Using youTube

What is this?

This is an example of a video from youtube that we can use in our langauge teaching. It shows a presenter doing a really bad but funny presentation. It is in English and could be used in many different ways

Why is the content good for language learning?

• The video is funny and it brings a bit of humour to the class. It can make the lesson more motivating and interesting.
• Video is useful because for comprehension it includes all the paralinguistic clues that help students to understand language.
• The context of the situation can also really help comprehension. This has an impact on the anxiety levels of students. Some research suggests that anxiety is reduced when students have the context and visual clues to help them.
• There are very valid points about presentations being made ( through all the mistakes that the presenter makes)
• Example of authentic material, not made for language comsumption but made actually for native speakers.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

• One way might be start by asking the students to work in pairs and think of all the things they need to think about to make a good presentation.
• Get some of the pairs to share their ideas with the class
• The teacher quickly introduces the idea of the video to the class.
• The teacher then puts the students into pairs. One student looks at the video and the other one faces away from the screen.
• The teacher then plays the video but with no sound and the student who can see the video describes it to the student who can't see it. This makes this into a speaking activity.
• After the teacher asks some of the  students who were listening and could not see the board to describe what they could see.
• The whole class then watches the video with the sound.

Limitations

• Might be hard to do in very big classes
• The teacher might find it hard to "track" all the students
• Need internet ( some countries don't have access to youTube)
• Activity is quite high level as students need to speak quite quickly