University lecturer Ina Gray answers The Image Conference questionnaire.
Your favourite video to use in class:
Different ones for different areas of ESP:
– Architecture: Grand Designs (a Channel 4 documentary series)
– Architecture/topic: floor plans: Happy home (a video produced by architecture students in 2013)
– Business Communication/topic: job applications: The application (a video produced by architectural lighting design students in 2014)
– Intercultural communication: Cultural misunderstandings (a video produced by architectural lighting design students in 2013)
– Intercultural communication: Intercultural Communication Adventure with Little Pilot (You Tube)
plus tons of other videos on HowStuffWorks.com, about.com and You Tube
Why are you interested in using images in your classes?
The two (or even three)-channel-principle, seeing / listening (/ reading) helps students remember vocabulary, language structure and pronunciation. Certain videos also provide an insight into a different cultural context. Student-produced videos, by contrast, serve a different purpose: they help students to identify with other learners before them and thereby create a stronger link between themselves and the topic at hand.
What should your audience expect to learn?
This session hopes to inspire other teachers to use learner-produced videos as a constructivist learning tool. It also aims to give the audience the opportunity to develop first ideas about a similar approach for their own teaching and learning contexts. I myself would love to walk away with new ideas about how to further develop this project.
What are three words that sum up your session?
colourful – interactive – two-way inspirational
Which other presenter(s) are you looking forward to seeing?
Carmen Herrero, Paul Braddock
Ina Gray
With a background in European Studies and years of practical teaching experience in a large variety of settings, Ina has been a lecturer at the Language Centre of the University of Wismar in Northern Germany since 2008. As head of the Language Centre, she is responsible for business and technical English modules. Ina has obtained a second master’s degree in the field of higher education didactics where her passion lies in the psychology of teaching and learning.
The Video Project: a tool for fun and sustainable language learning
A bad night’s sleep, a nervous stomach and sweaty hands. This scenario typically faced by students before their obligatory English exam may be a thing of the past at the University of Wismar, Germany. Since June 2012, about 200 students have produced short videos as part of their assessed course requirements in the ESP module. The result? Involvement, enthusiasm and students who confess to enjoying their learning. In this workshop, participants find out how and why this project came into existence, learn about its underlying theory and discover how the different stages of preparation, recording, analysis and assessment are set up for teachers and learners.
