This introductory section of the course is meant to give you a first impression of how the course works, who the people are and which tools we are planning to use. Moreover you will find a short introduction into the ideas of sustainable foreign language teaching and learning and into our thoughts about the topic Media usage and media literacy.
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4 Comments
As we are teaching online at the moment, I am working with a friend (an Australian comedian) to provide my senior classes with online workshops on critical reading and media literacy, which involves critical engagement with various internet sources, deciphering reliable and unreliable sources of information, looking for bias within material and playing with conspiracy theories. Student feedback is good, and I feel that it is a proactive and constructive way of dealing with our current situation, in that we are critically engaging with the same media that we are dependent on – making an opportunity out of something which is actually a restriction.
In the future, I am really, really, really, very much looking forward to standing in a classroom with my students. To start with, I would like to use more traditional (less digital) media forms (games, newspapers, plays), and work towards finding more of a balance between the various media types again.
I am intrigued by the comparison of YA novels and their film adaptations as I believe what is included (and excluded) probably tells us something about the way that our society conceives of the transition to adulthood (growth) and adolescent subjectivity. It is possibly very empowering to have upper school students examine the way that themes translate between the two media forms in a critical way.
I hope that our next project week will take place so I can get the oppurtunity to develop a film workshop then.
At school I would like to suggest advanced training courses in film work/vlogging/blogging
in different disciplines in the college. Most of the teachers are not up to date with their own media literacy, They miss the potential of a tool most of the students are used to.
I will be teaching in the lower school only next year. I will use the information on storytelling, Total Physical Response, games, postcard activities and I will be working with readers and original English books for children, in addition to other activities, such as plays and songs, etc. I may consider using a recording of something too, but I don’t think I will use video, as my oldest kids will only be 6th graders and I don’t think it is necessary at that age yet to use film or video.
I will start my practical year in August and I will be teaching english in lower school. I hope I can use some of the tips I got in this course. Especially about the games and storytelling.