get students watching and learning from very short
short extracts from video clips to test students’ understanding.
video clips. Great for lower levels to get them
developing their listening skills autonomously.
The game works best if students register as this will enable

them to track their score. When they register they select their
mother tongue language.
Once the student is registered they see a very short clip from a
film with someone saying a short sentence and they have to
chose the correct translation of the sentence.
They have ten seconds to choose the correct one. Getting the
answer right will win them points. They can continue playing the
game and listening to multiple clips for as long as it holds their
interest.
398
Video for All - http://videoforall.eu/

This site is a great place to find inspiration and
Video for all is a European Union funded project that brings resources for creating your own materials.
together current methodologies, ideas and innovative practices
in teaching and learning languages through integrating digital
video.
The site contains a large collection of resources including

ready-made practical activities and materials as well as links to
various resources and information about methodology and
practice. The site is created and managed by University of
Warwick who also run a successful MA ELT program which
focuses on ICT and Multimedia.
399
HOW TO
MonkeySee - http://www.monkeysee.com/ You can browse the various categories on the left or use the
search function. Each video has a range of social network
This site has a huge collection of ‘How to’ type videos that show
integration tools as well as an embed code, so you can take the
viewers how to do a range of tasks. These vary from things like
content and embed it into your own course or blog. Most videos
learning how to dance, to more academic things like filling in a
are part of a series, but they are broken down into short video
college application.
chunks.
Good visual content to support understanding of the

audio script. Many of the videos also have
transcripts that students can read.
But some of the videos are just talking heads and

don’t make best use of the visual aspect, so you’ll
need to choose selectively.
400
NEWS
New York Times Video - http://www.nytimes.com/video/ which range from ‘Travel’,’Sport’ and ‘Food’ to more serious
‘Political’, ‘Business’ and ‘Documentaries’.
New York Times Video is a great source of really high quality
interesting short clips. Most of the content is aimed at adults and is native speaker
level, but the clips are engaging and an appropriate length for
use in the classroom or in online materials. You can also find an
embed code to the right of each video so you can add the clips
to your own materials or online courses.
This is great high quality authentic content which

adult learners should find interesting and engaging.
But there are a few advertisements at the beginning

of some of the videos and these can’t be skipped.
Some of the topics are also very serious.
The site has a mixture of clips and if you click on ‘Channels’ at

the top of the page you can browse the different categories
401
Newsy - http://www.newsy.com/
The site has very good quality authentic materials
Newsy is an interesting video news site which reports and with really useful scripts and embed codes.
summarizes the news by drawing on a number of other news
sources. But most of the news is very US focused.
The sources are generally listed underneath each news clip and
you can click through from the links to check the sources. The
summaries are usually short and each one has a transcript of
the text included underneath. You can also get a unique URL for
each clip and an embed code so these are easy to add to your
own materials and courses.
Most of the topics are quite serious, so the content is better

suited to adults than younger students, but some of the
categories like ‘Sport’ and ‘Entertainment’ may have content that
is suitable for teens. You can download free apps for most
mobile device operating systems.
402
ITN Source - http://www.itnsource.com/en/

This site has some great higher level content. some
This is a really useful site for cultural and historical video clips. of the more historical content would also be great for
The site is a collection of new and documentary broadcasts
silent viewing activities.
which have been made available online. You can search for a
clip or for a story and there is a detailed advanced search if you It’s a shame that there is no embed code.
know what you are looking for. There is a nice ‘On this day in
history’ section which could be useful to use with students.
The main purpose of the site is to sell the clips, but you can
preview them for free, so that doesn’t stop you using the site,
but there are no embed codes so you will have to use a direct
link to share the videos with your students.
403
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book was made possible thanks to the kind support and
assistance of Stephen Shortt of Alpha College of English in Dublin.
cdiv
THANKS
My thanks and eternal gratitude also go to the following people for Steve Muir & Tom Spain - All at C
their support and encouragement. http://www.allatc.wordpress.com/
Stephen Chadwick - Exam English
Annalisa Terruzzi - Net is the key www.examenglish.com
https://netisthekey.wikispaces.com/ Teachers and staff at the Babel Center
Attilio Galimberti - EFL Wikispace www.babelcenter.ro
http://amaldi-english-corner.wikispaces.com/
Cambridge English Online Ltd. - Learn > Enjoy > Succeed
Abel Gálvez Benito - Terrassa-Barcelona
www.cambridgeenglishonline.com
Ali Boumoussa
Duncan Wilson - Class Charts
Amadeu Marin
www.classcharts.com
Anne Lennon
Glenys Hanson - ESL EXOS
Beatriz Pérez Craviotto
www.esl-exos.info
Carmen Arias
Jo Gakonga - elt-training.com
Carol Rainbow
www.elt-training.com
Chris Baldwin
Michael Marzio - Real English®
Claudio Colabianchi
http://www.real-english.com/
Frances Eales
Miguel Martin - Subingles.com
Giovanna Cappi
http://en.subingles.com
Irena Jelercic
Philip Saxon - English for Authentic Purposes
Javier del Castillo
http://www.englishforauthenticpurposes.blogspot.co.uk
Julie Raikou
Judit Gábris
cdv
Katherine Bilsborough
Lesley Cioccarelli
Lynn Nikkanen
Stanislava Pavlikova Ph.D
Tom D’Amico
Welcome English School, Lugo, Spain
My sincere apologies to anyone I have forgotten or missed out.
All title, cover and chapter images used are from: https://
stocksnap.io/
cdvi
ABOUT THE EDITORS
This book was collectively edited by a dedicated group of I would also like to especially thank Sylvia Guinan for her help with
volunteers. I’d like to thank and acknowledge them all for their proof reading the entire document.
valuable assistance and support in helping me to make the vital
decisions that are so difficult for a writer to make about their own
work without objective advice.
Annalisa Terruzzi Lada Smirnova

Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto Mihaela Tilinca
Bill Snyder Neal R. Davis
Carol Wild Olya Sergeeva
Daniela Becchio Rachael Roberts
Daniela Tomatis Robert McLarty
Giovanna Cappi Sarah Phillips
Jo Hayes Sylvia Guinan
JoAnn Salvisberg Ton Koenraad
Jonathan Sayers
Thank you all so so much.
cdvii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Like many native speaker teachers I fell into teaching because I I am an experienced virtual and physical conference presenter and
wanted to travel rather than through a love of teaching or the English have delivered educational technology related talks and workshops
language. In 1992 I went to International House in Heliopolis Cairo to at major conferences all over the world.
do a teaching certificate and experienced my first communicative In May 2012 I won a British Council ELTon for Excellence in Course
language class. It was something of a eureka moment for me when Innovation for the Blended Learning in ELT course I designed for
suddenly I understood that it was possible to enjoy a language class Bell Educational Services .
and why I had never been able to learn any French at school.
My other published work includes:
Since then I have taught and trained in many countries, but for me it
was the learning process rather than the language that always • Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers (2009) : http://www.scribd.com/doc/
19576895/Web-2-0-Tools-for-Teachers
maintained my interest and writing and designing materials was for
me the most interesting part of influencing that process. • Nik’s Learning Technology Blog: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/
Since 1992 I have worked all over the world as a language teacher, • QuickShout: http://quickshout.blogspot.co.uk/
teacher trainer, technology trainer and educational technology • I also curate a collection of articles about educational technology -
consultant. Learning Technology News: http://www.scoop.it/t/learning-
I am an award winning course designer and materials writer and technology and a collection of useful applications - Tools for
have created numerous custom-made face-to-face and online Teachers and Learners: http://www.scoop.it/t/tools-for-learners
training courses for teachers and students. I hope you enjoy this book and find it useful.
I have been involved in major training consultancies for ELT schools,
organizations, publishers and education ministries around the world
including companies like British Council, BBC, Open University,
International House, Google and many more.
cdviii

Digital Video

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Digital Video

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

vickycuartin55@gmail.

com 13 May 2018

THE DIGITAL CLASSROOMS

Published by Peachey Publications

Copyright © Nik Peachey 2015

I'd like to thank my wife Maria for always believing in me (even

I'd like to thank my daughters Isabella and Molly for constantly

This book is not the product of a large company. I depend on the

In the book I aim to share ways, tools, tips

WHAT'S IN THE BOOK

What's in the book • Chapter 5 Comprehension Activities is a collection of ideas

VIDEO & TASK

Finding the right clip and designing activities that will

Criteria for selecting a clip Contemporary vs historical - Contemporary clips of modern

Some advantages of online tasks

References to culture - Many films and TV series contain

When designing tasks and choosing clips, teachers need to be

Designing tasks and activities that help students to understand

HOSTING VIDEO ONLINE

Rationale for choosing a video hosting service

Deciding whether to download video

• Moving files - Video files on the Internet may well move or

• Copyright issues - There are of course copyright issues with

your course materials. If you plan to do this then it would be wise

Other applications for downloading videos are:

• All Video Downloader:http://all-video-

• Video Blend: http://www.videoblend.org/mac/

Using embed codes

• Adding an embed code to your materials - An embed code

them from being exposed to any advertising that may appear on

• Copyright - Using an embed code helps you to overcome

• Moving files - Using an embed code does not, however,

• Blocking - Unfortunately if the video you want to embed into

Rationale for muting audio

• Conceptual framework - Watching the visual before listening

SUBTITLES AND ANNOTATIONS

• Subtitles - Having subtitles on a video which translate it into

Other applications for adding subtitles are:

• Subtitle Creator: http://subtitlecreator.sourceforge.net/

Rationale for creating QR codes

• Adding video to paper - If you produce paper based

paper based worksheet. This is a great way to create a multi

• Adding video to walls - You can put a QR code anywhere

Rationale for creating slideshows

Other applications for creating video slideshows:

VIDEO & BLENDED LEARNING

Replacement - In this mode of delivery the main core content of

VIDEO & FLIPPED LEARNING

Some problems with flipped learning Making flipped more engaging

VIDEO IN TASK BASED LEARNING

Task based learning (TBL) is an approach which uses as a basis

The TBL cycle

TBL uses a sequence of activities known as a ‘task cycle’ which

This is a brief overview of the task cycle.

This chapter was sponsored by Lake School of English.

The viewing step in this procedure could be done by the

Introduction Language focus

Procedure • Give the students time to practice and rehearse. If it is

You can find TV and film scripts on this site.

You can find a tool to help you re-order sentences on

Introduction Language focus

Rationale As a way of encouraging students to think more creatively you

Procedure Example worksheet

• What kind of restaurants do you think [x] prefers?