"The Power of Video"

“The Power of Video”

My next blog is from a website based in another country. It’s about a freelancer from the U.K. named Antonia Clarke who wrote about “The Power of Video” which is essentially “the revolution of video in English Language Teaching” (Sunanda, 2018, paragraph 1). I thought this was perfect for this week because we are learning about digital storytelling in our graduate class. She found that “video is found everywhere” (paragraph 1). In fact, “over recent years, YouTube has become the second most popular site on the internet, beaten only by Google” (paragraph 1). Since video is prominent the author advises instructors to use videos in the classroom. Actually, in India they have such a shortage of teachers that they have started a digital classroom. In the digital classroom the students learn through watching videos made by the staff.

Dr. Sunanda, the author, then shared benefits of using video in the classroom especially with English Learners. The benefits include:

·         Cognition – Videos “brings balance in the process of left and right side brain” (paragraph 3). This means that the brain is completely focused during videos because it stimulates both parts of the brain.

·         Language – Videos model “dynamic nature talks of usage of English in the different context” (paragraph 5). Having several models of the English language is very important in acquiring the language.

·         Engaging the emotions – Videos are naturally engaging the learners because they can experience the content as if they were there. It can also help to build background knowledge for English Learners.

·         Visual literacy – Just like the saying a “picture is worth a thousand words; Video is also better than a thousand words” (paragraph 9) because the learners can see it as if they were right there. Building words through experiences is essential when learners are acquiring a new language.

One final thought is that even though videos teach a lot to students I was glad to see that the article reinforced that, “video cannot replace the teacher” (paragraph 4). However, there are many benefits as you can see to using them, so I would highly recommend using them in your instruction, especially if you teach English learners.

Sunanda, G. M., (2018, February 20) Video as English Language Learning Tool Retrieved from http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Young-Hans/2018-02-20/Video-As-English-Language-Learning-Tool/360214


Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 24, 2018 at 7:25 PM

    I use videos as much as possible in my classes. The students need to see and hear and experience what we talk about and learn from our social studies book so that the content becomes real to them. How much more necessary is this for ESL students! And thank you for including the point that "video cannot replace the teacher." Even though I have minimal experience at this point making the videos, I am very choosy in the ones that I select for my class.

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