6 - Straightforward video creation: Level 1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 November 2023
Summary
As the chapter title suggests, the following activities and projects have been grouped because of their relative simplicity to set up and use with a class. I do, however, still recommend trying out any task that involves creating content in advance, or at least running through the different stages.
Several of the projects covered in Level 1 focus on improving digital literacy by raising awareness of the constructed nature and generic features of popular media. For example, Activity 6.4: Good game? takes learners through the process of dissecting, analysing and discussing the characteristics of good video games, before playing one and recording a video review. Similarly, Activity 6.2: Meme machine guides learners to deconstruct the ‘DNA’ of popular viral videos into a recipe, which they then follow to create their own memes and share with the world.
Other tasks take a more personal tone, such as Activity 6.1: Limelight , which focuses on showcasing individual talents, interests or abilities, while also developing basic digital videorecording skills that will help to familiarize the learners with the capabilities of their own mobile devices.
Activity 6.5: Lip service introduces audio editing as a means of situating language (metaphorically and literally) in the context of a video clip that has become separated from its audio track. This audio track, which has been cut into Lego-like blocks and shuffled, needs to be reassembled and repositioned by the learners to match what they can see. It is then re-synchronized with the video. Aside from providing intensive listening practice, this activity helps to develop abductive reasoning, as learners combine contextual visual clues in the video with language cues in the audio. Activity 6.3: Voice-over substitution also involves basic audio-recording and editing skills, while drawing attention to the journalistic language of news reports. In this activity the learners’ attention is drawn to the speed and intonation of a news presenter's speech, which they use as a model to record their own voice-overs.
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- Language Learning with Digital Video , pp. 127 - 142Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014