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TitleUsing Digital Tools to Explore Current Affairs
SourceCASLS Activity of the Week
Body

by Renee Marshall and Patricia Roldan Marcos

Listening is a tool for learning. Students can listen to videos or audio tracks as many times as they need to in order to get the information they need. They can pause, rewind, fast forward, use captions or subtitles, etc. There is software that can help them slow down audio tracks (e.g. Audacity) or take notes in a video (e.g. videonot.es). All sources of digital information are not created equal, so in addition to using digital tools to their advantage, students need to also develop online literacy. Where did I get this source? Who created it and for what purpose? Is it objective? How is it useful to me? This activity has students explore and analyze two authentic videos on the topic of Cuba-US relations by identifying key ideas and vocabulary and thinking critically about the sources and type of genre. A way to extend this lesson would be to ask students to create their own video or audio file using one of the sources as a model. These activities would be appropriate for intermediate-advanced level and they can be adapted to explore any current affairs topic.

Objectives:

  • Students will be able to identify key ideas and vocabulary while watching two authentic videos on the same topic.
  • Students will be able to analyze and discuss the characteristics of the video genres and think critically about the level of subjectivity in each.
  • For the extension activity, students will be able to record their own video or audio file following one of the sources or finding their own.

Resource: Using Digital Tools to Explore Current Affairs handout

Procedure:

Part 1 – Explore:

  1. Pre-viewing: Ask students to answer questions 1, 2 and 3 on a separate piece of paper.
  2. Then ask them to discuss and compare their answers in pairs. Get some feedback from the whole class and clarify vocabulary as needed. They should have the brainstormed vocabulary ready to use for the next activity, while watching the videos.
  3. While-viewing: Give students the Note-taking Guide handout, which will help them organize their notes on both videos (i.e. all the while and post-viewing activities).
  4. Make sure they understand they need to complete activities 5 and 6 while watching the video. Note: if students can work on computers individually, they would be in control of the videos, so they could pause, forward, rewind, etc. You could also show them how to use Audacity [1] to slow down the audio, or how to take notes on videonot.es [2] instead of using the handout, although videonot.es doesn't support videos from all websites.
  5. Get students to check and compare their notes in groups of three. Then whole class feedback to ensure all students understood the gist of the videos. You could write down the key vocabulary on the board and clarify meaning as necessary.

Part 2 – Analyze:

  1. Post-viewing: Tell students they're going to analyze the genre of each video and the different characteristics of each genre. Go through the various aspects in the handout (format, audience, purpose, etc) and the examples to make sure they understand what the analysis will involve.
  2. In pairs, ask students to answer questions 1-6 for both videos. Then get some feedback from the class and discuss what aspects of each video were objective or subjective and why.
  3. Finally, get students to compare the two videos on a separate piece of paper.

Part 3 – Extend:

  1. If you want, you can get students to find another source on the same topic and complete the above activities to analyze it. This could be done in class if they have access to computers, it could be set as homework for the following class, or it could have been set in the previous class in preparation for this one (i.e. "For the next class, find a video on the topic of...")
  2. Alternatively, you could also ask students to create their own video or audio file following one of the genre models analyzed in class.

[1] Here's a video on how to slow down audio using Audacity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OggzE7s2d7Y

[2] Here's a demo video on using videonot.es: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aA04ayL1oA

Publishdate2015-01-26 02:15:01